Norwich postpones boat launch vote
Norwich — After hearing mixed opinions during a lengthy public hearing Monday night, the City Council tabled action on a proposed ordinance to purchase a 3.2-acre Thames River waterfront property in the Shipping Street former industrial district for $400,000 as part of a $4 million plan to relocate the downtown boat launch.
The city has applied for a $2 million state grant through the state Department of Economic and Community Development for the cleanup.
The plan calls for purchasing property at 1 Terminal Way off Shipping Street to relocate the launch from the Howard T. Brown Memorial Park at Norwich Harbor. That launch would be converted into a kayak and canoe launch.
Residents in favor cited the safety concerns at Brown Park and the chance to spark the long-desired economic development in the former industrial district. Opponents countered that the project is too costly for uncertain returns for economic development and also questioned whether boaters would come up the river to the harbor from the location south of the city center.
James Quarto, a member of the Redevelopment Agency, said the city instead should consider purchasing the Shetucket Iron & Metal scrap metal yard at New Wharf Road on the east bank of Norwich Harbor for either a boat launch or fishing area.
Former Alderman John Paul Mereen, also past chairman of the Harbor Management Commission, asked aldermen to read the 2012 Harbor Management Commission report that analyzed the boat launch proposal. Current Alderman and former Mayor Peter Nystrom accompanied harbor commission officials to Hartford to push for funding for the boat launch relocation listed as the top priority in the harbor plan.
Mereen compared the project to the 10- year effort to clean a burnt-out mill site in Occum to create a park during his tenure on the council. He said if the state grant doesn’t come through this year, city officials need to keep applying and keep trying.
“You don’t give up,” Mereen said. “There’s work to be done here. You apply again, and again.”
Immediately following the hearing, Alderwoman Stacy Gould made the motion to table action on the boat launch until the Feb. 16 meeting.
“I don’t feel we have all the information we need to make an informed decision,” Gould said after the meeting.
The idea of moving the boat launch to the Shipping Street dates back about 20 years, but actually planning for the project started in 2011, when the project was placed in the Harbor Management Commission’s vision plan.
The city obtained a $200,000 state grant to do the environmental assessment of the property, which estimated cleanup costs at $2 million. City planning officials said construction of the launch could add another $1.5 million, bringing the overall total to about $4 million.