Thursday's City Plan Commission meeting.
Three city parks and a flood-prone west side road are slated to receive millions of dollars worth of upgrades thanks to a bevy of state and federal aid coming New Haven’s way.
City Engineer Giovanni Zinn detailed those planned public parks and infrastructure improvements Thursday night during back-to-back meetings of the City Plan Commission and the Board of Alders City Services and Environmental Policy (CSEP) committee.
The first meeting took place online via Zoom, while the second meeting was held in person in the Aldermanic Chamber on the second floor of City Hall.
According to Zinn’s presentations and related submissions by his office to the Board of Alders:
• The state legislature has agreed to send $1 million from the state’s allocation of federal American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funds towards improvements at East Rock Park. “The park is an absolute gem in New Haven,” Zinn said.
He said his office plans to host a “robust public discussion about the exact improvements” that this $1 million in state aid will fund. Some “priority areas” and likely projects will include restoring Rice Field, rehabbing trails and roads that run throughout the park, and potentially replacing a playground in College Woods.
“The funding is for the entire park,” he said in response to City Plan Commission Chair Leslie Radcliffe’s question about where in East Rock Park these funds will be dedicated. Since the park’s summit and rose garden have their own dedicated special funds, he said, this $1 million grant will likely be used for “the more general areas, like the athletic fields, which we hear a lot about, and the paths and the roadways.”
• The state legislature has agreed to send $800,000 in federal ARPA aid towards improvements to Edgewood Park. At the top of Zinn’s list for how to use these funds is “the replacement of the mid-bridge,” he said, which is a “foot bridge halfway down the park.” Beyond that, he said, his office plans to host a public process to get community input on what neighbors and park users would like to see improved at Edgewood Park.
• The state legislature has agreed to send $500,000 in federal ARPA aid towards improvements to Lighthouse Point Park. Zinn said the city plans to use these funds to renovate the bathhouse near the beach. That restoration project is “somewhat of a nightmare with flood regulations,” he said. This state-federal aid should help bring that project “over the finish line.”
Will this be new construction of a new building, or a renovation of the existing building? City Plan Commission Vice-Chair Ernest Pagan asked.
“It’s mostly a renovation,” Zinn replied. He said his office is currently weighing how much renovation work can be done to what already exists inside of the building, and how much needs to be constructed anew. “It’s a fairly complicated matter, because the existing building is on piles, and there’s pile caps, and there’s an existing slab over that.”
• The state legislature and the Department of Energy and Environmental Protection (DEEP) have awarded the city a $1 million grant to improve drainage and road conditions along Forest Road between Chapel Street and Edgewood Way. This money will help address “a transient flooding condition” on this stretch of Forest Road, Zinn said, by allowing the city to replace a drainage line, “upsize it,” add a catch basin, and make other improvements “to ensure that water from Forest Road gets into the drainage system instead of coursing through people’s houses.”
Radcliffe praised the project, noting that Forest Road is both scenic and heavily used — “but it can be pretty scary when it’s raining and wet, and water is coming down the hill across the road. … It’s almost like putting your car on a waterslide.” Any improvements to the drainage on this road will make it safer for drivers and neighbors alike.
Before the city can begin work on these projects, the Board of Alders has to formally accept the related funds from the state. After hearing Zinn’s presentations Thursday, both the City Plan Commission and the CSEP committee recommended approval of the respective pieces of local legislation that would allow for the city to accept these funds. Now these funding-accepting items advance to the full Board of Alders for further discussion and a final vote.
Noel Sims contributed to this report.
A little more lard to spread around just before election day!!!