Hartford’s Coltsville stalls on park designation

Hartford's Coltsville Historic District, named a national landmark in 2008, for the time being does not qualify for designation as a national park, federal authorities say.

The federal Interior Department‘s U.S. National Park Service has released its long-awaited study -- begun in 2004 at a cost of $250,000 -- in which it determined that Coltsville met only two of the four criteria required for recommendation that Congress declare it a national park.

The 260-acre site amid the Charter Oak neighborhood, in the city's South End, encompasses former manufacturing buildings and housing that were once part of the Colt Patent Fire Arms Manufacturing Co., maker of the iconic handgun that "won the West.''

Obtaining national park status is part of a broad strategy championed by private, public, civic and cultural organizations and leaders to redevelop Coltsville as a historic, cultural and tourism attraction. These include Samuel Colt's residence Armsmear, the Colt armory's 10 industrial buildings, former Colt worker housing, the Church of the Good Shepherd and Parish House, Colt Park and several other structures associated with Colt history, the park service said.

Coltsville's national park designation also is coveted for its potential to raise the profile and hasten commercial and residential redevelopment of surrounding neighborhoods, including the Colt Gateway project.

James O'Connell, a National Park Service official in Boston who was project leader on the Coltsville Special Resource Study, said today Coltsville satisfies two criteria - it has national significance and is worthy of inclusion in the U.S. park system.

But, according to the 76-page report (www.coltsville.org), Coltsville so far comes up short in two other criteria.

"... Feasibility and the need for National Park Service management have not been demonstrated,'' the study found.

Specifically, the park service has not received a formal offer of any square footage to manage in Coltsville, O'Connell said.

He stressed that the study's current findings "does not close the door to future consideration'' of Coltsville as a national park.

Officials for California-based Urban Smart Growth, Colt Gateway's current owner, could not be immediately reached for comment.

O'Connell said a copy of the study will be forwarded after the first of the year to Congress, which has final say on what American landmarks can be national parks.

A public discussion of the study is set for Dec. 14 at 5:30 p.m. in Gray Hall at South Congregational Church in Hartford. Public feedback will be submitted along with the study to Congress.