N. Kent Road swimming hole closed until further notice

KENT — Hopeful river-goers were disappointed last weekend to arrive at North Kent Road, an access point to a popular summertime hangout on the Housatonic River, and find both sides of the dual entrance barricaded with a state trooper vehicle on guard.

Kent’s Resident Trooper Vicki Donahoe, sitting in the vehicle on Saturday afternoon, said that the town decided to close the location to vehicles after litter was left behind the previous weekend, which saw several hundred visitors flock to the swimming hole.

“It wasn’t horrific,” she said, but on Monday morning there were a number of trash bags that had been left by the trailhead on the bottom of the road, and more loose litter down the trail and on the beach. The action follows weeks of public outcry from residents disturbed by late night parties and garbage buildup at the site.

Trooper Donahoe had been stationed at the road’s entrance since 10:30 a.m. and had turned many vehicles away. She resumed the position on Sunday and is set to spend all of Labor Day weekend watching the roadway. Donahoe said she is confident that the measures will keep recreators from making it down to the river: “I think it’s going to work.”

Kent First Selectman Marty Lindenmayer announced the closure on Aug. 20 in an email to the town, warning that anyone who attempts to move the barriers and utilize the roadway will be “prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.”

Lindenmayer’s statement frames the decision as a “safety, security, sanitary, and ecological response,” and that the town is seeking a permanent solution. Lindenmayer is able to close the road because it is town owned, though a long-term plan for the site will involve several other interest groups, such as Eversource Energy, the state Department of Energy and the Environment, the Kent Land Trust and the Housatonic Valley Association.

In a conversation before the closure, HVA Watershed Conservation Director Mike Jastremski said any future plan for the swimming hole must see the river as a public resource, not just as a problem that needs a solution.

“I think it’s incumbent upon us, and when I say us, I mean the whole constellation of stakeholders around river access to accommodate that desire in a way that is best for site neighbors, for river towns, for visitors and for hitting those three legs of the stool, which are safety, equitability and sustainability.”

At an Aug. 4 Board of Selectmen’s meeting, Jastremski suggested the installation of a dumpster and port-a-potty at the site as a means of dealing with the most immediate issues. In an Aug. 21 comment, Lindenmayer stated that since the town does not manage the shoreline of the river, “there is no way we are going to assume the financial responsibilities of manpower and equipment it would take to manage having a dumpster and/or port-a-potty on site.”

Lindenmayer said that he plans on leaving the road closed until the weather cools and people focus their leisure time elsewhere: “hopefully by mid-to-late September.”