Frustration in Groton Over a Simple Permit

Kent Legasse worked as an army physician for 21 years, so in his words, he's not stupid.

Still, he couldn’t figure out where to go to get a burn permit to clear some brush on his property on Starr Hill Road.

Groton has nine fire districts, some of which have their own staff and apparatus, and some of which don’t. He couldn’t figure out which district he was in, and whether it had a station or not.

“I’m about ready to throw a match into the pile of brush and see what fire department shows up,” he said this week.

Legasse stopped at the Poquonnock Bridge Fire District, the city offices, the town clerk’s office, the land records office and the assessor’s office.

By the time he got there, he was so aggravated he said he asked why he was paying almost $650 a month in taxes. He grew up in Mystic, but never had to deal with this back then.

He bought the house in Groton in November.

“It's cumbersome. It’s idiotic,” he said of the system. “I think it’s because the town overlaps with the sewer districts, the fire districts, everything overlaps, but none of it’s the same line, so it is confusing.”

The city clerk finally provided the answer: Starr Hill Road is part of the Pleasant Valley Fire District, which is covered by the Groton City Fire Department.