Kian Ahmadi Photo
DEEP Commissioner Katie Dykes at Wednesday's Edgewood Park press conference.
John Cavaliere saw reason Wednesday to hope that water won’t stream into Lyric Hall in future rainstorms, now that state money is on the way to plan how to protect the heart of Westville from future floods.
Cavaliere, who runs the Whalley Avenue antiques and performance venue, joined engineers and state and local officials gathered in Edgewood Park on Wednesday morning for the announcement of an inaugural round of funding from the Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection’s (DEEP) Climate Resilience fund.
The program, created as part of the 2021 Take Back The Grid Act, will allocate $8.8 million in a first round of grants to 21 municipalities across the state — including $506,000 to the Greater New Haven Water Pollution Control Authority (WPCA) to study nature-based projects to address street floods and sewer back-ups in the low-lying area of Westville around Whalley and Fountain and the park.
DEEP Commissioner Katie Dykes made the announcement at Edgewood Park beside New Haven and Hamden Mayors Justin Elicker and Lauren Garrett, along with Gary Zrelak of the WPCA and Westville Alder Adam Marchand.
Poster displays recent flooding on Whalley and Fountain.
“Welcome to Edgewood Park. You are in a flood zone,” Marchand said, then expressed his excitement for the new projects.
DEEP staffer Rebecca French described projects that will focus on nature-based solutions such as rain gardens and bioswales, which filter water, absorb CO2, allow for biodiversity, and look nicer. She said the goal is to create a set of planned projects that will qualify for federal support.
State Rep. Pat Dillon, who helped secure the funding: "Sewage doesn't sound very sexy, but this is an extraordinary effort."
The help can’t come soon enough for besieged merchants like Cavaliere, who has struggled to keep Lyric Hall afloat amid deteriorating sills and other flooding damage.
“I like antiques,” he said, “but not antique sewage systems.”
Of course Edgewood Park is a flood zone. It's adjacent to the West River. New Haven is clueless about water management and hydrology. It channelizes watercourses like Wintergreen Brook and the West River, and encourages development of land which should be absorbing rainfall. The result of too much impervious surface is too much water flowing too quickly into stormwater.