Marfuggi explained this as we walked by the Connecticut River recently. Our two hour conversation provided the basis for this three-part series on the future of the Connecticut River.

The first week, the 40-Year Plan covered the park's infrastructure, its future plans, and its restrictions. The second week, I talked about the park and its money. This week, we dam the annual flood.

"If we didn't sit in the flood plain, developers would turn this into private real estate," Marfuggi said, looking over Riverside Park. "This spring we had 18 feet of water in first floor of the boathouse."

The only way to prevent flooding would be to construct a dam upstream, he said. With the environmental community working towards removing dams, that might be difficult.

Thus, the flood guarantees the long-term existence of the park as a public green space, Marfuggi said.

On the negative side, the silt from the annual springtime rite filled in the rowboat lake and wading pond.

The popular cricket field to the left of the entrance way now sits where the filled-in lake was, Marfuggi said.

Later in the park's life, the Rocco Pallotti pool sat near the I-91 pedestrian overpass. If the silt didn't fill in, the constant rise and fall of the water table would crack the foundation, he said.

Building a pond now would be cost prohibitive, Marfuggi said, pointing to the regular expense of dredging silt.

That could be a main impediment to an entrepreneur building a marina in the parking lot in front of the boathouse, Marfuggi said.

"We are going to cut back into the lot," he said. "Right now, the docks stick out into the channel. The way the river bends and how we are situated with the current, when you're launching a boat, it gets slammed into the docks."

When RR moves the boat launch, it wants an entrepreneur or developer to invest into a marina and make it happen.

Marfuggi acknowledged that it is a difficult task. Forget the semi-annual dredging or the cost of running a marina, even getting a permit to sell gasoline at a potential marina near the boathouse would be difficult, he said.

I suggested the idea of building the marina on the other side of the dyke, where a 2,000 car parking lot sits, used by the Meadows a few times a summer. Before I could finish spouting my idea about hollowing out a tunnel in the dyke, Marfuggi said that development will come as close as it can to the dyke outside the park.

He has seen plans for a development in that parking lot called Plaz LaFayette. The proposal is for a condo building, underground parking, and perhaps a water element -- like a pond, or a play fountain -- to remind people of the river across the highway.

"There has to be a way to bring water to the street," Marfuggi said, more in reference to Coltsville than to Riverside. "I like the idea of having water there to tease you that the river is there."

At Coltsville, RR plans on cutting through the dyke to create a pedestrian entrance from Sheldon/Charter Oak and Coltsville to the river by Van Dyke Avenue. Marfuggi said he wants Northeast Utilities to move its transformer storage from that area to facilitate the new park.

I love wondering how a landscape architect could decorate the tunnel under the highway so it would be pedestrian friendly. What would a walkway conceived by the artistic heir of the late Anton Gaudi, who designed Parque Guell and the Sacred Family Cathedral in Barcelona, Spain, look like?

In the same way, I would love to see Riverfront find an architect to recreate the pedestrian monstrosity that crosses I-91 into Riverside Park. The current structure, aside from being ugly and inhospitable, and constantly decorated with litter and trash and broken glass, is poorly lit, and contains redundant stairs and ramps.

Imagine what a pedestrian overpass designed by architect Frank Gehry would look like. Creating a riverside park that doubles a cultural location and tourist destination would be an admirable vision to work for in the next 40 years.

"Give people a reason and they will make the trip," Marfuggi said.

9/26/05

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"Dealing with that flood is a blessing and a curse," said Joe Marfuggi

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Dam the Flood!

"Dealing with that flood is a blessing and a curse," said Joe Marfuggi