The next phase of Shelton’s Riverwalk should be completed this year.
But it won’t continue from the current end of the walkway near the pavilion at Veterans Memorial Park.
Instead, the focus will be on a 900-foot section beginning between the Birmingham condominium building and the new Avalon Shelton and continuing north next to the Housatonic River.
That’s because the properties in between the park where the Riverwalk ends now and the new residential buildings where the new work will start are still being cleaned up of environmental contamination, a process that probably won’t be done until the end of the year at the earliest.
Article continues after photo showing the starting point for the new work.
Aldermen on Thursday (Aug. 8) approved $43,500 in spending for the project:
- $12,500 for Tate and Associates to design the next step
- $23,000 for Milone and MacBroom for engineering work
- $8,000 to the Shelton Economic Development Corporation for administrative costs and to reimburse the cost of updating a land survey
The money will come from $77,000 Aldermen authorized spending last February on the project.
Mayor Mark Lauretti told Aldermen Thursday that the city is bailing on getting reimbursed by the state for part of the next phase of the Riverwalk because, he said, the city can get the work done sooner and not spend as much.
“We feel we can do it for significantly less money than the original proposed budget approved by the state, (which was) in the amount of some $800,000, for a sidewalk, engineering fees, and all the associated costs,” the mayor said. “We’re going to try to do the construction this fall, early fall. hopefully we’ll have this thing completed for a significantly lesser amount that we’ll pay for directly.”
Bridging The Gap
Still to be determined — how and when the Riverwalk would bridge the gap between its current end and the Avalon-Birmingham piece to be done next.
Lauretti said last month that one option would be to continue the path near the river until the Housatonic Railroad bridge, then build the walkway parallel to the railroad tracks to Canal Street and have it run up the street to hook up with the portion near the Avalon and Birmingham properties.
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That option would involve crossing a site, known as the Cel-Lastik property, currently being cleaned up of contamination with a federal grant.
The mayor said the cleanup, while not eradicating contamination “100 percent,” would meet the standards set up by federal and state authorities and make the property safe for use.
Or another alternative: the walkway could run from the war memorial in Veterans Memorial Park straight out to Canal Street — a path of brick pavers from the street to the park’s pavilion already exists there — then north along the street.
“It’s to be determined, but there are two options and I’d imagine at some point in time you’d get both,” Lauretti said Thursday.
One option that is definitely off the table — running the Riverwalk from its current endpoint along the river and under the railroad and Derby-Shelton bridges.
Shelton Economic Development Corporation President James Ryan last month told Aldermen the cost of such work — with a wooden boardwalk extending out over the Housatonic River, as envisioned in a market study completed last year, would come at a cost-prohibitive price tag of nearly $4 million.
Lauretti said safety concerns also made that concept a non-starter, given the frequency of the Housatonic River’s level rising during heavy rains.
“That stuff would get wiped out in the first big storm,” he said.
Another wild card — whether the city will pull the trigger on a land-swap proposal from downtown developer John Guedes, who contemplates turning the Spongex building, the L‑shaped brick building immediately to the south of the Derby-Shelton bridge, into apartments.
Click here to read more about the proposal.
Lauretti said last month that that proposal is “still on the table.”
Other Work
The Riverwalk extension, if actually done soon, would dovetail with other improvements in the area already under way.
Construction crews are at work on the reconstruction of Canal Street city voters approved spending up to $1 million at a referendum last November — in addition to state and federal grants.
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The first phase of the Canal Street rebuilding will extend about 700 feet north from the bridge.
And the massive Avalon Shelton apartment complex continues to bring more and more apartments online — Ryan told Aldermen that about 190 certificates of occupancy have been issued for apartments there, with about 122 tenants actually residing there currently.
Meanwhile, Aldermen last month approved without discussion spending about $15,000 on new fencing, trash and recycling receptacles, and shrubs and trees for the completed portion of the Riverwalk next to Veterans Memorial Park.
