BY ANDREAS YILMA
REPUBLICAN-AMERICAN
NAUGATUCK — The Board of Mayor and Burgesses has voted to put the plans for the downtown sanitary, stormwater and streetscape improvement project out to bid.
Neil Kulikauskas, senior program manager for engineering firm Kleinfelder, makes a presentation during a recent Board of Mayor and Burgesses meeting in Naugatuck.
Kleinfelder Northeast, a national engineering firm with an office in Rocky Hill, will focus on the final design of stormwater and sanitary sewer upgrades. Richter & Cegan, an Avon-based landscape architecture and planning firm, is collaborating with Kleinfelder to work on the streetscape portion of the project.
The roughly $14.8 million downtown project will address Church and Maple streets, the Maple Street bridge and the intersection near Water Street. Of the money spent, $9.2 million will come from the borough’s American Rescue Plan Act funds.
Work is expected to begin in October and be substantially finished by the end of the fall season in 2024. The remaining work, which may include some plantings and final paving, should be completed by the spring of 2025.
Mayor N. Warren “Pete” Hess said during the June 20 meeting this plan accomplishes major things for the borough.
“It resolves a host of mostly stormwater and sanitary sewer issues that have plagued the west side of Naugatuck for many years and creates a havoc in the downtown area when we have a lot of rainfall in a short period of time,” Hess said. “Number two, by making those improvements, we also are paving the way and fixing the infrastructure so we would be ready for substantial new development in the downtown area. We need to provide remedies so Parcel B and the surrounding properties can be developed.”
Neil Kulikauskas, Kleinfelder’s senior program manager, said hydraulic testing of drainage systems uncovered significant issues.
The drainage system on Church Street is undersized with broken and segmented pipes. There also are bottlenecks on Maple Street due to repairs over the years, Kulikauskas said.
“Our plan on Church Street is we’re upsizing,” he said. “We’re increasing the size of the drainage. We’re replacing all the basins with modern basins, essentially a brand-new system. We’re also extending the system to the north.”
The construction will still allow for pedestrians to access businesses on Church Street, but parking spots will be temporarily lost as development progresses.
