With the public fishing dock and kayak launch project delayed for another season when bids for the work exceeded the budget, the Westbrook Foundation asked the town to return $58,500 in foundation grant funds awarded for the project.

Town Planner Meg Parulis said the kayak launch/fishing pier project behind Town Hall is definitely not dead, only delayed.

“It is just stalled until we can evaluate alternatives to reduce the cost and to line up funding. Any change to the current plan would require a modification of the Connecticut Department of Energy & Environmental Protection Permit. The permit is good for a total of five years, so we have four more years,” said Parulis.

The Westbrook Foundation awarded two grants to the town for this public recreation project. The first award for $38,500 was given in December 2014. The second grant for $20,000 was awarded in December 2015. With no forward progress in 2016 on construction, the foundation decided to pull back the grants and re-deploy those resources for now.

The foundation leadership has told Parulis and town leaders that if the town brings forward a new dock/launch project next year, the Westbrook Foundation would consider a new grant to support it.

“Scope creep,” the expansion from the originally presented plan, was the villain that’s killed the town dock and kayak launch at the Mulvey Center for now.

Through more than a year of discussions with the State Department of Energy & Environmental Protection (DEEP) about the details of dock project, DEEP pushed for changes that made the project more substantial and added costs. One new element, for example, was a required, handicapped-accessible access path to connect the parking lot to the dock. Another detail was additions to the dock design that made it more expensive to build.

When Parulis finally got construction estimates for the new DEEP-approved plan, the costs were substantially higher than the town had budgeted and exceeded the grant funds already received, so it was either time to ask for new town funds or to step back and revise the plan. Parulis opted to rethink the project’s specifications.

For the next step, Parulis plans to meet with other town staff members to discuss how to modify the plan to make it less expensive. One option would be to rely on a floating rather than a fixed fishing dock, for example. She is optimistic that the town team can bring forward a modified plan in 2017 for consideration.

For now, though, the town’s fisherman and kayakers will have to wait a little longer before this new recreational asset will be ready for use.