The Board of Selectmen heard updates on the excavation at the Pootatuck River to restore a collapsed culvert at its Monday, July 20 meeting.

The update followed a decision to continue a public hearing on the historic road designation at Stone Bridge Trail. No members of the public attended the hearing and First Selectman Bruce Walczak said he wanted to continue the hearing as he plans to "further resolve the issues around the historic road designation." Keeping the public hearing open will allow the town to not have to begin the whole public hearing process from scratch.

The town has been working with Aquarion Water Company, Housatonic Railroad Company, and the National Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) to clean up the Pootatuck River following a culvert collapse that occurred during flooding in August 2024.

The culvert collapse blocked access to a wellfield owned by Aquarion Water Company, which has caused Aquarion to place bans on outdoor water use, even after the town made available additional water from the Fairfield Hills campus. Debris from the collapsed culvert spread downstream, clogging the waterway.

The cleanup was delayed over 15 months while various parties, including the Town of Newtown, Aquarion, Housatonic Railroad Company, and NRCS negotiated an agreement.

In January, the town received a $514,119 grant from the NRCS to restore the stream bed.

Town Engineer John Curtis reported on July 20 that soil borings have been done to determine what level the streambed slopes can be brought back to at a minimum safe level.

Curtis felt a good idea was using rebar and soil to make a retaining wall at the base, which would limit necessary excavation. However, it "does increase the cost" and "there are other permitting issues."

"That may not be the path forward versus excavation," said Curtis.

The goal is to "do what we can to make sure this is pushed through as quickly as possible," said Curtis. "We want to make sure we don't do anything that would hold up the process. So that's going to narrow our options."

Curtis explained that once the streambed is excavated, it will help prevent future flooding issues.

"This will allow Aquarion to turn the wells back on and we can move forward," said Curtis. "The balance is weighing the options. The more changes we make to the original structure, the harder it will be to move through the permitting process."

Curtis explained that Housatonic Railroad Company has requirements on how wide it wants the culvert to be and how much dirt is removed from the streambed, as well as what to do with the removed soil.

Curtis said he hoped to have another meeting with the other stakeholders in the next week or so.

The project time frame is for work to be done by mid-October, but there may need to be an extension due to the scope of the work.

Editor Jim Taylor can be reached at jim@thebee.com.