Council Approves $4 Million for Upgrades to Stop Flooding, But City Says Project Not to Happen Until 2025

The City Council unanimously approved $4 million for improvements to address flooding experienced by residents of the Allen Street, Roxbury Road and CCSU area, but the city Public Works director says that the project likely will not happen until 2025.

Ald. Luz Ortiz-Luna (R-AL) and Ald. Desiree Costa (R-AL) had introduced the proposal to provide funding for the city Public Works Department, “to begin the Allen Street Drainage Improvements Project,” in an effort to address the flooding experienced by residents in a neighborhood to the southwest of CCSU, including Newbury, Hampton, Allen, Brighton streets and Eton Place and Roxbury Road.

But Mark Moriarty, Public Works Director for the city, said that, while the city already has designs for the project, done in 2018, the city would need to have the project redesigned to, he argued, get the project done correctly.

Residents have expressed concerns that the Council would, tonight, approve the funding proposed, in the wake of area residents expressing deep concern about the flooding, but that the administration of Mayor Erin Stewart (R) might then delay the project well into the future. A 2025 project would occur well past the end of the end of the city’s current budget year on June 30, 2024, raising the possibility that the funding just allocated might lapse, then not be available for the project.

Both Ald. Ortiz-Luna and Ald. Costa, as well as Ald. Paul Catanzaro (R-5), expressed consternation with the Public Works director about the timetable and pressed for faster completion of the improvements.

Moriarty said the entire project would cost $7 million.

Earlier today, area residents, including John McNamara and Frank Chase said, in a statement that, “Flooding has occurred five times in the area since July that city officials attribute to climate change. The infrastructure project has been postponed for the last six fiscal years.”

At the September 13th Council meeting, Chase and a number of other area residents spoke about incurring thousands of dollars on flood damage repairs, water pump and drain improvements and insurance paid by residents because of flooding.

Residents described streets with water deep enough to float boats and basements filling with water. One resident described a new water pump that burned out from the intensity of the flooding, spilling water into children’s bedrooms.

Residents discussed rain as well as sewerage flooding into their basements, and some residents talked about insects appearing in their homes, which they attributed to the poor drainage. A number of residents at the meeting were clearly emotional, as they pleaded for quick action to address the problems.

A number of residents said that “shiny” taxpayer-funded construction, like the Beehive Bridge on Main Street, are nice, but that they felt that basic infrastructure improvements, like drainage in their neighborhoods, has been made a lower priority to those projects.

Editor’s note: John McNamara is a contributing writer for the New Britain Progressive, but was not an author of this article.

The New Britain Progressive, a publication of New Britain Independent Newspaper, Inc. is free to read and community supported. http://newbritainprogressive.com. Please feel free to help the New Britain Progressive with a donation, and you are invited to purchase advertisements in the New Britain Progressive. If you would like to submit an event for inclusion in the New Britain Progressive weekly events articles, or would like to update something already listed on the New Britain Progressive, feel free to visit this web page.