Learning From The Mystic Streetscape Project

Paving continues on the Mystic streetscape project today, and Groton Town Councilors this week offered varying views about what’s happened with it: They want to focus on what’s good and right, they want accountability and they want to learn from what’s gone wrong.

“The public, they have no recourse but to be angry. But you can’t just go like a lynch mob and say ‘I want you and you and you’,” said Councilor Bruce Flax.

He added, "I agree there has to be accountability but I need more information to know where that accountability lies."

The streetscape project, _a $3.6 million plan to replace sidewalks, install granite curbs and bury utilities, with traffic, torn streets and sidewalks and declining sales.

But construction has also begun to wind down.

"It will be beautiful"

Groton Town Mayor Heather Bond Somers said she’s been downtown every day since Friday, and paving will be done shortly.

“The outcome of it will be very beautiful,” she said, adding, “I do feel like if we keep having a conversation about how bad things are, it’s like a self-fulfilling prophecy. And I do believe that if we talk about the good things that are coming out of this that’s a better path to take.”

Councilor Bill Johnson expressed a similar sentiment.

“We should be doing our best to promote Mystic, and all of the positives, instead of this constant negative publicity about parking, driving, and aesthetics,” he wrote in an e-mail. “When frustration levels get high it can be easier to look for people (to) blame then it is to look for solutions to the problem. The contractors are doing their best under heavy pressure.”

The Groton Town Council is expected to discuss the project at its committee of the whole meeting at 7 p.m. Tuesday.

Risky deadline

Flax said he wants answers, but he needs to know more about where that accountability lies. One issue, he said, is that councilors trust town departments and then learn critical information too late.

For example, he said the streetscape project was scheduled to be finished June 30, risking the peak of the merchants’ season.

“Why would you have the drop dead date on a holiday weekend entering summer, where you know a project could go over and you know that it could go into the meat of the business for these merchants?” he said.

The $500 daily penalty

The streetscape contract was written with a penalty of $500 a day for every day the project finishes late. It was unclear this week how that penalty would be enforced.

Town Councilor James Streeter said he believes $500 a day isn’t sufficient incentive to get the work done on time, given the project's scope. He said it would be like fining a household $5 a day.

“Personally, to me, $500 a day is nothing,” he said. Streeter said he understands why merchants are upset, but there have been unexpected issues with the contractor. He said he couldn’t discuss them publicly.

'Ignored' by planners

Councilor Mick O’Beirne said he would offer one comment: He took issue with the design when it was first developed. He said he believed it was a mistake to bump out curbs and narrow roads.

“Several of us spoke against these over and over at public hearings, and were ignored by the planners,” he wrote in an e-mail. He said this has created difficulty for emergency vehicles maneuvering through heavy traffic.

“When you add the loss of the roughly nine spots in the parking lot by the pumping station whenever the condos/stores are constructed behind the green wall, parking will get even worse,” he wrote. “So, yes, I fault the designers/planners for this.”