The state Department of Environmental Protection has given Derby a $3,735 grant to plant more trees at O’Sullivan’s Island, the city announced this week.
The money comes from the DEP’s “America the Beautiful” grant program.
Mayor Anthony Staffieri, in a written statement, said the grant will help transform the island “into a beautiful recreational site.” Click play on the video to hear him talk about those plans last summer.
The trees planted on the island will help shade the island and prevent soil saturation from water overflows of the bordering Naugatuck and Housatonic rivers, the statement said.
O’Sullivan’s Island is a 20-acre parcel near the Derby river walk, where the Housatonic meets the Naugatuck. It is technically a peninsula.
The site was contaminated for years, but has recently been the target of intense clean-up efforts.
Tons of contaminated dirt was trucked away to be destroyed. Town workers cut back years of overgrowth. A dilapidated building was demolished. Lowes Home Improvement even donated new picnic tables for the site.
There are plans in the works to extend the Derby Greenway by installing a loop around the peninsula. There is also grant money available to improve a boat launch.
“My goal is to make O’Sullivan’s Island a recreation site that’s the envy of the State of Connecticut,” Staffieri wrote in the statement.