Going Green On South Main Street—

Shopping Center Developer Creating An ‘Artificial Wetland’

By John Voket

The principal investor in the Highland Plaza on the site of the old Fireside Inn on South Main Street has scored some pretty high profile environmental bragging rights. Michael Breede, a Ridgefield developer and attorney, recently told The Bee that a concrete artificial wetland he commissioned at the site, along with an advanced commercial septic system, provided opportunities for some environmental philanthropy.

The two systems, which are individually said to be among the largest applications of their kind in the nation, have also garnished praise from local health and conservation officials.

“We’ve been told by the folks at the University of New Hampshire’s Stormwater Center that this artificial wetland, which will serve as runoff filtration system, is the first commercial application of its kind in the US,” Mr Breede said during a recent site visit. What looks like an austere concrete foundation spanning most of the eastern perimeter of the plaza development, in just a few months, will be teeming with a combination of native plants that are uniquely suited for straining environmental contaminants like petroleum and microscopic metals.

According to town conservation official Rob Sibley, because of its location and orientation, and its proximity to a state road and Cedar Hill residential neighborhood that sends stormwater runoff into the Highland Plaza, the state Department of Environmental Protection became involved early on in mandating a program for mitigating runoff.

“The developers certainly could have conformed with something a lot less expensive, but I’m very pleased they chose to embrace this kind of low impact, biofiltration system,” Mr Sibley said.

The conservation official said once it is planted and actively up and running, the concrete basin housing the artificial system will effectively “mimic natural wetlands.”

“It features layers of compost, top soil, gravel, and a vegetative layer spanning several concrete chambers,” Mr Sibley said. “But it’s the plantings that will work the magic — effectively turning this into a mini organic sewage treatment plant.”

Nearly Pure Discharge

The conservation official said even before the plantings were installed, he went to monitor the effectiveness of the existing system after a significant winter rainstorm back in January.

“It was already running clear. Even the microscopic particles were being filtered out at a 95 percent-plus removal rate,” Mr Sibley said. That means once the chambers are populated with almost 6,000 individual plantings including woolgrass, soft stem bulrush, aster, sawgrass, cattails, arrowhead and duck potato, the contaminated runoff coming from the parking area and South Main Street will be even closer to 100 percent pure, filtered water when it is discharged.

Since the setup is designed to be low maintenance, very little human intervention will be required. But that did not stop Mr Breede from volunteering one of the lower level rooms in the building as a lab and classroom so local students can visit and learn more about the finer scientific points of stormwater mitigation.

Mr Sibley said talks are currently underway between the UNH Stormwater Center and Western Connecticut State University to establish a cooperative program that will use the Newtown site as its living environmental classroom.

As a result of developers and the site construction managers William Brunetti Sr and Jr installing the artificial wetlands behind the plaza, the original septic system that had served the Fireside Inn had to be abandoned and relocated.

In considering that project, Mr Breede also decided to invest in a first of its kind “Living Filter” wastewater infiltration system that was manufactured by Formcell Research. According to company literature, the Living Filter is the highest rated infiltration device, for volume efficiency, providing superior treatment versus open bottom, and most other devices approved by the Connecticut Department of Public Health.

Unique Filtration

While both Newtown Health District sanitarians Mike Carey and Ed Knapik have seen living filter systems in residential applications, both said it was the first time they had ever seen such a large system employed for commercial purposes.

“These are typically seen in cases where you need extra capacity management in a small footprint,” Mr Carey said. Mr Sibley added that an advanced septic system was required because of the a high water table on the property.

The living filter system incorporates durable filtration materials strung through the collection tanks in a corrugated fashion, suspended by rigid cardboard. As sand is backfilled into the chambers, the cardboard quickly deteriorates leaving the sand and buried filtration material to do its job.

Mr Breede said other environmental components of the plaza development include hollowed out and aerated retaining walls that will serve as planting troughs for trees and other flora. Mr Sibley pointed out that the developer also created a conservation easement so no further building can be done in the rear of the property where clean stormwater runoff will eventually create a sustainable natural wetland area.

“The builder is even putting in a trail so students can access the discharge areas to conduct their maintenance and water quality testing,” Mr Sibley said.

“After having thousands of people drive by here every week and seeing an active and not very attractive construction site, it will be great to see how natural and green this development will be in just about a year,” Mr Breede said.

Currently the Highland Plaza is home to a 24-hour Snap Fitness club franchise and a self-storage business. Numerous other spaces are available, and Mr Breede said he hopes to announce plans for a full service restaurant coming to the location in the coming weeks.