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 learning mode" and that a public meeting related to resiliency would be held in the Legislative Office Building on Dec. 18.

Participants repeatedly returned to parking as the clearest near-term pressure. Peter Armstrong described existing studies and designs for using the Southern parking lot with walking improvements into town, saying, "if you parked in our Southern parking lot and you walked into Mystic, it would take 11 minutes." Armstrong and others described shuttle and water-taxi ideas, and stressed the need to change visitor behavior so people use off-site parking rather than seek curbside spaces.

Several speakers pushed for hiring a consultant to pull a comprehensive playbook together that would prioritize "low-hanging fruit" and medium- and long-term projects. "It would be ... useful if we requested as part of our recommendation that we bring in a consultant that will help us tie all this together," said one participant, outlining the consultant's role in coordinating federal funds, working with DOT and producing a phased plan.

Chris Reagan said he was aware of a privately identified site within walking distance that "could possibly have 600 to a thousand parking spaces," but said the property would have to be purchased. The group did not provide cost or acquisition details during the meeting.

Event organizers and public-safety officials emphasized the rising operational costs of large gatherings. Bruce Flack, who oversees regional event programming, said the lighted boat parade drew rapidly growing crowds and that security costs have risen. "In 2021, the security cost for police on both sides of the town for us was 0. And this year it will be an excess of $17,000," Flack said, adding broadcast coverage and social-media interest have increased attendance.

Stonington Police Chief Fusaro said his department now dedicates extra patrols to the downtown Mystic area most weekends and that the town has had a notable increase in incidents. "I dedicate an extra at least 1 extra patrol exclusively to the Downtown Mystic area," Fusaro said, and added that the department issued 193 parking tickets in the last 30 days on streets including West Main and Water Street.

Speakers also raised longer-term concerns about coastal flooding and land use. Jim O'Donnell advised that parking supply decisions should account for flood vulnerability and future sea-level risks so that scarce inland space is not permanently converted to parking that may be unusable in coming decades.

Walkability and public amenities came up as ways to shift behavior. Susan Fisher urged improved pedestrian connections and riverside pathways to make walking into Mystic more attractive: "If we're gonna try to persuade people to walk into Mystic rather than drive ... the coastal access pathway along the river bank becomes really important." The group said some prior pathway and signage proposals exist but had not been advanced.

Participants discussed next steps: members will circulate written suggestions within a week, the working group will consider a consultant engagement to assemble a playbook, and the group will reconvene to finalize priorities and a draft report for potential Commerce Committee consideration. Meskers said he expects the working group to prioritize items that are feasible in the short term while also identifying medium- and long-term projects for the legislative session.

The meeting included state and local transportation staff, DECD, elected officials and event and business stakeholders. The working group did not vote on any measures during the session and made no formal commitments to funding.

The group asked members to return with specific goals and objective lists for short- and long-term solutions, plus any available studies and visual materials (drawings, siting proposals) that could clarify options for parking, shuttles, walkways and event staging.