[0:00] Why don't we start with the

[0:01] introductions? Uh, I don't see Rrista,

[0:04] so I guess I'll start. Uh, Jack Walsh

[0:07] from Derby, and I'm co-chair of the

[0:09] committee.

[0:11] » Uh, Desra.

[0:13] » I'm Desra Blanchard, uh, communications

[0:16] and community engagement director with

[0:17] NVCOG.

[0:18] » Yeah. Aaron Yaron Budd. I'm the

[0:21] environmental planning director here at

[0:22] NVCOG. Tom

[0:26] Dhy, environmental planner, NVCOG.

[0:29] Emily.

[0:32] » Hi, I'm Emily. I'm a designer at Stimson

[0:34] Landscape Architects.

[0:36] » Uh, Christine.

[0:39] » Hi, I'm Christine. I'm a senior

[0:40] environmental planner with Envy Cog.

[0:43] » Paul.

[0:44] » Yeah. Paul Benvich Water, downtown

[0:46] engineer.

[0:48] » Okay. The other Paul. [laughter]

[0:50] Paul.

[0:51] » Paul Woodworth. Uh, senior director of

[0:53] ecological restoration at Save the

[0:54] Sound.

[0:57] Michael.

[0:59] » Hi, Michael Inquis from Simpson

[1:00] Landscape Architect.

[1:02] » Okay. City of Waterberry.

[1:05] » Good morning. Judy Mancini. I'm adviser

[1:07] to Mayor Paul Pernooki.

[1:10] » Molly,

[1:17] » You just muted yourself. Molly,

[1:25] you want to unmute yourself and

[1:27] introduce yourself? There you go.

[1:29] » Hi, sorry having technical issues, but

[1:31] I'm Molly Johnson, uh, environmental

[1:33] planner at NVCOG.

[1:35] » Mark

[1:38] Nielsen with NVCOG. Um,

[1:42] okay Jeff.

[1:51] » Hi Jeff Barilla. Uh, community liaison

[1:54] at Save the Sound for the Kenny Town Dam

[1:56] Removal Project.

[1:59] » Jerry Jerry Lucowski, director of public

[2:02] works, Water Town.

[2:04] » Daisy.

[2:07] » Hi, Daisy Everingham. I'm an

[2:09] environmental planning intern here at

[2:10] MVCOG.

[2:12] » Kevin.

[2:13] » Uh, good morning. Kevin Ellis, senior

[2:15] engineer at MVCOG.

[2:17] » Okay, Glenn.

[2:19] » I'm Glenn Valentine, principal from

[2:22] Stimson Landscape Architecture.

[2:24] » Okay, Michael.

[2:30] » How you doing? Michael Dham, uh,

[2:32] director of parks and recreation,

[2:33] Watertown.

[2:35] » Okay, next one I'm going to butcher.

[2:39] video.

[2:40] Not even close, I don't think.

[2:42] » That's all right. Good morning,

[2:43] everyone. Um, my name is Tao Ola. I'm a

[2:47] transportation planner at Envy Chicago.

[2:49] » Okay. Denise.

[2:51] » Uh, Denise Rap, First Leman, Town of

[2:53] Lichfield.

[2:55] » Cleave.

[2:56] » Yes. Hi, I'm Cle, town of Lichfield.

[3:00] » Tommy.

[3:08] Tommy Rack, you there?

[3:11] » Yeah. Yeah, I'm here.

[3:13] » Okay. Who are you representing, Tommy?

[3:15] » I'm with Envy Cog.

[3:16] » Okay. Bobby.

[3:19] » Hi. Bobby Brown, a communications

[3:21] associate with NVCOG.

[3:23] » Hey, Tony.

[3:26] » Tony Adilly, town of Thomson ladies

[3:28] administrator.

[3:29] » Hey, Burke.

[3:34] » Hi, Amanda. Uh Thomas Greenway chair.

[3:37] » Okay. Uh KP's iPhone.

[3:42] » Hey, good morning. This is Kate Peipa,

[3:45] transportation planner and VCOG.

[3:47] » James. Oh, James Culpa.

[3:50] » Uh James Culpa, VHP oversee projects in

[3:53] the transportation alternatives program

[3:55] as well as a steep grant program.

[3:57] » Okay. Vince.

[3:59] » Yeah, Vince Seafford. I'm a volunteer

[4:02] for Ngatuck and when I'm doing my paid

[4:05] job, I'm a construction engineer at GGA

[4:07] Geo Environmental.

[4:10] » Chris.

[4:13] » Hi everybody. Chris Roberts. I'm with uh

[4:15] the active transportation unit at

[4:17] Connecticut DOT.

[4:20] » Okay. Did I miss anyone?

[4:23] » Jim Stewart, public works Nagatuk.

[4:26] » Hey, this may be the largest crowd we've

[4:27] ever had. I can't remember this many

[4:29] people being on board. So, uh, those are

[4:33] introductions. All right. Uh, let's see.

[4:36] Erin, shall we go right into the

[4:38] updates? Waterberry.

[4:43] » Uh, good morning everyone. Um, we're

[4:46] still in design on the greenway part.

[4:48] We're in the process of finishing up our

[4:50] rideway acquisitions and we're moving

[4:53] slowly but surely forward in in process.

[4:56] It's still being reviewed by the federal

[4:59] government as far as that could be a

[5:01] little bit up in the air, but we're

[5:02] still proceeding forward and moving

[5:04] along with the timelines as if we are

[5:06] absolutely getting the remaining funding

[5:09] on our project.

[5:10] » Let's hope so. What What's the actual

[5:12] distance of that section you're you're

[5:14] working on?

[5:15] » You know, I don't I think it's a couple

[5:16] miles, but I can get that for you. I

[5:18] don't have that right in front of me.

[5:19] » Okay. Right. Uh and you got some good

[5:22] publicity I saw the other day.

[5:24] » Yeah, we did. It was a great day. It's a

[5:26] great It's It's great. People enjoy it.

[5:28] So hopefully again, slowly but surely

[5:31] we'll get there.

[5:33] » Let's hope so. [clears throat] Uh and

[5:35] Sonia,

[5:37] is that going to be you, Erin?

[5:41] » Yeah. So, the last thing I heard and

[5:43] maybe Jim Culpa can can chime in here.

[5:46] Um was that um

[5:50] were they approaching 30%. I think it

[5:52] was under review. I can't remember

[5:53] exactly what what the status was on

[5:56] that.

[5:56] » Uh Bill Anderson is typing right now. So

[6:00] get an update from him. I think that's

[6:02] where it's at.

[6:05] » Working through some design details cuz

[6:07] like one portion of that alignment is

[6:10] getting excavated right now for a coring

[6:12] operation.

[6:14] » Okay. Yeah, that's controversial.

[6:18] All right. But work is being done, so

[6:20] they're moving along. Yeah, I'll circle

[6:22] back when he's done typing me an update.

[6:25] » Okay. All right. Uh, Watertown Jury, you

[6:28] going to do both of those?

[6:34] » I could have uh Paul briefed the our

[6:36] Ngatuck uh um section. I could brief the

[6:41] Watertown Steelbrook Greenway. Um it's

[6:44] just about a mile length from French uh

[6:47] street with flashing vehicans with a

[6:50] bridge that's in production uh right now

[6:52] in Alabama. Um the abupments uh are set

[6:56] up, they're going to be poured uh

[6:57] tomorrow for the bridge. Um once the uh

[7:01] it's poured the concrete uh we're going

[7:04] to start the paving and it's going to go

[7:07] down to uh Unico uh field which is about

[7:10] a mile away at the Unico Bridge. Uh

[7:14] Colona is the contractor doing a good

[7:16] job. Um and we look to be done uh

[7:20] substantial completion on October 25th.

[7:25] » Well, that's great. That's really good.

[7:28] Right. How about the water town

[7:30] sections?

[7:30] » Yeah, the uh Noak River Greenway, we're

[7:33] looking to hire a design engineer for

[7:36] that 2.38 miles of trail. I'm trying to

[7:40] get a status update and our request for

[7:42] extension from deep uh wreck trails

[7:45] because our uh grant runs out next

[7:47] month. So, I've been a little been

[7:49] working on that. I haven't heard back

[7:51] from Kim Bradley yet or anybody up

[7:53] there. So, I need to check today on

[7:55] that. So,

[7:59] Um, Beacon Falls.

[8:03] Erin, is that back to you?

[8:05] » Um, so is Kevin on?

[8:08] » Yes, I am here.

[8:10] » So, so, uh, Beacon Falls is working on a

[8:12] lot application to, um, well, originally

[8:16] it was to repave their main street. Um,

[8:18] we've had discussions with the with the

[8:20] municipality about, you know, it being a

[8:23] really good opportunity to do a little

[8:24] bit more or, you know, make a make a

[8:26] bigger impact on downtown. And there's

[8:28] definite implications with the greenway.

[8:31] So, Kevin, who's our transportation

[8:33] engineer here on staff, has been working

[8:35] to sort of develop some concepts and

[8:38] Kevin, if you want to sort of run

[8:39] through those and talk about how, you

[8:41] know, it impacts the or could impact the

[8:43] greenway, um, that'd be great.

[8:45] » Yeah, of course. Uh I will be sharing my

[8:47] screen so we can go back to PowerPoint

[8:49] right after but I can show the concept

[8:51] plans.

[8:52] » Um like like Aaron said uh we have a

[8:54] lots of application with the town. It's

[8:56] been in the works for a while and we've

[8:57] been working with them to kind of uh

[8:59] reinvision what uh Main Street can be uh

[9:02] between uh if you're familiar with the

[9:03] Beacon Falls between Route 42 the

[9:05] intersection route 42 at Bethany Road

[9:07] all the way north up to uh Church Street

[9:09] where it kind of turns off of the old

[9:11] route 8 alignment. Um, so I'll give a

[9:14] quick highlight of the plans here. Uh,

[9:16] and I guess I'll I'll double check. Can

[9:17] everyone see my screen?

[9:20] » Yes. Yes.

[9:21] » All right. Excellent. So, um, I think

[9:24] the biggest part of for that's relevant

[9:26] for the for the Arctic River Greenway is

[9:28] actually uh this little call out here,

[9:31] which is kind of outside of the plan

[9:33] scope, but is important to this project.

[9:35] So, as part of the whole project, uh,

[9:37] it's existing four lanes. Uh, as a

[9:39] project goal, we wanted to slim it down

[9:41] to two. So, and I'll talk more about

[9:43] that when I go up the corridor, but

[9:45] essentially we are cutting the roadway

[9:47] width in half. So, question is how do

[9:50] you tie into the existing state section

[9:52] on South Main Street, Route 42 as it

[9:54] goes south along the river and then what

[9:56] do you do with that? So I talked to the

[9:58] department maybe I started the

[10:00] conversations maybe six weeks ago and we

[10:02] decided together that what we can do is

[10:05] we will abandon the uh 42 side the I

[10:10] guess the westbound side the the the

[10:12] side closer to the river and in part of

[10:15] that abandonment we're not going to tear

[10:16] up the pavement or anything we'll just

[10:18] leave the pavement there and the Narctic

[10:19] River Greenway can then just use the

[10:21] existing alignment going all the way

[10:23] down from the intersection Route 42 here

[10:25] with uh South Main street all the way

[10:28] underneath the Route 8 bridge all the

[10:29] way to uh what's the name of the park?

[10:31] Riverbend Park. Did I get that right,

[10:32] Aaron?

[10:33] » Yep.

[10:34] » Okay. So, that that that that's probably

[10:36] the biggest news with all this is we'll

[10:38] be almost getting a free greenway just

[10:40] using the old alignment. No need no need

[10:42] to change the pavement. The striping the

[10:44] striping can just be there. It doesn't

[10:45] matter. Um and it's going to be really

[10:47] wide section because this is what the

[10:48] existing pavement structure is. We're

[10:50] talking maybe 25 20 25 ft plus of

[10:54] pavement that would just become the

[10:55] greenway.

[10:57] That's kind of the really the biggest

[10:58] change as part of these plans and none

[11:00] of it is being shown here because it's

[11:01] technically outside of the project

[11:02] limits.

[11:04] But uh as you kind of go uh move uh

[11:08] towards the north uh we'll have the

[11:10] section of greenway tying to the

[11:11] existing section that's ex that's right

[11:14] that that's right uh against the Route

[11:16] 42 or not Route 42 South Main Street

[11:18] along the river that will remain in

[11:20] place. That will just continue being as

[11:22] is. Um, so as you move north, that

[11:27] sector to greenway is still going to be

[11:28] there. Obviously, the roadway corridor

[11:30] is not very different. There's a lot

[11:31] more grass between the greenway and now

[11:34] the new two-lane road, on street

[11:35] parking, that sort of thing.

[11:38] And then even further north, uh, kind of

[11:41] halfway between that, uh, on South Main

[11:43] Street heading towards Depot Street

[11:44] where that old like iron bridges, the

[11:46] town wants to have some developable land

[11:47] in this area. So really for the

[11:49] greenway, we're talking about like

[11:52] amenities, shops, sort of things that if

[11:53] you're riding a bike, you can stop for

[11:55] like a cup of coffee, maybe some ice

[11:57] cream, maybe just like local shops along

[11:59] the way. Just kind of it kind of gives a

[12:01] really different context to the greenway

[12:02] and more of an economic driver, which

[12:04] obviously the town of Beacon Falls is

[12:05] very interested in.

[12:08] And then once we get to Deeper Street,

[12:09] uh the existing greenway ends, but as

[12:12] part of this project, we'll be creating

[12:13] a multi-use trail that will be

[12:15] continuing along North Main Street from

[12:17] the greenway. So, we have this little

[12:18] connector piece here, crosswalk across

[12:20] depot, and then we'll kind of having a a

[12:23] 12t wide greenway moving all the way up

[12:26] along the corridor kind of past all the

[12:28] existing businesses. Uh, again, the

[12:31] roadway is now two lanes. So, with the

[12:33] extra roadway space, we have room for

[12:35] grass plantings, but but relevant here,

[12:38] the greenway. So, this will kind of

[12:40] continue up past the route 8 uh on and

[12:42] off ramps intersection, and it'll

[12:45] continue all the way up to the end of

[12:47] the quarter, which is where North Main

[12:49] Street will turn into Church Street. So,

[12:50] this is where the greenway will end for

[12:52] now. I know there are plans to get it

[12:54] through the Naggatuck forest somehow. I

[12:57] know I've had a lot of conversations of

[12:58] how to do that, how much money it will

[13:00] cost, but that that's a different topic

[13:01] for a different day.

[13:03] So really here uh the big highlights are

[13:06] the Route 42 alignment south of Bethany

[13:09] Road will the river side will become the

[13:12] Narctic River Greenway which will extend

[13:14] the greenway uh pretty significantly

[13:16] down I think for about a mile or so and

[13:19] then using the existing greenway

[13:20] footprint. Obviously, the whole context

[13:22] will be different, but really the

[13:25] existing greenway will be there with new

[13:27] shop shops along the way. And then we'll

[13:29] be extending the greenway up past Depot

[13:32] Street all the way up along North Main

[13:33] Street to Church Street, kind of where

[13:35] the end of the project limits are. So,

[13:38] those are the big highlights for Beacon

[13:39] Falls. I know it's a lot. I kind of

[13:41] quickly said at once, so of course I'll

[13:43] take any questions or comments or

[13:45] thoughts about this whole project.

[13:48] Do you have funding for this yet or?

[13:51] » Yes. So, so the way lots of works is uh

[13:53] they already applied for for application

[13:56] funding. As part of the pro process, you

[13:58] need to allocate funding for it. So, the

[14:00] board has already approved this. Uh

[14:01] right now we're looking at a $16 million

[14:03] price tag for the whole quarter

[14:04] improvements. Um this number is a is a

[14:06] living number. It might change as the

[14:08] project develops over time, but the way

[14:10] lots of works is as an MVCOG, we get

[14:13] around $10.8 million per year. projects

[14:16] continuously roll in and then once a

[14:18] project's ready to construct and we have

[14:20] the funding set aside for in in our

[14:22] coffers, uh, we can get it built. So, we

[14:24] do have the funding kind of set aside

[14:25] for this project already.

[14:27] » Great.

[14:29] Any questions?

[14:33] Okay, let's move on. Good luck with

[14:34] that. That sounds great.

[14:35] » Thank you.

[14:37] » All right. How about uh Harington?

[14:44] All right, I guess we're back to you.

[14:45] [laughter]

[14:49] » Um,

[14:53] so Nog I think Ngatuck we skipped.

[14:58] » Oh, okay. Let's go back to I thought

[15:01] that was part of the water tub report.

[15:04] [clears throat]

[15:05] » So Jim Stewart, uh, public works. Um,

[15:10] Kleinfelder is still in preliminary

[15:12] design.

[15:13] We're currently grappling with uh the

[15:16] section of of trail that goes between

[15:20] Fields and in the existing driveway and

[15:23] and the Salem Bridge over the Ngatuck

[15:26] River. Um it's very tight. The road is

[15:29] probably only, you know, 19 18 ft

[15:32] two-way road at this point or the the

[15:34] the access way to the fields. Um, so we

[15:38] have to figure out what we're going to

[15:40] do uh with the the parking which which

[15:43] would be affected the the roadway and

[15:46] the fencing to the field. So So we're

[15:49] trying to figure out how much of the

[15:51] fields we can lose, how much parking we

[15:53] can lose, where we can relocate it, and

[15:56] and how we're going to get through there

[15:59] um with a trail.

[16:03] » That sounds like a challenge. Yeah, it's

[16:05] it's we're going to lose somewhere.

[16:07] That's for sure.

[16:08] » Yeah.

[16:10] Lose somewhere and gain elsewhere. So,

[16:12] » Yep.

[16:14] » Okay. Anything else?

[16:17] All right. Now, we'll go to Harington.

[16:21] » I don't have any updates on Harington. I

[16:24] think Ra was going to give an update and

[16:26] I don't see her on.

[16:27] » Well, if she comes on, we'll go back to

[16:29] her.

[16:30] » Okay.

[16:31] » I I've got one that's not on there. Um,

[16:34] and it's not for an extension,

[16:37] but Derby got a grant of over a half a

[16:41] million dollars, and it's going to be a

[16:42] little different. Uh, the grant was

[16:44] actually written by the economic

[16:46] development director, and his effort is

[16:50] to encourage development in downtown by

[16:54] lighting the greenway.

[16:57] So, they got over a half a million

[16:59] dollars and it includes security cameras

[17:03] and solar lighting.

[17:06] Um, there are in the stage of putting

[17:09] together an RFP for this. Uh, so we'll

[17:12] see. But, you know, I don't know if any

[17:16] other sections of the greenway have

[17:18] intentionally put lighting on their

[17:20] greenway and the implications that that

[17:22] will have, but that that will be

[17:24] something to watch and I don't have a

[17:25] time frame. Erin, did you hear anything

[17:27] more about this or Mark?

[17:30] » No.

[17:32] » Uh, no, I haven't. But uh, Jack, I think

[17:35] the short section Seymour has lights on

[17:38] it.

[17:39] » Oh, okay. I didn't I didn't realize.

[17:41] [clears throat]

[17:42] » Yeah, it runs from uh 67 down to the

[17:45] Ting uh Dam area. You know, it's real

[17:48] short, but very put lights on that.

[17:51] » I wonder if it gets any use. Yeah. See,

[17:55] in Derby, the idea is that they're

[17:57] building the all these new apartments

[17:58] downtown, and I think it giving them

[18:02] access to the uh the greenway after

[18:06] normal work hours will be an incentive.

[18:08] We'll we'll see, but it will cause

[18:11] [clears throat] some challenges as well.

[18:13] Uh I I thought the original grant was

[18:15] including new fencing, but it looks now

[18:18] it's not new fencing. It's just poles

[18:20] that will be metal instead of the wood

[18:22] that's there now. And the poles will

[18:24] only be for the cameras um and the

[18:28] lighting. So, we'll we'll see.

[18:31] » And and Jack sort of remember going back

[18:33] a number of years when uh that we were

[18:36] first, you know, looking at redeveloping

[18:38] the south side of Main Street. There was

[18:41] a commitment on the on behalf of the of

[18:43] the city to provide a some kind of trail

[18:49] connection between the greenway over by

[18:51] the river to the uh Derby train station.

[18:57] was supposed to go more directly through

[18:59] the um through that development site as

[19:02] opposed to you know requiring people to

[19:04] sort of go down to O Sullivan's Island

[19:06] and sort of loop around and kind of a a

[19:09] roundabout way you know and that was

[19:12] always part of you know an agreement

[19:16] with the city to to do that as the

[19:18] redevelopment of the southside took

[19:20] place. So just going forward if you can

[19:23] keep that in the back of your mind and

[19:25] see if that actually can ever be done.

[19:28] » Yeah. I I don't even know who's in

[19:30] charge of the city. I tried to find out

[19:32] and all I got was that they're working

[19:34] on an RFP. You know, they've had the the

[19:37] grant was announced several months ago.

[19:39] So

[19:39] » Yeah,

[19:39] » It's not moving along very quickly. Uh

[19:43] » So we'll see what happens. But you know

[19:45] it is important as you said Mark the

[19:47] work on the the train stations all up

[19:49] and down the north are taking place now.

[19:52] So

[19:53] » The idea of that was to uh because you

[19:55] know one of our ideas when we were doing

[19:57] the main street Route 34 project was to

[20:00] build a section of trail along right

[20:03] along the road right adjacent. But, you

[20:05] know, the mayor uh you know, wanted on

[20:07] street parking instead. And so, but sort

[20:10] of the compromise was okay, on street

[20:13] parking would go back in, but the city

[20:15] would commit to try to build a more

[20:18] direct connection to the train station

[20:20] from the Derby Shelton Bridge uh point

[20:24] again just to make it a quicker, you

[20:27] know, quicker connection between Shelton

[20:29] and Derby.

[20:30] » Yeah. Well, we'll see what happens, but

[20:33] again, they they they got over a half a

[20:35] million dollars, so

[20:38] they've got money to play with, so we'll

[20:39] see what happens.

[20:41] » The the other consideration there, and

[20:42] I'm sure they're they're working on

[20:44] this, but I know at least for the

[20:46] sections that are on the flood control

[20:48] wall, um, you know, there's very limited

[20:51] things they can do and, you know, a

[20:53] limited depth that they can excavate to.

[20:56] So, you know, that that may be

[20:58] difficult.

[21:00] They also have an issue that they're

[21:02] dealing with been dragging on for three

[21:04] years now. Uh they have to do some major

[21:07] work on the bridge that goes over the

[21:10] railroads uh on the Husatonic side. They

[21:14] actually allocated the money three years

[21:16] ago and nothing has been happening.

[21:20] story I keep getting is that uh they're

[21:23] not able to contact the railroad company

[21:26] and you know the railroads have

[21:28] basically absolute control but uh they

[21:31] determined that they had an agreement

[21:34] with the railroad when they built the

[21:36] bridge

[21:38] and they can't proceed to do a half

[21:40] million dollars worth of work if that

[21:43] agreement isn't renewed because it

[21:46] expired and no one knew. So, submissions

[21:49] and derby. Uh, why don't we move on uh

[21:52] to the funding submissions and

[21:54] opportunities? Who's going to talk about

[21:56] the Connecticut Deep Recreation Trails?

[22:01] I don't know if Kim is on.

[22:05] I don't see her. Um, so I think a bunch

[22:08] of us are waiting to hear about uh

[22:10] awards for the last round of Rec Trails.

[22:14] Um, from what I understand,

[22:17] um,

[22:19] there's the bond commission actually

[22:20] authorized more funding than than DEP

[22:23] had originally um, expected, so they had

[22:26] to go back and sort of re-examine

[22:29] all of the applications that they

[22:31] received. Um, it's quite a while ago

[22:33] now. Um, so

[22:36] you know, I was hoping to have an update

[22:38] from Kim today and and sort of know when

[22:40] we're gonna we're going to hear, but um

[22:44] but I guess we'll just keep holding our

[22:45] breaths.

[22:47] » Well, it's nice to hear there's more

[22:48] more money allocated anyway, so better

[22:50] chance.

[22:51] » I guess it's a good problem to have, but

[22:53] [laughter]

[22:54] [clears throat]

[22:55] » Yep.

[22:55] » All right. How about the DOT microrant

[22:58] program?

[22:59] » Hi everybody.

[23:01] Uh quick update for you guys. Um year

[23:05] three so far, um we've awarded just a

[23:09] little over 600 and just about 650,000

[23:14] of our 750,000 plus we had some change

[23:18] left over from last year. Giving out 140

[23:21] awards this year and we do have around

[23:24] three. Um but we do have a limited

[23:27] amount of funding. So, we're going to be

[23:28] giving out two awards per COG um for

[23:31] that and then that'll be it for this

[23:33] year. Um no word yet on continued

[23:37] funding next year, but hopefully we will

[23:39] get another $750,000 to continue the

[23:42] program.

[23:43] » And what's the maximum amount for any of

[23:45] the the individual grants?

[23:46] » Uh $5,000.

[23:48] » 5,000. Okay.

[23:49] » Yep.

[23:49] » Yeah.

[23:52] » Okay. Any other funding uh reports?

[23:55] » I don't know. So, if anybody is

[23:57] interested in in our region at least, um

[24:00] you can reach out to Taio who is on the

[24:02] call. Um Taio, I don't know if you have

[24:04] any

[24:06] anything to add.

[24:09] » No. Um Chris has said it all. I just

[24:11] want to say thank you to this committee

[24:13] because um I did get a lot of um um

[24:16] applications as a result of it. Um Aaron

[24:19] talking about it at the last meeting and

[24:21] which was good. Um

[24:23] we I can proudly say that we've been

[24:25] able to award um grants to at least um

[24:30] to all our municipalities at least two.

[24:33] They've been two every municipality has

[24:36] been covered under this program. We're

[24:38] doing well. Um thank you to this

[24:40] committee. We'll still keep receiving

[24:42] applications

[24:44] um until there's funding available

[24:46] hopefully next year. So please keep

[24:49] those applications coming in. Thank you.

[24:51] Is the application available on on the

[24:53] website?

[24:56] » I have a website.

[24:57] » Yes, it's on the CT website.

[25:01] » Which website?

[25:02] » I can drop the link in the chat.

[25:04] » Okay. And if you go look in the chat,

[25:07] James gave an update on the Ansonia

[25:10] project. So, that's in the the notes.

[25:14] Okay. Uh, well, we already mentioned it,

[25:16] but how about an update on the

[25:17] Waterberry Summer Family Day, which was

[25:20] held on August 1st.

[25:23] » Yeah, we had a we had a booth out there

[25:25] along with some other um organizations

[25:27] around Waterberry. Um, I think it was

[25:30] aimed more at like school kids, but we

[25:33] talked to a lot of parents about the

[25:35] Greenway. There were probably a few

[25:36] hundred people there. Um, a lot of

[25:40] excitement about the greenway. a lot of

[25:41] people we're we're so right in front of

[25:44] the booth there where I'm standing and

[25:46] and talking about something is the

[25:49] greenway. So everybody that was actually

[25:50] standing on the greenway when we're

[25:52] talking to them and a lot of them didn't

[25:53] realize that. So, it was it was really

[25:56] cool to to talk to people about about

[25:58] the greenway and about the plans and see

[26:01] that, you know, everybody really seemed

[26:03] pretty excited about about the prospects

[26:05] and especially about Waterberry section

[26:08] that's being designed now that, you

[26:09] know, you could get from downtown all

[26:12] the way down to um to uh Platill Road on

[26:15] the greenway. Um was really exciting to

[26:18] people. So, uh, it was fun and, uh, you

[26:22] know, we're we're always willing and and

[26:24] able to come out to your communities to

[26:26] do these sorts of events, too. So, if

[26:28] you want to promote the greenway,

[26:30] um, we have a lot of materials, uh, we

[26:32] can come out and speak if if we're

[26:34] available. Um, so keep that in mind if

[26:37] if you guys are having any kind of, um,

[26:41] public engagement fairs, um, anything

[26:43] like that, you know, we're we're always

[26:45] happy to come out and talk to the

[26:46] public.

[26:46] » Hey, hey, Erin, it's Judy. I just want

[26:48] to add to that that that came about um

[26:51] as part of a committee we have here in

[26:53] Waterberry, the Friends of the Greenway,

[26:54] and they're very strong advocates of it

[26:57] and and how great of a resource it is.

[27:00] So, I know they are very excited by the

[27:02] turnout, and we definitely appreciate

[27:04] you guys all turning out for it as well.

[27:06] It was a great day. A lot of people

[27:07] turned up and we gave away backpacks to

[27:10] some school kids and it ended up being a

[27:12] really great day. I would encourage it

[27:14] if you have Greenway that you want to

[27:16] either refresh or introduce. It's it's a

[27:19] great way to to get people out and

[27:21] understand what they're all about,

[27:24] » Right?

[27:24] » It was a lot of fun. And there was free

[27:26] ice cream. So,

[27:28] if you guys have free ice cream,

[27:29] » We needed that now.

[27:31] » Well, we paid for it now. [laughter]

[27:36] » How's the traffic on uh the the water

[27:39] greenways now? I I didn't look at the

[27:40] latest statistics from the Yukon census,

[27:43] but how is the traffic on there?

[27:45] » Um, it's still not very busy and I

[27:47] think, you know, I think it's sort of a

[27:49] short section and I think people are

[27:51] start it it has grown over the past

[27:53] couple years. So, you know, I think more

[27:55] and more people are are realizing that

[27:56] it's there and I think once that

[27:58] connection to downtown is made, I think

[28:00] it's really going to really going to

[28:02] bump up.

[28:03] » There's some beautiful

[28:04] » Too. I think Amazon going over there,

[28:06] Aaron, too. I think it might make a

[28:08] difference for use at least people to

[28:09] enjoy the park over there.

[28:11] » Yes.

[28:12] » Yeah, it was well done. Very well done.

[28:15] That was one of our field trips.

[28:18] » Okay, let's let's move on. Any other

[28:20] business or news?

[28:25] We did install a couple of plaques on on

[28:27] the Derby Greenway. Uh we have a project

[28:30] in town for derby 350th and uh just

[28:35] historic markers and two of them were

[28:37] installed on the uhatonic side of the

[28:40] greenway. One with the um the mural that

[28:44] was painted earlier this year and the

[28:45] other one was just the history of the

[28:47] greenway itself. So,

[28:50] » All right,

[28:51] » Jack. I I know I've seen on Facebook

[28:52] that I think you're leading um history

[28:55] tours

[28:56] » In in on the greenway.

[28:58] » There's there's one going on right now

[29:01] uh this summer. The um Derby Historical

[29:05] Society and the Derby Neck Library have

[29:07] organized a series of history talks. I I

[29:11] did the first one and every Thursday,

[29:14] even though this one is on Wednesday,

[29:17] they have different speakers coming in

[29:20] and talking about derby history while

[29:23] people casually walk on the greenway.

[29:26] The problem they've had is uh most of

[29:29] the days have either been too hot or too

[29:31] rainy. So, I think there have only been

[29:33] two hell so far, but the one today

[29:35] should be fine. So, it's another great

[29:38] idea, great way to promote your uh, you

[29:41] know, section of Greenway. I did one

[29:43] couple years ago and it was too hot. I

[29:46] had uh over 30 people

[29:49] that came out. It was about 90 degrees.

[29:51] So, we started with 30. I think we ended

[29:53] up by the time we got back with 15. So,

[29:56] got to worry about the heat when you do

[29:58] it. But, it's a great idea. I I would

[30:01] think others might incorporate some of

[30:02] the history of the town on a ward like

[30:05] that. pretty easy to do.

[30:08] » Okay. Who's taking over now for the

[30:10] Kenny Town Dam project?

[30:12] » I guess that will be me. Um, so

[30:15] [clears throat]

[30:16] we've been talking a little bit about

[30:17] this over the past several meetings,

[30:19] several years. Um, but NBC is is leading

[30:22] an effort to remove the Kennytown Dam.

[30:25] Um, I have uh Paul Woodworth is is on

[30:28] the line. Um, he's uh he's with Save the

[30:31] Sound. I'll let Paul introduce himself.

[30:35] Hey, good morning everybody. I'm Paul

[30:37] Woodworth, senior director of the

[30:38] ecological restoration team at Save the

[30:40] Sound and uh our our project manager for

[30:44] uh working closely with Aaron on the

[30:46] Kenny Town Cam Removal Project.

[30:50] So, we've talked a little bit about

[30:51] this, but I think we're going to Paul

[30:53] and I are going to go through some some

[30:54] of the background and and why we're

[30:56] doing this project and what the project

[30:58] looks like. Um and then sort of the more

[31:00] exciting part of this project for this

[31:02] group is the you know the opportunities

[31:05] it's it's presenting for continuing the

[31:08] the Nagatuck River Greenway through you

[31:10] know basically from downtown Ansonia to

[31:12] downtown Seymour. Um so we'll we have

[31:15] Stimson um who's a landscape architect

[31:19] consultant on the line as well that will

[31:23] take over uh toward the end of this

[31:25] presentation and talk about those

[31:26] opportunities and and present some some

[31:29] concept plans as well. So uh we'll we'll

[31:32] start it off here about you know talking

[31:35] about the background of of Kennytown Dam

[31:38] and the Ngatuck River. And I know a lot

[31:39] of you know a lot of this so I'll go

[31:41] I'll go kind of quickly through the the

[31:42] history but Nagatuck River is the

[31:44] largest tributary of the Husatonic. Um

[31:46] before European settlement migratory

[31:48] fish had free passage from Long Island

[31:50] Sound through the Husatonic River to

[31:52] miles of habitat in the Ngatuck and its

[31:54] tributaries. Um, and you can see, you

[31:57] know, evidence of that on the town of

[31:59] Seymour Town Seal, um, where, you know,

[32:03] from what I understand is is a really

[32:05] important fishing place was right in

[32:07] downtown where where Tinu Dam is now.

[32:10] Um, but it just sort of hints at, you

[32:12] know, the bounty of fish that that, you

[32:15] know, were were in this river uh,

[32:17] historically.

[32:20] Um but the steep grade of the Nagatuck

[32:22] and its tributaries provided really an

[32:24] ideal source of of power for for early

[32:27] sawmills and and grist mills. And then

[32:30] later the river was damned extensively

[32:32] to produce um produce tech textiles,

[32:35] copper, brass and other industrial

[32:37] products. Um really drove the economy of

[32:40] the valley for for nearly two centuries.

[32:44] But all that industry took a toll on the

[32:45] river. All of you have heard stories or

[32:48] may have seen seen the river at at its

[32:50] worst. Um it really became one of the

[32:53] most polluted rivers in the country. Um

[32:56] it actually caught fire several times.

[32:58] Uh this this example was from 1943, but

[33:02] we found other historic uh mentions of

[33:04] fires on the river um from all of that

[33:08] that industrial waste that that was

[33:10] being dumped into the river.

[33:13] But we've really come a long way since

[33:14] then. water quality has improved uh

[33:18] thanks to environmental regulations, the

[33:20] decline of some of those industries. Uh

[33:21] the Nagto River has made a remarkable

[33:23] comeback. Um fish, birds, uh wildlife

[33:26] have have returned and so have people.

[33:29] Um and communities are really starting

[33:30] to embrace the river and I think, you

[33:32] know, the Nagto River Greenway is really

[33:34] a great example of of all the

[33:36] communities sort of embracing the river

[33:38] once again after, you know, turning

[33:40] turning their backs on it for so long

[33:42] because it was in such a bad state.

[33:45] So in the 1990s uh the state recognized

[33:48] the improvements that had been made on

[33:50] the river and they started implementing

[33:52] a plan to restore the Ngatuck River and

[33:55] and and remove barriers to fish that

[33:57] included move removing and bypassing

[33:59] dams all along the Ngatuck and on

[34:01] tributaries. Uh some of the more notable

[34:04] examples on the screen here are the

[34:07] Chase Brass Dam, the Anaconda Dam, um

[34:10] and the Freight Street Dam, all in

[34:12] Waterberry that were removed in the '9s.

[34:14] The Plats Mill Dam and Unit City Dam in

[34:16] Ngatuck also removed in the '9s. Um the

[34:20] Tinu Dam bypass was opened in 2014 in

[34:23] downtown Seymour and also in the '9s, a

[34:27] fish ladder was installed at Kennytown

[34:29] Dam. Uh but now we know that that fish

[34:33] ladder was never really working very

[34:35] well, has completely stopped working um

[34:38] and was really pres preventing fish from

[34:40] even reaching any of that restored

[34:42] habitat.

[34:48] So a little background about Kenny Town

[34:49] Dam. It was built in the 1840s in

[34:51] Seymour to divert water into a series of

[34:54] canals that delivered it all the way

[34:55] into downtown Ansonia where it powered

[34:57] factories. Uh you can see the canal um

[35:01] to the right of the screen on the right

[35:03] hand side of the train tracks. Um

[35:06] upstream of the dam is what we call

[35:08] Kenny Town impoundment. Um and you can

[35:10] see the the newer powerhouse uh to the

[35:13] left along with the fish ladder that

[35:15] that empties right right below the

[35:17] powerhouse.

[35:19] Um, so

[35:22] there was a powerhouse built in Ansonia

[35:25] in in the 1910s, we believe, um, that

[35:30] really started the hydroelectric power

[35:32] generation at the site. Um, in the

[35:33] 1980s, the the powerhouse on the screen

[35:36] here was built um, in Seymour uh, to

[35:39] produce hydroelectric hydroelectric

[35:41] power. At that time they started feeding

[35:43] power into the grid and because of that

[35:46] they had to get licensed by the Federal

[35:48] Energy Regulatory Commission or FK. Uh

[35:50] as a small hydro facility, FK issued it

[35:53] a permit exemption in 1983.

[35:56] Um exemption is sort of a misnomer. It

[35:59] doesn't mean that it's exempt from

[36:00] licensing. It's sort of a mini license.

[36:02] Um but there are a bunch of um

[36:04] requirements that that have to be met in

[36:06] order to uh to keep that that um that

[36:10] exemption uh active. So they have to

[36:13] operate the powerhouses to generate

[36:15] electricity. They have to maintain the

[36:16] facility and when called upon um by FK

[36:20] they had to provide fish passage at the

[36:21] site which is why the fish ladder was

[36:23] built in the 1990s.

[36:29] So, we first learned that the fish

[36:32] ladder was not working from Kevin Zach,

[36:33] who I don't think is on the call now,

[36:35] but is a member of this group. Um, Kevin

[36:38] is a local environmentalist. He lives

[36:41] right near the Ngatuck River and is

[36:43] really passionate about the river. And

[36:45] he'd noticed that migratory fish um

[36:47] existed below the dam and had never seen

[36:50] them above the dam even after the fish

[36:52] ladder was was constructed. So, he spent

[36:54] years documenting schools of fish below

[36:56] the dam, dead and dying fish at the base

[36:58] of the dam. He made really moving videos

[37:00] that you can see on YouTube um and on

[37:02] our website. And he shared his concerns

[37:05] widely to environmental groups like Save

[37:07] the Sound and to NBC staff um and also

[37:11] to several of our chief elected

[37:12] officials that are that sit on our our

[37:15] NBC board. Um, and I think because of

[37:19] Kevin's advocacy and and his passion

[37:22] about this, a lot of our CEOs got really

[37:24] passionate about it and they made it a

[37:27] made it a a priority of our of Envy Cog

[37:31] to to do something about this and to

[37:33] look into it and figure out exactly what

[37:34] was going on. So, in 2018, we started

[37:38] working with Kevin and with Save the

[37:40] Sound to investigate the issue.

[37:46] Um, and I'll turn it over to Paul here

[37:48] to to talk about about this slide and,

[37:50] you know, what we found about the ladder

[37:51] itself and and why it wasn't working.

[37:55] » So, the [clears throat] ladder was

[37:56] designed at the with the

[37:57] state-of-the-art technology at the time.

[37:59] Uh, was actually modeled after other

[38:01] ladders uh built up north um and and in

[38:05] some cases for different fish. Um, but

[38:08] this hairpin turn you see here is one of

[38:09] the structural deficiencies of it that

[38:11] was a a major issue in deterring lots of

[38:13] fish passage. Um but the other thing it

[38:15] was meant to run at its best conditions

[38:17] when hydroele electricity was being

[38:19] generated and once the units started to

[38:22] go offline that redirected the flow of

[38:24] water in different areas and created

[38:26] more distraction flow and less

[38:28] attraction flow and so after we analyzed

[38:31] a lot of the records that have been

[38:32] collected by deep over about a two

[38:34] decade period

[38:36] we found that there was a really poulry

[38:38] passage uh these are video records that

[38:40] we were able to sort of uh distill down

[38:42] into into spreadsheets eats and found

[38:45] that it was like an average of 12 fish a

[38:47] year or something like that. So really

[38:48] pathetic passage. Uh and once once the

[38:51] the dam went off power um it kind of

[38:54] shut it down to to nearly zero. So um

[38:57] without generating any power, this dam

[38:59] was just basically sitting there uh no

[39:01] longer serving any benefit to society

[39:03] and and that's when we really started to

[39:04] amp up the effort to um to pursue

[39:07] removal.

[39:10] And uh Erin, do you want to jump to the

[39:12] next slide? and um and cover that or do

[39:15] you want me to?

[39:16] » No, I could I could speak to this one

[39:18] and then I'll throw it back to you in a

[39:19] minute. Um so, you know, we work to save

[39:22] the sound and Kevin um and really try to

[39:27] tried to explain to FK and to the the

[39:30] fish and wildlife agencies that, you

[39:33] know, fish passage was not happening

[39:35] here. So, we really got got into this

[39:38] project in the beginning trying to force

[39:39] the owners at the time who initially was

[39:42] NL um and then Hydroland

[39:46] um really trying to get them to comply

[39:48] with their with their license and to to

[39:52] facilitate fish passage, real meaningful

[39:54] fish passage at the site. Um so, you

[39:58] know, we began petitioning FK. We were

[40:00] very active on a on a on a docket that

[40:02] FK has. Um,

[40:07] and you know what we basically came to

[40:10] realize was that uh ENL had no intention

[40:13] on on fixing the fish passage issue and

[40:16] then Hydroland who the the project was

[40:18] sold to in in 2019 um also did not have

[40:21] have any intent to do anything. Um

[40:26] but we also started to learn about all

[40:28] of these other downsides to the dam. Um,

[40:31] it was no longer operational. Um, the

[40:34] first the the older powerhouse went

[40:36] offline in 2013. The new powerhouse went

[40:39] offline in 20120. The facility is in

[40:41] really poor condition. It's no longer

[40:43] commercially viable as a hydro

[40:44] generator. Uh, the owner was effectively

[40:47] abandoning it. Um, and indicated to FK

[40:50] that they did not have the ability to

[40:51] make even minor repairs. Um, the

[40:55] facility was just continuing to fall

[40:56] further and further into disrepair. And

[40:59] despite providing no benefit, Kenny Town

[41:01] Dam was continuing to cause huge

[41:03] negative impacts beyond blocking fish

[41:05] passage. Um it was increasing flood

[41:07] risk. It was negatively impacting water

[41:10] quality. Um it really became clear to us

[41:12] that and to our partners that dam

[41:15] removal was really the only way to

[41:16] permanently address all of those

[41:17] negative impacts. Um and at the same

[41:20] time, Hydroland was actually shopping it

[41:22] around to other hydro providers. Um and

[41:26] there were no takers. I think everybody

[41:27] saw that, you know, there was no way to

[41:29] generate electricity here in a in an

[41:31] economically viable way.

[41:34] Um,

[41:38] so

[41:40] with all those negatives, you know,

[41:41] removing the dam is going to fix a lot

[41:43] of them and and provide a lot of

[41:45] benefit. Paul,

[41:46] » Yeah. So, [clears throat] one of the one

[41:49] of the big selling points for this

[41:50] project and and attractive points for

[41:52] this for for save the sound is that a

[41:55] removal of this would restore about 30

[41:56] miles or access to about 30 miles of

[42:00] river habitat for American shad ale wife

[42:02] and blue back herring and deep had done

[42:05] their own analysis. deep fisheries. Um

[42:07] once they realized the dam was no longer

[42:09] viable, uh they updated their um their

[42:12] plan to restore diademous fish is to

[42:15] migratory fish to the Nagatuk River

[42:16] water. So they basically concluded with

[42:18] removal as the best option. They

[42:20] [clears throat] used their own metrics

[42:21] for calculating what kind of population

[42:23] impacts that could have and judging by

[42:26] these miles and and uh acreage of of

[42:28] river access. They're anticipating a

[42:30] population. It could sustain a

[42:32] population about 20,000 American shad,

[42:34] 140,000 uh river herring. So these are

[42:37] numbers that are kind of off the charts

[42:38] for dam removals in Connecticut. We are

[42:40] very damn dense and so when you remove

[42:42] one dam, you often provide access up to,

[42:44] you know, another mile or so, but 30

[42:46] miles is pretty substantial. And then

[42:48] another 30 or so miles for tributary

[42:51] habitat. So 70 70 70 or so miles for sea

[42:54] lamp and American eel which are able to

[42:56] to navigate up the steeper tribes that

[42:58] drain down into the Ngatuck. So uh and

[43:01] they estimated a population of about

[43:03] 6,000 sea lampray. So like really big

[43:05] numbers for dam for a single project in

[43:08] Connecticut. And uh so that was a huge

[43:10] selling point for us and and one of the

[43:12] reasons why we sought funding from Noah

[43:15] uh which provided our first uh sort of

[43:17] purse of of of funding at about 15 uh

[43:21] million or so. Uh some of which has been

[43:24] uh since uh sort of frozen by the Trump

[43:27] administration, but uh essentially is

[43:28] still uh is still supplying a lot of our

[43:31] uh design work, including some of that

[43:33] work um uh that uh we're presenting

[43:36] today. So Aaron, you can move ahead. And

[43:38] so in addition to the fish passage,

[43:40] there are a myriad of other

[43:41] environmental benefits, capitalizing on

[43:44] the benefits of the upstream removals

[43:46] that uh Aaron had mentioned, the tank

[43:49] bypass, for example. Also reducing flood

[43:52] risk in the community that lives

[43:54] immediately upstream of the dam. This

[43:55] would drop water surface elevations at a

[43:58] at normal flows and and uh for some of

[44:00] the more uh frequent and uh nuisance

[44:03] flood levels. It also helps to address

[44:05] some of the health and safety concerns

[44:07] that have emerged with the uh with the

[44:10] abandoned um canal that's accumulated a

[44:13] lot of debris and contaminated sediment.

[44:15] Uh we're hoping to restore access to the

[44:17] Nagguk River with uh with footpaths and

[44:20] act utilizing some of the bridges that

[44:22] exist there now under the rail line to

[44:23] get people out to the shores of it. And

[44:25] then of course we're trying to connect

[44:28] uh the greenway from Ansonia to Seymour.

[44:31] All of which we anticipate will improve

[44:32] sport fishing opportunities and restore

[44:34] natural sediment flows through the river

[44:36] valley uh which helps sustain our

[44:38] coastal areas as well. So um lots to be

[44:42] gained from from most dam removals and

[44:44] and even more to be gained from from

[44:46] this particular project.

[44:50] So because of all those benefits, you

[44:52] know, we really made a priority to to

[44:53] try to do something about this and the

[44:55] plan sort of aligned in in 2022

[44:58] when funding became available through

[45:00] Noah. that Paul just just mentioned and

[45:03] Envy Cog um spearheaded an effort to to

[45:07] put an application in with with Save the

[45:09] Sounds Assistance um for funding to

[45:12] design the dam removal. Um

[45:16] we had support from the dam owners at

[45:18] that point uh who realized, you know,

[45:20] there there was no, you know, it was not

[45:21] e they weren't going to be able to find

[45:23] a buyer for it. So this was this is sort

[45:24] of their easy way out of this this

[45:26] problem that they had. Um, we had

[45:28] support from the governor, from from the

[45:30] federal delegation, from all of the the

[45:33] uh resource agencies,

[45:35] and we were fortunate enough to receive

[45:37] uh $15 million to begin the Candy Town

[45:40] Dam Removal Project. Just an overview of

[45:43] the project. Um, you know, the plan and

[45:46] and we have since uh acquired the

[45:48] facility through the Connecticut

[45:49] Brownfield Land Bank. um that initial

[45:52] funding was the you know was going to

[45:55] fund all of the engineering design of

[45:57] the removal. Uh

[46:00] sort of an added complication to this

[46:02] project is that Seymour has two sewer

[46:04] siphons that are situated in sediment

[46:07] above the dam. Um and those have to be

[46:10] moved um before we can remove the dam.

[46:14] So as a separate project which is in

[46:16] itself a big complicated project uh we

[46:19] are NBCOG is taking that work on um with

[46:22] some federal funding that we've received

[46:24] um to do we're doing that design right

[46:26] now. Um

[46:29] there's a lot of impounded sediments

[46:31] we'll talk about a little bit about that

[46:32] uh in a minute that that have to be

[46:34] dealt with. We're going to decommission

[46:37] the dam through FK and ultimately remove

[46:39] it restore the river channel.

[46:42] all this time protect the railroad and

[46:44] route 8 which are adjacent to the

[46:46] empoundment um develop recreational

[46:49] access and extended the NRG trail and

[46:52] engage stakeholders and residents

[46:54] throughout. So that's what the project

[46:56] looks like.

[46:59] It's being funded through a bunch of

[47:01] different sources uh that initial $15

[47:03] million from Noah. We have funding

[47:05] through Connecticut Deep. Uh we have EPA

[47:08] funding in uh and and assistance in

[47:11] dealing with the sediments. Um DECD has

[47:14] has provided funding. Uh for this group

[47:17] though, we we received $270,000

[47:20] um two years ago now through the Deep

[47:22] Wreck Trails program to design the trail

[47:25] as part of this design project. Um so

[47:29] total right now we have about $53

[47:31] million um committed to the project. As

[47:35] Paul alluded to, the federal government

[47:37] is is not releasing some of that Noah

[47:41] funding that that we were promised and

[47:43] that we have a contract for. So, you

[47:45] know, we likely won't receive some of

[47:47] that funding, but we are always working

[47:49] on, you know, trying to find new funding

[47:51] to backfill that and to to fund the rest

[47:53] of the project that we know is going to

[47:55] cost more than $53 million.

[47:58] Um

[48:00] our provisional timeline at this point

[48:02] um you know we are working through a

[48:05] sediment management plan right now. Um

[48:07] the design is continuing through this

[48:09] year. We're planning to hire a uh

[48:12] construction contractor early at at the

[48:14] 60% design phase so that they can have

[48:17] some say in in some of the the details

[48:20] about how we're going to do the the dam

[48:21] removal.

[48:23] Um we're hoping to to finish the sewer

[48:26] siphon design this year. Um and then 27

[48:29] and 28 sediment management probably

[48:31] construction starting on the the sewer

[48:34] project at least. Um and then hopefully

[48:38] if everything goes right possibly 2029

[48:40] we'll be enjoying a restored Nagatuck

[48:43] River.

[48:46] Um, and just for everybody to sort of

[48:48] get a understanding of of what the site

[48:51] looks like right now and and some of the

[48:53] some of the issues that we're dealing

[48:54] with that will lead to a condition where

[48:57] we'll be able to put a trail. Um, this

[48:59] is what the site looks like right now.

[49:01] Um, at the center of the screen is

[49:03] Kennytown Dam. Uh, to the west of it is

[49:06] what we're calling Kennytown

[49:07] empoundment. That's the still water

[49:09] that's backed up behind the dam. Um, you

[49:12] can see um on

[49:16] Let's see if I can get a laser pointer

[49:18] here. Um,

[49:20] » At one point we could see your mouse.

[49:22] » Oh, okay. Well, here's Can you see my

[49:24] laser point?

[49:24] » Yeah, I can see that. Yeah.

[49:26] » So, um, this is the entrance to the

[49:29] canal. The canal runs all the way down

[49:31] on on the east side of the the train

[49:35] tracks all the way into Cove Pond. Um,

[49:38] and then the canal actually continues.

[49:40] The the second powerhouse in Ansonia is

[49:42] is located here.

[49:44] Um you can see, you know, north of the

[49:47] dam, it's really constrained by Route 8

[49:50] and the railroad. Um south of the dam

[49:54] there, you still have we still have a

[49:55] railroad to deal with the canal. Um so,

[50:00] you know, because of all of these

[50:01] constraints, because this was all

[50:03] federally regulated property, this was

[50:06] always a big question mark on the NRG uh

[50:08] root map. Um,

[50:11] but because of what we're doing here,

[50:13] um, you know, there's there's really a

[50:16] lot of new opportunities that are

[50:17] presenting themselves.

[50:19] Um, and I think it's important to

[50:25] sort of understand um,

[50:28] some a little bit about the sediment

[50:31] management. Paul, I don't know if you

[50:32] want to run quickly through through the

[50:34] sediment management and and some of the

[50:35] concepts that that GI's come up with.

[50:37] And I think that will really inform what

[50:40] what uh Stimson will be speaking about

[50:42] in a minute.

[50:42] » Sure. I I'll do a really high level

[50:44] overview. I mean, we have we have many

[50:46] hundreds we have over nearly 800,000

[50:50] cubic yards of sediment to deal with

[50:52] here. Um

[50:54] fortunately for us, 350,000 of that is

[50:58] surficial sand and gravel that is um not

[51:01] in elevated in concentrations above

[51:04] background conditions. So, we have a

[51:06] little bit more freedom in how we can

[51:07] deal with that. But what lies below is

[51:10] another 300 300,000 cubic yards of

[51:14] sediment that is elevated in PCBs and

[51:16] copper um among others. And so, that's

[51:19] going to need to be excavated and uh and

[51:22] moved uh down into Cove Pond. So, it's a

[51:24] it's a very costly operation. Um so, in

[51:27] addition to the infrastructure

[51:28] constraints, the sediment is the other

[51:30] sort of big complicating factor on this

[51:32] project. Um, and I I guess I can leave

[51:36] it at that. We're we're working through

[51:37] a very complicated or complex

[51:40] uh sediment management plan to to deal

[51:42] with those large volumes.

[51:44] » Fortunately for us, this has also been

[51:46] looped into the brownfield program uh

[51:48] through Envy Cog and and EPA has been

[51:50] the one leading the effort in assessing

[51:52] the sampling and assessing the sediment.

[51:55] uh so they've gone through uh an initial

[51:57] round that identified and sort of

[51:59] initially quantified and then a

[52:00] supplemental round that helped us uh

[52:03] stratify it or delineate it more

[52:04] vertically so that we could identify

[52:06] layers that could be handled and managed

[52:08] differently. So that's um that's still

[52:10] going and now we actually are embarking

[52:12] I think in September early September on

[52:15] a on a what we what should be a third

[52:17] and hopefully final round of sampling

[52:19] looking at uh toxicity assays. Uh so if

[52:22] we if we are uh proposing to release

[52:25] some of that surficial sediment, we're

[52:27] running toxicity tests to make sure that

[52:29] there wouldn't be any adverse ecological

[52:31] impacts to uh ecological receptors

[52:33] downstream or like stream biota

[52:35] basically. So um so that's still

[52:38] underway. Aaron, do you want to add

[52:39] anything to this

[52:41] » Comment?

[52:42] No, I I you know I think

[52:45] you know a lot all of that sediment is

[52:47] going to have to be dealt with or or

[52:49] moved um or a lot of that the dirty

[52:52] sediment at least. Um so GI's come up

[52:54] with these concepts of of how that can

[52:56] be done. Um we know that the you know

[52:58] once the dam is gone the river is going

[53:01] to try to find its original course. Um,

[53:05] so there's going to be quite a bit of

[53:07] new land um made available on either

[53:10] side of of where that course ends up

[53:12] being. Um,

[53:19] and the idea now is to move a lot of

[53:21] that dirty sediment into Cop, which has

[53:23] its own very dirty sediment, actually

[53:25] dirtier than uh what's what's upstream.

[53:28] Um, so Cop is is no longer going to be a

[53:31] pond in the long term. It's probably

[53:33] going to be full of of sediment from

[53:35] behind

[53:37] um

[53:39] behind Kenny Town Dam. If you want to

[53:41] talk a little bit more about that, Paul,

[53:43] but I think Simpson is going to talk

[53:44] about, you know, what what could be done

[53:47] with with a lot of this reclaimed land.

[53:50] » Yeah. Uh I just add that Copound was

[53:52] basically created by the canal system

[53:54] that feeds Ansonia. Uh so it's a

[53:57] man-made dam. Uh it's been I've been

[53:59] it's been appreciated by the neighbors

[54:01] that live above it. um kind of not so

[54:04] appreciated by the neighbors that live

[54:05] on the downstream end of it. Uh but it

[54:07] does, as Aaron said, it's been a

[54:09] receptor of the finest grain sediment

[54:10] that's been floating down river for

[54:12] decades. And so it has the highest

[54:14] contaminant levels of all the

[54:15] contaminants found in in our sediment.

[54:18] So we have a strong impetus to take it

[54:20] out of the aquatic setting basically by

[54:22] dewatering it and ultimately capping it

[54:25] with uh first sediment from behind town

[54:27] and then ultimately some sort of a clean

[54:29] cover uh clean fill on top of it so that

[54:32] this could be a usable space uh when

[54:35] we're done.

[54:39] And then I'll just set the stage for

[54:40] Stimson here. Like I said, we we

[54:42] received the Deep Breck Trails grant.

[54:45] Um, and the scope of that was to fully

[54:47] design the Ngatuck River Greenway Trail

[54:49] on the Kennytown Dam property. Um,

[54:52] basically from the pump station on Derby

[54:54] Derby Avenue in Seymour to the fourth to

[54:57] fourth street in Ansonia. Um, and also

[54:59] look at conceptual routing to connect

[55:01] the Nagatuck River Greenway sections to

[55:03] the north and to the south. Um, and what

[55:06] we did was wrap up the wreck trails

[55:09] scope into the overall dam removal

[55:12] design scope so that, you know, we could

[55:14] take advantage of all of the work, all

[55:16] of the data collection that was already

[55:18] being done and so that, you know, the

[55:20] designers on the trail and the designers

[55:21] on the dam removal were working, you

[55:23] know, handinand on, you know, what this

[55:25] property is going to look like after the

[55:26] dam is removed. Um, so I will stop

[55:31] sharing there. Um, and I'll introduce

[55:36] Well, let me stop sharing. Okay.

[55:39] And I'll introduce

[55:42] I saw Glenn Valentine, Emily Hayes, and

[55:45] Michael Linquist from Stimson. Um,

[55:51] who are the designers, the the

[55:53] subconsultants um designing the the

[55:55] trail.

[55:58] » Okay. Thanks, Aaron. Um, so you just got

[56:03] a lot of good background information

[56:05] that we've been dealing with um and sort

[56:07] of analyzing and thinking about for the

[56:09] past six months as we've thought about

[56:13] different options for how to um engage

[56:18] the realigned river and where the new

[56:21] trail alignment might go. And this

[56:24] morning we're going to talk about four

[56:26] different trail alignments or three

[56:28] really three. one is a with a subset

[56:30] that Emily's going to share with you in

[56:32] just a minute and then we're going to

[56:34] share some very preliminary

[56:37] um ideas about what the final shape of

[56:41] of Copond might look like and um those

[56:45] are really just thought exercises about

[56:47] some of the opportunities that we might

[56:48] have just through shaping the land um

[56:52] that goes of all that sediment that's

[56:54] going to go into Copan that Paul was

[56:57] talking about just a few minutes ago.

[56:59] But I think we'll just jump right in and

[57:01] talk about uh the different alignments

[57:04] that we're looking at for the uh for the

[57:07] trail along the the uh embankments and

[57:11] in various relationships really you'll

[57:13] see to the realigned river.

[57:17] » Go ahead Emily.

[57:18] » Great. Perfect. Can you all see my

[57:20] screen?

[57:21] » Okay, perfect. Great. Um yeah, great

[57:24] introduction that really set us up to

[57:26] describe what we're going to get into

[57:28] today. Um yeah, big overview, but it's

[57:31] important for us to consider the

[57:33] industrial history of the river, where

[57:35] the river fits into the larger water

[57:37] story of the region. um the existing

[57:40] ecologies and access um by community

[57:43] members to the river and the kind of

[57:45] barriers that exist both phys physically

[57:47] and visually um which have led to some

[57:50] design objectives that have kind of

[57:51] guided us which is to celebrate the

[57:53] industrial heritage of the site to

[57:55] improve water quality and management as

[57:58] best as we can to foster a vibrant

[58:00] living river and ultimately you know to

[58:02] connect to the existing energy trail and

[58:04] imagine what Cop will look like um

[58:06] moving forward.

[58:08] So, right, this is a large site. We have

[58:11] Copond down here and then the trail.

[58:13] We're kind of breaking it up into two

[58:15] sections here. So, I'll talk about the

[58:17] trail. Glenn's going to talk more about

[58:18] Copond. Um, but we're connecting from

[58:22] North uh Fourth Street, which is down

[58:24] here, up to the existing bike path at

[58:26] Tinu Dam. Um, what I'm going to fly

[58:30] through is going to talk about basically

[58:32] right at the former Kenny Town Dam site

[58:34] up to Seymour.

[58:37] So it yeah there's a lot of pressure and

[58:39] there's a lot of complications in this

[58:41] but um the first option that we've come

[58:44] up with is what we're calling the rail

[58:46] adjacent trail and it's we kind of move

[58:49] up towards Seymour from the dam. We

[58:52] would uh first not cross the river at

[58:55] the dam. This option would stay along

[58:57] the east side of the river and it would

[58:59] hug along the east side of the rail line

[59:02] and then ultimately it would tie into

[59:04] the sidewalk and the parking lot up at

[59:06] Tenu Dam and Seymour. Um, this would

[59:10] it's there are pros and cons to all of

[59:12] these. Um, it would be simple and

[59:14] consistent, but it would um have

[59:16] obstructed river views and limited river

[59:18] access. It would tie into town

[59:21] infrastructure and parking, but there

[59:22] would be no Derby A connection on this

[59:24] side of the river. It might be the least

[59:26] technically difficult, but it also is

[59:28] the least flexible. Um,

[59:31] » Emily, I would just go back just for a

[59:33] second. It was hard for me to I just

[59:36] want to make sure people on the call

[59:37] because there's so many people probably

[59:38] on a lot of different kind of devices.

[59:41] Can you just point out where the trail

[59:43] what's the trail is that light green

[59:45] line along the north side? Just you can

[59:48] point that out. I don't know if people

[59:49] can see your

[59:51] » Uh mouse or not.

[59:52] » Right. And this is such a big site. Um

[59:54] you know, we're trying to fit a lot of

[59:55] information on on this graphic, but the

[59:57] trail here would would start down here

[59:59] and it would just continue along here

[1:00:01] kind of nestled between the existing

[1:00:03] rail line and the community um up above.

[1:00:07] So, it's a pretty tight area and there's

[1:00:09] a lot of grade change between where the

[1:00:11] rail line is now and kind of where the

[1:00:13] community is up here. which would mean

[1:00:16] that if we look at it in in section it's

[1:00:18] a pretty tight um

[1:00:20] » Sorry sorry could we go back one more

[1:00:22] just for a second yeah in this scheme

[1:00:24] you know there the only real river

[1:00:26] access is under the train tracks if you

[1:00:29] could just point out there's currently

[1:00:31] an underpass under the rails so so when

[1:00:34] you know Emily mentioned limited river

[1:00:36] access it really is kind of only that

[1:00:39] point um so that's a real you know uh

[1:00:42] downside to this particular scheme

[1:00:45] Yeah.

[1:00:49] Um, looking at it in section, I think we

[1:00:52] can better feel what it would what it

[1:00:54] would be like. Uh, this would assume

[1:00:57] this obviously is a really long stretch

[1:00:59] and the the conditions would vary a

[1:01:02] little bit, but typically it would be a

[1:01:05] ideally a 25 ft offset from the center

[1:01:08] line of the rail, which would that would

[1:01:10] begin our trail. Um, it would feel

[1:01:12] pretty tight. there would be a fence

[1:01:14] there. Uh we've got a pretty steep slope

[1:01:16] that goes up towards the the

[1:01:18] neighborhood and then

[1:01:21] a decent amount of flood plane here

[1:01:22] before the actual river. So it would

[1:01:25] feel a little bit disconnected. Um and

[1:01:27] it would be a little a little tight. Um

[1:01:31] but this would be one option that we

[1:01:33] thought was worth just kind of

[1:01:34] considering.

[1:01:38] Our second option would continue along

[1:01:41] the east side, but it would dip to the

[1:01:43] west side of the rail. So, this would

[1:01:46] cross um at the former Kenny Town um dam

[1:01:52] site. It would kind of sneak under the

[1:01:53] the bridge that already exists there.

[1:01:56] And this would bring us out to um the

[1:01:59] west side of the rail. It would not

[1:02:02] cross at the dam, but it would hug along

[1:02:04] this side. um it would take advantage of

[1:02:07] some of the existing topography

[1:02:10] um while dipping into the flood plane.

[1:02:12] There'd be a kind of um

[1:02:16] an elevated or an out of the flood plane

[1:02:19] part of the trail and then some

[1:02:20] opportunities for some um more informal

[1:02:23] and secondary circulation paths that

[1:02:25] would come into the flood plane. In this

[1:02:27] option, we're proposing uh the potential

[1:02:30] for a crossing at a new build bridge, a

[1:02:33] crossing at Derby AB that would bring us

[1:02:35] into the street traffic of of Derby AB

[1:02:37] in Seymour. Um

[1:02:40] and this uh yeah would take advantage of

[1:02:43] some of the repairarian edge, but it

[1:02:44] would still be a negotiation with the

[1:02:46] rail line. Um, and it would avoid kind

[1:02:49] of what it would be like to cross at the

[1:02:52] old dam, but it also means that it would

[1:02:55] add another level of complexity in the

[1:02:57] introduction of a new build bridge. Um,

[1:03:00] something else I think maybe to consider

[1:03:01] is that there might be limited

[1:03:03] construction and emergency vehicle

[1:03:04] access along this path if there's no way

[1:03:08] to cross the rail line. Um, basically

[1:03:11] once we are on one side of the rail line

[1:03:13] at this point, that's kind of where we

[1:03:15] have to stay. there's not going to

[1:03:16] really be a chance to cross over it um

[1:03:18] once once we kind of start moving along.

[1:03:21] » Emily, I'll I'll just add that, you

[1:03:23] know, in this this alignment of the

[1:03:26] trail, we're imagining going right down

[1:03:28] Derby AB. Um so there'd be quite a bit

[1:03:31] of um uh design work needed to make sure

[1:03:34] there's room along that roadway with all

[1:03:37] the adjacent buildings and businesses um

[1:03:40] through that community. But it does

[1:03:42] provide the opportunity for a lot of

[1:03:44] direct engagement with the community

[1:03:46] which we are excited about.

[1:03:51] » Yeah. And and I think looking at it in

[1:03:53] section it it definitely feels a little

[1:03:55] bit less claustrophobic than the first

[1:03:57] option. Um it's still potentially quite

[1:04:01] close to the rail, but it would give us

[1:04:03] a bit more breathing room. there's a a

[1:04:04] potential to consider what uh this kind

[1:04:07] of embankment might look like and what

[1:04:09] how as as the river realignment

[1:04:12] continues what kind of stabilization

[1:04:14] needs to happen to make that possible

[1:04:16] but there's also we can see

[1:04:17] opportunities to come down actually into

[1:04:19] the flood plane um this would be dynamic

[1:04:22] it would it would mean that in flood

[1:04:23] events this might be covered but that is

[1:04:26] something that you know I think would

[1:04:28] pose its own set of complications but is

[1:04:31] exciting and is dynamic it's an

[1:04:32] opportunity to invite people down and to

[1:04:36] I don't know educate about what flooding

[1:04:39] can be, what riparian edges are. Um it's

[1:04:42] an exciting opportunity I think and um

[1:04:45] it would it would be a way to kind of

[1:04:47] take advantage of all of this space that

[1:04:48] we have.

[1:04:52] And then our third option, we're kind of

[1:04:54] breaking into a part A and a part B. For

[1:04:56] the first um section, it's the same and

[1:05:00] then it changes as we get over into

[1:05:01] Derby A. this uh option would cross at

[1:05:06] the former dam. We thought that'd be an

[1:05:09] exciting way to kind of celebrate the

[1:05:11] history of the dam there. It's such a

[1:05:13] big project to remove and it's kind of

[1:05:15] like instead of fully erasing it. Is

[1:05:17] there a way to kind of bring people out

[1:05:19] and to experience kind of what it what

[1:05:21] the dam was like, where it was, what the

[1:05:24] views were, um and the change that it's

[1:05:26] had as it's been removed. So this would

[1:05:28] cross at the former dam and this option

[1:05:31] would kind of hug along Route 8 on the

[1:05:34] east side. And [snorts] similar to the

[1:05:36] previous one, it would like be a kind of

[1:05:38] a formal trail above the flood plane,

[1:05:40] but there'd be opportunities to weave in

[1:05:42] and bring down get water access um in a

[1:05:45] more informal way. And then uh so for

[1:05:49] our 3A option, we were just exploring

[1:05:53] what it would be like to instead of um

[1:05:56] like the previous option, tie into the

[1:05:58] street traffic of of Derby A, what it

[1:06:01] would be like to continue to hug along

[1:06:04] the river's edge. Um which is, you know,

[1:06:07] an exciting option, obviously a

[1:06:09] complicated one. We know that there's a

[1:06:11] community center and a senior center

[1:06:12] over here. There's a cemetery. There's a

[1:06:14] a decent amount of kind of public facing

[1:06:19] properties on this um on this stretch

[1:06:22] that might be something that we could

[1:06:25] tie into and feels like a kind of

[1:06:27] natural way to to continue on this kind

[1:06:30] of public greenway trail. But it also

[1:06:33] there's a lot of private properties and

[1:06:34] we don't really know is a complicated

[1:06:36] thing to to require easements for access

[1:06:39] to the river's edge. But um we thought

[1:06:41] it was worth kind of exploring and

[1:06:42] putting out there um as a as an option

[1:06:45] and as a potential trail condition.

[1:06:48] Um this would allow for more water

[1:06:51] access and unobstructed views. Um

[1:06:53] there's of course just the general risk

[1:06:55] and management of flood plane

[1:06:57] navigation. It would highlight the

[1:06:59] history of the dam and the historic

[1:07:01] structures down here. Um but there's

[1:07:03] also obviously a complexity in what that

[1:07:06] process would be like. Um, and it does

[1:07:08] avoid the traffic of Derby of Derby A,

[1:07:12] but it also would require easements for

[1:07:14] for getting out on on the river's edge.

[1:07:19] Um, and then the 3B option would be

[1:07:23] instead of tying into keeping along that

[1:07:25] edge to then just tie into the traffic

[1:07:27] like the previous option, which again

[1:07:29] would be a complicated thing considering

[1:07:31] that the off-ramp from Route 8 and this

[1:07:34] kind of speed, but I think it's

[1:07:35] something that the community members

[1:07:36] here are interested in because it is

[1:07:38] such a high traffic, high volume um,

[1:07:40] street. Something to kind of make that

[1:07:42] more accessible is is ideal.

[1:07:46] Um, this would feel not dissimilar from

[1:07:49] the previous option, but just along the

[1:07:50] other side, there's more space and

[1:07:52] buffer between Route 8 and the primary

[1:07:54] trail, but again, chances to come down

[1:07:56] in, potential for armoring and

[1:07:58] stabilization of that um embankment, and

[1:08:01] then opportunities to come in and

[1:08:03] experience uh flood plane and

[1:08:05] riverfront.

[1:08:07] » I I guess I would add, Emily, um here we

[1:08:10] don't have the complication of the train

[1:08:11] to deal with. Obviously we have route 8

[1:08:13] vehicular traffic to deal with which is

[1:08:16] has its own set of challenges but uh we

[1:08:18] don't have the the train and all the

[1:08:21] negotiation that will be required to get

[1:08:23] permission from them.

[1:08:25] » Exactly.

[1:08:30] » So these are kind of all of them

[1:08:31] overlaid and maybe as we begin our

[1:08:33] discussion or answer any questions we

[1:08:35] can come back to this slide but these

[1:08:36] are they're just you know different

[1:08:38] versions of of how we can get from here

[1:08:40] to there.

[1:08:45] Glenn, do you want to

[1:08:46] » Yeah,

[1:08:46] » Take it over.

[1:08:48] » Yeah, go ahead.

[1:08:49] » So, we're going to move to the second

[1:08:51] part of our our study area, which is Cop

[1:08:54] Pond. And that I'll just quickly say,

[1:08:58] you know, that green area. Uh well, this

[1:09:02] is this is too small that there's

[1:09:03] there's only one alignment we're really

[1:09:05] considering for the bike trail along

[1:09:07] here and it's it's um up on essentially

[1:09:11] the uh the dyke or the um embankment

[1:09:15] that's holding in Copan right now. So,

[1:09:17] we're not going to talk too much about

[1:09:19] that alignment. it shows up on on some

[1:09:22] of these preliminary sketches, but

[1:09:24] that's that's the the through line that

[1:09:26] we're considering and it's going to

[1:09:28] occupy um the canal to the west, which

[1:09:33] were shown in some of the images that

[1:09:35] Aaron was showing before. We're

[1:09:36] imagining that all being filled in uh

[1:09:39] that Copan will no longer have uh a

[1:09:42] running river through it that it will

[1:09:44] just be fed by storm water and that that

[1:09:47] canal will be the connecting part of the

[1:09:49] trail and then run along the dyke

[1:09:52] close to but sometimes parallel or up

[1:09:55] above the train tracks along Cop. So,

[1:09:57] we'll jump to a couple very uh

[1:09:59] preliminary sketches about what some of

[1:10:03] the opportunities are as we re-imagine

[1:10:06] Copond. Um, as mentioned, there's around

[1:10:11] 300,000 cubic yards of material to go

[1:10:14] into

[1:10:16] uh Cop to manage the sediment. And the

[1:10:20] way GEI was initially looking at it,

[1:10:22] that would raise the level of the

[1:10:25] landform about 10 ft above the area

[1:10:28] about of the level of the existing water

[1:10:31] level now in Copond. So that's if you

[1:10:34] spread it out pretty evenly with gentle

[1:10:36] pitches around 3%. So we quickly looked

[1:10:39] at what are some of the opportunities

[1:10:41] that might come out of just how we shape

[1:10:43] that land uh that we're going to be

[1:10:45] working with as we reimagine this space.

[1:10:49] So um

[1:10:52] the um

[1:10:54] the this first this first idea here is

[1:10:57] really to create a series of terraces

[1:10:59] and consider the option of active

[1:11:02] recreation for the space. And I'll I'll

[1:11:05] say right at the beginning, we we

[1:11:07] haven't talked to uh adjacent

[1:11:09] communities about the programming and we

[1:11:11] realize there's a lot of requirements

[1:11:14] for managing a park, for paying for a

[1:11:16] park, for programming a park. But we

[1:11:18] just want to put it out there that one

[1:11:20] opportunity because we have so much fill

[1:11:23] is to create these kind of level

[1:11:24] platforms which could contain future

[1:11:27] programming for a park. So, here we're

[1:11:30] talking about potentially two

[1:11:32] playfields, maybe soccer fields. We're

[1:11:35] thinking maybe there's a a public pool

[1:11:37] in the space and and maybe there's um

[1:11:41] kind of environmental playground or

[1:11:43] nature playground in this space and

[1:11:45] maybe there could be um picnic pavilions

[1:11:49] that could be rented around the

[1:11:51] periphery of of this space to really

[1:11:54] give it opportunities for active

[1:11:57] engagement, recreation from all

[1:11:59] different

[1:12:01] types of population, from the community.

[1:12:03] That's really what we are thinking

[1:12:04] about. And in this option, we're

[1:12:06] imagining a road would be part of this

[1:12:09] for people to get to the new park space

[1:12:13] for people to engage with the games

[1:12:15] being played on the fields. So it come

[1:12:17] in at North Fourth Street connecting

[1:12:20] into the city grid and runs through the

[1:12:23] space wrapping around to the north and

[1:12:27] uh servicing all of these new uh program

[1:12:30] items that we're talking about from you

[1:12:32] know playfields to swimming potentially.

[1:12:35] One other consideration which you saw in

[1:12:38] the diagram that Paul showed earlier is

[1:12:40] there is an intermittent stream which

[1:12:42] comes through the site. So we're

[1:12:43] thinking about how that could be part of

[1:12:45] the experience. Here we have it running

[1:12:47] along the north edge of the park along

[1:12:49] that entry drive and we really want that

[1:12:52] to be quite prominent and build some

[1:12:54] constructed wetlands to help cleanse

[1:12:56] that water before it makes it back to um

[1:13:00] the river itself. So this is this is our

[1:13:02] our first option and this would raise

[1:13:05] the level up um maybe about um 10 feet

[1:13:11] or or 15 ft above what the the level of

[1:13:14] the water is now. So similar kind of

[1:13:17] spreading out of the sediment but

[1:13:20] imagining it in just a different way as

[1:13:23] terraces. That image on the right is

[1:13:26] actually Danahe Park here in Cambridge,

[1:13:27] Massachusetts. That's a park that was

[1:13:30] built on landfill about 20 years ago.

[1:13:32] So, we were kind of inspired by that

[1:13:34] because it has a lot of active

[1:13:36] recreation, but it's very surrounded and

[1:13:38] embraced by trees which have grown up in

[1:13:41] the park since it was u built. Next

[1:13:44] option.

[1:13:47] The next option we're calling the mound.

[1:13:49] And this you'll see has a more u passive

[1:13:54] recreational program. It's still pretty

[1:13:56] active in in terms of allowing people

[1:13:59] into the park. And in this option, we're

[1:14:01] imagining the sediment is brought into

[1:14:04] the center in one area and maybe it it

[1:14:07] comes up to height of maybe 30 ft above

[1:14:11] the existing level of Copond right now.

[1:14:14] So you get views up and over the bike

[1:14:17] trail. You get views of the realigned

[1:14:19] river and surrounding kind of wetlands

[1:14:22] that we're imagining. You can see this

[1:14:24] scheme also has a loop road which comes

[1:14:27] in and wraps around the base of this new

[1:14:30] mound. We're imagining some kind of

[1:14:32] active program here. are showing a pool

[1:14:34] that could be a field or some other kind

[1:14:36] of active wreck, but really inviting the

[1:14:39] community into this space. And then

[1:14:41] access up to that 30- foot high mound

[1:14:44] would be via kind of spiraling pathway,

[1:14:46] which would take you gradually up to the

[1:14:48] top on an ADA path where you'd have an

[1:14:52] overlook pavilion. And here you might

[1:14:54] have a couple other uh small overlook

[1:14:56] pavilions as well.

[1:14:58] Here we've imagined the intermittent

[1:15:00] stream coming in running to the south

[1:15:02] instead of to the north and running down

[1:15:06] and going along the edge of the new bike

[1:15:09] trail through the space and really

[1:15:11] highlighting an area of constructed

[1:15:14] wetlands along that trail. So that your

[1:15:16] passage along the trail here would be

[1:15:19] educational and informed with uh ways of

[1:15:22] treating storm water through the site.

[1:15:25] The image in the upper right is Ferris

[1:15:27] Park up in Lawrence, Massachusetts.

[1:15:29] That's a park we built about 10 years

[1:15:32] ago. And that was built that has a

[1:15:34] central mound in the middle that gives

[1:15:37] um views to the surrounding river and

[1:15:40] historic uh buildings around the site.

[1:15:43] That was built on a mound of slag which

[1:15:46] was left over from the uh foundry

[1:15:49] operations 100 years ago and then capped

[1:15:52] with uh 2 ft of soil. So we we know

[1:15:55] that's going to be part of this program

[1:15:56] no matter what we do. A capping of this

[1:15:58] material as Paul mentioned this is going

[1:16:00] to have to be uh carefully managed. So

[1:16:02] we're we're looking to parks that that

[1:16:04] do the same thing like Danahe or Ferris

[1:16:06] Park for inspiration.

[1:16:09] And the third option is

[1:16:12] uh there it's progressively less active.

[1:16:15] So this is sort of the most passive

[1:16:17] approach that we're imagining and we're

[1:16:19] calling this one the islands. And here

[1:16:21] we're imagining that sentiment mounded

[1:16:23] up into maybe 20 foot high kind of

[1:16:27] landforms throughout the space. Uh five

[1:16:30] or six mounds that you would navigate

[1:16:32] around in this reimagining of the space.

[1:16:35] And here that intermittent stream

[1:16:37] meanders between the new landforms to

[1:16:40] the north and then back south and to the

[1:16:42] north. And that really is the primary

[1:16:44] driver of program in this. And the

[1:16:47] program here is really just one of

[1:16:48] trails. And we'd have a trail system

[1:16:51] that um takes you through this space and

[1:16:54] up to the top of each one of these

[1:16:56] mounds. You can see on the right kind of

[1:16:58] council ring inspired by uh Jensen

[1:17:01] Jensen from the Midwest. But it's an

[1:17:03] idea of just getting into nature and

[1:17:05] seeing nature and and kind of connecting

[1:17:07] with it. We might have a series of

[1:17:09] boardwalks or bridges to allow those uh

[1:17:12] trails to cut through this new park

[1:17:14] space and go over where the intermittent

[1:17:17] stream would flow. And we'd also have a

[1:17:20] a loop trail which would be down low and

[1:17:23] would run through the space pick up

[1:17:25] picking up from the bike trail wrapping

[1:17:27] all the way around providing easy

[1:17:28] passage down low through this new space

[1:17:32] and connecting back into the bike trail.

[1:17:34] You'll notice this one does not have

[1:17:35] vehicular access. It does not have

[1:17:37] parking except we imagine parking right

[1:17:40] at the uh the North Fourth Street entry.

[1:17:43] You'd have some parking there, but

[1:17:45] otherwise vehicles would not go into

[1:17:46] this one except for bikes. uh that

[1:17:49] outside loop trail would be for

[1:17:50] maintenance. So it'd be scaled for like

[1:17:52] a pickup truck or or maintenance

[1:17:54] vehicles. But the other main program

[1:17:56] besides this kind of counseloring here

[1:17:57] would be an outdoor education center

[1:17:59] right near the entrance. So those are

[1:18:02] the three options we're putting out

[1:18:04] there. And as I said, you know, they

[1:18:05] haven't been vetted really with Seymour

[1:18:08] or Ansonia. So, it's we know there's a

[1:18:11] there would be a long way to go and a

[1:18:12] lot of engagement to go in any one of

[1:18:14] these directions, but it's really just

[1:18:16] to get people's imaginations going about

[1:18:18] what could what could happen with all

[1:18:20] this sediment that's going into Copont.

[1:18:27] That's it. I'm going to pass it back to

[1:18:28] you, Paul, and Aaron. Um, we're happy to

[1:18:31] talk about I I don't know. It doesn't

[1:18:33] seem like the format of this meeting is

[1:18:35] one where we need to come to any

[1:18:37] conclusions. Uh, but we just wanted to

[1:18:40] let the group know what we're thinking

[1:18:41] of and that there are a lot of options

[1:18:42] out there right now.

[1:18:45] » Thank you. These look they look great

[1:18:48] and um I I think it is definitely

[1:18:51] a conversation starter and you know I I

[1:18:53] I would love for the committee members

[1:18:56] or or anybody that has questions or

[1:18:57] comments or anything to to speak up and

[1:19:00] um and let's have a conversation about

[1:19:03] it.

[1:19:04] » It's a lot to absorb in one shot.

[1:19:08] » [clears throat]

[1:19:10] » It is. It is. Sorry about that.

[1:19:13] » No, it's great. It's great. I look

[1:19:16] forward to hearing more about it. I

[1:19:18] actually have a better sense of it after

[1:19:20] we do the tour today. I think just uh

[1:19:24] the total lay of the land.

[1:19:27] Jack, this is Mark Nielson. Uh just

[1:19:30] couple of quick comments. Um, [sighs]

[1:19:34] yeah, I've worked on trying to get the

[1:19:36] energy trail sort of built in other

[1:19:38] parts of the region. And one of the

[1:19:42] stumbling blocks we've hit in a lot of

[1:19:44] areas is, you know, proximity to the the

[1:19:47] Waterberry Branch line or even the dog

[1:19:49] truck rail line, you know, in Watertown

[1:19:51] and farther up. Um,

[1:19:55] so I I just see, you know, the options

[1:19:57] of trails along the railroad as being a

[1:19:59] little bit problematic and kind of

[1:20:01] difficult to get the, you know, approval

[1:20:03] and support from the department. Um, not

[1:20:07] impossible, but I think it's just going

[1:20:08] to be a real challenge. And I just I

[1:20:10] know you guys recognized it in the

[1:20:12] presentation and I would just emphasize

[1:20:15] that you know that has to be sort of a a

[1:20:19] very early action item to coordinate

[1:20:21] with the department um to get their sort

[1:20:24] of buy in on u

[1:20:32] any other questions or comments

[1:20:38] » Mark I think you froze. those. So,

[1:20:40] sorry.

[1:20:44] » I'm still frozen.

[1:20:46] » There you there. There you are. You're

[1:20:47] better.

[1:20:47] » There we go.

[1:20:48] » All right. So, Erin may have done that

[1:20:51] just to the to [laughter]

[1:20:53] keep me from talking to

[1:20:55] » Um

[1:20:56] » Where did I leave off? I was just sort

[1:20:58] of saying that the department is, you

[1:21:00] know, somebody have to reach out and

[1:21:01] coordinate with you from the the very

[1:21:04] beginning because it could be a

[1:21:06] challenge to get them to approve. Um, so

[1:21:09] that that was just my comment.

[1:21:11] » Yeah. Yeah.

[1:21:14] » Um, if no one else has a question, um, I

[1:21:16] definitely have a few. I'll be excited

[1:21:18] to talk to you more this afternoon. Um,

[1:21:21] but I am curious, uh, since Copon

[1:21:24] designs are in front of us or concepts

[1:21:26] are in front of us. Um, I'm curious. I

[1:21:30] personally love the constructed wetland

[1:21:32] one. I think that's really beautiful.

[1:21:34] Um, I'm wondering if you guys had an

[1:21:38] assessment of the like uh existing like

[1:21:42] animals and species that have made the

[1:21:46] cop pond their home even if they maybe

[1:21:48] shouldn't have. [laughter]

[1:21:50] Um, and if that helped influence your

[1:21:53] designs.

[1:21:55] Um certainly we've we've begun to um

[1:21:59] evaluate species all along uh the the

[1:22:02] re-imagined

[1:22:04] uh trail and at Copan and I'll just say

[1:22:07] they're um they're preliminary um

[1:22:10] observational that we've seen a wide

[1:22:13] variety of of species living in Cop and

[1:22:16] that was part of the uh impetus to think

[1:22:20] about reconstructing some wetlands in

[1:22:22] that area and making sure we're taking

[1:22:24] advantage antage of the storm water to

[1:22:28] um create habitat. It's not going to be

[1:22:30] pond habitat. Um that's that's going to

[1:22:33] go away, but um that we provide

[1:22:35] opportunities for really a diversity of

[1:22:38] habitat within that space. I I know

[1:22:40] that's not a direct answer to your

[1:22:42] question in terms of evaluation of

[1:22:44] what's there. Um but but we are you know

[1:22:47] clearly we are changing things

[1:22:49] tremendously in that area but we want to

[1:22:51] make sure what we put back provides as

[1:22:54] much habitat or more um in terms of

[1:22:57] diversity and opportunities for wildlife

[1:22:59] and for um native plant communities to

[1:23:02] thrive there.

[1:23:03] » And Glenn I could add to that. I mean

[1:23:04] there's been there hasn't been any

[1:23:05] formal like biological inventory of cop

[1:23:10] um and I'm not I'm not sure we're gonna

[1:23:12] do that. Um I mean our it's essentially

[1:23:16] a an open water body. Uh that's its

[1:23:20] primary feature and and source of

[1:23:23] habitat um and and type of habitat. Um

[1:23:27] there isn't a whole lot of um like

[1:23:30] diverse wetlands. There is there is like

[1:23:32] a where the uh stream the existing

[1:23:34] stream enters the enters the pond is uh

[1:23:37] is now unfortunately a little delta

[1:23:39] that's dominated by frag. Um but that is

[1:23:42] a slightly different type of wetland

[1:23:43] than the rest of the open water. Deep

[1:23:46] Fisheries has been the one that's um you

[1:23:48] know a major proponent of this project

[1:23:51] and um when we've turned to them to say

[1:23:53] hey what are your thoughts about you

[1:23:56] know Copon and what you know what will

[1:23:58] be potentially lost uh by by uh

[1:24:02] dewatering and and utilizing this for

[1:24:04] sediment disposal. Um and their their

[1:24:07] take has been, you know, the the river

[1:24:09] the open river matters way more than

[1:24:11] this one pond. Um and some of the

[1:24:15] surrounding residents have raised

[1:24:16] concerns about, you know, what about the

[1:24:17] eagles and the ospreys? Well, the eagles

[1:24:19] and ospreys have much more to gain from

[1:24:21] the removal of the dam and the

[1:24:23] restoration of of the fisher uh than

[1:24:25] they do from the fish that they may be

[1:24:27] getting out of out of CO pond. And the

[1:24:30] other part of the assessment that has

[1:24:31] not been done is really the biological

[1:24:34] um impacts of like the contamination in

[1:24:36] Copond itself where we we don't really

[1:24:39] know um what kind of um uh burden that

[1:24:44] is being held right now by fish and

[1:24:46] moving up the food chain from the

[1:24:47] contamination in Copond. um we just know

[1:24:50] it's probably not good and we've been

[1:24:52] telling people it this has always been

[1:24:54] private so it's never been fishable in

[1:24:55] that respect but definitely shouldn't be

[1:24:57] fished and nobody should be consuming

[1:24:59] anything out of cop because of the

[1:25:01] potential for that risk. Um so those

[1:25:04] things haven't been assessed because um

[1:25:06] well um I think in the totality of the

[1:25:11] project um it's um it it may be moot you

[1:25:16] know um because there's so much more to

[1:25:18] gain from the restoration of the of

[1:25:20] opening up the river um than the loss of

[1:25:24] of this pond. So ponds and open water

[1:25:26] bodies like them are very common in the

[1:25:28] in the state. Some of them are uh many

[1:25:30] of them may be behind dams but behind

[1:25:32] dams that are serving us a a purpose um

[1:25:35] more than just the pond habitat itself.

[1:25:37] So um whereas open rivers are the are

[1:25:40] the uh the endangered habitat type in

[1:25:43] the state if you will. So um this is all

[1:25:46] perceived as sort of a net game even if

[1:25:49] there is loss to certain wildlife. I'll

[1:25:52] I'll also add Paul, we we even haven't

[1:25:54] talked about this and we're just

[1:25:55] beginning to work on it with GEI, but

[1:25:58] all of the recovered land in the flood

[1:26:00] plane is uh new habitat that's going to

[1:26:03] be created as the empoundment goes away.

[1:26:06] It's and it's a tremendous opportunity.

[1:26:08] All that green. You can go back to that

[1:26:10] one, Emily. Um, and just show all that

[1:26:12] new green land we're imagining as

[1:26:15] potentially new constructed wetlands or

[1:26:17] at least um native habitat zones that's

[1:26:20] going to be going back. Um, that's now

[1:26:23] currently covered up by the empoundment.

[1:26:38] Okay. Any anything else to be brought

[1:26:40] up?

[1:26:44] Going a little bit late and uh I know we

[1:26:46] have to get ready to

[1:26:49] uh get out there for 1:00. Uh Erin, do

[1:26:52] you just want to quickly tell everybody

[1:26:54] again how to get to the location?

[1:26:57] » Sure. So, I sent um I sent an email and

[1:27:00] I sent a um calendar invite to everybody

[1:27:03] that had a link to a Google link to the

[1:27:06] location. Um if you don't have that, you

[1:27:10] can Google or, you know, map yourself to

[1:27:14] the Seymour Public Works Department. Um

[1:27:17] and the dam is right next door to that.

[1:27:19] So, we'll be parking in a parking lot.

[1:27:24] It's sort of a dirt parking area in

[1:27:26] between the public works yard and the

[1:27:28] dam. Um and that's in Seymour. Uh we'll

[1:27:31] be meeting at 1:00. Um we'll do a quick

[1:27:35] tour of the powerhouse and and the dam

[1:27:38] um from that side and then we can go

[1:27:40] over and and explore um over near and

[1:27:42] around Cop um in Ansonia. So um so yeah,

[1:27:49] everybody's welcome. Um I hope to see

[1:27:51] all of you there. Um, folks from

[1:27:54] Stimson, I'm not sure if you're going to

[1:27:55] be able to make it out there. I know you

[1:27:56] guys have a bit of a drive if you are.

[1:27:58] Um, but, uh, you know, just shoot me a

[1:28:01] line to let me know. Uh, thumbs up or

[1:28:03] thumbs down. And, um, and yeah, I'm I'm

[1:28:06] looking forward to showing everybody

[1:28:07] around.

[1:28:08] » Yeah. Luckily, it's not too brutal of a

[1:28:11] day out there today, so looking forward

[1:28:13] to it.

[1:28:13] » It looks nice.

[1:28:14] » Bring some bug spray though, I think,

[1:28:16] Erin. Right.

[1:28:17] » Yeah. Please wear wear sturdy shoes and

[1:28:19] long pants. There's a lot of poison ivy.

[1:28:21] It's It's not easy walking everywhere.

[1:28:25] Um and yeah, there are there are

[1:28:26] mosquitoes out there. I think I have

[1:28:28] some bug spray here that I'll bring, but

[1:28:30] um

[1:28:30] » Okay.

[1:28:31] » Yeah.

[1:28:33] » And area, I see you've got the um our

[1:28:36] next meeting November 4th, which is

[1:28:38] Veterans Day. Uh

[1:28:39] » So so it's it's a week early because of

[1:28:41] Veterans Day. Veterans Day is on the

[1:28:43] 11th um which

[1:28:45] » Not our meeting our normal meeting day.

[1:28:47] So we bumped it up one week. Um so it'll

[1:28:49] be on the 4th. So, it's not it's not the

[1:28:51] usual second

[1:28:52] » Wednesday. It's the it's actually the

[1:28:54] first Wednesday in November.

[1:28:56] » All right. So, everyone adjust your

[1:28:57] schedule accordingly. I don't know if

[1:28:58] we'll see as many people on November

[1:29:00] 4th, but it was great to have so many

[1:29:02] people on today. A lot of great

[1:29:05] information. A lot to think about. Lot

[1:29:07] to think about. So, all right. Thank

[1:29:09] you.

[1:29:10] » Thank you.

[1:29:11] » Thanks everyone. Thanks for

NRG Steering Committee - August 2026

Transcript