Norwich mayor presents big plans for city in 2020
Norwich — Republican Mayor Peter Nystrom set an ambitious agenda of new initiatives in his State of the City address Monday, while highlighting recent economic development successes and inviting the new Democratic majority City Council to “express yourselves fully” with suggestions and ideas.
Nystrom called it a top priority for the council to create a school building committee to begin work on a proposed major school consolidation and renovation plan put forth by a study committee last summer. Nystrom also announced plans to pursue a new economic development revitalization bond to succeed the $3.38 million downtown revitalization plan, with the new bond designated solely for building code compliance grants to property owners throughout the city. He’ll leave it to the full council to decide the amount of the bond to request from city voters.
The School Facilities Review Committee has approved a plan that calls for renovating as new the John B. Stanton, John Moriarty and Uncas elementary schools and building a fourth elementary school, all to house preschool through fifth-grade students, renovating Teachers’ Memorial Middle School and keeping the recently renovated Kelly Middle School The two preschool centers, the Bishop School and Deborah Tenant-Zinewicz School on Case Street would be closed and sold.
Nystrom said the city needs to give the state a two-year notice on any request for school construction funding, so planning must begin as soon as possible.
“This is one of the most important activities that this council will do and it will be over several years, in phases,” Nystrom said.
On the new proposed economic development bond, Nystrom said city investment in economic revitalization could help revive villages such as Taftville, Greeneville, Thamesville, the West Side, Norwichtown and downtown.
“A city such as ours needs tools to leverage private investment,” Nystrom said. “The current downtown bond program approved by the voters in 2010 has had a positive outcome for our city: new businesses, reduced vacancy, and over $12 million of private investment.”
The mayor made economic development and public-private collaborations a major theme throughout his midterm speech. He highlighted successes of that approach, including the ongoing renovation of the Ponemah Mill complex in Taftville, which has received state and federal financing, the city and Mohegan tribe’s collaboration to create a heritage park at the historic Uncas Leap site on the Yantic
River and the 34 small businesses that recently opened in downtown Norwich, many with grants and loans from the revitalization bond.
Nystrom announced that Chelsea Groton Bank has approved a third year of grant funding for the Global City Norwich initiative to host multicultural events downtown and to encourage ethnically diverse entrepreneurs by providing business training classes. The bank has awarded two $100,000 grants over the past two years, but Nystrom did not announce the proposed thirdyear funding level.
He also stressed that the city will pursue private investment allowed through the new federal Opportunity Zone system. Norwich has three designated zones, where investors can receive tax credits on unrealized capital gains windfalls to invest in projects in these distressed areas.
Nystrom wants the city to take advantage of two new state laws aimed at attacking contaminated and blighted properties, the Brownfields Land Banks and a new law titled “An Act Concerning Abandoned and Blighted Property Receivership.” He said Norwich has more than 100 properties that could be targeted under the land bank legislation for acquisition, remediation and sale.
“I hope these two tools will spark an interest to reposition unproductive properties in our city,” Nystrom said, “while not exposing the city to future liabilities.”
Nystrom touched briefly on one topic he has embraced in recent months, an effort to save the city’s minor league baseball team.
The newly named Norwich Sea Unicorns, the Single A affiliated with the Major League Detroit Tigers, is one of 42 teams slated to lose Major League affiliation and be reduced to a low-level independent team with no Major League contracted players in a controversial proposed major overhaul of the minor league system that could start as early as 2021.
Nystrom has contacted his 41 counterparts in other cities and towns and has embraced congressional support for lobbying Major League Baseball to abandon the plan. The Norwich team last summer signed a new 10-year lease to play at cityowned Thomas J. Dodd Memorial Stadium through 2029.
“This stadium has been a strong regional asset for our city, benefitting not only baseball enthusiasts but also many business and nonprofit organizations,” Nystrom said. “Activities and events at the stadium have generated over $1.6 million dollars for the needs of the community.”