KENT—Decades of military service gave First Selectman Martin Lindenmayer plenty of experience in command. But assuming the town’s top leadership position last year required different skill sets.
“When you walk through the Pentagon as a Navy captain, everyone salutes you,” he said. “But the minute you put on a suit you are not part of that organization. It has been an eye-opener, but, yes, I am glad I ran.”
He has, at times, been both a Democrat and a Republican but ran for office as an Independent. “It’s all about Kent,” he said. “I don’t want to be labeled. It’s to serve Kent.”
As he completes his first full year in office, Lindenmayer paused this week to look back at what he has achieved, what has yet to be finished, and where he hopes to guide the town in the future.
He was incentivized to run for office because he did not feel the town was recovering from the effects of Covid as quickly as it could. “We were still doing meetings online and I felt it was important to come together to meet, to get out in public, to pick up the pace,” he said.
Now, he confesses, he might have “jumped into too many things” in his first year. “There are so many things to do, I have to remind myself that there is time,” he said.
His top three priorities continue to be economic development, affordable housing and conservation—goals he sees as being “like a three-legged stool”—unstable if any of the three goals is not pursued.
“We need economic development, but to do that, we need housing for workers,” he said. “And we need conservation to maintain the character of Kent, which draws people here.”
An early goal was to transfer 1.15 acres of town-owned land to Kent Affordable Housing (KAH). While the proposal stirred some negative comment in town, ultimately it passed overwhelmingly at a special town meeting in April. The development will provide space for another 10 housing units adjacent to South Commons, the first affordable housing complex created by KAH.
But that will only be a minor sop to the lack of housing in town so since then, Lindenmayer has worked with developers John Casey and James Millstein to promote use of three parcels of land between Town Hall and Maple Street Extension for a large residential complex that would add to both affordable and workforce housing.
In August, Casey sold 11 acres to the privately owned Kent Housing Development Associates, of which Millstein is the managing member. The Planning and Zoning Commission voted in October to extend its housing overlay zone to cover the acreage. Development of the site could result in 80 or more housing units near the town center and would stimulate more traffic in Kent Green as residents travel to and from their homes, Lindenmayer believes.
He notes that there is more open acreage in the area and he envisions the addition of recreational facilities near the proposed housing complex, including a covered pool that would allow residents to enjoy year-round swimming.
“We haven’t had an economic engine,” Lindenmayer observed. “We’ve never had a committee to look at economic growth.”
But he sees opportunities in at least two areas: a stronger connection with the town’s three private schools, which bring about 1,000 young people to town during the school year, and development in the town’s small industrial zone on Maple Street Extension.
“Education is the bedrock of our economy,” he said. “There are nearly a thousand kids who come into town all the time and use our facilities. We need to become more connected to the schools. They are our neighbors.”
As for industry, he noted that the former Berkshire Transformer building continues to be vacant. Ironically, when the town voted in 2011 to extend sewer service to Maple Street Extension, it was prophesied that that would stimulate the building’s owner to clean up the brownfield site and return it to productivity. That never happened, but Lindenmayer sees it as a potential site for a high-tech industry if environmental concerns are allayed.
While Maple Street Extension is now served by sewer, it will not benefit from the second stage of streetscape improvements. Lindenmayer explained it would have cost another million dollars to design sidewalks to traverse the railroad crossing in that area.
He hopes that the remaining streetscape improvements on Route 7 (South Main Street) and on Maple Street will be completed by fall 2025.
He is eyeing additional parking to relieve weekend congestion in the center of town by proposing municipal use of the gravel parking lot next to the firehouse. This would require establishing another crosswalk to ensure pedestrian safety as walkers move from the lot, across Route 341 (Maple Street) to the town center.
Pedestrian safety is much on his mind these days. In a town where motorists often fail to reduce their speed when passing through the village, he is looking at the installation of speed-monitoring traffic cameras that would issue civil tickets to speeders. An ordinance that would allow their use goes to a day-long referendum on Tuesday, Jan. 7.
The issue has stirred strong feelings in the town and Lindenmayer is unsure of its passage. “If it does not pass, we will have to consider other things,” he said. “It’s all about safety, it’s not a money thing. I think there is an undercurrent of people who like the idea, but others don’t. It’s up to the town to decide, not me.”
Last April, at the town’s request, the state DOT reduced the speed limit to 25 mph in the village, but Lindenmayer says he often sees vehicles violating the regulations.
Kent is a destination town, enjoying extraordinary beauty and a chic cluster of businesses in the center. There are three state parks and many hiking trails that offer outdoor recreation. Lindenmayer wants to increase these recreational opportunities.
“I really want to consider car-top carrier access to the Housatonic River,” he said.
He proposes establishing a boat launch at a point behind Kent Center School. “It’s a perfect place to establish step-down access for canoes and kayaks,” he said. “There is public parking at the school. It would only be open during the summer, but it would get people out into the environment. They could paddle down to Bull’s Bridge, and we could make it educational with stops where people could learn about conservation, about the eagles that live along the river and why the sewer plant doesn’t pollute the water.”
“I like Kent,” he concluded, reflecting on the first day he saw the community 40 years ago when he arrived to marry his bride, Kathleen. Little did he know when he met his future in-laws, Tom and Maureen Brady, that he was marrying into a local political dynasty and that he would one day sit in the first selectman’s seat formerly occupied by his mother-in-law.
When the Lindenmayers came back to Kent 25 years later, following their retirement from military service, he found himself “greeted by the most warm and welcoming people you could ever imagine.”
“When I talk to people who have moved here since Covid, I see that when they moved here they wanted to bring Westchester with them,” he said. “But now they see Kent for what it is—a beautiful, vibrant town.”
