The Inland Wetlands Commission has approved dredging work in Comstock Brook — a key step toward restoring Merwin Meadows — but the bigger question for residents is whether the swimming pond will reopen in time for Memorial Day.
Town officials say that timeline is possible, but only if several remaining approvals — including a separate wetlands permit for the pond dredging, state sign-off, and funding clarity — come through in the next few weeks.
If those approvals come through, officials say dredging could begin shortly after the April hearing and be completed in time for the start of summer. The IWC is scheduled to hold a special hearing on Tuesday, Apr. 21, to review the application for the Merwin Meadows pond dredging application.
The pond has been closed since the August 2024 flood.
The commission’s approval on Thursday, Mar. 26 for dredging the brook allows the Department of Public Works to remove roughly 100 cubic yards of sediment deposited during the August 2024 flood, helping protect the footbridge connecting Merwin Meadows Park and the nearby soccer field and preventing further erosion.
“If we had not mitigated this, it would lead to possible scouring underneath the bridge, wearing that down,” Parks and Recreation Department Director Steve Pierce said during the Mar. 26 IWC public hearing. “That would be detrimental, we felt, to the footbridge … and the footings that are there as well, which the [Federal Emergency Management Agency] agreed with as well.”
FEMA is helping fund both the Comstock Brook and Merwin Meadows pond remediation. As GOOD Morning Wilton previously reported, Pierce told the Board of Selectmen (BOS) last December that the pond dredging could cost between $400,000 and $600,000. Typically FEMA pays 75% of cleanup costs for qualifying remediation projects.
Dredging, Restoration Expected to Take “A Few Days”
The swimming pond has been closed to the public since the flood, which washed out portions of the Norwalk River Valley Trail, knocked down the fence that runs along the edge of the soccer field, deposited gravel from the trail into the grass, and displaced ground cover from the playground. The beach area has remained fenced off since then, while the playground, pavilion and picnic areas remain available for use.
Steve Santacroce, a senior civil engineer with DPW, explained that the remediation crew will lay down temporary gravel paths from the existing trails to the brook to allow mini excavators to reach the sediment. The dredged material will be stockpiled in two locations and then hauled away to DPW’s construction yard, tested for contaminants and eventually disposed of. The DPW crew will also place cobblestones along the brook’s banks to prevent erosion and silt accumulation.
Once the dredging is complete and the gravel paths removed, Environmental Land Solutions will seed the disturbed soil with a native seed mix and plant understory trees and native shrubs to replace plants that had to be removed to make room for the excavator paths. Landscape architect Kate Throckmorton said no trees will need to be removed.
Throckmorton said she believes the work will be conducted during July or August when there is no flow in the Comstock Brook. Santacroce told the commissioners that DPW anticipates the project will take one to two days for the dredging and “a few days” for the restoration.
While the brook work is expected later in the summer, the pond dredging — a separate project — is on a faster timeline aimed at reopening for Memorial Day.
According to plans submitted by DPW, that project will involve:
- dewatering the pond and discharging the filtered water into Comstock Brook
- removing approximately 495 cubic yards of sediment from the pond and another 485 cubic yards of sand and silt from the beach area
- removing the sediment to the DPW construction yard
- restoring the beach and any disturbed lawn and gravel surrounding the pond
FEMA Furlough Complicates Pond Project Funding Picture
Pierce told GMW that the $119,000 previously allocated for design work was related to the creek dredging, and FEMA has already approved reimbursing the town for 75% of that, or just under $90,000.
However, Parks & Recreation has not been able to confirm the availability of FEMA funding to reimburse the town for the pond remediation due to disruptions caused by the partial federal government shutdown, leaving uncertainty around whether the town will be reimbursed for the pond work. Pierce told GMW that he expects to update the BOS with a revised budget estimate for the pond dredging at its Monday, Apr. 6 meeting.
Pierce also told GMW that the project has been granted a permit from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) and that he expects to learn the status of the Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection (CT DEEP) permit soon. In addition to the IWC’s approval, Parks & Recreation requires approval from both of those agencies before the project can proceed.
If the BOS approves the budget request, CT DEEP issues its permit as expected, and the IWC signs off on Apr. 21, Pierce said the pond dredging could begin shortly after the meeting, with the goal of completion in time for Memorial Day.