Council Approves Bonding Proposals After Compromise to Take Up Allen Street Drainage Project

The City Council approved a series of bonding proposal for schools, water supply and parks after an amendment removed two proposed park projects as part of a compromise that included agreement to hold a meeting in April to take up bonding for the Allen Street project drainage project.

Ald John McNamara (D-4) said that the compromise included holding a special meeting on Allen Street, on April 16th to take up additional funds from the city for the Allen Street project. The proposed $13.9 million Allen Street project drainage project is to alleviate mounting concerns about flooding caused by drainage infrastructure in need of improvements.

As part of the compromise, the original $6,300,000 bonding proposal for four park projects was reduced by removing the Walnut Hill Park Paving Project for $1,625,000 and the Willow Brook Park Paving Project for $1,950,000. That reduced the proposal to $2,725,000, including Willow Street Park Project for $1,625,000 and Martha Hart Dredging Project for $1,100,000. That amended proposal was approved unanimously.

Neighborhood flooding has become a big concern in a number of areas of the city. Notably, the neighborhood between Allen Street and Roxbury Road near CCSU neighborhood has been facing serious problems with neighborhood flooding because of overdue infrastructure improvements. Neighborhood activists, Council members and state legislators have been pressing for funding the project.

In addition to the parks proposal, two other bonding proposals were approved by the Council.

The Council unanimously approved $145,000,000 in bonding for a major renovation project at Smith Elementary School, a $9,800,000 project at Pulaski School and $2,700,000 at Slade School.

The $145,000,000 for the Smith School was authorized by the state legislature last year in legislation, co-sponsored by Rep Bobby Sanchez (D-25), that also provided the city is to be reimbursed for 95% of the project’s costs. The state legislation also required that the project include preschool facilities.

The other approved proposal was $40,900,000 for repairs to aging water works facilities the city owns in Bristol, which could allow them to produce up to 23 million gallons of drinking water per day. An engineer’s project summary said, that, “The wellfields are registered for 8MGD (million gallons a day), and the surface station is registered for 15MGD,” However, the engineer noted that, “Due to the age of the equipment and the antiquated pumping systems, the facilities are not able to operate near their capacities.”

The Council’s Democratic Majority Leader, Ald McNamara had said that he supports the rehabilitation of the White Bridge Water Works Facilities as an investment in the future of the city’s clean water infrastructure as long as the low-interest loan is guaranteed, before the project begins, from the state’s Drinking Water State Revolving Fund (DWSRF).

Ald McNamara proposed an amendment to require that the funding be by a low interest loan, rather than city bonding. That amendment was approved, and the bonding proposal was then approved unanimously by the Council.