Flood board: consultants to proceed with alternates one and two as master-plan amendment is negotiated

Dick Mahusky, secretary and acting chair of the Fairfield Flood, Erosion and Climate Resilience Board, opened the committee’s May 19 meeting with an update on the town’s master flood mitigation and resilience plan. Consultants Weston and Samson are negotiating a contract amendment that would release funds for alternate one and alternate two, drop alternate three and transfer roughly $20,000 to cover additional consultant meetings, board members said.

Becky Bunnel, the board member who has been leading outreach on the plan, told the board she understands the amendment’s purpose is to proceed with alternates one and two while funding extra consultant time. She also said the consultant project manager changed: Eileen, the prior lead, has been replaced by Lindsay Norton of Weston and Samson.

“Lindsay Norton is now the project lead,” Bunnel said, noting Norton previously attended the board’s February public meeting. Bill Hurley (staff member) confirmed the amendment would release funds for alternates one and two and described the larger issue the board faces in preparing competitive grant applications.

“We’re going to release the funds to do one and two,” Hurley said. He added the board needs to decide whether to use the latest FEMA benefit-cost analysis (BCA) when applying for federal grants; a full BCA and associated grant work would require substantial additional analysis and paperwork and could cost in the tens of thousands of dollars.

Board members repeatedly pressed for clearer written deliverables. Several said they have not received minutes or agendas for consultant working calls and that much of the consultant output so far has been lists of possible strategies rather than sketch-level concepts placed on maps. Members asked the consultants to provide a clearer timeline and one sketch or map-based deliverable so the town can move from priorities to budgetable capital projects.

The board discussed a short consultant meeting scheduled for Thursday on Zoom; members said the invitation list was initially small and requested that the town chair and additional board representatives be added. Bunnel said she also applied for a Long Island Sound planning grant to study high-intensity wave action with a proposed budget of $110,000 and asked staff to confirm whether the town would accept that grant and what staff-hours would be required.

Next steps: board members asked staff to (1) confirm whether the town accepts the $110,000 planning grant, (2) get details the consultants promised (revised scope documents, whether the latest FEMA BCA will be used, and any cost estimates for a next design phase), and (3) request a clearer timeline and at least one sketch-level deliverable from Weston and Samson and from Race (the coastal consultant). The board expected to see a near–final draft by mid-summer and to hold a second public information meeting after that draft is released.