Fair Haven

Project Consultant: Fuss & O’Neill

Location:

The Fair Haven neighborhood is home to nearly 14,000 residents, within the City of New Haven, along the south-central coast of Long Island Sound. The neighborhood forms a peninsula bounded by the Mill and Quinnipiac Rivers, which flow into the tidal estuary of New Haven Harbor. Flood risks from storm surge and tidal flooding, as well as precipitation and stormwater induced flooding, present public safety challenges to residents as nuisance flooding as well as impeding access to lifelines, and evacuation during storms.

According to the City Planning Department, the neighborhood has a high percentage of residents that are either essential workers or cannot work from home. Therefore, transportation and transit are critical lifelines for the neighborhood. Fair Haven is also highly vulnerable to extreme heat. This is attributed primarily to the high social vulnerability within the community, combined with dense housing, extensive impervious surfaces, disconnected green spaces, and long distances to potential cooling centers and/or shelters.

Situation: 

This project focuses on developing adaptation strategies to mitigate current and future climate induced flooding impacts to community assets and transportation corridors, as well as developing strategies to help mitigate the impacts of extreme heat for community residents. Adaptation options and implementation planning that are identified and carried forward to conceptual design will incorporate the Resilient Connecticut PERSISTS criteria.

Areas of focus for this planning effort include:

  • Assess and develop forward looking flood mitigation strategies and implementable project concepts for zones of shared risk located in Fair Haven, identified in Phase II of Resilient Connecticut including Middletown Avenue Corridor, River Street and Lower Mill River Corridor, and Quinnipiac River Corridor zones of shared risk. Include an assessment of stormwater management strategies that can address precipitation induced flooding that impacts the neighborhood as a whole. Provide an assessment of strategies to manage flooding impacts to brownfields and point source pollution sites under current and future flood conditions.
  • Assess and develop strategies to mitigate the impacts of extreme heat and heat islands within Fair Haven. Particular emphasis should be placed on locations of vulnerable populations in the neighborhood.
  • Assess and develop strategies to mitigate flooding impacts to critical roadways and corridors that connect the Fair Haven community to the rest of the city, and that may be impacted by current and future flood conditions, including:
    • Intersection of Middletown Avenue and Front Street, north to Foxon Boulevard.
    • Front Street from both the north and south to East Grand Avenue Bridge, including the intersection of East Grand Avenue and Quinnipiac Avenue on the east side of the bridge.
    • Intersection of Ferry Street at River Street and Brewery Square.
    • Chapel Street on both sides of the Mill River (James Street, and East Street).
    • Grand Avenue on both sides of the Mill River from James Street to East Street.
    • Railroad underpasses at Humphrey Street and James Street as well as river crossing at Humphrey Street.
    • State Street as it passes under Route 91.