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Commuter
lot revamp
starts down
a long road
By Linda Lemmon
Town Crier Editor
PUTNAM — The revamp of the town’s largest commuter lot on Kennedy Drive received unanimous Inland Wetlands Commission approval last week, but there’s a long road ahead.
The commission approved a plan to improve stormwater quality. Currently the lot is curbed and the runoff is directed to 1,250-gallon oil/water separator tank that, until recently, the public works department was unaware of. It had not been pumped or cleaned since it was installed more than 20 years ago, sending the water into the Quinebaug River, according to J&D Civil Engineers of Thompson.
The 2-acre lot is about 65 percent impervious, according to J&D.
The commission approved J&D’s plan to remove the curbing in the redesign which will allow parking lot runoff to “sheet flow” into a crushed stone infiltration swale and trench parallel to Kennedy Drive. J&D said: “In addition a new catch basin will be installed at the end of the existing River Trail municipal lot north of the infiltration basin. It will intercept runoff and direct it to the infiltration basin instead of the runoff flowing into Kennedy Drive. Therefore, this runoff will also be fully treated prior to entering the (Quinebaug” river.”
The improvement of stormwater quality going into the river will meet the requirements of the 2004 CT DEEP Stormwater Quality Manual, J&D said.
J&D’s report said: “Also, in warm weather when water levels in the river are low, the temperature of the runoff will be cooler than the existing condition which sends water straight from the hot asphalt to the river. This is better for the fish and river ecosystem.”
Currently the renovation of the commuter lot project is waiting for completed electrical plans from J&D and for the town’s purchase of the adjacent Eversource lot, said Mayor Barney Seney. He hopes both of those will be completed within the next month. The town has been in negotiations with Eversource for more than a year.
The plans still need Planning approval, plus the Board of Selectmen, Board of Finance and a town meeting. Then it would go out for bids. Likely, he said, renovations wouldn’t start until the spring.
So much has changed in the last couple years that Seney could not estimate the total cost of the project these days. The purchase of the Eversource lot and what the detailed electrical plans will entail will affect that.
Part of it will be funded by American Rescue Plan Act funding. Town Administrator Elaine Sistare had said last year that the town received $2.7 million in ARPA funds. Seney said the town used $600,000 of that for a new generator at the WPCA plant and $60,000 of that for paraprofessionals in the school system.
The lot was constructed after the Flood of 1955. Seney said the town bought the land from the American Legion.
Currently the lot has 112 spaces and plans call for, with all phases completed, 191 and that will include 15 electric vehicle charging stations. Seney said he hoped that two of those could be fast-charging stations.
“I think this lot will address any parking needs for now and in the future. It also addresses electric car charging needs,” Seney added.
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