Oysters can't stop Bridgeport deal

7/10/08
Yet another abject lesson in how nothing ever gets done in Bridgeport: The case of the future oyster beds.
Adjacent to Seaside Park sits the former Remington Products factory site, which has stood vacant for years. Instead of an inviting destination with pristine views of Long Island Sound, the land lies fallow, closed off to the public.
A developer has a $500 million plan to transform the property into waterfront condominiums and a 250-slip marina. A boardwalk would provide public access, and the new luxury homes, in theory, would pour tax dollars by the bucketload into city coffers.
But, this being Bridgeport, none of it may come to pass.
State officials are refusing to issue a permit for the marina, which would intrude into an offshore area reserved for future oyster bed development. Without the marina, which would also include the boardwalk and a restaurant, the 1,200 condominiums won’t be built.
The Department of Environmental Protection says both sides are working toward a compromise, but the developer seems far less sanguine. If the state insists on fewer boat slips, that could make the project less appealing financially, and possibly bring down the whole deal.
Mayor Bill Finch is pushing the state to be, as he put it, “flexible.” His administration could use some good news, and seeing real progress on one of the city’s three planned mega-projects, alongside Steel Point and the Magic Johnson development, would provide some.
No one denies the value of environmental protection, or the hard work put in by the DEP. But someone at the top level of state government needs to step in and make sure proposed oyster beds don’t kill this project. The window of opportunity in Bridgeport is already edging shut, what with the nationwide housing crisis, and more bad news could be a death knell for the short-lived “recovery” in the Park City.
No, developers should not be allowed to run rampant over environmental regulations in the name of economic development, but neither should anyone lose perspective. City and state officials must consider what Bridgeport needs, and find a way to get there. The development team may not get everything they want, but they must not walk away from the deal over a few boat slips.
This project won’t make oysters extinct. Most of the beds in question are not currently productive. The state has to give a little, and make sure this project happens.