WESTERLY — Funding continues to build for Westerly’s Resilient Riverfront Renewal Project, which last week won a $300,000 federal grant earmarked for work along Main Street to add green space and reduce stormwater pollution.
The Southern Rhode Island Conservation District and the town got word of the Environmental Protection Agency’s Southeast New England Program Opportunity to Advance Resilience grant, SRICD General Manager Gina Fuller said.
The funds will be used to complete the streetscape design for the Main Street upgrades and are part of the larger overall project, Fuller said.
The SRICD was among five grantees selected across Rhode Island and southeastern Massachusetts taking a share of $1.27 million in funding designed to improve climate resiliency.
“This project is a reimagining of our Main Street,” Fuller told the Westerly Town Council on Monday.
A “catalyst site” at 107 Main St., next to the DEM boat ramp, received Planning Board approval last June, and the district has worked with private property owners to get eight of the properties to 70% completed design for stormwater best management practices, Fuller said.
“We’re talking with another six property owners to incorporate similar features into their properties,” she said. “Now that we have the funds to complete the streetscape design, we’ll probably get a lot closer with those other property owners, because now we’ll be able to consider both the internal components of the property with the streetscape, and hopefully make accommodations that some of these property owners need.”
The district is preparing to start construction at the 107 Main St. site later this year, Fuller said.
The district also plans to hold a community planning session for the Main Street streetscape on May 14.
“We’re soliciting for community input,” Fuller said. That event will be followed on June 15 with a River Day celebration at the 107 Main St. site.
“That’s our premiere spot that will be converted into a public park,” Fuller said. “A couple of years ago with the Wood-Pawcatuck Watershed Association, we participated in the Seven Rivers Festival. This is a spin-off of that.”
That festival will have samples of the materials that will be incorporated into the redesign.
“If someone wants to see what a tree trench is or permeable pavers, we’ll have that in addition to some food and music and other activities for the community early in the summer,” Fuller said.
To date, the project has been awarded $2,264,500 in a series of grants, Fuller said.
“This project started back in 2018 when the conservation district applied to our national association for a $50,000 grant,” Fuller said. The district matched that funding with $12,500 and helped the Westerly Land Trust install a community garden on Main Street.
In addition to grants already awarded, the district is vying for an additional $8 million for final construction of the streetscape. The public-private partnership is not asking for funding from any of the involved property owners.
“We hope to be done by 2026 and we recently submitted a grant application for the $8 million,” Fuller said. The district has a wide array of grant sources to explore, thanks to federal infrastructure funding and the Inflation Reduction Act, Fuller said.
The project will also provide opportunities for community organizations and community members to participate in workforce training and employment for the maintenance of green infrastructure. SRICD will work with the town, Westerly High School and community groups to develop a “Green Streets” team to train and work with SRICD in Westerly and across the southern district.
“The state has made a commitment to nature-based solutions to managing stormwater and is working with many municipalities to develop these types of projects, the long-term maintenance is every property owner’s concern, including the public property owners,” Fuller said. “We will use SOAR funds to develop a team and the tools needed to support the future upkeep of this public investment.”
