New Haven Harbor project begins. Channel will deepen to 40 feet
Mark Zaretsky
NEW HAVEN — Work has begun on a major U.S. Army Corps of
Engineers project to deepen and widen the New Haven Harbor channel, making it
easier for ships to carry petroleum products, construction aggregates,
equipment and scrap metal into Long Island Sound’s largest port.
Great Lakes Dock and Dredge Co., a contractor for the Army
Corps’ New England District, began work last week. The project is expected to
take two dredging seasons, each running from October through March, and wrap up
in early 2028, the Army Corps said.
The
New Haven Harbor Improvement Project will remove about 4.5 million cubic
yards of sand and silt to modernize the roughly 5.5-mile federal navigation
channel, which serves deep-water terminals at the head of the harbor.
“New Haven Harbor is being modernized to strengthen the
safe, efficient movement of essential goods and energy resources throughout
Connecticut and the Northeast,” Craig Martin, a senior project manager with the
Army Corps’ New England District, said in a news release.
The project follows a maintenance dredging effort completed
last fall that removed about 790,000 cubic yards of material and restored the
channel to its authorized depth of 35 feet, Martin said in an email. The new
project will deepen the channel to 40 feet and widen most of it by 100 feet. It
also includes a partial realignment and a 300-foot widening of the channel bend
near the breakwaters, he said.
Those improvements will allow larger vessels to use the
harbor and improve maneuverability, Martin said. The added depth will also let
the largest ships now calling at the port travel to terminals at the head of
the harbor at any stage of the tide. Fully loaded vessels may now have to wait
for high tide, he said.
The project was authorized by Congress in the Water
Resources Development Act of 2020 and funded through the Infrastructure
Investment and Jobs Act of 2021, Martin said.
Work will take place from October through March to comply
with seasonal environmental restrictions protecting harbor species. The first
dredging season runs through March 2027; the second is scheduled for October
2027 through March 2028.
The contractor will generally work from the northern part of
the project south toward Long Island Sound, using two mechanical bucket dredges
and bottom-dump scows. During the second season, it is expected to use a
drilling and blasting barge to remove about 60,000 cubic yards of granite ledge
near the channel bend, Martin said.
About 1.7 million cubic yards of dredged material — nearly
40% of the total — will be used for aquatic ecosystem improvements, including
shellfish and reef habitat work and filling “relic borrow pits” in the harbor
that have existed since the 1950s, the Army Corps said.
New Haven Harbor is New England’s third-largest port by
tonnage, after Boston and Portland, Maine, according to the Army Corps.
The Army Corps is coordinating with the U.S. Coast Guard,
the Connecticut Port Authority, the New Haven Port Authority, federal and state
regulators, port pilots and other harbor stakeholders, according to the news
release. The Connecticut Port Authority is the project’s nonfederal sponsor,
Martin said.
The work is not expected to significantly change the types
of commodities handled at the port, but it will improve delivery efficiency,
Martin said. The project is intended to support shipments of petroleum
products, including gasoline, jet fuel and heating oil, as well as road salt,
steel and chemicals, according to the Army Corps.
“The project will improve navigational and ship handling
safety in New Haven Harbor and strengthen the regional economy by increasing
the harbor’s capacity to serve larger vessels,” Connecticut Port Authority
Executive Director Michael O’Connor said in the release. “It also will
reinforce New Haven Harbor’s role as a strategic commercial port and energy hub
for Connecticut and the Northeast.”
State breaks ground on $125M Enfield train station, restoring rail service lost in 1986
Construction has started on a $125.3 million Hartford Line
train station in Enfield’s Thompsonville neighborhood that will bring passenger
rail back to the town for the first time since 1986.
Gov. Ned Lamont and state Transportation Commissioner
Garrett Eucalitto marked the start of construction Wednesday at the site, 1322
Bigelow Commons. The state Department of Transportation expects to finish the
project in fall 2030.
Amtrak closed the old Thompsonville stop because of low
ridership. Service is far more frequent now: The Hartford Line, launched in
2018, runs 22 weekday round trips in addition to Amtrak trains.
The new station will close a roughly 15-mile gap on the
Hartford Line between Windsor Locks and Springfield Union Station in
Massachusetts. The DOT estimates it will serve nearly 130,000 passenger trips a
year by 2031.
Rides will take about 23 minutes to Hartford and 13 minutes
to Springfield.
The state is covering about 85% of the cost. The other 15%
comes from the Federal Railroad Administration, Federal Transit Administration
and U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.
The station is meant to spur development in Thompsonville,
where Enfield has long sought to build housing and businesses around transit.
“Building this new station means better access to jobs and
education, while creating new opportunities for housing, businesses and private
investment in Thompsonville,” Lamont said.
The station will have a 350-foot high-level platform, a
mostly enclosed waiting area and about 80 parking spaces, about 15 of which
will have electric vehicle charging. A bus area will connect riders to
Enfield’s Magic Carpet bus service.
The project also replaces the railroad bridge over Main
Street, realigns about 4,400 feet of track and adds a separate track so
oversized freight shipments can still move through the station area.
Enfield’s station is part of a larger Hartford Line
expansion.
A new $121 million station in Windsor Locks opened
Oct. 18, replacing the town’s old stop south of the downtown area.
The old Windsor Locks station served more than 35,000 riders
last year, and officials expect the new one to serve 43,000 by 2030.
Other planned stations are further off. A proposed West
Hartford station is still in early design, and the state hasn’t yet found money
to build it, according to a June report from the Capitol Region Council of
Governments.
The Hartford Line, which runs between New Haven and
Springfield, had fully recovered its pre-pandemic ridership by 2024, according
to the regional group.
North Haven proposal for 400 apartments, shops heads to Nov. 9 public hearing
NORTH HAVEN — The Haynes
Group's proposed 400-unit mixed-use, village-style housing development
blending housing, shopping, walking trails and a "village green" at
300 Elm St. will go back to the zoning panel next month after the Inland
Wetlands Commission approved it Wednesday night.
The Planning and Zoning Commission will open a public
hearing on an application for the project, proposed for 30 acres off Elm Street
and Sackett Point Road near Bruces Ice Pond, on Nov. 9, Land Use Administrator
Laura Magaraci and Haynes Group attorney Bernard Pellegrino said Thursday.
The hearing will be in the gymnasium of the Mildred A.
Wakeley Community and Recreation Center, 7 Linsley St. in North Haven. Among other
thngs, Haynes has sought a text amendment to allow residential development
within an IL-80 industrial zone
The Inland Wetlands Commission unanimously approved a site
plan referral and permit to conduct regulated activity for the project
Wednesday night, with a number of conditions, after months of consideration and
debate.
"Last night, the IW application for 300 Elm St. was
unanimously approved with conditions by the Inland Wetlands and Watercourses
Commission after the required public hearing," Magaraci, who also is North
Haven's wetlands enforcement officer, said in an email.
In previous meetings, Haynes representatives have said
they're looking to build as many as 400 apartments and 150,000 square feet of
retail and commercial space, with a child daycare facility and a bandstand
facing the pond, among other amenities.
They have said the project, proposed the company through 200
Sackett Point Road LLC,would be along
similar lines to the Residences at Quarry Walk development that Haynes previously
built in Oxford.
"What we plan to do in North Haven is very similar in
overall size and scope," principal Patrick Haynes said at the time.
"People can live — go have an ice cream, sit out on the green, listen to
some music, enjoy a spring night. Come walk your dog, even if you don't live
here. It's a place for the community."
The project is located near Interstate 91, the existing
Universal Drive commercial area and North Haven High School.
IWC Chairman Frank Bumsted said the application marked the
first time the commission has hired its own soil scientist to get its own
independent analysis of wetlands issues on the site, particularly as they
pertain to one area that the developer's soil scientist said was wet but did
not meet the definition of a wetland.
The commission's consultant, William Kenny of William
Kenny Associates of Fairfield, agreed with the developer's soil scientist
and found it was not actually a wetland, Bumsted said. "No inland wetlands
or water courses were observed," he said.
"From a wetlands perspective, I think it's a good
plan," said IWC member James Lorusso Jr., who praised the project's
amenities and later was the member who made the motion to approve the
application.
Bumsted said the project involved "significant
activity," but said the developer's representatives "did everything
they were supposed to do. They did everything that we asked them."
In an April presentation to the PZC, Haynes Group
representatives compared the project to the Oxford project, which is home both
to chain stores and independent shops, including a Market 32 grocery store.
Recognizing North Haven High School's significant existing
impact on local traffic, Haynes Group said in an earlier appearance before the
PZC that it is planning a traffic study to identify how to add new lanes and
traffic signal patterns to improve the corridor's flow.
Haynes has said the company plans to seek input from the
community on a name for the development.
‘We’re Not Going to be a Target’ — Eastern Connecticut Fights New Trash Plants
Ally LeMaster
PLAINFIELD — Lawmakers in eastern Connecticut say their
region is shouldering too much of the state’s trash burden, and they are vowing
to fight a proposed waste-to-energy plant in Plainfield should the developer
bring the project back.
At a press conference last Thursday, state Sen. Heather
Somers, state Reps. Doug Dubinsky and Anne Dauphinais joined local leaders to
oppose the proposal.
SMART Technologies LLC has been looking to build a
waste-to-energy plant in town, despite overwhelming public pushback.
The proposed facility would cover 81.2 acres of
residentially zoned land in town and accept up to 2,500 tons of garbage per
day. The plant, which developers
claim would be the first of its kind in the United States, would convert
trash into a synthetic gas, which would then be burned and turned into
energy.
Although a permit was withdrawn for the project, an attorney
for the developer indicated in
a letter to the Siting Council that they will be refiling a “revised
proposal” at an unspecified future date.
Plainfield residents voted 1,148-125 in a referendum against
the project and approved spending $250,000 on legal fees to fight it. Residents
cited environmental concerns with the project being near an aquifer, questions
over the technology that would be used in the plant, heavy truck traffic, as
well as the proximity of the proposed plant to the other waste-to-energy
facilities in the state.
According to the state Department of Energy and
Environmental Protection, this would be the second
waste-to-energy plant in Plainfield and the fourth in eastern
Connecticut.
Currently, three of the five operating waste-to-energy
plants are located in the eastern portion of the state in Preston and Lisbon.
The other plants are located in Bristol and Bridgeport.
The location of these plants was the main point of
contention for local lawmakers.
“I want to be clear: eastern Connecticut is not going to
take Greenwich garbage,” Somers said. “Maybe we should consider looking at a
county level. Your county creates the garbage. Your county deals with it.”
Dubinsky emphasized that Plainfield is an environmental
justice community, which are defined as census groups where 30% of the
population earns an income under 200% of the federal poverty level or as a
distressed town.
“We shouldn’t stick another one where there’s already all a
bunch of them in a poor, small community that’s already carrying a
disproportionate amount of the burden of processing the waste of this state,”
he said.
Dauphinais called eastern Connecticut a “target” for these
sites.
“We’re not going to be a target for these dumping sites. The
people have spoken loud and clear,” Dauphinais said. “You can see there’s a
house here. We’re talking about houses, people’s lives, or families getting
affected.”
Plainfield First Selectman Kevin Cunningham told CT Examiner
that the proposed facility would have directly impacted nearly 500 households
nearby. Cunningham said there are still many unanswered questions about the
plant, including whether the plumes would contain PFAS — manmade substances
that don’t break down — and the potential effect on farmland.
“Why, if we’re an environmental justice [community] and we
already have these issues here, why are we continuing to be the dumping
ground?” he asked.
At the press conference, Somers also called out Gov. Ned
Lamont for vetoing a bill that would have allowed
small towns with 16,000 or fewer residents to vote by referendum on state
permitting of unwanted projects in 2025.
In a letter to the Secretary of the State’s Office, Lamont
explained his rationale for the veto.
“Allowing permitting decisions to be overturned by referenda
undermines the principles of objectivity embedded in our state permitting
process, will discourage important investments in infrastructure, and will
drive up the cost of living for residents,” he wrote.
Democrats running for legislative seats in the area have
also expressed opposition to the Plainfield trash plant proposal and disagree
with the governor’s veto.
Samantha Derenthal, a member of the Plainfield Board of
Education who is running against Dauphinais said while she doesn’t agree with
the veto, she understands Lamont’s reasoning.
Derenthal suggested introducing legislation that would
prohibit these types of projects from being developed in residentially zoned
areas.
Asked if she believed eastern Connecticut was
disproportionately burdened by waste facilities, Derenthal said
yes.
“We are getting targeted because of our access to railways
as well as highways. We absolutely have less money to fight this kind of thing,
and so it’s an easier time to get these in,” she said. “We also have a lot of
open space, and I think there are some areas that can take it on. But there are
also other areas of the state that absolutely can take it on.”
Marcus Palumbo, who is running against Dubinsky,
agreed.
“What we see is that communities that are often forgotten
about by Hartford, like some of our small towns in eastern Connecticut, places
without as much economic power, often are the ones that all of the polluting
and otherwise harmful projects get pushed towards,” he said.
Joe de la Cruz, a former state representative who is running
against Somers, said it’s clear the eastern part of the state has to deal with
more trash plants.
“You don’t even have to say it. The words don’t have to be
spoken,” he said. “You can see on paper where everything’s landing.”
De la Cruz said residents should have more say on where such
facilities are built in their communities.
At the press conference, Somers also criticized Lamont for
failing to have a plan for the state’s waste after the MIRA plant in Hartford
shut down in 2022.
The state currently ships some of its garbage to Ohio and
Pennsylvania.
“Governor Lamont agrees that Connecticut needs a
comprehensive plan for waste management,” Cathryn Vaulman, the communications
director for Lamont, wrote in a statement. “In 2023, he proposed a bill (HB
6664) that would have returned Connecticut to self-sufficiency and reduced the
state’s costly reliance on out-of-state landfills. The legislature’s revisions
eliminated the clear path the bill provided to address this issue.”
Asked about claims that the state disproportionately puts
trash plants in eastern Connecticut, Vaulman said the governor “takes seriously
the toll pollution takes on residents’ health.”
“Since taking office, he has supported numerous policy
changes that strengthen environmental and public health impact reviews, tighten
rules around burning trash and other waste, and address the risks posed by PFAS
and other dangerous chemicals,” she wrote.
SMART Technologies LLC did not respond to a request for
comment.
Mega-development proposed for CT town. It’s 598 homes and 100,000 square feet of shopping
Don Stacom
One of the tri-state
region’s most powerful commercial developers is proposing an enormous
residential and retail complex that would add just under 600 homes in
Stonington.
Breslin Realty’s plan
for Liberty Crossing would create more than 110,000 square feet of stores
and restaurants along with four three- and four-story multifamily buildings.
The
Long Island-based company, known for decades as one of the biggest mall
developers in the region, wants to use a roughly 67-acre wooded site along
Route 2 just off I-95 for its project. It would vastly change the look of
Stonington, a wealthy shoreline community best known for its historic village
with a heavy nautical theme.
But Breslin maintains that Liberty Crossing would be more
than an ordinary mixed-used development, and would blend smoothly with the
existing community.
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“Each of the elements of our proposal, including the mix of
residential units and commercial uses, combined with the scale, connectedness
and walkability and development of a village type project, will give Liberty
Crossing a strong sense of place as is present amongst the existing and varying
villages in town,” according to a 607-page presentation put together by a team
of Breslin’s consultants.
Although Breslin’s proposal doesn’t specify the multi-family
units as apartments rather than for-purchase condos, the building design is
consistent with modern apartment buildings.
In the multi-story buildings, Breslin wants 74 studios
measuring 540 to 610 square feet, 250 one-bedroom units measuring 750 to 850
square feet, and 217 two-bedrooms ranging from 1,125 to 1,250 square feet.
In addition, the company proposes a series of townhouses,
duplexes and quadplexes with two- and three-bedroom units.
Its flier lists space for a 30,000-square-foot supermarket,
along with commercial spaces next door totaling about 50,000 more. In addition,
plans show smaller spaces on the opposite side of a new parking lot with a
total of about 20,000 square feet.
“The project has been designed to expand upon the town’s
historic character, preserve and enhance the property’s sensitive environmental
resources, and organize the development into a series of distinct neighborhoods
with a cohesive village character,” according to the consultants’ report. “The
development will incorporate architecturally distinct neighborhoods connected
by pedestrian walkways, green spaces, community areas, and gathering places.”
Soon after word of the project went public in mid-October, a
town council candidate from neighboring Westerly, R.I.,
weighed in on social media with concerns.
“This is gonna greatly affect our town as well! This insane
amount of building in Stonington! The new Liberty Crossing are looking for
approval for just under 600 apartments, two grocery stores, and a strip mall.
With more to come at a later date,” wrote Rose Van Dover. “This is insane! Pay
attention! If not, you won’t recognize your own town in the next 10 years.”