An eyesore in Bethel is being dismantled.  Contracts have been signed by Bethel officials to take down an old water tank.  The structure on Hickok Avenue hasn't been used in decades because of an engineering and design flaw.  First Selectman Matt Knickerbocker says it's been sitting on a hill rusting for many years.

The tank is on town-owned land and near a property Bethel purchased last fall between Maple and Hickok Avenues.  Knickerbocker says once the tank comes down, the property could be turned into an area for passive recreation.  That nearly 13 acre property is a steep and environmentally sensitive piece of land that Knickerbocker says the town wanted to save from development.

Work is expected to start at the end of this month and be wrapped up before winter.

Knickerbocker says the Hickok Avenue parcel purchased by the town is steep and environmentally sensitive. 

Various developer proposals over the years have been rejected because of the endangered species nearby.  But he says a proposal for affordable housing, which could overrule local zoning regulations, was presented to the town so Bethel took action.  Knickerbocker says it would require a significant amount of blasting, hundreds of trees would be removed and it would create a traffic nightmare for the winding road leading up to the site.