New Haven Register (New Haven, CT)
Beach Street funding secured
Officials hope elevation work will reduce flooding, boost development
WEST HAVEN — State Rep. Dorinda Borer, D-West Haven, announced Tuesday that she has secured $5 million in state and federal funds to complete the raising of Beach Street, a critical project to prevent serious flooding and to foster economic development on the valuable stretch of the city’s shoreline.
“This was two years in the making, trying to bring federal, state, and local agencies in alignment,” Borer said at a press conference Tuesday along the shore. “We had a few doors close on us along the way, but as the old saying goes, ‘When one door closes, find a window,’ and we did.”
She said it’s a reminder to “never give up,” and
thanked Mayor Nancy Rossi and other officials for all their help.
Borer delivered the news from Sandy Point Beach & Bird Sanctuary on Beach Street with Rossi by her side and an audience of about 30 residents — some of them lawmakers, City Council members and former lawmakers.
Audience members wore masks and Borer kept it short.
Borer said the delegation learned in March that the funding came through, but it was on the cusp of the state’s closure because of the coronavirus pandemic.
Rather than distract from that important message, they waited for this time of reopening to share the news with the public, Borer said.
“Our beach is the jewel of West Haven,” Borer said.
Rossi plans to schedule a public hearing regarding the plans for the second and third phases of the work, though a date has not yet been set.
Flooding during Superstorm Sandy in 2012 put Beach Street under several feet of water, wiped out homes, caused access problems for emergency responders and limited access to the Water Pollution Control plant. Flooding takes place even with much lesser storms and rainfall, officials said.
In addition, the street is home to prime real estate that once housed Captain’s Galley Restaurant, Chick’s Drive-in and the Debonair Motel. Officials have said the flooding situation has hampered the sale and redevelopment of those properties.
Rossi praised the strength of the city’s shoreline Tuesday and said the raising of Beach Street will “ignite economic development” there.
City Council Chairman Ron Quagliani, who attended the event, said once completed, the raising of Beach Street will “remove a major economic development impediment.” He said the street long has been a flooding and safety concern.
The necessary $3.5 million in funding for phase one already had been secured and Borer has been trying for two years to secure money for phases two and three.
Phase one covers the area near the city’s sewage plant, nearly wiped out during Superstorm Sandy, but expert city sources have said that effort cannot be totally effective without completion of the final two phases.
Borer has said, “Beach Street is a critical project which protects our families, ensures clean water, and could be a catalyst for an economically starved city.”
The $8.5 million road raising project calls for the city to raise a 4,000-foot stretch of First Avenue and Beach Street from Monahan Place, near the wastewater treatment plant, to Morse Avenue, near the former Chick’s Drive-in restaurant, according to Register files.
Elevations will range from 2 to 5 feet, based on existing topography, City Engineer Abdul Quadir said at a 2017 meeting on the plan.
On Oct. 29, 2012, during
Sandy, the Water Pollution Control Plant at 2 Beach St. was inaccessible to staff and emergency vehicles for nearly 12 hours because of extensive flooding.
The city took steps to make the shoreline more resilient to tidal flooding and coastal storms, including dredging the Old Field Creek salt marsh off Beach Street, thanks to federal funding to help Connecticut municipalities make such improvements.