Southbury's Economic Development: First Selectman Candidates Weigh In

A ‘meet the Southbury Board of Selectmen candidates’ night took place on Wednesday, Oct. 23, at Southbury Town Hall. Economic development was one of the topics discussed.

This is the first article based on the debate. Stay tuned with Patch for future articles on the forum.

Incumbent First Selectman and Democrat Ed Edelson and Republican challenger John Monteleone were asked the same questions from audience members.

Southbury Training School

The candidates were asked about increasing the grand list in town. Edelson brought up Southbury Training School.

“We all know the Southbury Training School is going to close,” he said. “That’s not a matter of ‘if’.”

The town has to work with the state, as the state owns the school, said Edelson. Before, there were thousands of people working at the school who shopped, worked and some even lived in Southbury.

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The Southbury Training School Task Force will need to look at how the buildings on the school property can be reused, Edelson said. Once there’s ideas, that means there’s something to market, he said.

Monteleone said future plans for the school should be part of a strategic plan.

“The town needs to have a plan that goes out at least five years,” he said, adding that the plan would be reviewed every year. “The charter requires us to have it. We do not have it.”

Southbury Corporate Park

A resident asked the candidates what they would do with Southbury Corporate Park. Monteleone said he toured the area and said the majority of the property consists of rock and has quite the incline.

He said he needs to see aerial photographs of the property in order to see if it’s suitable for development.

“That land was purchased without us having a long term vision of Southbury,” he said, explaining that the town purchased the property to avoid resident development on it, but it’s hard to see how residential development could even go there.

“It seems to me, we’ve got a white elephant,” Edelson said.

Vacant Spaces in Town

A resident asked what can be done to fill empty offices in town and what business would the first selectman candidates like to attract.

Edelson and Monteleone agreed that what’s important is not what the first selectman thinks about different types of business, but rather the thoughts of the business owner who wants to come into town.

“I would be open to all businesses who would like to settle in Southbury,” said Monteleone.

Edelson said there’s something the selectmen can do.

“What we can do is improve the brand of Southbury,” he said, particularly with reference to tourism.

“The two largest employers in town are the hotels,” Edelson said. “We need tourism. We need ways to attract people here.”