A Future Vision

New Milford imagines what riverfront can be

Economic development works a lot like the famous movie quote from Field of Dreams: “If you build it, they will come.” Sometimes, the most important part of economic part is the vision – especially if you have a space you know that would be perfect for it. In New Milford, that space is the riverfront areas that the town hopes will be a boon to the local economy. With several years of work behind them, starting in 2016 when they said a “large-scale natural gas power plant was proposed for the town-owned Century Brass location”, the town of New Milford is inching ever closer to realizing a new and exciting riverfront area. Back in 2020, they wrote in their New Milford’s Riverfront Revitalization Plan that they are going to “reimagine one of [their] untapped resources – the Housatonic Riverfront and its connections to [the] historic Village Center business district.”

New Milford Mayor Pete Bass recently joined the Ethan, Lou & Large Dave show on the I-95 Morning Show to talk about what he imagined his town could look like in 10 years if plans got underway:

“You’d come over Veteran’s Bridge into Downtown, you’d be making a left to go on Young’s Field Road and what currently is the green space which has the tennis courts and the skate park and the ball fields, you’d have the ball fields we’re going to be moving those to a state-of-the-art community ball field. […]

Then, down there you will hopefully have a splash pad that will convert to an ice-skating rink in the winter time. They’ll be a band shell down there so we can do live performances by the river. […] We’d expand the skate park, expand the basketball and tennis courts there as well and they’ll also be a lot of green space for people to be able to relax and enjoy the view of the riverfront and all of the wonderful activities that would happen in that area. Then, right next to the green space is the Public Works area, we’re actually in the process of moving those that whole facility over to Century Brass which is about half a mile down the road and freeing up all of that area so we can redevelop all of that. We want to make it really where it kind of attaches to the downtown area as well so that you have a true relationship with the river to downtown which is what we all want. That is kind of what we would see, hopefully in 10 years.”

More than several towns have taken this approach –from Middletown which has taken back riverfront areas to New Haven which is also endeavoring to reassess the use of their waterfront areas along Long Wharf. Projects don’t just happen – they take the work of the town employees, residents, businesses, and more. But they always start with an idea and a vision. Then comes the building, and as we know, if you build it, they will come.