Stonington Mystic

Project Consultant: AECOM

Location:

The Mystic section of Stonington experiences coastal flood inundation from king tides, storm surges, nor'easters, etc. Over time, flooding is expected to increase in frequency and duration. Inundation has impacted and/or isolated private and public properties, transportation infrastructure, transit lines, critical facilities such as the Mystic Fire Company fire station, historic and cultural resources, and major economic assets such as Mystic Seaport Museum.

With many competing interests at play, the primary objectives are to determine how to relocate or protect historic resources; to develop long-term plans to protect several types of critical facilities and the passenger rail station; and to enhance connections from critical facilities to the greater Stonington community.

Additional Stonington Mystic Resources

Resilience Opportunity Area Map Portfolio

Descripción del Proyecto

Meetings & Documents

Final Report

Situation: 

Adaptation options and implementation planning that are identified and carried forward to conceptual design will incorporate the Resilient Connecticut PERSISTS criteria.

The Town of Stonington developed a coastal resilience plan in 2017, but specific resiliency efforts in Mystic have not been advanced due to inherent complexities such as:

  • Structures listed on formal historic resource inventories may be impossible to elevate.
  • The geometry of the road network in Mystic is sufficiently complicated, meaning that long isolated segments (which would be easier to elevate) have not yet been identified.
  • The Southeastern Connecticut critical facilities assessment funded by CIRCA provided site-specific design considerations for the Mystic Fire Company building, but the urgency of taking action is hindered by the fact that the building elevation is only slightly lower than the base flood elevation (BFE).
  • Mystic Seaport Museum is pursuing its own set of options for resiliency such as developing a plan for relocating and protecting buildings, but these options are limited to its own facilities.
  • CIRCA funded a conceptual design for the Holmes Street seawall, but the road will remain below the BFE.

Extreme heat management is a concern in Mystic.  The cooling centers for the Town of Stonington are in the high school and police station community room; these are located in the central and eastern parts of the town, respectively (several miles from Mystic).  If cooling centers are needed during a flood event, roads may be impassable, and people may not be able to reach them. Overall, options for extreme heat management in Mystic may be limited, which underscores the importance of making critical facilities resilient and choosing resilient corridors.