Commerce committee to circulate draft on Mystic tourism: parking, transit, accessibility and resiliency top priorities

At a recent meeting of the Commerce Committee working group studying Mystic, committee leaders said they will circulate a draft report to members, prioritize recommendations and pursue follow-up work with the Department of Transportation and other state offices to identify funding and implementation options.

The committee chair (unnamed) said the draft will be circulated to the group for feedback and that the committee expects to meet in January to review priorities for the final report, which is planned to be presented to the Commerce Committee in a public hearing in February. "I'd like to get it by the end of the year preferably," the chair said about receiving written comments for the draft.

Why it matters: Mystic is a major destination for summer tourism in the region; local officials and committee members described persistent congestion, limited parking and pedestrian-safety problems that affect residents, seasonal workers and visitors. The working group framed short-term fixes and longer-term structural options, noting that funding and legal authority will shape what is achievable.

Discussion focused on a cluster of transportation and land-use responses. Committee members and commenters raised: parking structures and state or municipal bonding for construction; off-site parking for workforce and shuttle circulation to reduce downtown congestion; feasibility studies for a trolley or shuttle and for water taxis; and improvements to sidewalks and curb ramps to address accessibility (members flagged Route 27 as unsafe for people using wheelchairs).

On funding and administration, the committee asked the Department of Transportation to provide a letter answering questions about revenue from event-banner advertising and how such income might support traffic solutions or event public-safety costs. Members discussed pursuing federal and state grants, Commerce funding, and advertising revenue as possible sources. The group also discussed hiring a consultant to review the priority list and recommend feasible projects; committee members said potential consultant funding would have to be routed through Commerce and is not yet committed.

Several members raised the idea of a dedicated taxing authority or taxing district to capture tourism revenue. The chair asked staff to request research from the Office of Legislative Research on taxing-district authorities and whether similar structures elsewhere could be adapted for Mystic. Committee members emphasized that establishing a taxing district would be a longer-term step, requiring clarity about governance, scope and legally dedicated uses for any revenue.

Resiliency and flood risk were identified as additional planning constraints. One member offered to provide a short summary of resiliency challenges for Mystic and suggested projects be evaluated for location and long-term sustainability to avoid placing infrastructure (for example, a parking structure) in flood-prone areas.

Committee leadership asked members to submit written comments and priority lists for the draft. Representative Holly Cheeseman, who said she will not be on the committee going forward, urged that the final recommendations be made scalable for other shoreline communities such as Niantic. "I hope whatever the results of the final report are that we do endeavor to make this scalable," Cheeseman said.

Next steps the group recorded: staff will collate written feedback into a draft report, DOT will prepare a response letter about banner-ad revenue and related questions, OLR will be asked to research taxing-district authorities, and the working group will reconvene in January to prioritize short- and long-term solutions ahead of a public hearing in February. No formal votes or binding actions were taken at the meeting.

No formal motions, ordinances or budget approvals were made during this session; committee members described direction-setting and information-gathering steps to inform a future recommendation to the Commerce Committee.