Project Type: DECD funded – Environmental Sampling and U.S. Fish and Wildlife funded – Engineering/Construction
Activities:
Environmental Assessment Activities include Phase I and Phase II Environmental Assessment Activities while U.S. Fish and Wildlife funded activities includes the Design, Engineering, and Construction of a Fishing and Viewing Platform
O’Sullivan’s Island is a peninsula at the confluence of the Housatonic and Naugatuck Rivers, located south of Derby’s downtown commercial district. While vehicles and trains pass nearby, the site offers a welcome moment of quiet among trees along the waterfront. Enveloped by structure, water, and sky, O’Sullivan’s Island is one of the most interesting and naturally beautiful pieces of land in the lower Naugatuck Valley. It is also one of the most challenging brownfield locations NVCOG has had the opportunity to improve.
Over the last decade, NVCOG’s Environmental Planner Arthur Bogen, Ricardo Rodriguez and Executive Director Rick Dunne have been significant players in the orchestration of funding contributions and work completed by the City of Derby and the Connecticut Department of Economic and Community Development. O’Sullivan’s Island Recreation Park opened to the public for the first time in over twenty years in 2009. In 2013 the City of Derby completed its portion of the Naugatuck River Greenway trail that runs across the site’s northern edge.
NVCOG was awarded a $200,000 DECD grant to conduct environmental assessments and develop (if needed) remediation strategies on the site. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) on behalf of the Connecticut Housatonic Natural Resource Trustee Council awarded NVCOG $325,000 to construct an accessible fishing and viewing platform at O’Sullivan’s Island Recreation Park.
Project Status: DECD – Phase I and Phase II Environmental Site Assessment complete. Ongoing project monitoring. USFW – All required permits for the O’Sullivan’s Island Fishing Pier have been approved. NVCOG has obtained the final design plans for the project. The project will consist of a handicap-accessible fishing pier with viewing benches that will overlook the Housatonic River. The construction of the fishing pier will be scheduled around the sturgeon breeding season.
- Current Projects
- O’Sullivan’s Island Fishing and Viewing Platform
- NVision 2022
- Roadway Projects
- Transportation Planning Studies
- Interstate 84/ Route 8 New Mix
- Brownfields
- 143 Wolcott Road, Wolcott
- Southington 318 North Main Street
- Main Street South, Derby
- 100 Franklin Street, Torrington
- 300 Broad Street, Bristol
- 67-71 Minerva Street, Derby
- 698 South Main Street, Waterbury
- 526 North Main Street, Waterbury
- 359 Mill Street, Waterbury (Brass City Harvest)
- 313 Mill Street, Waterbury
- Mad River, Waterbury
- 130 Freight Street, Waterbury
- 909 Bank Street, Waterbury
- Derby O’Sullivan’s Island
- 318 North Main Street, Southington
- 226 Rubber Ave, Naugatuck (Naugatuck Recycling Center)
- 0 Andrew Avenue, Naugatuck
- 1 Main Street, Berlin
- Newtown 28 Glen Road
- Thomaston East Main Street Riverfront Reuse Plan
- Past Brownfields Projects
- Ansonia-Derby Regional School Study
- Regional Wastewater Treatment Consolidation Study
- Kinneytown Dam Fish Passage
- Naugatuck River Greenway
- Regional Plan of Conservation and Development