Land Trust holds Zumba dance benefit

WINSTED — About 40 residents boogied and bounced around at a special Zumba (pronounced zoom-bah) dance benefit for the Winchester Land Trust at Northwestern Regional High School on Saturday, March 26.Zumba is a dance workout set to Latin and international music. “This was [board member] Christine Royer’s idea, where we have fun and raise money at the same time,” board member Jen Perga said.The land trust has been in the local news quite a bit lately due to the Board of Selectmen rejecting the trust’s plan to acquire 360 acres of town-owned land in a deal that would give more than $400,000 to the town.Thanks to land trust supporters gathering enough signatures on a petition, a special town meeting to vote on whether or not to override the selectmen’s rejection will be held on Thursday, April 7, at 7 p.m. at The Gilbert School.At a selectmen’s meeting in early March, Town Attorney Kevin Nelligan explained that a town meeting vote by residents does not mean the land trust’s plan will be approved.Nelligan explained that, due to the way the petition reads, an affirmative vote at the town meeting would mean that the original motion, which was voted on by the selectmen at the Feb. 22 meeting, would be canceled.Due to regulations in the town charter, Nelligan said that 5 percent of the town’s registered voters, approximately 350 residents, would need to attend the meeting in order for the vote to be valid.While the land trust could bring the proposal back to the selectmen after the town meeting, it is also possible that the selectmen could reject the proposal all over again.Perga said that the trust received a decent amount of support after the rejection of the plan by the selectmen.“We had people sending in checks to the trust out of the blue,” Perga said. “If the plan gets rejected again, I think the trust might change its focus and try to work with private land owners instead. I do hope the selectmen change their minds.”Land trust President Shelley Harms said she hopes supporters come out to the meeting.“We have reached out to all of the selectmen to address their concerns, and we will be happy to talk to them,” Harms said. “We have called each selectmen, one by one, to talk to them. I hope they change their minds because this plan is really good for the town.”

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