Connecticut commerce panel examines parking, resiliency and public-safety costs for Mystic tourism

Representative Brett Meskers, chairing a Commerce Committee working group on Mystic tourism, asked members on Dec. 18 to produce concrete short-, medium- and long-term recommendations addressing parking, resiliency and event support for the Mystic area.

The meeting centered on how to reduce congestion for residents, tourists and workers; how to build coastal resiliency into planning; and how to handle rising costs for policing large events. "Priority today is identifying and prioritizing recommendations," Meskers said, urging the group to develop a draft report to circulate before the legislative session starts Jan. 8.

Rob Hodeling of the Department of Economic and Community Development summarized a recent meeting convened at the initiative of Representative Baumgartner with the Connecticut Insurance Department. Hodeling said the department's commissioner organized an "Extreme Weather Mitigation and Resiliency Advisory Council," known as EWMRAC, to gather expertise from insurers, homebuilders, the Red Cross and others to advise homeowners and small businesses on pre-storm mitigation and post-storm recovery.

"We thought that there was some overlap, a significant amount of overlap in terms of resiliency considerations," Hodeling said, noting the working group is in a "listening and…