The Shelton Canal Co. has made an offer to sell some of its canal property, which was rumored to be slated for development, to the city.
The Shelton Historical Society and other agencies are opposing the plan to fill a lock of the Shelton Canal located on the 2.5-acre parcel.
Joseph W. Szarmach Jr., of McCallum Enterprises Inc., which owns the canal company, sent a letter to Mayor Mark A. Lauretti offering to sell the site the firm is looking to fill.
“I don’t have an exact figure in mind,” Szarmach said. “But it would be very hard for us to ignore the likely value if we were to sell it and-or get the same level of consideration as other developers in Shelton.”
The canal lock was built in the 1800s to allows boats to navigate between the lake above the dam and the the river below.
McCallum Enterprises L.L.C. of Stratford, which uses water flowing through the canal to generate electricity for sale to the public utility power grid, wants to fill in the canal lock.
“I think we have an interest in it,” said Lauretti, “and it’s certainly worthy of consideration. There are a lot of factors that will determine whether it’s something we end up doing.”
According to Szarmach, by filling in a portion of the canal and selling the parcel, his company can pay for the construction of a fish ladder, estimated to cost about $2 million and a requirement for its federal hydroelectric license.
Szarmach said the ladder”™s cost will exceed the value of that portion of the canal. The ladder would allow migratory fish, such as shad and herring, to swim around the dam to spawn upstream. Another fish ladder is required for the Stevenson Dam farther upstream.
The request to fill the area is pending before the Army Corps of Engineers. Large portions of the privately owned canal have been filled in over the last century. If filling is approved, the water that now flows through the canal would get to the lower section of the river through pipes the Shelton Canal Co. would be required to install. The request intends to plow 45,000 cubic yards of compacted fill into the abandoned lock.
Shelton Citizens’ Advisory Board Chairman James Oram has urged the Army Corps of Engineers to oppose the plan to fill the historic canal. He requested the federal agency conduct a public hearing here on the plan.
“It all connects together as part of our trail system,” said Oram. “We hate to see it simply get filled in. We hope the city could acquire it and use it as a park.”
“The City of Shelton owes its current economic power in part to its location on the Housatonic River and the business leaders of years ago who built the Housatonic Dam and a canal to use the subsequent water power for running factory machines,” wrote Thomas Harbinson, chairman of the Shelton Conservation Commission in a letter. “There is still one company remaining that uses water from the canal for their manufacturing operation. In 1986, the owner of this infrastructure, McCallum Enterprises, received a license from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to take water-generated electricity from the river. That process of building a new hydro plant blocked off the canal from any navigable use and made the locks non-purposeful (though they still are there).
The license also required that the company prepare a fish ladder to allow migration up river beyond the impediment of the dam. This was never completed, apparently due to the financial cost.”
While Szarmach has said the property will not be developed into townhouse condominium units, which could generate the capital to pay for a fish ladder, there is also skepticism the city would allot $2 million for the parcel.
Lauretti has said he is prepared to use the power of eminent domain to acquire the property if the city and McCallum Enterprises are unable to reach an agreement and the company tries to move ahead with its rumored plans of a housing development.
“The area represents a heritage that is valued highly by the community and was recently featured in a watercolor cover for the City of Shelton’s 2007 Annual Report,” said Harbinson. “The early constructors of the dam thought well enough of the public good to give some property to the city creating Riverview Park, the city’s first park, which overlooks this canal area. Perhaps it is time again for the current owners to think of the greater public good.”
