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04/28/2020 04:13 PMColonna Concrete and Asphalt Paving, LLC, the contractor for Phase III of the Main Street project in Chester, was given the green light to start some project tasks on April 20, with crew members surveying the site and marking underground utilities. The news has gotten a mixed reception.
Although the different parts of the construction project will potentially span six months, a town-wide email on April 24 from Chester First Selectman Lauren Gister’s office indicates that “substantial construction” will have an end date of Aug. 8.
Other streetscape elements, such as bushes and benches, are to be installed at a later date.
“This is work that has to be done,” said Gister. “This is work that should have been done 30 years ago. The roadway has been overlaid so much that water can get into the front of the buildings and rot the sills. It needs to get done.”
Main Street, which used to be owned and maintained by the state, has a history of being filled in with paving material. In some areas, the paving overlay exceeds the height of the curb, allowing for the possibility of water seepage.
Excavation is also necessary to inspect and replace utilities under the roadway, work that could be made difficult with old infrastructure under the asphalt. This could include water mains, trolley tracks, sewer lines, water lines, storm water drainage, and possibly electric service, according to the town web site.
Gister said that with state funding for the $2.3 million project, there are contractual obligations with time constraints and penalties that necessitates moving forward.
“My hope is that we can get the contractor to work additional hours [or] an additional day a week while businesses are closed [due to the COVID-19 pandemic] to see if we can speed up the process,” said Gister.
It’s unclear whether the first two phases of construction can be finished before the governor’s COVID-19 executive orders, which have limited restaurants to take-out and closed non-essential businesses, are lifted.
The construction area, typically a lively and bustling center of activity in the springtime, has quieted significantly due to restrictions from the COVID-19 pandemic.
Several downtown business owners, who already questioned the rationale for the project before the pandemic, are now more concerned than ever with how construction will impact their bottom lines.
“I think it’s being done with utter lack of sensitivity to the merchants,” said Chef Everett Reid of Hot French Chix at 59 Main Street. “It’s really unconscionable that they can continue doing this during the pandemic. It’s really very likely to change the entire character of downtown and nobody seems to be too concerned with it.”
Leif Nilsson of Spring Street Studio and Gallery, LLC, is also concerned with the project’s timing.
“Why not give us a break when it does open again and not have added restrictions [with] people not having a place to park?” Nilsson asked.
He questioned where the bond money from the state was coming from for the project, with the state expected to lose revenue because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
“I am quite frankly, wondering if this is considered essential and how these guys are going to work with masks on,” said Nilsson.
Nilsson, who has lived and worked in downtown Chester for 30 years, says that a lack of communication on project details, from its inception, has been frustrating.
“I don’t like the idea of huge changes that are going to be taking place without a lot of [feedback] from the people who live down here,” said Nilsson. “It’s our front yard pretty much.”
Everett and Linda Reid, who have had a presence in downtown Chester for the past 10 years, are also disturbed with the level of communication provided to merchants by the town.
“The lack of communication on the full project has been a debacle,” said Everett Reid.
Asked about water runoff from the street, Reid said that his building flooded once in a 10-year period, during “one of the worst rainstorms ever.”
Reid, who points to several examples of unanswered questions, says “a lot of the things I’ve said could be contested, assuaged with some answers. Just getting them is the problem.”
Town Efforts
The town has hired former first selectman Ed Meehan as the project’s municipal administrator to act as a liaison between the contractor, merchants, and the town.
Signs being developed by the town to help ensure that visitors can readily understand which restaurants are open for take-out during the pandemic.
Economic Development Commission Chair Susan Wright is conducting research in advance on what other downtown areas are doing to help market businesses and restaurants after shelter-in-place restrictions from COVID-19 have been lifted.
Although she said that she can understand differing opinions on the project, it’s time to “embrace it and move forward and just make sure the job is done and we get the best work that we can for it and hope it doesn’t take too much [of] the charm and quaintness of Chester away.”
She urged the community to support the downtown businesses.
“It might not be easy for everybody because people are facing cuts and loss of jobs, but if there is anything you can do to help them out, that would be good,” said Wright.
“One of the things that I think we might find as a little pearl in all of this, as painful as it is, [the pandemic] is a reminder of what really is important,” said Gister. “I don’t want to see anybody lose their business and I hope that we can continue to support our residents and our businesses as best we can.”
“So much is up in the air in the world,” said Suzie Woodward, owner of Lark at 4 Water Street. “If, at the end of it all, if all we lose is a little money, I think we’re all going to be grateful.”
Construction Details
Both sides of the roadway will remain open during the first phase of construction, which will start at the intersection of Main and Maple streets near the flagpole.
This area will see stormwater drainage improvements with new catch basins, piping, and a stormwater separator. The new basins will comply with environmental standards for storm water discharge into the Pattaconk Brook, according to the April 24 town-wide email.
The contractor, Colonna Concrete and Asphalt Paving, LLC, of West Haven, which was the lowest bidder for the project, will then fill the sidewalk voids from The Villager at 13 Main Street to Strut Your Mutt at 29 Main Street to help prevent any future cracking or breakage.
The second phase of construction will include removing the old sidewalk, electrical work, and the installation of granite cobblestones and curbing. During this phase, traffic will be alternated and eventually become a one-way street, allowing for parking on one side, according to Gister.