Commuter
lot: Moving
forward
By Linda Lemmon
Town Crier Editor
PUTNAM — One way or another, the town plans to revamp the Kennedy Drive commuter lot in the spring.
Town Administrator Elaine Sistare said the town is working on getting the project out to bid this fall, with or without the small piece of land adjacent to the lot which the town would like to buy from Eversource.
“Either way, with or without the Eversource land, the Kennedy Drive commuter lot will be done,” she said.
Before the project can be put out for bids she said the following needs to happen: Pick a plan, cost it out (the town intends to use American Rescue Plan Act funding), get approvals from the Board of Selectmen, a special hearing, and a town meeting.
“All of above will take 3 to 6 months but that will still allow spring construction start,” she said.
The Planning Commission has already OK’d the recommended plan. A plan to handle storm water was recently approved by the Inland Wetlands Commission.
Eversource is still considering the proposed sale of its adjacent land to the town. It’s on the “corporate level,” said Sistare. “These things take time. We’re patient but persistent.”
The Eversource parcel is an odd shape, she said, one-half to 1 acre.
She added that the town will coordinate with Eversource for competitive grants for money for EV chargers for the lot. It’s a 50 percent matching grant. There are “standard” and fast-charge chargers. Fast-charge chargers are expensive, she said, up to $125,000 apiece. “If we can get some fast chargers, that’d be great,” Sistare said.
The grants do not cover infrastructure for chargers, for example putting in the conduits for them “so we’ll have to do that,” she said. She added the town is required to have “infrastructure” for chargers for 10 percent of the number of parking spots. That would be 12 to 15 chargers.
Plans call for the congested lot entrance near the intersection to disappear and the entrance come in very close to the town-Eversource border.
The conceptual plan drawn up by J&D calls for parking spaces, 12 to 15 (EV) charging stations, relocated handicapped parking spaces and possibly another set of stairs next to the Centreville Bank stairs to get to the Main Street/Union Square area. In addition some landscaped strips dot the plans. Entrances and exits would be reworked. Storm water improvements would also need to be made, going under Kennedy Drive toward the Quinebaug. The town has already revamped the public restrooms on the edge of the commuter lot. It included refreshing the doors, painting and roofing improvements.
Funding would come from the town’s $2.7 million ARPA  fund.
“We would like to be moving forward,” she said.

caption: Eversource parcel cleared next to Kennedy Drive commuter lot. Linda Lemmon photo.
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