NEWINGTON - The Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection (DEEP) is coming to Newington for some environmental maintenance work that will take them close to more than 100 homes in town, according to Town Manager John Salomone.

       DEEP will be removing sediment, animal burrows, and vegetation as flood control measures for Trout Brook, Piper Brook, Mill Brook, and the south branch of Park River. Salomone’s concerns pertain specifically to the work that will be done around Piper Brook.

       â€�"This is going to be in backyards of many of the town’s residents that border Piper Brook,” he said at the Town Council’s Dec. 9 meeting. â€�"They’ll be only on the right of way of the brook, but it runs literally through backyards.”

       But Dan Biron, a senior environmental analyst for DEEP, said that the project will stay off of private property unless separate agreements with homeowners allow them access.

       Local officials have no control over the project--yet, anyway. Indications from DEEP are that continued maintenance of the flood prevention measures will be handed over to the town at some point after the project is completed, Salomone said.

       â€�"The town may develop ownership even though we don’t have say or jurisdiction,” Salomone told the Council. â€�"We believe that it is going to be a budgetary impact to the town. It’s going to be a significant expenditure to the town to maintain the brook.”

       DEEP already has an agreement with Hartford that involves the city taking the reins on maintenance duties of the floodway, which also runs through West Hartford, according to Biron. He says that the department would like to see similar deals set with towns like Newington.

       â€�"We’d like the towns to do more yearly maintenance,” he said. â€�"It’s tough for us to get maintenance money, because these projects are supposed to be for major repairs.”

       DEEP is expected to begin work this coming summer, with bidding for the project to take place in the spring.

       â€�"I’m not saying it’s a negative thing,” Salomone said. â€�"It’s a positive to the town. There are issues of overgrowth and it can potentially flood different areas.”

       But he wants residents,particularly those near the Piper Brook right-of-way, to be informed about the project. Mayor Stephen Woods suggested sending out notices-something Salomone says that DEEP has not done.

       â€�"I was disappointed that we didn’t have more of a dialogue,” Salomone said. â€�"They came to us, but they didn’t seem to want a dialogue with the neighborhood. A nightmare scenario would be that a person wouldn’t know it is happening and see a backhoe in their backyard and think that it’s the town.”

       Although the DEEP does not plan on sending out flyers or any other printed information, Biron said that it will be setting up a website that will provide project-related updates.

       The scope of the project stretches from the Newington-West Hartford border to the middle of Main Street, according to a memo from Town Engineer Chris Greenlaw.

       â€�"It’s pretty extensive,” Salomone said.

       The work in its entirety will cost $4.5 million, said Biron.

       â€�"Newington would only be a small part of that,” he said.

       The removal of the sediments, vegetation and animal burrows would be to clear the embankments and floodways of anything that might impede water flow into the brooks, Salomone said.

       Newington, West Hartford, Hartford and Farmington â€�"signed on” to create a flood control channel in 1961, according to Biron. Flooding in the area in 1955 prompted the move, he said.

       Last year DEEP received notice from the Natural Resource Conservation Service, (NRCS) threatening to decertify the channel, Biron said.

       â€�"It would be decertified by the federal government and folks whose homes were protected under such an agreement would be facing higher flood insurance costs,” he said.