Latest Flood Fix Sees 'Subway Station' at Stop & Shop

The latest flood fix under consideration of the Board of Selectmen calls for a two-acre water detention structure under the parking lot at Stop & Shop. With an approximate price tag of $3.5 million, the termed "subway station" is hardly the cheapest flood mitigation alternative, but according to hydrology engineer Leonard Jackson, it's "the most straight forward" solution to flash flooding on Heights Road.

"If you can make it work with this property owner, you could come up with a solution to the flooding," said Jackson.

Flash flooding has devastated businesses along Heights Road more than once. What makes the area particularly vulnerable during times of short, intense rainfall is the too-small pipeline that runs under the railroad, said Jackson. With nowhere else to go, excess water is detained, or held, inside properties. Flood mitigation solutions look at alternative ways and spaces to hold that water.

One approved and highly controversial fix is the Baker Field Flood Mitigation Project, a plan that—simply put—turns the park into a detention pond. Campbell has expressed his dislike of that solution from day one of his campaign, hence Jackson's presentation of alternative solutions Monday evening.

The subway station is really an underground concrete building with reinforced concrete roofs, walls, columns and a floor, suffice to hold about 14 acres of water (the same as Baker). Because pumping is astronomically expensive, culverts, where independently inefficient, would act like a system of arteries, leading water away from the station at a slow rate, said Jackson.

Where the solution won't help downstream flooding, it won't exacerbate the problem either.

"It's hard-pressed to get the thing to work upstream," said Jackson.

The station is the most preferable alternative among the many options and project combinations that Jackson presented to the board, but it's only project that involves private property and hinges on the blessing of the property owner.

According to Campbell, that shouldn't be a problem.

Property owner and developer Tom Golden owns much of the commercial district at Noroton Heights and according to Campbell, he plans to resubmit an application to Planning & Zoning for a major redevelopment of the area this summer.

"I'm talking to him constantly, so he knows what we want to do," said Campbell. "He's working this through his brain. He's renegotiating everything."

But the board isn't asking Golden for a $3.5 million favor. The application for a mixed development of retail and housing must jive with town zoning regulations, and those requirements call for sufficient flood mitigation said Public Works Director Bob Steeger.

Golden plans to acquire a few more properties in the area, leaving all but "a couple" beyond his control and subject to flooding. Bailing those property owners out could cost the town quite bit of money, said Jackson.

"It might be cheaper to buy those buildings, knock them down and forget about them," said Jackson. 

Public Works Director Bob Steeger said the plan shouldn't require a permit, the argument being that the station is really just holding water that would otherwise pool in Heights Road properties.

As for timing, Campbell said Golden, now in his 80s, was "in a hurry" and would like to be started in the next two years.

"The devil's in the details," said Campbell. "But it's the beginning of a discussion."