Shelton Canal filling - letter to editor rebuttal

A recent letter to the editor endorsed filling in the Shelton Canal out of safety concerns. With a recent car in a segment of the canal (unrelated to the proposed fill-in area), it is easy to understand such a conclusion, but I would submit it is an incorrect one.

The City of Shelton owes it's current economic power in part to it's location on the Housatonic River and the business leaders of years ago who built the Ousatonic Dam and a canal to use the subsequent water power for running factory machines. There is still one company remaining that uses water from the canal for their manufacturing operation. In 1986, the owner of this infrastructure (McCallum Enterprises) received a license from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) to take water generated electricity from the river. That process of building a new hydro plant blocked off the canal from any navigable use and made the locks non-purposeful (though they still are there). The license also required that the company prepare a fish ladder to allow migration up river beyond the impediment of the dam. This was never completed, apparently due to the financial cost.

With exciting changes coming to the character of Canal Street due to the residential developments being proposed, McCallum, seeing new possibilities, has investigated their options and begun pursuit of approvals to fill-in the canal from the locks up to the hydro plant (apx. 2.5 acres) for the purposes of real-estate development under the premise of using gains from the activity toward funding a fish ladder construction. There have been no serious safety issues with this area of the canal. The DEP has a recreational lease upon the area that allows public access for fishing and other passive enjoyment of the broad vistas up the Housatonic River. The area was hoped to be a feature destination when the downtown Riverwalk undergoes expansion.

There are many nuances to this process with applications to FERC, Army Corps of Engineers, and the Ct DEP. Also, as a waterbody, the City's own Inland Wetlands Agency has some jurisdictional aspects to address. The Shelton Conservation Commission is very concerned with this concept. We are non-regulatory, but in our role as the environmental conscience of the community we have attempted to bring public awareness by creating a webpage of photos, satelite images, links to various agencies with application documents and instruction for the manner in which the public can make constructive and impacting comments on them (some of which have deadlines). Simply google search "Shelton Canal" and you should see it in the top results. The Housatonic River, and the canal with it's locks are a regional resource, so I would encourage more than just a Shelton resident to offer their comments.

The area represents a heritage that is valued highly by the community and was recently featured in a watercolor cover for the City of Shelton's 2007 Annual Report. The early constructors of the Dam thought well enough of the public good to give some property to the City creating Riverview Park (the City's first park) which overlooks this canal area. Perhaps it is time again for the current owners to think of the greater public good.

Thomas Harbinson
Shelton Conservation Commission - Chairman
This email is being simultaneously sent to the CtPost editor, and this media blog

Editor: This may be too long for you to include, but it is important as the address to the page the conservation commission has created to promote public awareness:
http://sheltonopenspace.googlepages.com/sheltoncanal