Economic Development Newsletter
November 2024
KILLINGWORTH, CONNECTICUT
Killingworth, founded in 1667, has an area of 35.8 square miles and is bordered by the Middlesex County towns of Durham, Haddam, Chester, Deep River, Westbrook, and Clinton. The Town has a Selectmen-Town Meeting form of government and is a chartered municipality with a 2024/2025 operating budget of $5,988,512.
Chatfield Hollow State Park, Forster Pond State Park, and portions of Cockaponset State Forest are within the town’s boundaries, and the town was the subject of the Henry Wadsworth Longfellow poem, “The Birds of Killingworth” written in 1863 and published in Tales of Wayside Inn.
TOWN STATS
General
Current Population: 6,216
Median Age: 51
Median Household Income: $124,620
Economy
Top Industries
1. Government
2. Construction
3. Professional/Scientific/Tech Service
4. Healthcare & Social Services
Housing
Median Home Value: $377,600
Median Rent: $898
Housing Units: 2,599
From 2024 Town Profiles courtesy of AdvanceCT and CT Data Collaborative.
NOTABLE ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT
Dining and entertainment options are expanding in Killingworth – in the past few years, the Town has become home to The Barrel House, Café Laurel, Shipwreck Tavern, and the soon-to-open Killingworth location of the James Madison House.
In early 2024, Planning & Zoning approved the development of 18 new apartments to join the two existing residential and mixed-use buildings at the intersection of Route 80 and 81. A solar array will be built over the parking to contribute to the energy needs of the new build.
A recent addition to Killingworth, Budget Dry Basement Waterproofing, opened on Route 81 in the Killingworth commercial district, joining several new businesses readying to open in Town.
Eric Couture, First Selectman
First Selectman Eric Couture is a home-grown town leader. He attended Region 17 schools and graduated from Haddam Killingworth High School. After returning to Town after attending Rochester Institute of Technology, where he studied physics and political science, Eric worked in state politics in research and communications roles.
He served on the Killingworth Energy Task Force for five years and the Region 17 Board of Education from 2015 to 2019, where he served on the facilities, policy, curriculum, and High School Renovation committees.
Elected in November 2023, Eric focuses on building on the town’s strengths—an excellent school system, a strong community spirit, and a second-to-none natural environment.
What is a Plan of Conservation and Development (POCD)?
A POCD is a comprehensive document that outlines a municipality's vision for the future, identifying its needs, setting goals, and proposing strategies to achieve them across various aspects like economic development, environmental protection, housing, transportation, and infrastructure, essentially acting as a blueprint for the town's long-term growth while balancing conservation efforts with development initiatives; it is primarily an advisory document guiding decision-making by local boards and commissions.
Section 8-23 of the Connecticut General Statutes (CGS) requires each municipality to prepare or amend and adopt a plan of conservation and development (POCD) at least once every ten years to be eligible for discretionary state funding. This includes any source of funding that a state agency administers through a competitive process, e.g. the Urban Action Program, Small Town Economic Assistance Program, Brownfields Remediation, etc.
Parmalee Farm
Parmalee Farm is a 132-acre site purchased by the Town of Killingworth in 2000, with a mission to connect the community to the natural environment and the town’s history through education, recreation, preservation, agriculture, and the arts. The 18th-century homestead, an example of post-Colonial/Federal Style architecture, is used by the Killingworth Historical Society to store and display artifacts and is on the State Register of Historic Places.
The property includes a stone barn, event pavilion, schoolhouse, corn crib, and sugar shack. Open from dawn to dusk for visitors to enjoy walking, running, and cross-country skiing, the Parmalee Farm Steering Committee organizes public and private events throughout the year, including summer concerts and car cruises, as well as artisans, farmers, and holiday markets. https://parmeleefarm.org/