The Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection will offer $17 million in grants toward the cost of the beach sewer project, according to a meeting on Friday that included state officials, the town and the beach associations. The long-delayed project would install sewers in Sound View Beach, the town’s beach area, as well as three chartered beach communities – Miami Beach Association, Old Colony Beach, and Old Lyme Shores – to satisfy a 2012 state consent order. Costs for the project were originally estimated at about $10 million, but bids came in at $17.5 to 18.5 million – deemed too high by the four entities – and were re-estimated at $14.1 million to $21.1 million. “If everything runs smooth, our goal would be to get the funding in place before June and try and go back out to bid by the summer and award the bids by the fall, which means we could have construction by the end of 2023. So it’s a real big, big positive. Things are moving along at breakneck speed,” said Whalen.
DEEP Offers $17m Grant for Old Lyme Sewer Project, Keeps Consent Order