Norwich — A plan to relocate the city's boat launch to the Shipping Street former industrial district cannot go forward, because of a 2015 federal designation of the entire area as a floodway. 

Mayor Deberey Hinchey said because of the designation, the state Department of Economic and Community Development cannot approve the city's application for a $2 million environmental cleanup grant for the boat launch project.

Hinchey on Tuesday withdrew a proposed ordinance to bond $400,000 to purchase a 3.3-acre parcel at 1 Terminal Way on the bank of the Thames River for the launch.

The plan received mixed reaction from residents at a public hearing this month, and City Council members also expressed mixed opinions on the plan.

Hinchey said DECD Deputy Commissioner Tim Sullivan told her that the boat launch itself would not be prohibited.

But the entire project concept was that the boat launch would spark ancillary development in the run-down former industrial district.

The new federal flood maps designate the entire 40-acre waterfront district east of the Central New England freight rail tracks as a floodway.

A notation on the floodway map on file in the city planning office states that floodway areas “must be kept free of encroachments.”

City Director of Planning and Development Peter Davis said if buildings in the district are removed, nothing else can be built in their place.

If a building is renovated, and the cost of renovations exceeds 50 percent of the building's assessed value, the entire structure would have to be flood-proofed — likely at a prohibitive cost, Davis said.

Hinchey said officials at DECD plan to discuss the problem with the new flood maps — which affect many waterfront properties throughout the state — with officials at the state Department of Energy and Environmental Protection to determine how to seek changes to the federal maps.

In Norwich, the new floodway designation not only encompasses the Shipping Street district, but also includes the site of the Shetucket Iron & Metal scrapyard on the east bank of the Norwich Harbor, another suggested spot for the boat launch.

The scrap yard property also has evidence of contamination in the top layers of soil throughout the site, according to a study in 2003, also on file in the city planning office.

The area of Hollyhock Island, where the Marina at American Wharf and Thayer's Marine are located, is in a flood plain rather than a floodway, with less restrictions, Davis said.

c.bessette@theday.com

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