New Milford, Connecticut, is a milieu stocked with white church steeples, salt box houses, an expansive town green, and the Housatonic River. The waterways name is derived from the Indigenous peoples who lived there before English settler-colonization in the early 18th century. Today, the Housatonic River is prone to flooding, and its shores are dotted with abandoned factory complexes where industry used to flourish. A new resiliency plan by WXY, New Milford Riverfront Renewal Plan, will help shore up the banks of the Housatonic while also offering a roadmap for better utilizing abandoned brownfield sites that flank the river and recharging the towns local economy.Work on the masterplan will focus on 60 acres along the Housatonic River. It will start around Youngs Field and Bridge Street, and incrementally move northward. It will create access from commercial thoroughfares like Bank and Railroad Street, lined with local businesses, crossing over railroad tracks to a lawn of playgrounds and recreational fields. In recent years the businesses along Bank and Railroad Street have changed hands or closed up shop, an economically minded masterplan has the potential to proffer much-needed increased foot traffic.The plan will deliver new and improved green space. (Courtesy WXY)The New Milford Riverfront Renewal Plan is the result of a lengthy community engagement process with stakeholders in Connecticut. WXY is known for such collaborative undertakings: Take for instance the New York City offices work at the Kingsbridge Armory in the Bronx, or with New York City Public Schools. The masterplan, WXY said, is arranged around four thematic areas: Arts and culture, recreation, sustainability, and walkability. Its overall goal is to transform downtown New Milford into a vibrant town center. Renderings show new ice skating rinks, pavilions, and other recreational amenities along the Housatonic River bank, with housing and other programming beyond.The New Milford town green regularly hosts concerts and festivals throughout the year. (Courtesy WXY)Pathways along the Housatonic River flood in the event of heavy rain. (Courtesy WXY)The initiative started in 2016 when a developer proposed a new gas power plant just outside of downtown New Milford, on a former factory site. The town fought the plan, and then started thinking about the future. It became clear that a masterplan was needed for economic and environmental resiliency. In 2018, New Milford earned a state Brownfield Area-Wide Revitalization Grant of $170,000 to develop the master plan. The New Milford Riverfront Renewal Plan was issued in 2020, four years after the boondoggle over the gas plant factory.Now, five years later, WXY has been awarded the contract to proceed with the masterplan. The town council recently approved $449,550 for the commission. WXY will spearhead the plan and serve as lead urban designer.Access to the river shoreline from downtown New Milford will be improved. (Courtesy WXY)The initiative is backed by New Milfords Brownfield Area Revitalization Steering Committee, a commission tasked with transforming the areas brownfields from from liabilities to community assets, WXY said in a statement. The program is being financed by the Connecticut Department of Economic Community Development Brownfield Area Revitalization Grant program.Liba Fuhrman, Riverfront Revitalization Committee chair, told local reporters the plan will strengthen the function, sense of place, economic vitality and transportation infrastructure of the study area, creating a blueprint for revitalization with a focus on high-quality reuse of town-owned property and private properties.