Politics & Government

Farmington Continues to Negotiate Fisher Farm Lease

The town also plans on renovating the farmhouse before the new tenants move in.

Before the new chosen tenants can officially move into Fisher Farm in Farmington, they need to sign a lease and the town needs to renovate the home. 

The town's Farm Committee, which includes some Avon officials, recently selected Roger and Isabelle Phillips of Hartford after a lengthy search process. 

The town and the Phillips family are in the process of negotiating a lease that will sync up with Avon's separate lease for the farm land along Tillotson Road, Town Manager Kathy Eagen said at a Town Council meeting last Tuesday.  Eagen said that the plan is for the Phillips to sign the lease in October.

Previous tenant, Ron Simmons' lease with Avon expires in January 2014.

The Avon portion of the property is where the cornfields are currently located and the farm buildings are on the Farmington side. 

In the meantime, the town also put out a request for proposal for restoration companies to do upgrades necessary to bring the house on the property up to code. The estimated cost is $120,000 to $180,000, according to Eagen.

The bathroom and kitchen, for instance, need to be redone and the roof and floors need to be replaced, she said. The house is about 2,000 square feet.

“The entire house has to be updated," Eagen said.

The house was built in the '50s and hasn't had any improvements done to the infrastructure since then, so Eagen said "that's not surprising."  

“There’s quite a bit of work that has to be done," she said.

There have been discussions about knocking down the home and building a new one, but no decision has been made on that option at this time. 

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Fisher Farm straddles the Farmington-Avon town line along Town Farm Road/Tillotson Road.

The town is hoping to have the Phillips family move into the house at the start of 2014.


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