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The What

The What: Beach Grades for Southwest Connecticut, Sustainability in Stamford, New Appointment for Former Norwalk Mayor, and more

The What is your look around southwest Connecticut for the week of June 22.

The What: Beach Grades for Southwest Connecticut, Sustainability in Stamford, New Appointment for Former Norwalk Mayor, and more
Happy official start of summer. Hope you all enjoyed this gorgeous weekend! (Photo by Kelly Prinz)

Monday, June 22

Happy Monday! Hope all the dads and father figures out there had a great Father’s Day. With the official start of summer, we’ve got the latest on water quality grades at our local beaches.  

Highlights 

This section gives a brief overview of the key items in the newsletter.

  • Now that it’s officially summer and school is out (or will be out soon!), many people are heading to the beaches. But what’s the water like there? Check out the latest grades from Save the Sound, an environmental nonprofit. 
  • In Stamford, the Zoning Board will meet on Monday, June 22 at 6:30 p.m. and review a proposal to strengthen sustainability requirements for developments by requiring things like solar panels or green roofs, establishing tree protections, and more. 
  • In Norwalk, the City Council will vote on Tuesday, June 23 at 7:30 p.m. on multiple items, including appointing former Mayor Harry Rilling to the Representative Policy Board of the South Central Connecticut Regional Water District. 

Spotlight

This section features our main reporting each week.

Across southwest Connecticut, nine of 26 beaches received an A or higher for their water quality. But six of 26 beaches received a C or worse, according to the latest beach grades from Save the Sound, an environmental nonprofit. 

“As we have seen over the years, there consistently is a high number of beaches that receive great marks for swimming all around Long Island Sound,” said Peter Linderoth, director of healthy waters and lands for Save the Sound in a statement. “But as we also have seen, nearly one-quarter of Sound beaches face some level of water quality challenges that need to be looked into and addressed.”

The grades are based on water quality data collected the year prior and include dry days and those that included rain as wet days tend to have worse water quality due to stormwater runoff.

According to Save the Sound, almost 18% of all samples collected under wet conditions failed to meet safe-swimming criteria. 

“Stormwater pollution is a leading challenge to water quality at Long Island Sound beaches,” said Linderoth in a statement. “Expanding the use of green infrastructure—rain gardens, bioswales, green roofs, constructed wetlands—is a critical step toward reducing stormwater runoff. The more stormwater can be filtered or diverted before reaching the Sound, the more water quality will improve, and the better a beach’s grade will be.”

Explore the grades for our region.

This Week at a Glance

This section includes a list of meetings, events, and programming happening around southwest Connecticut each week.

Bridgeport

Featured Meetings: No publicized meetings for this week.

Stamford

Featured Meetings: The Zoning Board will meet on Monday, June 22 at 6:30 p.m. and review a proposal from the city to strengthen sustainability requirements for developments by requiring things like solar panels or green roofs, establishing tree protections, and more. On Tuesday, June 23, the Board of Education will meet at 7 p.m. and review personnel items, like assistant superintendent appointments. And on Thursday, June 25, the Public Safety & Health Committee will meet in Stamford at 6:30 p.m. to review the enforcement of quality-of-life issues in Stamford parks, including e-bike use, loud music, and loud cars.

Norwalk

Featured Meeting: The City Council will meet at 7:30 p.m. on Tuesday, June 23 and vote on numerous items including appointing former mayor Harry Rilling to the South Central Connecticut Regional Water District/Aquarion Water Authority and on issuing nearly $67.9 million in bonds to fund capital improvement projects in the city. 

Fairfield

Featured Meeting: The Board of Selectmen will meet on Tuesday, June 23 at 3 p.m. and vote on numerous items including on an agreement between the town and Vineyard Sky Farms Corp to sell electricity generated by a solar power system to United Illuminating, as well as a $2.5 million grant agreement between the town and the state to support the Adaptive Recreation Center. 

Greenwich

Featured Meeting: The Planning & Zoning Commission will meet on Tuesday, June 23 at 4 p.m. and review an application from Coleman Business Holdings to convert existing office space at 23 Maple Avenue into apartments. 

Darien

Featured Meeting: The Planning & Zoning Commission will meet on Tuesday, June 23 at 7 p.m. and discuss and review a draft of the 10-year master plan for the town.

Westport

Featured Meeting: The Board of Selectmen will meet on Wednesday, June 24 at 9 a.m. and review and vote on an agreement between the town and Eversource for an energy efficiency project at the new Long Lots Elementary School and Stepping Stones preschool project. 

Stay in touch!

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Please note: All of these agendas and information here are current as of Sunday night. Meeting times and agendas may get adjusted throughout the week.

Have a great week,

Kelly Prinz

Founder, Reporter at Coastal Connecticut Times

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