Pawcatuck rebirth gets good, bad news

section of Mechanic, West Broad and Liberty streets, where thousands of cars pass by each day. She credited Lathrop, who has renovated another building in the downtown, with going above and beyond with the renovations and the high-quality finishes. She said she has hired a few agents to work in the office, which will be open 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. In addition, she said an attorney also may be moving in to some of the space.

Last week, the town received an email from a representative of Heartland Dental of Effingham, Ill., saying that the national dental firm would not be moving forward with its plan to renovate the bank. Joseph Houston asked for town to withdraw its application for a variance from the Zoning Board of Appeals, which had slated a public hearing.

Stonington Director of Planning Jason Vincent responded saying the town was disappointed that Heartland could not find a way to adapt the project to the costly flood plain improvements that are required when substantial improvements are being made to the property.

The town recently changed the regulations to allow a developer to invest up to 50 percent of a property value in renovations in one year without triggering costly flood improvements, such as raising the height of the building. Before the change, the time period was five years. Town officials made the change to help spur downtown investment.