Lake Whitney Dam to be reinforced as climate change fuels stronger storms, extreme flooding
Austin Mirmina
HAMDEN — Project officials are finalizing plans to reinforce
the 163-year-old Lake Whitney Dam to withstand heavier rainfall and
flooding fueled by climate change.
Built in 1862, the dam gave New Haven a reliable drinking
water supply for its rapidly-growing population and helped fight fires. It
also powered the armory of Eli Whitney, Jr. – son of the cotton
gin inventor – which produced weapons for Union soldiers during the
Civil War.
The dam has undergone regular maintenance over the years.
But the Regional Water Authority, which owns Lake Whitney, now says it needs
bigger upgrades to prepare for stronger storms and meet industry
standards.
The plan calls for excavating several feet of dirt near the
dam's crest and replacing it with concrete to improve stability and reduce
water loss, said Lawrence Marcik, Jr., a senior RWA engineer.
"That makes it stronger and better because it’s a big
mass of concrete," Marcik said. "Bigger masses can hold more
force."
Crews will also widen and deepen the spillway – the channel
where water flows over – along the side of the dam to increase its capacity so
it can handle more water during major storms. In addition, the ground
below the spillway will be widened and reinforced with concrete to prevent
long-term erosion and improve passage for fish and eels.
The lake's water level must be gradually lowered before
construction can begin. To do this, two temporary cellular coffer dams – rings
of barrel-like structures filled with dirt and stones – will be placed
upstream: one near the Davis Street bridge and another about 30 feet above the
Lake Whitney Dam.
Crews will then lower the water to about 10 feet, channeling
it across the lake bed and through a notch cut into the existing dam, where it
will continue downstream. Lowering the lake any more would
have exposed pungent-smelling mud flats, according to Marcik.
During this step, a pipe will be installed before the Davis
Street bridge to carry water to the Lake Whitney water treatment facility,
officials said. This ensures that there is ample water for customers after
the lake is lowered for dam work.
To keep construction vehicles from jamming up the parking
lot used to access the Whitney Water Center, Eli
Whitney Museum and East Rock Park, temporary access roads will be
built from Whitney Avenue to storage areas near the site. The sidewalk along
Whitney Avenue will also be moved to make room for protective fencing, plans
show.
After consulting historic preservationists and other
stakeholders, the RWA chose to rehab the existing dam and preserve its
stone facade rather than build a new one downstream.
Once finished, the dam will look largely the same but
be strong enough to hold up against the extreme
downpours and flooding becoming more frequent as the planet warms
from burning fossil fuels.
The upgraded damn will be designed to safely withstand a
so-called "probable maximum flood" – the largest flood possible at
the site – which Marcik said could bring up to 34 inches of rain over
three days. That's more than double the rainfall during the record-setting
June 1982 floods that killed at least 11 people and caused
a dam failure in Essex.
The project plans are 97% complete, Marcik said, and will
likely be submitted for approval to the Army Corps of Engineers and the state
Department of Energy and Environmental Protection by the end of September.
While those agencies review the plans, Marcik and other officials will
also seek approval from the RWA's five-member board.
The project's total cost is estimated at around $60 million.
Funding details aren't available yet, but a RWA spokesperson said
they expect to receive "substantial support" through low-interest
federal and state loans.
"Lower borrowing costs can have a dramatic impact on
total costs over the life of the loan, as any homeowner knows, and we are eager
to leverage this on behalf of our customers," the spokesperson, Edward
Crowder, said.
Construction is expected to begin at the end of 2026 and
last about two-and-a-half years, according to Marcik.
The senior engineer had planned to retire but will stay on
to see the project through, having worked on it for most of his RWA
career. "This is my baby," he said.
State allows more time to submit comments on proposal to expand gas compressor station in Brookfield
BROOKFIELD — Residents who oppose a proposed
expansion of a natural
gas compressor station located just 1,900 feet from Whisonier
Middle School in Brookfield now have
more time to express their objections to the plan.
The state Department of Energy and
Environmental Protection announced recently that it is extending its public
comment period to Sept. 16 on the expansion proposed by the Iroquois
Gas Transmission System.
The extension was issued after DEEP received several
requests from Brookfield residents and from advocacy organizations for more
time, said James Fowler, a senior adviser with DEEP.
"The comment period was extended to ensure robust
engagement," Fowler said.
The proposal for Brookfield, part of a larger expansion
project by Iroquois, is moving through the approval process on many levels.
On Aug. 1, the New York Department of Environmental
Conservation approved air permits to increase output at gas compressor stations
in Dover and Athens, N.Y.
The Brookfield air permit was the last air permit needed
before construction can begin in both New York and Connecticut,
said Bianca Sanchez, associate press secretary for the Sierra Club, an
environmental nonprofit organization fighting to stop the project.
Iroquois estimates the cost of the projects in all of the
impacted towns would be $272 million. The project would allow Iroquois to
provide more natural gas to customers to heat and power homes and
businesses.
Although the New York environmental conservation department
has said it found the project "would interfere with the statewide
greenhouse gas ... (and) emission limits established in the Climate Act,"
the project is "necessary" to provide natural gas to
customers.
First selectman's requests
One of the requests for an extension on the public comment
time came from Brookfield First Selectman Steve
Dunn, who contacted DEEP on behalf of the Board of Selectmen.
Dunn is also spearheading an effort to send an adjudicatory
petition to DEEP, asking the agency to hold a hearing where, in addition to
hearing concerns about the proposed expansion, DEEP could also make changes to
the plan.
The first selectman said he is requesting that DEEP require
Iroquois to use electric compressors instead of gas-powered compressors and to
do air testing before, during and after the expansion.
“That would eliminate all the pollution coming out of the
site from the new compressors, too," Dunn said.
With the “ambient air testing ... we have a much better feel
for exactly what it is is coming into our environment," he said.
Additionally, Dunn said he would like to add security to the
facility, which “is within 1,800 feet of one of our schools and within 300 to
400 feet of residences."
The petition already hit the required 25 names, but Dunn
said, “I’m hoping to get a few hundred signatures.”
As of Thursday, 59 people had signed the petition, which is
in Dunn's office at Brookfield Town Hall. Anyone can sign the petition, not
only town residents.
He plans to send the petition to DEEP before the public
comment period closes.
Compressor station expansion
Some residents, conservationists and town and state
officials have worked for years to try to stop the expansion
of Brookfield’s natural
gas compressor station, which is on an 80-acre property at 78 Meadow Lane
owned by Iroquois.
The expansion plan would involve two steel pipelines that
enter and exit the station: The Algonquin pipeline, built in 2008,
comes in from the southwest, and the Iroquois pipeline, built in 2009, comes
down from the north.
Iroquois wants to more
than double the capacity of the compressor station to receive an
additional 125 million cubic feet of natural gas per day, according to an
operating permit filed with DEEP.
The Iroquois
natural gas pipeline, which runs from Canada through New York and
Connecticut and under Long Island Sound, began operations in 1992. When
Iroquois proposed a compressor station for the pipeline in 2006 for
Brookfield, residents
objected, saying it would be a risk to the health and safety of
neighbors and the staff and students at Whisconier.
Despite objections, the compressor station was built. With
the expansion plan, “residents have the same concerns today,” Sierra Club
members have said.
Ansonia taps Shelton to partner on revitalization of Copper & Brass site
ANSONIA — Mayor Dave Cassetti’s construction company office
once sat on Riverside Avenue, where he looked at the dilapidated Ansonia
Copper & Brass site daily.
But where others saw ruins, he saw an opportunity.
“I would look at that old albatross ... and I saw a gold
mine,” Cassetti said.
Cassetti was not mayor then, but once he took office in
2017, he focused
on the site’s future. Seven years ago, the city moved to foreclose on the
site, a move finally completed last year.
Over the years, his economic development team has secured
$40 million in state and federal grant money to remediate the nearly 60 acres
of contaminated land.
"Our motto is 'Ansonia Recharged,'” Corporation Counsel
John Marini said. “There is nothing bigger than the economic energy we
have (at the old Ansonia Copper & Brass site). This will help recharge
our tax rolls.”
Cassetti’s next move was to reach out to Shelton Mayor Mark
Lauretti and the Shelton Economic Development Corp., which has successfully
obtained brownfield funds from the federal government to help redevelop the
city's downtown.
Shelton’s Board of Aldermen held a public hearing last
week on allowing SEDC to expand its efforts regionally and partner with
Ansonia. A vote will held be at a future aldermen's meeting.
Cel-Lastik/Sponge Rubber — 93 East Canal St. (assessment and
cleanup).
Shelton Farm & Public Market — 100 East Canal St.
(cleanup that created the Farmers Market).
Axton Cross parcel — 113 East Canal St. (East/West)
(assessments and cleanups grouped with Chromium Process).
Chromium Process — 113 and 125 Canal St. (multiple
cleanups; DECD Round 21 award in July 2025 for further remediation).
Samarius Electronics — 123 East Canal St. (assessment
and cleanup).
Rolfite — 131 East Canal St. (aka 131 East Canal St. East)
(cleanup).
223 Canal St. (NVCOG-supported brownfield
funding/activities).
Star Pin Manufacturing — 267 Canal St. (EPA cleanup grant in
2020).
281 Canal St. (former crucible/wire manufacturing site
— NVCOG brownfields inventory item for Shelton)
River Road corridor
726 River Road (part of the Autoswage/riverfront
assemblage) (listed in NVCOG funded brownfield sites; tied to the larger
marina/housing redevelopment).
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“It is flattering to have our work appreciated beyond our
borders,” said Lauretti. “This work at Ansonia Copper and Brass will be a huge
economic boon for Ansonia and the region.”
Lauretti said SEDC, under the leadership of new President
Sheila O’Malley, also Ansonia’s longtime head of economic development, would
partner with Ansonia in using the millions of dollars to remediate the property
and oversee any future development.
Brownfield grants are competitive federal funds, primarily
from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, provided to clean up and
redevelop brownfields, properties negatively affected by hazardous substances,
pollutants, or contaminants.
These grants support site assessment, cleanup activities,
environmental job training, and the development of reuse plans, helping
communities transform blighted sites into productive economic and social
assets.
"We want to make sure this is a tax-generating
property,” Cassetti said. Lauretti "has great insight, so we
wanted to bring him in.”
Shelton’s brownfield remediation history
Lauretti, seeking
his 18th term as Shelton's mayor in the Nov. 4 election, says one of
his campaign promises when first elected was to create a vibrant downtown
again, and at the same time increase the tax rolls again.
“The downtown had become overrun with abandoned factory
buildings, which became home for illegal activities, homelessness and fires,
which left most structures a total loss,” he recalled.
Lauretti said he was advised not to foreclose on the sites,
saying they would become the city’s responsibility to clean up. But he took the
chance, and the results are on display now in a booming downtown of apartments
and businesses.
“If government created the problem, government is the only
one to solve it,” Lauretti said.
Lauretti said money began “pouring in” after the B.F.
Goodrich fire in 1975, an arson that destroyed the site of what had been
the city’s biggest employer. The city began putting together plans to bring the
site back to life, and state and federal agencies took notice.
“We had a plan ... the state saw the opportunity, and we
received money,” said Lauretti. “These types of properties were not even called
brownfields back then.”
Once the city started to remediate that site, developers saw
the potential, setting the stage for things to come over the past 30 years.
Shelton is now a brownfield model, as evidenced by the awards won for
developing the farmers market site.
"It was a calculated risk, but one that paid off for
our tax rolls and the community with a booming downtown,” Lauretti said.
In the years since, Shelton has received some $40 million in
state and federal funding with approximately $100 million in private
investment.
Ansonia Copper & Brass
Ansonia Copper & Brass off Liberty Street is some 60
acres prime for redevelopment, says O’Malley. The city foreclosed on
the property last year.
Industry once dominated Ansonia, with Ansonia Copper &
Brass and Farrel Corp. employees providing a flow of customers to city
businesses.
Work has already begun on some 5 acres of former Farrel
Corp. land contiguous to the copper and brass site. The city has purchased a
lease to bring a 3.9MW fuel cell to the site.
The fuel cell project, made possible through the city's
partnership with Johnson Controls, will provide enough electricity to cover all
of the city's power needs and soon generate nearly $2 million in recurring
revenue.
Officials envision that the energy produced by the downtown
power hub will help redevelop the copper and brass parcel, attracting tenants
like data centers to the site, all to benefit Ansonia taxpayers, schools, and
infrastructure.
O'Malley said the fuel cell can evolve into a full-blown
power grid, producing hydrogen, CO2 and thermal energy, all of which can be
sold to third parties with the profits going back to the city.
Excavation and soil removal have been completed for a site
pad for the fuel cell project.
Last part of Ansonia's SHW Casting plant set to come down this weekend as city eyes development
Christian Metzger
ANSONIA — Demolition on the SHW Casting complex is nearing
its end after after starting in 2023.
Only one wall remains in the demolition of the final
building on the 3.58-acre site, known as Building #12, according to a post made
on the city’s Facebook page.
The demolition of the final wall was anticipated to take
place Saturday, said Mayor David Cassetti, finally opening up the
35 N. Main Street property for development.
The blighted property, which has remained unused since 2000,
was seized by the city through foreclosure in 2020 due to outstanding tax
payments. While there is still work to be done in regards to cleanup of
debris and more than 100 years of industrial waste in the soil, the demolition
marks the first stage toward an expansive redevelopment of the former factory
complex.
“That's going to be an economic engine and resource for
monies and taxes for the city of Ansonia," Cassetti said. "I got many
developers that are interested.”
Cassetti said the city is already courting several
possible occupants at the site. Potential uses could be a clean burn waste
disposal plant and power facility, and a ceramics manufacturer. The city has
already signed a $37 million lease with Johnson Controls for the construction
of nine, 440-kilowatt fuel cells on the site when work is completed.
He described the parcel as a "gold mine" worth of
economic development potential for the city once it’s cleared.
“It's a start for the city of Ansonia to start remaking
itself and moving into the 21st century," he said.
He said it's been his goal to develop the site, that has sat
empty for about 30 years.
"We're going to move and do what we have to do,” he
said.
The city has $40 million in state and federal funding to
clean up the site, along with an additional $100 million from other
investments. Cassetti said they're also working with the city of Shelton on
their redevelopment projects, as they had a similar property that used to be a
chromium processing factory on Canal Street that has since been remediated and
is in the process of being developed for housing.
When it comes to the clean burn plant, Cassetti also said it
would save the town millions in tipping fees for the disposal of waste and
generate power for the city, which could also be sold to surrounding towns. He
said that with clean and environmentally friendly technology, that the plant
wouldn’t generate any pollutants for nearby residents.
Town officials have also expressed an interest in having a
data center on the property, according to documents.
The demolition of the SHW plant marks only one part of the
demolition for the full industrial complex on the site that will continue for
years, but with one portion cleared, it marks the potential for new, pending
developments downtown once the parcel has been fully cleared and
remediated.
Construction to Start on $13M Warehouse at Former Subway HQ
MILFORD — Construction is set to begin on a new
$13 million warehouse and office building at the former Subway
International Headquarters property, after the city’s Planning and Zoning Board
gave its approval this week.
Property owner Robert Scinto, of RD Scinto Associates of
Shelton, said work will start immediately at 300 and 336 Sub Way, with the
project expected to be completed by November 2026. The 82,208-square-foot
building has already been leased to an undisclosed company that will use it to
store air conditioning and heating equipment and employ about 150 people.
Scinto declined Thursday to identify the tenant until the
company’s leaders agreed to do so.
The project follows other redevelopment at the former Subway
campus, where Scinto this year opened a $30
million warehouse now housing the North American headquarters for
German knife manufacturer Wüsthof and
J & K Cabinetry, which builds kitchen and bath cabinets.
Subway, which had called Milford home for over 30 years,
moved its corporate offices to one of Scinto’s other properties in Shelton in
2023. Scinto said he believes the new companies will more than make up for any
job or tax losses to Milford caused by Subway’s departure.
The seven-member board voted unanimously to approve the site
plan and permit for the new project, which also called for amending the permit
for the J & K and Wüstof property to allow its workers or visitors to park
at the HVAC warehouse.
“It is a combination of office space and warehouses so it’s
a good use for the site because most of these office buildings are all obsolete
today. That’s the problem with all of them. Most of them are being torn down,”
Scinto said.
The HVAC warehouse will not have any business or trucks
making deliveries at night, Scinto told the board.
The two parcels at 300 and 336 Sub Way will be consolidated
into one property of about 12.6 acres, Town Planner David Sulkis said. The
warehouse fits the neighborhood’s mixed-use zone so a zoning review is
unnecessary, he added.
The board approved the plan without voicing any objections,
with members complimenting Scinto’s presentation.
There’s a major traffic problem called the ‘Mixmaster’ in CT. There are two plans for fixing it.
The Connecticut Department of Transportation recently
said it has two potential plans to replace the “Mixmaster” interchange in
Waterbury, an area that has been a source of frustration for decades due of
travel congestion.
The Mixmaster,
an interchange where Interstate 84 and Route 8 meet in Waterbury, was planned
and designed in the late 1940s through the 1950s, constructed in the 1960s, and
opened for public use in 1968. Since that time, traffic has continued to
increase. About 190,000 motor vehicle trips occur on the Mixmaster each day.
It’s estimated that by 2045, that number will increase to 225,000.
“This highway was probably state of the art when it was
designed back in the ’60s, but 60 years later, the traffic has continued to
increase and the design doesn’t hold up quite as well as it did,” said
Waterbury Mayor Paul Pernerewski. “This is a system that’s filled with left
hand exits and on-ramps that just don’t make any sense these days with the
amount of traffic.
The plans were originated through the New Mix
Planning and Environmental Linkages Study. Following the study, which took
place over several years, the DOT has advanced two alternatives for the
interchange: the Modern Crossover Interchange and Naugatuck River Shift.
According to officials, it will be years before a final
decision is made and ground breaks on one of the plans.
In the Modern Crossover Interchange option, the Route 8
structures would be reconstructed east of the Naugatuck River, “resulting in
opportunities to provide access to the Naugatuck River on the west riverbank,”
according to the report.
“The Naugatuck River Shift alternative would move the river
toward the east to provide space for unstacking Route 8,” the report says. “The
Route 8 structures would remain on the west side of the river, resulting in
opportunities to provide access to the Naugatuck River on the east river bank.”
Both options would be unstacked and reconstructed with an
expected lifespan of over 75 years.
“These are still conceptual, and then they’ll have to get to
work on the engineering and all of the rest of it,” Pernerewski said. “I think
ultimately, when the work is completed, it’s going to be a benefit to the city
because the condition of the roadways will have been improved.”
Pernerewski said the topography of Waterbury near the
Mixmaster, which includes a cemetery, churches and established businesses,
limits possible geographical changes.
“I think ultimately it’ll benefit the city as you look at
these designs. You’ve seen that a lot of the space will open up access to the
river. When these highways were built, they were built along the river and they
cut off river access, split the city in two, and I think these changes will
help open up that access to the river.” Pernerewski said.
Pernerewski noted that traffic is “going to be a nightmare”
when the work begins. He said because room is so tight, the city will not have
the luxury of building the highway without interfering with everyday traffic.
“This is going to be a highway that is going to be replaced
as you go along, and that is going to make getting through the city for a
number of years a lot more difficult,” Pernerewski said.
Last October, the DOT announced the
completion of the Mixmaster rehabilitation project in Waterbury. That work
was done to extend the life of the interchange before work begins on the
long-term project.
“When you start looking at this, you’re talking about six
years out to begin this project and then get the whole thing completed. The
concept was you had to keep it going until you forget the new highway is built.
And if they hadn’t done that work, it would have become dangerous,” Pernerewski
said.
Department of Transportation spokesperson Josh Morgan this
project has had two concurrent paths going on during the last few years.
“On one hand, we had the construction project that was out
there rehabilitating those structures, making sure that they last for the next
15, 20, 25 years,” Morgan said. “On the other hand, we had a very lengthy
public engagement process talking to the elected officials, business owners,
community groups, residents about what they want to see the future of that
interchange and transportation from the Greater Waterbury area. What we had
announced earlier this week are the two really large alternatives which came
out of that process,” Morgan said.
Morgan said the DOT went into public hearings with no
preconceived notions but soon learned that people were sick of being stuck in
traffic and are tired of the crashes that are happening at the Mixmaster on a
daily basis and want improved mobility choices.
“What these alternatives, do in both instances, would
actually unstack those highways, untangle what really was an engineering marvel
in the ’50s and ’60s, and make it more of a traditional highway that’s not
going to be interconnected,” Morgan said. “It’s going to eliminate those left
hand exits and left hand on-ramps, which are creating unsafe conditions.”
Morgan said the changes will positively impact local roads
near the Mixmaster with improvements planned for crosswalks, sidewalks and bike
lanes.
“We’re also looking at how we can improve rail travel, bus
travel, giving people mobility choices. So again, it’s not just worrying about
the cars and vehicles. It’s how we can connect everything together, no matter
your motor travel, and how this also can tie into Waterbury’s future business
and economic development goals,” Morgan said. “It’s so important that we had
these conversations working hand in hand with the city, with the community.”
Morgan is quick to note that these concepts are still in the
“very early stages” of planning. Morgan said there will be more public
engagement, and the DOT wants to show that it is committed to these
improvements.
“I don’t think there’s anything that would be more
frustrating to a resident for us to go out there and spend three years planning
and talking to them and then saying ‘Bye, we’ll talk to you in 20 years from
now when we come back to do this project,'” Morgan said. “We’re also doing
what’s called breakout projects, or early action projects, things that have
already started, things that will start next year, all to improve safety,
improve mobility as we get to that point in the next 10, 15 years when we start
doing that major project of unstacking the Mixmaster.”
The earliest the projects would start would be in the mid
2030s, according to Morgan.
“Then how long that ultimately takes is unknown for the
whole completion of the project,” he said. “But right now, we’re trying to get
through this next phase.
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“This is an important milestone. We’re excited that we got to this point, but certainly there is a lot of work left to do before we break ground on this large-scale project. We are really going to try to design it to minimize as much of those impacts on Route 8 and I-84 as possible,” Morgan added.