After years of controversy, Gov. Ned Lamont is planning to spend nearly $12 million to upgrade the Connecticut state police firing range that is known for frequent flooding.
The outdoor firing range has been controversial for decades, and various governors have tried to find an alternative to the current Nod Road location in Simsbury.
Now, the state bond commission is poised to allocate $11.967 million at its meeting Friday at the state Capitol complex for “priority infrastructure improvements” that will include “flood-resistant improvements to the buildings and grounds.”
In 2021, Lamont moved forward as the bond commission approved his plan to spend $2 million to design the improvements that would include “new flood resistant structures” at the site.
“The funds are for the renovation of the Connecticut State Police firing range on Nod Road, adding new buildings and flood prevention,” said Rick Green, a spokesman for the state police. “The project, which is still in the design phase, calls for elevating new buildings on the property above the flood plain. The new construction will be roughly in the same area as the existing buildings and include a classroom, offices for range staff, secure storage, and other facilities. The location of the firing ranges on the property will remain the same.”
For years, the Simsbury range has flooded on a regular basis because it is directly across the street from the Farmington River. The property runs along Nod Road, a relatively narrow, two-way street that connects Simsbury and Avon and is frequently closed in the spring when the river overflows.
Because of the flooding, state police began searching years ago for a new site, which became highly controversial under Gov. Dannel P. Malloy. Various proposals were considered in East Haven, East Windsor, and East Lyme, but two others in rural areas became more prominent before being dropped.
The biggest opponent and nearest neighbor of the property is Robert Patricelli, a large landowner and former president of Cigna’s health care group who co-chaired a special commission in 2018 seeking solutions for financial problems in state government.
Patricelli was surprised to hear about the latest development when contacted Tuesday by The Courant.
“There was no notice whatsoever to any of the abutting landowners,” said Patricelli, who has lived near the range for more than 40 years.
Patricelli has threatened legal action in the past to stop expansion, but he said he now needs more information. State officials have talked in the past about constructing the buildings 10 feet high so that they would avoid the frequent flooding.
“If it’s a major expansion of the firing range, I certainly would oppose it,” Patricelli said. “I don’t know about legal action until I review what’s gone on here. But I got no notice from the town, and I’m completely uninformed about any plan to deal with flooding issues. This is all complete news to me.”
Kosta Diamantis
Patricelli told the legislature’s judiciary committee in 2022 that former state deputy budget director Kosta Diamantis had blocked his request to search for other locations for the range.
“I did meet with Kosta Diamantis in 2021, who had responsibility for this project, and he just shut me down,” Patricelli previously said. “He wasn’t willing to consider anything else.”
Diamantis was recently charged by federal prosecutors in a 22-count indictment with bribery, extortion, conspiracy, and lying to federal agents in connection with demanding payoffs from contractors who worked on state projects that Diamantis oversaw. Three others have pleaded guilty in the case “to conspire to bribe Diamantis to obtain” business after working on various public schools in Hartford, Tolland, and New Britain, and two of them have agreed to cooperate with the government, prosecutors said.
Long history
Neighbors complained bitterly about proposals to place a new range in Willington in 2015 and Griswold in 2018. As the controversy gained more public attention, Lamont made a campaign pledge during the 2018 race that he would drop the 113-acre site in Griswold if he became governor. That plan had called for a training center of 55,000 square feet, along with parking for 125 cars.
The Griswold range would have been built on private property near a state forest, but neighbors complained about the potential noise. The current range is within hearing distance of expensive homes in both Simsbury and Avon, as well as new apartments constructed across the river in the Weatogue section of Simsbury. Depending on the wind, the gun shots can also be heard at times at the Latimer Lane School, which is on the other side of the Farmington River.
Concerns have also been raised about the location of the Simsbury range, which is not centrally located or near any major highways. As a result, troopers from distant barracks in far corners of the state can spend hours traveling to the range and then back home.
During the past controversy, state police have said the Simsbury range had become unsuitable.
“Even when rainfall is moderate, as has been the case, the range floods,” state police have said on their website. “Repeated flooding and mold led to condemnation and demolition of our classroom building on the property.”
Police added, “The Simsbury property, 12.5 acres, is too small to provide more of the training opportunities that troopers should have to keep pace with the threats that they increasingly face in the field, including eastern Connecticut, varying widely from accidental opioid overdoses and an influx in rural drug trafficking routes to domestic violence situations where the partner is at imminent risk of harm and active shooter scenarios.”
Christopher Keating can be reached at ckeating@courant.com
