'No update' on efforts by Yale urban designers to help chart development in Niantic
Mar. 6—EAST LYME — A $30,000 effort by the Yale Urban Design Workshop to guide the continued revitalization of Main Street remains in flux more than two years after it was funded with federal pandemic relief money.
Niantic Main Street President Dan Walsh on Tuesday said he has no update on the status of the final report the Yale group was hired to produce. His nonprofit organization commissioned the study after voters on Dec. 1, 2021 agreed to pay for it using a portion of the town's $5.46 million American Rescue Plan allocation.
"It's not done yet," Walsh said of the report.
Numbers received by the finance department documents about a month ago show the organization so far spent $27,500 on the study. That includes $7,500 for phase one and $12,500 for phase two, which are complete. Phase three is ongoing at a cost of $10,000, with $7,500 paid out so far.
The Yale Urban Design Workshop is made up predominantly of graduate students supervised by faculty from its School of Architecture
Niantic Main Street officials have said the goal is to create a framework for development, much like the Yale group did in the late 1990s with a report they said helped lay the foundation for a quarter century of growth. A cornerstone of efforts back then was the recommended purchase by the town of a Mobil gas station and its subsequent transformation into a park that frames sweeping vistas of Niantic Bay.
This time around, it's the former police station at 278 Main Street that presents the most opportunity for change. The leaky building beset with mold and mildew has been vacant since the department moved several miles down the road to a reformulated public safety hub more than two years ago.
Walsh would not specify what the design process until now has entailed or discuss any ideas presented by the Yale group so far. Vice President Sue Kumro did not return a call for comment.
Andrei Harwell, director of the Yale design group, also did not return a voicemail message. But back in late 2022, he said the group had spent about four months familiarizing itself with the area through background research and discussions with those who lived and worked there.
The architect at the time said the role of his group was to present options that it would then be up to "folks in Niantic" to evaluate.
First Selectmen Dan Cunningham said he met with Walsh and Kumro last week to view a draft of the urban design report.
"It's going to change, they told me," he said. "There's some details that are going to be revised."
Cunningham suggested the Niantic Main Street group wants to ensure the final report accurately reflects what stakeholders told the Yale designers they want to see on Main Street.
The neighboring town of Old Lyme in 2018 hired the Yale Urban Design Workshop to help develop a master plan for Halls Road, where strip malls and a preponderance of parking lots link two sets of Interstate 95 ramps. The move was spurred by residents seeking to drive change in an area marked by a mid-century focus on cars and consumption that typified the rise of the suburbs.
But zoning documents show the group was fired after officials said it "failed to grasp the small town nature of Old Lyme, offering options more appropriate to an urban than a rural setting." The town then engaged New England-based BSC Group to create the master plan for $48,000. Implementation efforts are ongoing.
A looming decision
Cunningham said the lease on the old police department building, which is owned by Millstone Power Station owner Dominion Energy, is up on August 31, 2025. Former First Selectman Kevin Seery has said the utility company is willing to part with the property for $1 if the town can figure out what to do with the site.
Seery said the building has to go because the cost to renovate it would be "astronomical."
Harwell, the Yale architect, previously described ideas for the site including a visitor's center with restrooms, a restaurant, or shops below with apartments above.
Planning for the future of the property in a way that acknowledges possible contamination could also put the town in a better position to receive state grants for remediation, according to Harwell.
For Cunningham, deciding how to proceed revolves around what residents want and how much they're willing to pay.
He said he is open to suggestions from the Yale design group or anyone else about how the site can be reimagined.
"For me, I need to know what the public wants. That's very important to me," he said. "But I have to balance that against what's in the best interest of the town financially and liability wise and tax wise."
