Hamden consultants outline 3.5-mile sidewalks, bridge near wetlands; commissioners table related application

Consultants for the Town of Hamden presented a multi-street sidewalks and bicycle facilities project and answered commissioners’ questions before the body voted to table a related application.

Paul Brand of GM2 Associates introduced the project as a roughly 3.5-mile package of pedestrian and bicycle improvements on Benham, Treadwell, Auger and Davis streets, saying it includes new sidewalks, ramps, bike lanes and a prefabricated pedestrian bridge where needed. "We are the consultant designer, for the Town of Hamden on the walkable sidewalks project," Brand told the commissioners.

The Benham Street segment includes new sidewalk runs and ramp replacements that fall within 100-foot and 200-foot wetland buffer areas but, Brand said, the work itself will remain in the public right-of-way and "we are not building anything in the wetland." East of the Cherry Hill Road intersection, he said, the closest proposed sidewalk would be about 9 feet from a flagged wetland edge.

On Treadwell Street, Brand described a prefabricated bridge that would span a culvert near Lake Whitney and Olin Ponds, supported on four sets of wood piles, with the bridge placed onto pile caps by a mobile crane. He said the design avoids direct in-water work: "We are not proposing any actual work in the water. No disturbance within the water." Brand acknowledged some permanent wetland grading in the shaded areas around the bridge foundations and pile locations.

Commissioners pressed staff and the consultant on hydrology, drainage, surveying and maintenance. Kirk Shadle warned about possible hydrodynamic effects of placing impervious surface near wetlands: "I don't wanna see us make a channel for, you know, more flow to either drain the wetland," and asked whether the wetland is a vernal pool or a seep. Brand replied that the sidewalk will be pitched toward the roadway, that curb-and-gutter and new catch basins will direct runoff into the storm system, and that DOT reviewed and approved drainage calculations for the project.

Brand said the work on Benham did not require Army Corps or CTDEEP permits, while the Treadwell/bridge work required interagency coordination. He reported the project secured a Connecticut DOT interagency "self-verification" and that the project team coordinated with CTDEEP, the Army Corps of Engineers and local public health as needed. Commissioners noted the self-verification was granted in May 2025 and that such determinations have finite administrative windows.

Other technical points included: bicycle lanes largely on existing pavement with a 7-foot lane on the south side of Benham and a 5-foot lane on the north side; Davis Street contains about 1,500 linear feet of sidewalk work and Auger a few hundred feet of infill work; the consultant said additional field survey work was completed as recently as the past summer to capture changed conditions; and minimal tree removals were flagged (removals greater than 8 inches were circled for tree warden coordination).

After questions and discussion, George Schneider moved to "table application 20Six-twelve71, pending completion of a sidewalk." The motion was seconded and approved by voice vote. Later the commission approved the 01/27/2026 meeting minutes with typographical corrections and set a site inspection as late in March dependent on snow cover.

Next steps identified in the meeting record included follow-up coordination with the town tree warden on removals, final local permits and scheduling the inspection; the tabling action left the specific application on hold until the sidewalk completion condition is resolved.