Allen St. Drainage Improvements and Reconstruction Phase 2 Project and Hampton-Eton Storm-Sewer Sub-Basin: Our 22nd Presentation to City and State Officials

To: CT Elected Officials, New Britain Elected Officials, Taxpayers and Flooding Victims:

1) E-mail Stormwater and Sewer Update: Funding for Allen St. Project 7-18-24:

The $4.2M commitment letter dated 7-15-24 the current mayor has sent to Representatives Napoli and Piscopo detailed the City’s 30% share of the $13.9M Allen St. Drainage Improvements and Reconstruction Phase 2 Project. See attachments.

The current mayor confirmed this commitment for CT Examiner Reporter Robert Storace in his 7-26-24 article “NB Homeowners Frustrated By Unchecked Flooding”. The current mayor noted, the city is onboard to pay the $4.2M with funding available in it’s Unrestricted Fund Balance.

2) E-mail Allen St. Project #2 Progress Update 7-25-24:

Director Moriarty and Cardinal Engineering are due to submit the updated Allen St. Project #2 Engineering-Construction Plan to the DOT and to the City for review. This is due by 8-15-24. Is this complete?

3) E-mail Allen St. Project #2 Update and Bulletin 8-1-24:

What is the status of the state bonding initiative for Allen St? See our final thoughts below.

4) E-mail Allen St. Basin and Hampton-Eton Sub-Basin Water Pipe Breaks 8-2-24:

We had our 2nd underground pipe break in 2024 on Newbury St. 8-1-24. Our 1st pipe broke on Allen St. 1-25-24. 2 pipe breaks in 6 months involving the Allen St. Basin and the Hampton-Eton Sub-Basin. The Allen St. and the Hampton-Eton Storm-Sewer Systems are outdated and undersized.
Our engineers tell us the compromised storm-sewer systems serving our neighborhoods must be a high priority because the infrastructure is at crisis levels.

5) Final Thoughts for the Allen St. Problem:

We were told back in September 2023 that it would take 1 year or more to have the Allen St. Project shovel ready. DPW Moriarty’s-Cardinal’s final engineering-construction plan is almost complete. It appears the Allen St. Project will be shovel ready by April 2025.

As noted, the current mayor committed $4.2M July 15, 2024 for the Allen St. Project. After 30 years, city officials finally have skin in the project. We say thank you!

Now we are told we must wait for the state legislative process, 1 year or more to slowly determine if and when the 50+ property owners and countless tax payers on Allen St. and in the surrounding neighborhoods will qualify for the $9.7M state bonding initiative. Here is what we say; Expedite and Fast Track this bonding initiative so the construction will begin in April 2025 as scheduled. No more fiscal delays.

Here is why we qualify for this emergency state bonding initiative:

The Allen St. Project is critical to resolving chronic issues including flooding due to storm-sewer failures, sanitary back-ups and breaks due to insufficient capacity and the system’s age.
Allen St. and the surrounding neighborhoods are not in flood zones.
Storm-sanitary cross connections exist on Allen St. further contributing to this public health emergency.
Our quality of life is suffering and our property values have declined by 15%.
The unhealthy contaminants in the flooding water includes bacteria, fecal matter, fats, motor oil, grease, etc. Flooding anxiety and distress are real health issues.
Our taxes increase while our neighborhoods continue to flood. 8 floods in the last 12 months. We, along with the other taxpayers in our neighborhood, have diligently paid our taxes for decades. We are demanding our fair share of money from state bonding initiatives to fund our most pressing need, the Allen St. Phase 2 Project. This urgent funding package must be completed asap.
The compromised Allen St. Storm-Sewer System has created an open air cesspool on Allen St. and in the surrounding neighborhoods.
Our properties are the toilet bowl-catch basin where all of the contaminated flooding water gathers waiting for the rain events to end before receding.
Intense rainfall overwhelms the compromised Allen St. Storm-Sewer System flooding our neighborhoods and retention pond. The typography in our area surges the flooding water through our properties.
Our water tables rise and the flooding storm-sewer water infiltrates and saturates our land. The resulting increased underground water pressure threatens our foundations and slabs.
Factor in the related hidden underground soil erosion, settling, shifting and potential sink holes our foundations and structures are all at further risk. Sink holes cause an estimated cost on average of $300M of damage per year in the USA according to the USGS (United States Geological Survey).
Our neighborhoods (50+ properties) resembles that of a third world country during these flooding events.
The cause is undeniable…The effects will be catastrophic if the flooding is allowed to continue.
The compromised Allen St. Storm-Sewer System and the required upgrades are beyond our control. The resulting flooding and the related damage is beyond our control.
Weston-Sampson Engineers wrote that the Allen St. Project #2 must be a high priority because the infrastructure is at crisis levels.
Our City Council Majority Leader John McNamara and our concerned alderman is collecting relevant flooding damage related expense receipts from our residents for our state bonding initiative. Please contact John asap so he can gather and organize these receipts for submission to the State Bonding Commission. Cell 860-416-0665.

Attached photos:

Stanley-Roxbury-Newbury Retention Pond Flooding.

Hampton-Eton Flooding.

*Hampton and Eton. Photo by Frank Chase*

24 Roxbury Flooding.

Newbury Flooding.

Allen and Newbury Pipe Breaks.

**For New Britain Officials: E-mail Hampton-Eton Storm-Sewer Sub-Basin 7-27-24:

What is the status of the Hampton-Eton Storm-Sewer Sub-Basin and the required upgrades per Director Carilli? We have been waiting for this update from Director Moriarty for 9 months. As Director Moriarty noted, he does not know for sure whether the Allen St. upgrades will stop all of the flooding along Hampton-Eton-Newbury.
There are simple solutions, run a CCTV camera down the infrastructure pipes and/or perform flow monitoring to identify in-flow and infiltration on Hampton-Eton-Newbury to pinpoint the problems for the benefit of the skeptics and victims. We have already discussed the overwhelmed retention pond and the typography concerns the mayor recently noted in her CT Examiner interview.

Thank you.

F&S Chase

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