The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) has awarded $460,000 to the town of Norwich to celan up an area destroyed during Hurricane Irene in 2011.
The Norwich Pool, a swimming hole off a local brook, was a town hot spot before the dam was destroyed in the storm.
Plans to rebuild the dam have been contentious. Several permits to fix it were rejected by the state.
Norwich's interim town manager David Ormiston says now money from FEMA will go towards cleaning up the area. But not rebuilding the dam itself.
“We’re going to completely take out the dam — the remnants that are still there — and bring the river back to its original state,” Ormiston said. “[We will] essentially clean up and take away the old changing rooms and bathrooms that are there.”
He continued: “We’ll use the FEMA money to do that part of the project, instead of rebuilding the dam.”
Ormiston says this work will take place this coming summer.
On Tuesday the Norwich Pool Options Committee released a draft of their report on ideas to replace the once popular pool. The proposed plan includes community involvement in potentially creating a new "stream-side pool."
Tonight a select board sub-committee will be holding a panel, open to public comment, to discuss the plans.
