Milone & MacBroom, Inc.

Client:

City of Meriden

Scope Of Work

For decades upon decades, the City of Meriden faced repeated and significant flooding throughout its downtown area. The catastrophic floods not only caused financial issues for the city, businesses, and residents, it created a downtown that struggled to be economically viable. In the 1990s, the city decided to put forth a new revitalization effort, but they knew they needed a plan. Milone & MacBroom was retained in 1996 to work with city officials to create a flood control plan for the entire 15-square-mile Harbor Brook watershed. Numerous flood control strategies were considered to alleviate the stress of flooding for the city as a whole and specifically for the downtown area.

As the plans progressed through the concept and design stages, our team began to provide creative solutions and to look for areas of opportunity for the city to alleviate flooding on Harbor Brook. The HUB, an abandoned former mall with acres of parking, built atop a brownfield in the heart of the city, fit the bill. The team worked collaboratively to work through the complexities of design and permitting of the 15 Acre project. The result was a plan that created a new city green that retains over 60-acre feet of floodwater. The project has been described as one of the most complex regulatory permits ever approved through the State of Connecticut.