New Haven Register (New Haven, CT)
‘Tough trade-offs’ in debate over raising Beach St.
WEST HAVEN — Residents of the city’s shoreline neighborhood warned Mayor Nancy Rossi not to rush a project to raise Beach Street.
The residents say they first want the city to think through the many effects raising the road could have on coastal resiliency, the environment, road safety, economic viability and more.
Four years into the project, beginning with an attempt to lobby for and procure the funding necessary for it to happen, Rossi assured the residents nothing is being rushed.
The three-phase project already has seen the first phase completed; it raised the road in the area of the Water Pollution Control Facility, where workers had to enter the building with boats following Superstorm Sandy because the water level was so high.
The next two phases are planned to complete the raising of the road for the remainder of the threequarter-mile of road.
Rossi and several engineers and city representatives held an informational session this week at City Hall to listen to neighbors’ concerns and answer questions about the project to raise Beach Street with $5.2 million in state bonding money.
“We coach and urge everyone to elevate, elevate, elevate. If you can’t, then protect: and that’s what raising the road would do,” said Doug Colter, the city’s flood plain manager.
The city is exploring raising the road to Elevation 11, or 11 feet above sea level. Once it makes a determination about its final plan, it will apply for a permit with the state.
Before finalizing that plan, though, the city heard feedback from skeptical neighbors. John Truscinski with the Connecticut Institute for Resilience and Climate Adaption at the University of Connecticut showed residents four preliminary models demonstrating the effects that a storm akin to Sandy, plus an expected 20-inch rise in sea level by 2050, would have on the coastline, depending on whether Beach Street is raised.
Bob Marra, a plant pathologist and coastal sustainability advocate, said those models underestimated the effect heavy storms might have on the coastline in the future because they do not account for the expected erosion of the beach in 30 years.
“As sea level rises, the sea encroaches landward,” he said.
He criticized city officials for showing visualizations of the raised road, but none near Morse Park, where he said the road would become untenably small because of the increased footprint caused by sloping from raising the road.
“I think our imaginations are really not capable of grasping what’s going to happen with climate change,” he said. “I’m not a great fan of this idea.”
Resident Dave Killeen said a common practice for creating elevation near shorelines is the use of construction on stilts, so as not to impede the flow of water and cause it to go elsewhere. He said the road-raising project, as proposed, would be a “solid structure.”
“This is going to be an obstacle between the community and its waterfront,” he said.
Resident Jane Whelan asked whether the city would conduct an environmental impact assessment. City Engineer Abdul Quadir said one is “not required for
this project.”
Although residents wary of flooding and negative environmental effects urged caution, several of the roughly 40 people at the hearing said they’d be excited to see the project move forward in order to add economic viability to the area.
Christopher Marone, one of three partners in a new development at the site of the old Chick’s Drive-In on Beach Street, said he believes he and his business partners share the same concerns as the neighbors of the area. However, he said raising the road to 11 feet from sea level would be extremely important to the new business’ security. He said if the building itself were wiped out, destroyed or considered not insurable, it could destroy the business altogether.
“Loss of use is so detrimental to a business,” he said.
Nick Ruickoldt, a former councilman, said it was “a humongous win” for the city to procure the state bonding and it would be “the right thing to do” to put the money to use to encourage developers and customers alike to come to the city’s shoreline.
Azure Dee Sleicher of RACE Coastal Engineering said that, with the road raised to 11 feet above sea level, the chance of the road being overtopped is 20 times less — although water that does overtop the road would be retained for longer.
Truscinski said that, in his experience, coastal municipalities are doing a balancing act in deciding how best to approach inevitable flooding.
“There are tough tradeoffs every town is trying to make in balancing these competing goals,” he said.
Although the city has state bonding to raise Beach Street now, he said it may be one component of a more comprehensive approach to improve coastal resiliency in West Haven.
Before ending the meeting after about 21⁄2 hours, Rossi said she felt it had been productive.
“We’ll see where we’re going to go with this,” she said.