Manresa Island Corp. to Host First Community Meeting on Park Transformation March 5

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5 responses to “Manresa Island Corp. to Host First Community Meeting on Park Transformation March 5”

1. Skip Hagerty

   March 3, 2025

   No Mayor, they don’t want to build any apartments as part of the project.

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2. Mike Mushak

   March 3, 2025

   The generosity of the McChords is unprecedented, and stupendous. The idea (on paper) is awesome. I toured the site and was blown away by the potential.

   But as a landscape architect who lives in the South Norwalk community and is very familiar with the site and surrounding islands, I’m afraid the project as proposed at this scale is just too big and too intense for this fragile flood-prone location, with only one narrow access road on Woodward Ave that routinely floods at high tides and will only get worse.

   Traffic to this car-oriented “regional destination” (including nearby cities and NY State, as it won’t be limited to Norwalk residents only) will be at a scale of the SoNo Collection, which is properly located at the access ramps to Rt 95 and Rt 7. Traffic will not just cripple South Norwalk but also be drawn through the narrow streets of Rowayton and East Norwalk, just as GPS now directs folks to the site. This is because there is no mass transit system in place similar to the urban projects this is being modeled after, such as Powerhouse Arts in the heart of Brooklyn, accessed by multiple subway and bus routes and year-round high-capacity ferries.

   In fact, I believe the world-class designers who have been hired for this project have made a serious error in judgement, pretending this site is on the waterfront in NYC and not in the lower-density neighborhood in car-oriented Fairfield County. The renderings show huge crowds using the many promised amenities, including swimming pools, a new public beach at a scale similar to Calf Pasture Beach, and an event space that can hold huge crowds and will be relied upon to help fund the park according to the their website. The pressure to have huge events drawing thousands of people, including late into the night, must be considered for its serious traffic and public safety impacts.

   What happens when a routine high tide or any number of extreme storms we now get, shuts down the only access to the site when an event is planned or is in progress and thousands of people will get trapped? With sea level rise these flooding events will only become more frequent. What is “sustainable” about that? And any expensive proposal to raise Woodward Ave out of the flood plain by 3-5 ft (as proposed in a recent “resiliency study”) ignores the serious impacts on surrounding historic neighborhoods, such as Village Creek, Harborview, Harbor Shores, etc., as well as the industrial area along Meadow St and Wilson Ave, where both tidal and storm surge flooding would be intensified by a disruptive “dike” built across these former salt marshes.

   I helped kill the housing plan proposed from the former owner of the property, Argent, in December 2023 when I was serving on the Norwalk Planning and Zoning Commission (I retired from the commission 2 weeks after that after many years of volunteer service). The reasons I offered were that the Argent plan was out of scale and did not follow the recommendations in the excellent 2017 Manresa Island Study (https://tomorrow.norwalkct.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/ManresaFinalReport-121418-Compressed.pdf).

   I also roughly calculated that the remediation needed for a residential use, based on the tables in the back of the study, would require 45,000 dump trucks rumbling through the lower-income neighborhoods of South Norwalk, a serious environmental justice issue with air quality impacts (asthma rates are higher here already) as well as impacting our old utilities under the streets. The old days of dumping contaminated soil by barge in Long Island Sound are over, so this massive trucking to landfills in PA or elsewhere would be required, as well as in reverse to bring in non-contaminated soil and capping material. These calculations must be considered in any future use of Manresa, meaning the least amount of remediation needed will have the best outcomes for public health and safety.

   In other words, the serious remediation equation of tens of thousands of required dump truck trips through SoNo, Rowayton, and East Norwalk makes the case for the need for the lowest intensity of public use with the most wildlife benefit, not the highest intensity of use and least wildlife benefit which is what the current proposal is all about.

   It’s also been said this proposal would be “dog-friendly”, and every wildlife expert will tell you dogs and endangered wildlife do not mix, which is why dogs are banned from most wildlife refuges. Ground-nesting birds are especially impacted, and as the Norwalk Islands are rapidly losing ground and nesting sites to erosion from sea level rise, the Manresa Island site becomes even more important to these endangered species.

   Despite the many shortcomings of Argent’s former housing plan (and to be clear I still would never support any housing here), Argent was still going to preserve nearly the same amount of salt marsh and habitats as this plan does. Yet it went much further, as they proposed to remove the giant eyesore of the power plant that was a mistake when it was built in 1960, and is still a mistake, a giant industrial eyesore that destroyed the scenic beauty of our beautiful coastline and harbor. This proposal keeps the eyesore intact, a huge mistake for Norwalk and the region.

   At that December 13th, 2023 P and Z meeting (the recording can be seen on the city website) , I spoke of the potential to follow the example of Cape May NJ, who partnered with the Nature Conservancy to clean up a contaminated Superfund site and put in a small nature center and birdwatching platforms on a restored marsh. The economic benefit that followed in Cape May was huge, as outlined in a Nature Conservancy study, with birdwatchers from around the world adding millions a year to the local economy without drawing crippling peak crowds and traffic. It seemed like a perfect model for Manresa, and it made sense to me then and still does.

   At that same P and Z meeting, I spoke at length about the crucial wildlife habitats that support many different endangered species at Manresa, as described in great detail in pages 32-35 of the linked study. My suggestion was to have the state and federal governments purchase Manresa to incorporate into the surrounding McKinney National Wildlife Refuge, with a small visitors center and public dock for kayak rentals and boat rides to the surrounding islands, with boat connections to SoNo and Wall St. I still feel this is a sensible low-impact truly “resilient” option to be considered, and would still be a permanent legacy that the McChords could be proud of.

   Another sensible alternative without the crippling traffic on narrow flood-prone streets (which will endanger public health and safety of visitors and residents alike), is to follow the Manresa Study’s recommendation on page 75, “Education/Destination Facility”. One way that can be accomplished is to save the unique mid-century modern office building (the smallest of the 3 main structures, and not seen at any distance from the site) and use that for the crucial educational programs of the Maritime Aquarium as well as local schools. The largest structures and smoke stack would then be demolished, restoring the natural scenic beauty to our coastline which follows the goals and objectives of the state Coastal Area Management Act (“degrading visual quality” is defined as “an adverse impact on coastal resources”) and our local state-approved Harbor Management Act (Goal 5.7: “Support the preservation and enhancement of the scenic quality associated with the Harbor and waterfront, including preservation and enhancement of scenic views”).

   Further, most of the rubble could stay on site instead of being trucked through South Norwalk’s narrow streets in thousands of trips, and be used to build flood-resilient berms covered in native plantings. This would mimic the brilliant solution used on Governors Island in NY Harbor by the firm West/8, where old military barracks were demolished and used to create an entirely new hilly landscape with trails and great views across the harbor.

   Finally, the last thing I would ever think of when considering the terms “resilient” and “sustainable” would be a huge year-round car-oriented regional destination on the scale of our new mall or any state park at the end of narrow flood-prone Woodward Ave. Compare that to nearby Sherwood Island that has a short 4-lane access road directly off of Exit 18 on Rt. 95, and you can see how inadequate and dangerous the poor access to this site actually is.

   I certainly appreciate the unprecedented generosity of the McChords, but if I were in their shoes I would want a truly “sustainable” legacy that would respect the fragile natural location of this site, including the removal of most of the 65-year old eyesore of the mega-industrial power plant, restored quiet habitats that will contain more birds than people, and a world-class educational facility that will benefit generations of schoolchildren. This instead of a “regional destination” of pools and beaches and a huge “event space” that is just too big for its location, drawing thousands of out-of-town cars through the neighborhoods of South Norwalk, Rowayton, and East Norwalk.

   I hope and pray that a major scale-back of this over-designed proposal is planned, and the ugly eyesore of the power plant is finally removed as most Norwalkers have wanted for decades. That would be a legacy to the Norwalk community and to our endangered wildlife and scenic coastline that would truly make a real difference for generations.

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   1. Thomas Belmont

      March 3, 2025

      Well said presentation of the Manresa project considering the existing conditions, the small city constraints of building in this particular area with its inherent limits, and the suggestion of soliciting to the owners, the McCords, an alternate vision in an earnest plea, of creating a natural Wildlife Refuge rather than just another seasonal facility ; especially since it will focus on residents from other cities including those in NYS. I envision a scrambling off ramp and mass of visitors jamming into yet another part of the city. I am particularly concerned with the projected rise in traffic congestion.. Case-in point, the current East Norwalk Project at the cemetery round-about is projected to jam up traffic to Calf Pasture. I sense a massive congestion coming our way, a loss of quality of life, and more time on our local roads sitting in traffic.

      Thanks for your report. It was very informative and a confirmation of other observations of the frontage and other areas of Manresa.

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3. Laura Lamorte

   March 3, 2025

   Thank you, NON, for the article and heads-up about this meeting and the ones to come in May and July. And thanks, Mike, for the detailed commentary. The wildlife sanctuary approach is the only sensible, realistic way to go for this property. Perfect for birdwatchers, who would love to visit but not in droves that would harm the area or disturb residents who live nearby. It could be named in honor of the McChords for their generous gift of nature and sensitivity to environmental concerns. I tend to doubt that there would be the same numbers that visit Cape May, which is a major flyway during migration (we are nowhere near so), and so no need for concern about too much traffic. Other recommendations about engagement with Nature Conservency, and funding from State and Federal (although the latter has been their back on issues of the environment) sources are excellent. Perhaps we will learn also about suggestions from Norwalk Land Trust and Norwalk River Watershed Association?

   The article doesn’t mention whether or not attendance is limited to those who have registered. Here’s a website for (free) tickets to the event in case registration is required.
   https://www.eventbrite.com/e/manresa-island-park-community-engagement-session-1-tickets-1242598839579

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4. Tysen Canevari

   March 3, 2025

   its always funny how Mr Mushak has excuses for anything that will flow through his neighborhood. Traffic and noise have never stood in the way of the democratic party in Norwalk before which has already ruined Norwalk with all the apartment buildings (AKA the concrete jungle!!). Now Mr Mushak wants to say not in my back yard. I never hear you cry about Grumman Ave which leads to Cranbury Park being too small or dangerous to people. Build Manresa and make it huge. Lets share the wealth all over Norwalk

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