By Bob McGarry, Haddam First Selectman
(July 13, 2023) — At the end of her administration, former First Selectman Lizz Milardo hired a consulting team to conduct a two-day workshop to get public input on turning Higganum Center into a vibrant, prosperous, walkable center. The recommendations from the charettes, as the workshop became known, were presented in a public session in December 2019. The full report, The Higganum Center Study, can be found on the town website. This article focuses on the study’s recommendations and what we’ve done with them over the past four years.
The recommendations are in Chapter 5 of the study. There are thirty-eight of them, organized into ten sections. They serve as a starting point for revitalizing Higganum Center. They’re not intended to cover every step in what will be a multi-year process. In the rest of this article I’ll discuss each of the ten sections and what we’ve accomplished. (You can view a spreadsheet I use to track our progress on the recommendations HERE. The spreadsheet has the recommendation, the section of the report it’s in, a number I assigned it, who is responsible for it, the status and any comments.)
- Leadership and Promotion – There are four recommendations in this section. One is to establish a Merchants Association. Work continues on that. The other three address adopting the “Main Street America” methodology to implement the revitalization. They’re completed.
- Community Septic – The study identified the community septic as the most important fundamental action to accomplish. Three of the five recommendations have been completed. Design of the system, which is being funded by a state grant, is in progress.
- Connections between Higganum Center and the Natural Environment – To be successful, Higganum Center has to draw people, town residents and tourists to it. The study participants felt Higganum Cove, Connecticut River, Higganum Reservoir and all the hiking trails would help do that. Work has started on three of the five recommendations in this section.
- HES Building and Site – The public input at the charettes clearly showed a desire to develop HES and the grounds as a community asset; once again, something that could draw people to the center. All of the seven recommendations in this section have been completed.
- Rossi Site – The need for Haddam to gain control of the Rossi site was of considerable interest to the participants. They felt this property could be split with economic (retail/housing) development along the Saybrook Road frontage and a new town garage at the back of the site. The two recommendations in this section addressed purchasing the property. They’ve been completed.
- Town Garage at Rossi Site – This section addressed using part of the Rossi site for a new town garage. (There’s a lot of overlap between this section and the Rossi site section. I’m not sure why they made two sections.) As we developed requirements for a new town garage, it became clear the Rossi site isn’t large enough for the town garage and economic development. The garage needs four to five acres; the Rossi property is 4.6 acres. Commercial development is the priority; we’ll continue to look for a different site for the town garage. One of the three recommendations was cancelled. The other two recommendations were completed.
- Town Garage Site – This section deals with what to do with the current town garage site after the garage is moved. The three recommendations are on hold.
- Scovil Hoe Site – The three recommendations in this section address buying the Scovil Hoe buildings from the state. They’ve been completed and more. We’ve obtained a state grant to remediate the property, which will start this year and we have a developer who’ll be renovating and marketing the buildings.
- Route 81 and Saybrook Road South – This section deals primarily with developing a cohesive plan for continuing development for Higganum Center. Two of the three recommendations are being worked on.
- Citizens Bank Building – The bank used to draw people into Higganum Center. The study recommended contacting the owners to discuss redeveloping the building. The town planner contacted them. They’ve put the building on the market and aren’t interested in developing it for another use.
Of the 38 recommendations: 24 have been completed, 6 are in process, 7 haven’t been started and 1 cancelled. Changing conditions made the cancelled recommendation moot. In spite of the difficulties we’ve encountered over the past four years including a global pandemic, we’ve accomplished a lot.
