BOZRAH – Residents on Monday approved the purchase and sales contract between the town and an assisted living partnership that will ultimately bring city water and sewer assets to Route 82.
The company plans to break ground on the $17 million, 100,000-square-foot building before winter.
According to the contract, the town would buy the lines from Optimus for $1.53 million, at a yearly finance rate of .05 percent, over five years, using taxes paid to Bozrah by Optimus, resulting in no out-of-pocket costs for the town, town officials say.
Both the Board of Selectmen and the Board of Finance have touted the project as a rare opportunity to not only increase the town’s tax rolls, but to provide potential commercial developers along the Route 82 corridor with what the boards say they want most: city water and sewer.
“It’s coming our way,” First Selectman Glenn Pianka told residents of commercial development.
“And we wanted to be ready for this kind of thing.
It’s a step, a good step, at no outlay to the taxpayer.” Some concerns raised by residents include maintenance of the 16-inch water and sewer mains, traffic generated by the facility, and the fact owning the lines would not guarantee new businesses coming to town.
Total: $1,529,688 Total interest paid: $154,688 Selectman William Ballinger said the town may eventually need to establish a water pollution control authority to maintain the pipes, and a study found that little traffic would be generated by the assisted living facility.
“When I get older, I don’t want to move to Norwich – I want to stay in Bozrah,” he told voters.
“It’s a good opportunity for the town, and these opportunities don’t come along every day.”