By Dylan Marsh
EAGLE TIMES STAFF
CLAREMONT — The city of Claremont held a public forum on August 29, 2022, to discuss the potential future of the city’s riverwalk area.
The city currently owns two parcels of land on which they hope to utilize more fully in the future. The public workshop included representatives from the University of Connecticut’s Technical Assistance for Brownfields, who put together a presentation of potential projects that could take place on the pieces of land after creating a report that states what the land could and could not be used for.
The city now owns a parcel of land on which the old Claremont Gas Works once sat and was remediated with coal tar. As a result of many years of use by the gas company, and the nature of old mill buildings, the soil had been contaminated. Due to this, there are activity use restrictions on the site. According to the Director of Planning and Development Nancy Merrill, the activity use restriction does not mean that the space is unusable, but rather that restrictions as to how certain things, such as playgrounds, need to be constructed to fit within the restriction.
After receiving funding from the the Upper Valley Lake Sunapee Planning Commissions for brownfield assessment, the city was able to complete phases one and two on the parcels of land. Afterward, the Department of Environmental Services suggested the city contact UCONN TAB, and the city sent them all of the information regarding the properties. Once UCONN TAB had that information, they created a presentation suggesting potential uses of the properties. Some of the ideas presented at the public workshop were breweries, outdoor venues, dog park and a hockey rink. Afterward, the meeting broke up into groups so that residents could discuss and suggest ideas they have had for the spaces.
The former Gas Works site still houses the well known Sullivan Tower, which has begun crumbling over the past few years and has encouraged city council to begin discussions about uses for the space. It also contains a pump house which sits in the floodplain, and due to this, representatives from TAB suggest that should the pump house be removed, nothing would be able to take its place.
The discussion of how to best use the two parcels of land has been ongoing over many years. In 2009, the former Director of Public Works Bruce Temple, Director of Parks and Rec Scott Hausler, as well as Merrill, went to the state of New Hampshire to potentially obtain federal funding to develop the land. Ultimately, the money wasn’t awarded because the state said that the project lacked public input.
A number of events have coincided recently that made beginning the long term plan for the riverwalk make sense. This includes not only the deteriorating Sullivan Tower, but also that the city recently received a technical assistance award from the EPA for the recreation economy in rural communities. This technical assistance along with the presentation from TAB have all been made at no cost to taxpayers on the local level.
Another aspect of the two parcels that Merrill says makes complete sense, but will most likely require a grant to accomplish, is connecting the parcels. Currently, they are separated with no defined way to reach them both. Merrill is hopeful that over the next six months that a more defined plan will start to emerge and there will be more public meetings and surveys. With residents moving into the recently completed apartment building on Water Street, the city also expects a significant amount of foot traffic in that section of town in the coming years and hopes to capitalize on the area. Whether that is recreation, business, or a mix of both is up to the residents of Claremont.
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