From 2005: A Vision For The Landfill

This article is from exactly 5 years ago today, published in The Hartford Courant on October 3, 2005. I have added some more recent history below. The photograph shows John Hall, Executive Director of the Jonah Center, leading one of his many tours of the Mattabesset River.

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Most people looking at the 26-acre earthen mound at the juncture of the Mattabesset and Coginchaug rivers in Middletown would see just the city's old landfill. Members of the Jonah Center for Earth and Art see possibilities.

Tonight, Middletown's city council is scheduled to review a request from the nonprofit Jonah Center for $25,000 to fund a part- time grant writer. By approving the funding and forging an official partnership with this organization, the council would be tapping a source of creative ideas for bringing tourism to the so-called North End peninsula, an area bordered on three sides by the rivers. The meeting is set for the council chambers in city hall at 7 p.m.

Up to now, prospects for this area have appeared bleak. For years, the only signs of life in the immediate vicinity of the now- defunct landfill were generated by the city's recycling center and composting facility. But the view from the top of the landfill -- a panorama of the Mattabesset and Coginchaug rivers and the vast tidal wetlands known as Cromwell Meadows -- offers a hint of the area's promise.

Working with the Jonah Center, students from Wesleyan University have already conducted inventories of aquatic and bird life around the landfill. An architecture class has come up with a design for a "green" building that could house educational displays and programs on science, technology and the arts.

The center has a four-phase plan (see www.thejonahcenter.org). The first calls for building a hiking trail to the top of the landfill and a boat launch on the Mattabesset River. Future phases include the construction of the center and programs on renewable energies, fish farming, hydroponic gardening, ecological landscaping and environmental art. Advocates say such programs could bring tourism to the North End.It's a far-reaching proposal worth exploring.

Tonight, the council should take the first step.

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The Jonah Center did write a grant proposal on behalf of the city to increase public access to the rivers in Middletown. In February of 2006, Josh Kovner reported in the Courant that the Common Council:

... was expected to endorse an application by the Jonah Center for Earth and Art for a $50,000 federal grant to build a boat launch in the North End peninsula, at the confluence of the Coginchaug and Mattabesset rivers, and an interpretive walking trail. The trail would stretch to the top of the city's former landfill, an area that the center and Wesleyan University are studying for sources of renewable energy.

In November of 2006, Kovner reported that the Jonah Center grant application "said the city is prepared to do $60,000 worth of work on that project, including building a public-access road around the city recycling center." He also reported that the city had bought 21 acres from the Salafia family for $20,000, "... increasing the public's access to the Coginchaug and the peninsula."

The grant application was successful, and the city was awarded a $50,000 federal grant for this project in 2007.

In August of this year, the Economic Development Commission heard plans for the city to acquire an easement on private land to access a boat launch from a sewer pumping station on Johnson Street, but these plans fell through when the land owner expressed reservations about liability.

It is not clear why the city has not moved forward with the original plans in the 2006 grant proposal.