Stonington Board of Finance approves sidewalk funds

By Brendan Crowley Special to The Sun Sep 24, 2020 Updated Sep 24, 2020 

STONINGTON — The Board of Finance on Wednesday approved $130,000 in matching funds earmarked for the design plan being completed for the long-anticipated Pawcatuck sidewalk.   

The matching funds from the town unlocked a $600,000 state community development grant that will move the design plan, which is being developed by B&L Construction of Old Saybrook, Conn., from 30% complete to 90% complete. Once the design plan is finished, the town will start focusing on the properties along Route 1 that will be affected by the project.

“There seems to be a lot of public engagement and public excitement that the sidewalks are finally coming, so that’s really great,” said Susan Cullen, Stonington’s director of economic and community development. 

The funds were obtained through the Urban Act, a state grant program that supports community development projects in eligible municipalities. The $600,000 must be spent in two years, ensuring a quick turnaround for the design plans.

“We’d like to move it forward as quickly as we can,” Cullen said.

According to Cullen, between 20 and 28 properties will be impacted by the project.

“The design is very important for us to get to immediately because we need to go ahead and know how we’re impacting those different properties and what we’re going to be able to do on each of those properties with each specific owner,” she said. The 90% design will help the town pinpoint an exact number of properties. 

Cullen said the town may need a right of entry or permanent easement with the owners of each property. She said each of the property owners will have the opportunity to sit down with a town official to look at exactly what will be changing on their properties. 

She also mentioned the budget for the project will not allow both sides of the road to have full sidewalks. The town hopes to fully complete one side of the road and a “decent portion” of the other. 

“We’ll have to see how far we can take it, and those bigger design plans will help us just sort of hone in on exactly what we need,” Cullen said.

The matching money approved by the Board of Finance will be borrowed from an existing line item on the budget and reimbursed on Jan. 1 of next year.