Allen St. and Surrounding Neighborhood Flooding Update: City Council Meeting 3-27-24

Get Involved. Stay Informed. Attend City Council Meetings and the Board of Finance and Taxation Meetings…

OUR VOICES MUST BE HEARD!

This updated record is being shared regarding the status of our neighborhood’s storm-sewer system and State-City responses. Our concerns need to be given the highest priority. Our quality of life is suffering and our property values have declined by 15%. When the flooding water recedes, we are forgotten by our city officials. Even though our critical neighborhood is not in a flood zone…The flooding continues, 6x in 2023.

To: All Elected and Appointed City Officials
All Long Suffering Flood Victims: Property Owners and Residents

From: Frank and Sharon Chase

Over the years, the Mayor Stewart has detailed for us, “Our most pressing need…The storm-sewer upgrades on Allen St. The Allen St. Project is critical to resolving chronic issues including flooding due to storm-sewer failures, sanitary sewer back-ups and breaks due to insufficient capacity and the system’s age, and the general disrepair of the roadway and sidewalks”.

As we all know, these failures cause SEVERE, UNSAFE and UNHEALTHY storm-sewer water flooding conditions on Allen St. and in our surrounding neighborhoods. The Mayor reports: Climate change is here, Be Prepared. We ARE prepared…The City is NOT! Our City Officials are obligated to keep us safe and out of harm’s way. Our basic human rights are being violated by our city officials.

Intense rainfall overwhelms our compromised storm-sewer systems. Our water tables rise and the excessive, contaminated flooding storm-sewer water infiltration and soil saturation creates underground water pressure which threatens our foundations and structures. Factor in the resulting soil erosion, settling and shifting, our foundations and structures are in harm’s way.

After years of failing to upgrade the Allen St. Storm-Sewer System our city officials have placed all of us in danger. This is irresponsible and unacceptable. The final engineering plans will be completed shortly, thereafter, we demand immediate funding and construction. You have wasted enough of our valuable time.

The Inconvenient Facts Our City Officials Must Face: Where Is The Money?

1) The Allen St. Basin Compromised Storm-Sewer System Was Identified 31+ Years Ago.

2) Engineers Report Our Storm-Sewer Systems Are Outdated And Undersized With Deteriorating Clay Mains. The State Of The Infrastructure Is At Crisis Levels. The Weston-Sampson Engineer’s Narrative For The Allen St. Project And Taddonio Engineer’s Report For 24 Roxbury Road Are Attached For Your Review.

3) Contaminated Water Floods Our Neighborhood. Property Owners Have Spent Thousands Of Dollars Installing Drainage And Mitigation Systems To Protect Their Foundations and Structures.

4) Over The Past 31+ Years, City Neglect Has Allowed Our Storm-Sewer Systems To Deteriorate Further.

5) We Pay Our Taxes For The Benefit Of All Residents. We Demand Our Fair Share Of State-City-Bonding Money To Upgrade Our Compromised Storm-Sewer-Systems. We Demand The Same Funding Ingenuity As is Used To Fund Higher Profile Projects.

6) Over Recent Years, City Officials Have Prioritized And Funded $134M+ for 10+ Higher Profile Projects.

No Money For Our Most Pressing Need…The Allen St. Project.

Bonded Money Appropriated For Capital Improvements And ARPA Funds Allocated For Specific Projects:

-Police Station $50M+ With Bonding.
-Public Works Operations Center $20M With Bonding.
-NB FLUSH Program $13M With ARPA Funding.
-Parks $12M From Grants And City Sources.
-Osgood Park and Athletic Fields $11M With ARPA Funding.
-Citywide Fiber Optic Broadband $6M With ARPA Funding.
-Environmental Remediation Fund $3M With ARPA Funding.
-Downtown Development Fund-Affordable Rental Housing $3M With ARPA Funding.
–Affordable Rental Housing Is Primarily Luxury, Market Rate.
-Stanley Golf Reception Pavilion $3M Including $1.5M In Bonding.
-Overlook Stormwater Improvements $2M With ARPA Funding.

*An Additional $11M Was Appropriated By The Bonding Subcommittee Dates 3-16-22 And 4-19-23 For Other Unidentified Capital Projects-Improvements-Equipment And Related Expenses. See Attachments 9432 And 9433.

Other Bonding Efforts.

7) Over The Past 11+ Years No State Money From Legislative Priorities Was Allocated For The Allen St. Project.

8) Other Missed Funding Opportunities For The Allen St. Project:

-No New City Bonding Efforts To Date!
-What Is The Status Of The City’s Infrastructure Bond?
-Mattabasett-Army Corps of Engineers-Fed Funding?
-Grant Applications Totaling $14M; No Success!
-Public Works Account; What Is The Status Of This $4M From The General Fund?
-Capital Improvement Program; No Actual Funding For Years! Kick The Can Down The Road Again! See 9424.
–ARPA Funds $56M; Not One Dollar Allocated For The Allen St. Project!

9) Where Is The Money For Our Needs? No More Delay, Deny, Deflect, Distract, Distort, Defer Tactics.

10) What Is Your Prioritized Funding-Construction Plan Including Definitive Time Lines And Milestones For The Allen St. Project? This Plan Is Due By May 8, 2024 at the City Council Meeting.

After 7 months of due diligence, here are our findings thus far: The Mayor has been disingenuous with the funding for the Allen St. Project. The city has the funding and the funding sources to complete the Allen St. Project; but the Mayor is unwilling to allocate the required money. As we have detailed for you, the evidence and the facts are revealing. The reality is simple: The Mayor has failed to obtain new funding and has allocated available funds for other higher profile projects. Our skepticism is justified based on the Mayor’s failed funding efforts.

The Allen St. Project has been ignored, neglected and mismanaged over the past 31+ years, including 11+ years on the Erin Stewart Watch! The Allen St. problem has been allowed to fester for years. The cause is undeniable…The effects will be catastrophic if the flooding is allowed to continue.

Over the years, millions of dollars has flowed to New Britain with no money allocated for the Allen St. Project #2, Oak St. to Beacon St. Where is the money for our most pressing need? Find the courage, step up and make the required effort to fund and complete the Allen St. Project. Reallocate portions of any unused ARPA Funds, create and complete bonding initiatives and use the $4M designated for the Allen St. Project from the General Fund. Erin Stewart signed off on Resolution #36236 9-28-23, authorizing this $4M for the Allen St. Project. All of these funding options are fiscally responsible funding solutions for the Allen St. Project.

Call it what you will; nonfeasance, dereliction of duty, mismanagement, etc. Nonfeasance; The failure to do something that should have been done, resulting in harm or damage. Wake up folks! 25+ property owners and their residents are victims of this irresponsible behavior by all of our city officials…. Meanwhile, the flooding continues.

*We are waiting for Erin’s budget proposals to be presented at the City Council Meeting April 10, 2024. We have requested more pertinent documentation from the city regarding Cardinal Engineering and the Allen St. Project in accordance with the CT Freedom of Information Act. We will be sampling and testing the flooding water in our neighborhood determining the possible presence of human fecal matter. We have a lab on-call, ready to go.

Thank you.

Frank and Sharon Chase