Branford Government Roundup: BJ's Hearing, Teachers' Contract
BRANFORD, CT — The Planning and Zoning Commission was scheduled to take up the BJ's Wholesale Club plan for East Main Street again Thursday, Nov. 5, and an RTM committee approved a new three-year contract for Branford's teachers.
Planning and Zoning Commission
The commission's Nov. 5 agenda continued the public hearing, opened Oct. 1, on the planned development district application from Sound Development Group LLC and BJ's Wholesale Club Inc. for 569 and 573 East Main Street. The plan calls for a wholesale club with a gas station, a sit-down restaurant, two fast-food restaurants with drive-thru lanes and another commercial building. The Zoom meeting also listed hearings on special exceptions for an animal day care, grooming and training business, offices and retail at 46-50 North Main Street, and on turning a one-family house at 69 Ivy Street into a two-family home. Minutes had not been posted as of Friday, Nov. 6.
Economic Development Commission
The commission's Wednesday, Nov. 4 agenda listed Fred Carstensen, director of the Connecticut Center for Economic Analysis, to speak on the East Main Street application, with the application itself under old business.
RTM Education Committee
At a special meeting Monday, Nov. 2, the committee voted 6-0 to approve a contract between the Board of Education and the Branford Education Association that runs from July 1, 2027, to June 30, 2030, according to its minutes. Teachers at the top of the salary scale get a 3% raise in each of the three years. Those below it get 1.75% plus a step increase in each of the first two years and 2% plus a step in the third. Stipends for coaching and other extra duties rise 2.5% a year, and teachers pay a slightly larger share of their health insurance each year. The union approved the deal Oct. 20 and the school board Oct. 21, both unanimously.
The committee split 3-3 on budget transfers for the Willoughby M. Wallace Memorial Library, so the request did not pass. The library asked to cover a $9,887 shortfall in part-time staff pay, which the director's memo traced mostly to covering a long-term staff absence and added programs, partly with $5,873 from the town's contingency account.
The full Representative Town Meeting meets Wednesday, Nov. 18, at 7:30 p.m. at Branford Fire Headquarters.
Board of Education
The board scheduled a student residency hearing Monday, Nov. 2, and posted its 2027 meeting calendars for the board and its committees.
