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Brothers Trying To Revive Quarry For Public Use

Sep, 02 2005

Trio plans nature, water activities at proposed complex (Portland, Oregon) — Scuba divers, dozens of them in black wet and dry suits, cluster like penguins on the stony promontory at the edge of the watery north quarry. Some enjoy the sun and munch snacks. Others don air tanks and masks to plumb the cold, murky depths of the abandoned brownstone quarry. Sean P. Hayes — who with his two older brothers share an ambitious plan to revive the quarry, starting next spring, as a multi-activity water-nature park — uses color drawings to describe their multimillion-dollar vision to visitors. At the base of the promontory, a cleanup crew of boaters and divers, led by Edward P. Hayes III, wades ashore towing the day's catch of submerged debris — car and motorbike tires, a bicycle and a rusty Pepsi vending machine. Across the quarry, on the sheer southeast face, dangling climbers probe the surface about 50 feet above the waterline. On the rim close by, Frank Hayes and his team clear undergrowth to open a scenic view of the quarry for residents of a nearby senior housing complex. In its heyday, from 1686 to the 1930s, the 30-acre north quarry and its 9-acre companion south quarry fueled the central Connecticut economy, providing livelihoods for immigrants whose descendants populate Portland and neighboring Middletown. The Hayes brothers and the town hope to restore the economic luster of the national historic landmark through a public-private cooperative, transforming an overgrown, underused natural asset into a pristine leisure and education venue for the region. The brothers predict they can draw about 30,000 guests a season, eventually attracting 100,000 visitors a year to the Middlesex County community of 8,000. Ed Hayes, a certified dive instructor who got to know the quarries from his training dives with the local fire department, said he and his brothers want to create the Brownstone Exploration & Discovery Park. They envision a leisure destination where visitors could scuba dive, swim, kayak, canoe, fish, camp, climb, hunt fossils and explore the flora and aquaculture. “We're tossing a pebble into the water,” said Ed Hayes, repeating his frequent catch-phrase for what Brownstone Park LLC wants to achieve. Portland could use the boost. Reeling from the March closing of Sweet Waverly Printing Co., a major taxpayer, the town is eager for a return on its $1.3 million investment to acquire the quarries in 1999 and 2000. The town's share of park income and the economic stimulus for adjoining Main Street businesses would also cushion the growing tax burden on homeowners, supporters say. “Revenue. Money,” said Brian Gouin, a former selectman and Main Street booster. “It's not hard to figure out.” For nearly a year, Bransfield and the Hayes brothers, third-generation entrepreneurs from Rocky Hill and Glastonbury, have been negotiating a lease agreement for the quarries. A draft version indicates the town would eventually collect as much as 15 percent of the park's annual admission fees. Aside from concern that the town collects its fair share of the park's profits, many residents worry about traffic to and parking at the cramped site near the Connecticut River. For some, however, those concerns are not enough to dim the appeal of a leisure project that would be a welcome destination for a community eager for something for its residents to do, especially its young people. For years, residents have clamored for a public swimming pool. The Hayes brothers predict success for the latest in a string of family ventures dating from their grandmother's business transporting schoolchildren in a horse-drawn buggy. “We have to create what the people want here,” said Ed Hayes, one of seven siblings raised by a former Marine on an Arabian horse farm in Rocky Hill. “We've been raised to get things done.” Ed Hayes, 43, is the passionate spokesman for the trio. Though he works in construction, he has run the family's former school bus company, E.P. Hayes & Sons, now Double A Transportation. Hayes once had a business transporting Arabian horses cross-country. Frank Hayes, 41, runs a private investigation firm and has owned and invested in restaurants. Aside from working in the family's former horse syndication enterprise, Sean Hayes, 40, has managed public companies, including Wethersfield-based Shared Technologies Cellular Inc., and said he is part of an investment group involved in managing financially troubled franchises. The park's promoters say they have secured liability insurance for their project, and have solicited “angel investors” who, combined with the brothers' majority stake, propose spending about $500,000 in the first of three phases of the park's development. “We'll have a class-A facility in four to five years,” said Sean Hayes. With lease in hand, earnest cleanup could begin this fall, the brothers say. Their goal is to open the park seasonally through November, starting Memorial Day 2006. Ticket prices have not been set, but will probably range from $10 for a day pass for swimmers, kayakers, canoers and climbers, to about $20 for scuba divers, they say. The facility would also rent out canoes, kayaks and other recreation gear, and sell food and merchandise. By GREGORY SEAY