Bridgeport and Fairfield Address Erosion Issues
BREAKING NEWS: Fairfield and Bridgeport Met Yesterday to Discuss Sand Spit
We want to bring you up to date on our progress with getting the Town of Fairfield, the City of Bridgeport to address the erosion issue in the Ash Creek tidal estuary.
ACCA Met with Bridgeport
ACCA met with Bridgeport officials on October 5th. Attendees included: Mayor Ganim; Dan Shamas, the Mayor's Chief of Staff; Attorney Chris Meyer, City Attorney; Jon Uriquidi, City Engineer; Rowena White, Director of Communications; and City Councilperson Scott Burns. ACCA was represented by Board Members Gail Robinson and Rick Landau. We want to thank Scott Burns for organizing this Zoom meeting.
Gail gave a 22 slide presentation on the erosion issues in Ash Creek, which the Mayor paid close attention to and showed serious concern for the health of the tidal estuary and the protections it provides residents. ACCA asked for fall plantings on the sand spit as an interim step, for Bridgeport and Fairfield to work together on a comprehensive restoration plan for the tidal estuary using federal grants, and for the two municipalities to jointly manage the tidal estuary. Mayor Ganim was very supportive.
Fairfield and Bridgeport - Together At Last!
Officials from Fairfield and Bridgeport met via Zoom yesterday morning, October 6th to discuss the erosion problem at Ash Creek. Bill Hurley, Town Engineer, and Tim Bishop, Director of Conservation, represented Fairfield in the meeting. Dan Shamas, the Mayor's Chief of Staff, Jon Uriquidi, City Engineer, Craig Nadrizny, Director of Public Facilities, Ken Flatto, Director of Finance/CFO, and Luis Burgos, Manager of the Parks Department.
They agreed upon the following:
· The participants agreed that the lower Ash Creek tidal system, (specifically the sand spit) is a valuable natural resource that benefits recreational activities and natural ecosystem(s) in this area.
· To protect the sand spit against storm events in the short-term, they will stabilize the sand spit with plantings, using the planting plan in the 2014 restoration plan as a base
· They agreed to continue to work together and with ACCA in the future with respect to a long-term coastal study and subsequent restoration and maintenance plan of the sand spit
· At this time Bridgeport and Fairfield have agreed to equally share the costs of the near-term plantings
· The two municipalities will meet again next week to implement this plan
This is what we've been hoping to achieve!!! We need Fairfield and Bridgeport to work together to protect the Ash Creek tidal estuary. It's the very beginning stages of the process and will will continue to monitor progress and provide support to facilitate studies, provide experts, or identify funding sources. Our work is far from over, but getting the two municipalities to agree to work together on this issue was our biggest challenge and we are thrilled to see this process begin!
Thank You for Making This Possible!
We don't believe we would have received Mayor Ganim's attention without your e-mails. Thank you to each and every one of you who sent one!!!
We also want to thank Jon Fatigate of SKITish Media for creating the social media campaign that reached thousands of local residents.
Thank you to Mayor Ganim and First Selectwoman Kupchick for meeting with ACCA to learn about the erosion problems first hand. We know your time is valuable and you choose how you spend it very carefully.
We want to thank Jill Vergara, Deputy Majority Leader of RTM District 7 for her advocacy on behalf of her constituents, which got Fairfield and Bridgeport to pay attention to this issue.
Special thanks to David Brant, Executive Director of Aspetuck Land Trust, for his advocacy of Great Marsh Island and supporting our request for the fall plantings with Fairfield.
We also want to thank, City Councilperson Scott Burns, for organizing the meeting with the Mayor and other Bridgeport officials.
State Rep. Steve Stafstrom and State Rep. Cristin McCarthy Vahey organized the Zoom call with CT DEEP, Fairfield and Bridgeport that kicked off the attention to this issue by the municipalities and the state.
Our former City Councilperson, Pete Spain, put us in touch with Matt Fulda, Executive Director of MetroCOG. Matt introduced us to Zach Giron, who let us present our case at the CTAC Committee on September 20th.
Tim Bishop, Director of Conservation, and Bill Hurley, Town Engineer, for Fairfield have been very responsive and open to discussing different options. They brought in Devin Santa and Steve Sternberg of RACE Coastal Engineering, who helped us delve deeper into dredging dynamics and potential solutions.
Our own experts, Bryan Quinn of OneNature LLC and Dr. Steve Danzer, have provided three key documents being used by the towns and CT DEEP - the 2021 sand spit analysis, the 2014 restoration plan for the sand spit, and the 2012 Master Plan for the Ash Creek tidal estuary.
On ACCA's Board, we want to especially thank Rick Landau, who has been the project manager for the sand spit restoration. We also want to thank Donna Curran, who starred in our video and who has such good relationships with key officials whose cooperation we needed. We also want to thank former ACCA Board Member, Roger Ludwig, for his many years of service focusing on the sand spit and providing funding for the sand spit analysis.
Thank you to Banjed Labrador, Chair of the Bridgeport Parks Commission, and Luis Burgos, Manager of the Parks Department along with Steve Hladun, for your support on this issue. We value the trust and partnership we've built with you over the years.
Thank you to Jennifer Hauhuth, Chair of Fairfield's Conservation Commission, for taking our erosion issue so seriously and supporting us. It was a pleasure to present to your commission.
We also want to thank Jimmy Tickey, District Leader, and Sean Higgins, Legislative Aide, at U.S. Rep. Jim Himes office for taking the time to understand the erosion issues. You haven't just been responsive, you've been proactive in helping us. We look forward to working with you moving forward.
We also want to thank Brian Thompson Director of the Land and Water Resources Division of the CT DEEP who took a deep dive into the erosion issues with his staff and introduced us to Jim O'Donnell, Executive Director of CIRCA who can help us identify the studies and funding needed to address the longer term issues of the tidal estuary's erosion problems.
Next Steps
The municipalities, Fairfield and Bridgeport will be meeting next week to discuss implement plans for the fall plantings.
Our next upcoming meetings for raising awareness of the erosion issues at the Ash Creek tidal estuary are:
10/07/21 - Senator Christopher Murphy's Office
10/12/21 - Mill River Wetlands Committee Board Meeting
10/13/21 - Black Rock NRZ
Public Awareness Campaign Results
Our Save Our Spit website, has been getting a lot of attention. We've had 473 visitors since we launched it on September 9th. We want to thank you for sharing the Facebook post for this issue. We've had 77 shares! The video was seen by 5,900 people. We couldn't do this without your help!