Former Norwich Free Academy principal Joseph Levanto said he opposes combining Three Rivers' two campuses on Mahan Drive. Photos by Rory Glaeseman/Norwich Bulletin Susan Topping-Zander, an English professor for three years at Three Rivers Community College and a resident of Harland Road near the Mohegan campus, voices her support for expanding the campus during a meeting at Three Rivers Tuesday in Norwich.

NORWICH -- Comments ranged from supportive to scathing at a public hearing on the Three Rivers Community College consolidation plan Tuesday.

More than 15 speakers took to the microphone at the Basinger Auditorium on the Three Rivers Mohegan campus to comment on an environmental report written by DMJU-Harris Inc., which outlined the challenges the community will face when building the expansion.

The majority of speakers, many of them living in the neighborhood adjacent to the college, were against the consolidation at the Mohegan campus, citing already existing traffic and drainage problems that they said would be made worse by the consolidation.

Parts of the report were read at the beginning of the meeting. The conclusion of the report was that alternatives to consolidation are not feasible and the only sites open to the expansion are the Mohegan and Thames Valley campuses.

An Intersection Capacity Analysis Summary in the report addressed the traffic problem that the neighborhoods outside the college face. According to it, the intersection at Washington Street and Harland Road, one of the most affected intersections, currently has a grade of "F," and there is an average delay of 123 seconds on the road. A consolidation at the Mohegan campus would increase the delay by very little, to 129 seconds, the report said.

"I heard balanced and for the most part reasoned statements," President Grace Sawyer Jones said at the conclusion of the meeting. "I believe that most of the people here, if not all, are stakeholders. I think we will come to a reasonable conclusion together and I am eager to do that."

Alderman Todd Posler pointed out the fiscal crisis the city is facing.

"If there is any thought that the city of Norwich is going to step up to the plate in solving the drainage problems, they are not," he said.

Jonathan Dowby, president of Manchester Community College, spoke of the experience his school has had with its recent expansion in a residential neighborhood. Manchester College had the same traffic and water problems that Three Rivers is facing, he said, but it found solutions by using creative architecture and a pond for drainage. He extended an invitation for people in the community to visit his school and see how they solved their problems.

"You admit that the only reason you're putting it here is because you have nowhere else to put it," Brian Curtin of Norwich said. He objected to the disruption the campus may cause to the city's recreational facilities nearby. "We live here. You people don't. We're going to have to deal with this for 25, 50 and 75 years. This is a fine neighborhood and these are fine facilities for our community. Don't destroy them."

Bernard Beller, who has lived on Harland Road for 40 years, described the problems he already faces near his home.

"It is very difficult for me to get out of my driveway. I sit for five to ten minutes before I can get out. Cars come through at 50 to 60 miles per hour. Police and signs have not made much of a difference," he said. "I have had an occasion to take my wife to the hospital. I could not get through the intersection. I've seen the ambulances waiting there. They have a devil of a time getting into the hospital and now you're going to increase a traffic situation that is already overcrowded."

Donald Beebe, a lawyer who owns a historic house at the end of Harland Road that has part of the Underground Railroad preserved in its basement, made the point that many historic homes in the nearby neighborhood have an irreplaceable value to the city.

If the college expands, he feels the drainage problems, which already cause flooding as high as a few feet, will threaten the landmarks.

"The traffic that consolidation would add to this campus -- most of it would come in the evening, not during peak hours," Hong-Yu Kovic, a nearby homeowner and employee of Three Rivers, said. "I don't anticipate such a great impact."