Rell Promises $2 Million for Meriden Flood Control

Meriden is set to receive $2 million for a flood control project that is considered key to the city's downtown revitalization, outgoing Governor M. Jodi Rell announced Wednesday. 

"Not only will this project help protect lives and property from flood damage, this project will help spur development in the city of Meriden," Rell said in a statement. 

The Governor put the funding request on the State Bond Commission's Dec. 10 meeting agenda. The commission must officially approve it before state dollars are released, but projects placed on the agenda are normally funded.  

The money is slated to go towards uncovering parts of Harbor Brook, a stream that runs underneath downtown Meriden, and to creating more areas downtown for water to go during periods of heavy rain – two efforts which officials believe will stanch dramatic flooding in the city.

"The $2 million will allow the City to move the Hub flood control project from  the drawing board to the real world," City Manager Lawrence Kendzior said on Thursday.

Meriden has had eight major "100-year" floods in just the last 70 years, Kendzior told Patch in a September interview. A 1992 flood caused damage to the tune of $14 million, according to the city's website.

Stopping this catastrophic flooding is vital to the city's strategic plan to create an economically robust downtown area, complete with a town green at the 15-acre Hub Site between State and Pratt Streets and a technologically advanced transit center for use with the proposed New Haven-Hartford-Springfield commuter rail.

"The HUB project will result in Meriden having the central park, green commons area which New England towns are known for but which Meriden for reasons of historic accident has never had," Kendzior said.

According to him, this $2 million follows other recent gains by the city toward redeveloping downtown, including a $1 million from a HUD Sustainable Communities Challenge grant for the city to buy property, $600,000 from the state for HUB site engineering and traffic work, a $300,000 grant to develop brownfields, a $1.8 million Section 108 HUD loan for work on the International Silver Company's abandoned Factory H site and the $121 million given to the State of Connecticut for the proposed New Haven-Hartford-Springfield rail line, which will have a Meriden stop.

Meriden's state delegation celebrated the funding.

"…Turning the page on the city's rich industrial history and moving toward downtown redevelopment would not be possible unless the flooding associated with Harbor Brook was addressed – making this project a critical piece in the city's efforts to fully realize its economic potential," said State Rep. and Speaker of the House Christopher Donovan in a statement.