On October 1, Governor Ned Lamont announced grants for 50 projects across Connecticut to plan, build, expand, restore, and improve recreational trails. Newtown received $170,000 in grant funding to extend the Housatonic Rail Trail by about three quarters of a mile.

While that may not seem like a lot, this three quarters of a mile is crucial to connecting Newtown to the 16-mile trail that leads all the way to Bridgeport.

Rob Sibley, director of Planning & Land Use, said this is a project he has been a part of since 1999. Back then, he was on the Trails Open Space Task Force and was asked to attend the then Rails to Trails project meetings. That was a federal project grant to create a regional trail from the coastline up into Newtown.

“For our case, the portion that was in our town was in the rears with taxes, the Batchelder property, and about 2,000 or so feet led up and through that, and then came to an active rail line. So it was going to be very difficult for Newtown to even put in about half a mile of trail. The decision was simply made that we wouldn’t participate in that portion of the trail system,” Sibley explained.

Over the past 20 years or so, there has been a push to reengage with the Housatonic Rail Trail and connect it to other trails in town. Sibley said that in the past ten years, the idea that the trail would continue into Newtown has “gained strength and new champions.” Some of those champions include John Voket and Greg Carnrick.

John Voket is the director of Economic and Community Development, and Greg Carnrick is a member of Newtown’s Bike & Trail Committee who has been leading this project. While standing near the newly painted mural that now graces the entrance to the rail trail extension, Carnrick explained that this particular area near Interstate Lumbar and the Batchelder property was a “bottleneck that’s prevented this from ever continuing north towards Fairfield Hills.”

Now, backed by funds raised from the Rail-Trail-Blazer campaign and this grant from the Department of Energy and Environmental Protection (DEEP), the closest entrance to Newtown will no longer be Pepper Street in Monroe. The grant envisions adding a parking lot, a gazebo/pavilion, and bathrooms, all in compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act.

To get to this point, however, a bill had to be passed by both the senate and the house, and Housatonic Railroad Company had to grant Newtown permission to cross at one specific point.

“We had a crossing already over in the factory,” Carnrick said. “This is why this never happened … they were supposed to have the trail come up into the factory and then cross over, but because there’s no ETA on when the factory will be cleaned up, that’s why the rail trail extension could never happen because the site was contaminated.”

Though Newtown was in the middle in terms of grant money received, Voket detailed that Newtown was one of the highest ranked towns to receive the grants. Carnrick called it a “high value, low cost” project. When this past round of trail improvement grants opened up, Voket said Newtown did not want to wait.

“We didn’t want to lose the momentum and excitement over the involvement and permission of the railroad and all that,” Voket said. He also said that Carnrick and Newtown Board of Realtors secured a grant for a public art installation for the trail, too.

Carnrick, along with a few other vendors, donated work to help bring this trail extension to life. Carnrick himself dug the foundation for the concrete mural. Brautigam Land Surveyors and Lenahan Land Clearing & Grinding Inc collectively contributed more than $117,000 in funds and in-kind services, like tree removal and survey work.

Celebrating The Outdoor World

Next summer is when Carnrick and Voket hope the work will be finished. This will include the extension, parking area, bathrooms, and gazebo/pavilion.

Voket said of the project, “It’s several things. We’re building an extension of a transportation network that is accessible, hopefully, to all. So, it’s a transportation project, it’s a recreation project, it’s an economic development project because … there’s a chance that between the time you leave the house and get here or the time you leave here and get back to where you’re from, you’re going to stop and get gas. You’re maybe [going to] go pick up some sandwiches, spend part of the day in Sandy Hook Center.”

Carnrick shared he is looking forward to “parking here instead of down in Monroe.” Carnrick added that he never actually walked the trail until he got involved. Since then, he has taken it all the way down to Beardsley Zoo. Sibley also used the trail when he was training for a marathon in the past.

Sibley shared that he is thankful for the recognition of all the volunteers with this grant. He added that it is a place for people to “reengage regionally.

“Too often something new is met with trepidation,” Sibley said. “The engagement, and the ways to engage that we are giving our community provides for them to be exposed to different parts of their town they may have never seen.”

The trail promotes health and connection to community, according to Sibley, along with the opportunity to be connected to Monroe, Trumbull, and Bridgeport in ways that cannot be done in a car. He called it an “outside adventure.”

Voket said this rail trail extension is going to “put Newtown on the national map of rail trail project successes.” At the most basic level, Voket added, it will give residents an opportunity to engage in rail trail recreation.

“Anybody who appreciates recreational opportunities, for families and [individuals], it’s an incredible benefit to the Newtown residents because they have access to a lot more than just the three-quarter mile extension that we’re putting in. So while Newtown’s share may be small, this [has] gotta be the most exciting recreational trail creation that I’ve heard of in a while, besides Fairfield Hills’ trails,” Carnrick said.

For those who wish to explore the trail and the new mural (a full story on the mural itself will be featured in the next edition of The Newtown Bee), the address is 44 Swamp Road.

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Reporter Sam Cross can be reached at sam@thebee.com.