Voters Approve Spending For East Lyme Improvement Projects

The “Ayes” had it at East Lyme’s July 18 Special Town Meeting. By an overwhelming majority, voters approved special appropriations to fund three ongoing improvement projects to downtown Niantic, the school district, and East Lyme’s police and public works departments.

The first item on the agenda was a special appropriation of $400,000 to fund phase three of the Main Street Streetscape Project. This beautification effort has already brought new light, and new life, to Niantic’s Main Street.

Phase one added decorative streetlights, new trees, crosswalks and ramps for wheelchairs and strollers. Phase two branched off to include a new parking lot for Methodist Street. The additional $400,000 approved last night will be used to extend the project even further into Niantic, down Route 161 and left onto Hope Street.

The money will be coming in the form of a state Small Town Economic Assistance Program grant (STEAP) and not from the town’s coffers.   

Before the vote, East Lyme resident John Drabik questioned whether this ambitious undertaking had resulted in any economic benefit to the town. “There’s no way to see it made any difference at all,” he said.

First Selectman Paul Formica begged to differ. In the past two years, he said, 10 new businesses have opened up on Main Street, bringing new jobs with them, and he attributes that in large part to the revitalization effort that has made Niantic a more attractive place to do business.

“The mood and atmosphere downtown is markedly different now from where we were before,” Formica said.  

Voters also gave the thumbs-up to a special appropriation of $754,670 to buy or lease six vehicles for public works and the East Lyme Police Department, specifically a dump truck, an auto loader (used to pick up recycle bins), a pay loader, a fork lift, a police SUV and a police Ford Interceptor.

Most of these vehicles are replacing vehicles that have reached the end of their service life. Their acquisition is part of East Lyme’s 2012-2013 Capital Improvement Plan, which voters had previously approved at referendum.

Finally, voters approved a special appropriation of $234,045 to buy computers and smart boards for East Lyme schools and for the school district’s administrative office. This is the second year of purchases as part of the school district’s plan to upgrade technology in all the schools. The money, in this case, is coming from the school district budget.

None of these requests took voters by surprise. All are going to fund various phases of long-term improvement projects that were the subject of many past public hearings before being approved by voters.

The vote for all of these appropriations was overwhelmingly in favor, although a few people voiced concerns that the town seemed to be spending an awful lot of money at the moment.

“We’re spending money like it’s going out of style in this town,” said Drabik, who was one of a small handful of people who voted against all the special appropriations. “I’m not in favor of spending any more. It’s time to stop the spending.”