Allen St. Storm-Sewer-Sanitary Time Line - New Britain Progressive Newspaper

All of our recent flooding updates and narratives with photos, video interviews, documents, etc. are published on-line in the New Britain Progressive’s “Flooding Series”. View and listen to our City Council presentations on the City Web-Site; Go to newbritainct.gov. Click on government, common council, videos.

Presentation #32 to our New Britain City Officials.

To: Allen St. Neighborhood Flooding Victims, Concerned Citizens, City and State Officials.

1995:

Director Carilli determined with his engineers that the Allen St. Storm-Sewer-System requires upgrades.

1995-2013:

Our research tells us the Allen St. Storm-Sewer Problem may have been ignored by Mayor’s Pawlak and T. Stewart. Mayor O’Brien did responsibly initiate the original Cardinal Engineering Plan back in 2012. Over these 19 years, the Allen St. area grew while the underground infrastructure was pushed to its limits flooding along the way.
The Allen St. System serves 177 acres of developed, congested, residential neighborhoods. Intense rainfall inflows and infiltrates (known as I&I) our compromised underground infrastructure, flooding and saturating our land, overwhelming our storm-sewer system and retention pond. Our particular section of this acreage (50 properties) receives the brunt of the contaminated flooding water along with sanitary back-ups and breaks.

2013-2025:

Erin Stewart became the mayor in 2013.
Over these 12 years, Mayor Stewart wrote memos to our legislative delegation detailing the needs of the City of New Britain. “The Allen St. Project is our most pressing need. 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.” We learned about Stewart’s memos in September 2023.
Stewart also identified storm-sanitary cross connections on Allen St. further contributing to this public health crisis. The contaminants in the flooding water include a toxic mix of bacteria, fecal matter, fats, motor oil, grease, etc.
When Stewart took office, she chose to ignore Mayor O’Brien’s 2013 $7M Cardinal Engineering Semi-Final Plan for the Allen St. Project that she inherited. The 2025 Cardinal Engineering Final Plan for the Allen St. Project will total nearly $15M.
December 2018: Erin Stewart refused our invitation to walk our neighborhood with us. Stewart sent Moriarty, Dorsey, Polkowski and Trottier to walk our neighborhood with us. We had 3 floods in 2018: April, September and October.
September 2019: After their due diligence, the drainage structure was replaced in the Stanley-Roxbury Park. Moriarty indicated that this should help with the flooding from the Hampton-Eton Storm-Sewer System and the park will continue as a water retention area.
September 2019: We sent these lingering questions to Stewart.

2019 Lingering Questions:

Have the underground structures (lines/drains) from the intersection of East St. and Allen St., through to Stewart St., Hampton St., Eton Place and Newbury St. been videoed to determine if there are any other underground problematic drainage issues in this neighborhood? The camera which was used last fall to survey the underground drainage structures in and near the Stanley Park at the corner of Stanley St. and Roxbury Rd. proved to be a productive process finding an underground pipe which dead ended in the park.
Are the underground structures (lines/drains) from the intersection of East St. and Allen St., through to Stewart St., Hampton St., Eton Place and Newbury St. too small to handle the amount of surface water being generated in this neighborhood?
Are there any other malfunctioning underground structures (lines/drains) not mentioned here that may be malfunctioning (similar to the underground pipe found in the park) contributing to this water back-up and subsequent flooding?
Does all of the surface water captured by the catch basins from the intersection of East St. and Allen St., through to Stewart St., Hampton St., Eton Place and Newbury St. flow into the main line that empties into the low-end drain structure in the park?
Is the new low-end drain structure with sump going to solve the overflow flooding problem during high intensity rain events? Or do we need to upgrade the underground system in some other ways…Especially along Allen St.?

The new low-end drain structure with sump was designed to upgrade and support the Hampton-Eton Storm-Sewer System. The Allen St. System and the Hampton-Eton System are not connected… Per Director Moriarty.
The much larger problem, Allen St. was ignored again and the taxpayers in the Allen St. neighborhoods were mislead. As we now know, this drainage structure upgrade was a “band-aid effort” that did not correct the Allen St. Problem which easily overwhelms the Hampton-Eton System and the retention pond during these flooding events. Meanwhile, Stewart criticizes others for using “band-aid methods”.
STEWART NEVER RESPONDED TO OUR QUESTIONS. We foolishly trusted Stewart, hoping that she and her associates would do the right thing. We were wrong. Stewart chose to go silent ignoring our questions and concerns. After the flooding water recedes and during dry spells, the Allen St. Problem is conveniently forgotten by Stewart and her associates.

2023

13 floods from April 2018 through December 2024…In August of 2023, Weston-Sampson Engineers declared, “The Allen St. Project must be a high priority because the infrastructure is at CRISIS levels!
Stewart set her own fiscal agenda ignoring and neglecting her constituents in Ward 4, allowing the Allen St. neighborhoods to flood with contaminated water, consequently impairing the Mattabasett Waste Water Treatment Facility. Our skepticism and suspicions are justified based on Stewart’s non-existent efforts to prioritize and fund the Allen St. Project.
Stewart chose to kick the Allen St. Project down the road allowing the system to deteriorate further. Neglect and mismanagement has carried the day regarding the Allen St. Project during Stewart’s 12 years in office.
Our sources tell us new city bonding opportunities may be available in March of this year. We wonder where these bonding dollars will go? Meanwhile, hundreds of millions of dollars have flowed to the City because of the efforts of our state legislators. Most of these dollars had no earmarks, allowing Stewart to spend as she saw fit with no oversight and transparency.
Not $1. for the Allen St. Project during Stewart’s reign…. As noted by Stewart, “The Allen St. Project is our most pressing need”. Stewart has been disingenuous with all of us in Ward 4.
Stewart again wants the State to step up to fund the Allen St. Project. In fact, now Stewart is threatening to pull her 30% funding commitment required for any state funding.
The high profile NBFLUSH I&I Project is moving forward with $13M from the ARPA funds. We have learned that the EPA is praising Stewart for her efforts with the NBFLUSH Project. Hmm!… Do you see the self-serving behavior happening here as Stewart plots her campaign for higher office? Meanwhile, the taxpayers in Ward 4 continue to contend with the flooding and the sanitary back-ups and breaks.
As Stewart noted in her interview with WVIT-NBC back in September of 2023, “The Allen St. pipes are too small to fit the amount of storm water and storm run off we are having. We are targeting the main areas of town that catch these storm-sewer issues the most. It’s all about being prepared, being aware that climate change is definitely real and this is the impact it’s going to have on us for years and decades to come”. Our residents are prepared and aware…. Stewart is NOT!
The Allen St. Problem is in a main area of town, a high flooding risk area per Majority Leader McNamara. As Stewart noted back in 2014, Allen St. is one of the City’s longest and busiest thorough fares. Thus far, the Allen St. Problem has been ignored by Stewart.
Good Leadership requires moral courage and ethical fortitude. Mayor Stewart has failed all of the flooding and sanitary back-up victims in Ward 4. The neglect and mismanagement continues to this day.
In October 2023, days before the local elections, Stewart and Dorsey planned a phony $4M transfer earmarked for the Allen St. Project, hoping to influence-manipulate the voters in Ward 4. Months later, we learned that the $4M transfer which was approved and confirmed by Stewart never happened. Finance Director Perugini squelched the transfer because accepted protocols were not followed by Stewart and Dorsey. In reality, the money was never available for this bogus transfer. This “political ruse” is disqualifying behavior by any elected official.
The record and the time line clearly shows how Stewart mysteriously avoided the Allen St. Problem while funding higher profile projects such as the Bee Hive Bridge, Public Works Operations Center, Stanley Events Pavilion, Downtown Luxury Housing, Osgood Park and many others. Why does this Mayor insist on ignoring the Allen St. Problem? Is there a hidden agenda of some sort?
We’ve heard all of the stories regarding the complex nature of the Allen St. Project which have been debunked by Cardinal Engineers. They have completed many infrastructure projects similar to Allen St. for example, in New Haven.
Our Mattabasett Waste Water Treatment Facility is impaired by the excessive storm water and ground water entering and flowing from the compromised Allen St. waste water system during these flooding events, adding to our waste water treatment costs.
Along with thousands of extra water treatment dollars that our taxpayers have paid out over the years, we must factor in the hundreds of thousands of dollars spent to repair the antiquated Allen St. storm-sewer-sanitary failures, the expensive updates to our aging Allen St. engineering plans and the reimbursements to our flooding victims for their damage claims.
We must also factor in, the millions of more dollars needed to construct the Allen St. Project in today’s dollars vs. 2013 dollars. All of this is fiscally irresponsible behavior.
Whether one home is flooding due to compromised infrastructure systems, or 50 properties or 100 properties, each case requires and deserves the needed effort and upgrades from our city and state officials.
Over the years, Stewart failed to prioritize and fund the Allen St. Project. We continue to receive lip service from Stewart and her associates. They add the “customary shrug”, signaling a not knowing/not caring attitude. Meanwhile, our quality of life continues to suffer, our safety continues to be in harm’s way and our properties and structures are at risk.
Stewart is directly responsible for this ongoing Allen St. Problem. Erin, Stop waffling! We ask you to redeem yourself before you leave office: Prioritize, Plan, Fund and Construct the Allen St. Project! Per Director Moriarty, the Allen St. Project Final Plan will be shovel ready by 4-1-25. Erin, Where is the money? It’s crunch time! Step up and get the job done!