CT Construction Digest October 21, 2013

Demolition begins on burned out Manchester building

MANCHESTER — Demolition of a burned out Main Street building began on Friday evening and is expected to be finished on Saturday.Workers were scheduled to start razing 801-809 Main St. early on Friday, but the contractor did not have the necessary higher level demolition license, town officials said. BriCo Environmental Services Solutions had to bring in a subcontractor with the right equipment and credentialed personnel, officials said.Fire Chief Robert Bycholski said the subcontractor stopped work on Friday night and planned to finish the job on Saturday. He said the demolition and debris removal may affect traffic on Main Street at times.The fire broke out on Oct. 12 and destroyed the 1905 building, which housed two businesses and eight residents in a rooming house. The fire was not considered suspicious, but no cause has been found, fire officials said on Friday.

A makeover for the village

SOUTHBURY — Heritage Village just turned 46, and to celebrate the community is making some big capital improvements.Workers have knocked down trees and excavated a 1-acre site known as the "Triangulum" behind the Activities Building to make room for two tennis courts that will be constructed in the spring.A few steps to the south, the Lodge building on Meeting House Pond is being renovated into a social center with rooms for card playing, billiards, table tennis, TV watching and relaxing with friends.The improvements are being paid for with money the community collects from condominium buyers.Everyone who buys a unit has to pay $1,200. The money is put into an account, and used to improve or replace the village's social and recreational facilities.
Fran Owen, president of the Heritage Village Master Association, said the community is constantly striving to improve its amenities for its residents and potential buyers."We're 46 years old. You have to move forward," she said. "My whole thing is if you don't move forward you move backward."The Planning Commission approved the tennis court proposal as part of a larger plan to build recreational facilities in the space near the Activities Building.
The project, known as the Recreation Park, eventually may include boccie courts, a putting green, a croquet lawn, a horseshoe pit and shuffleboard courts.

Neighbors nix plan for natural gas station in Killingly

KILLINGLY — An appeal filed by a group of Killingly residents — including a state representative — has scuttled a plan to construct a natural gas station near the town’s industrial park, a deal that would have netted the town tens of thousands of dollars.Representatives of the Utah-based Questar Fueling Company announced late last month that they have withdrawn their application for a subdivision change and special permit for property located at the corner of Lake Road and Alexander Parkway. The company in July received Town Council approval to purchase Killingly industrial park land for a planned public compressed natural gas, or CNG, fueling station.Questar, a Salt Lake City, Utah, subsidiary of the Questar Corporation, had agreed to pay $90,000 to build a three-pump CNG station on about two acres at 57 Alexander Parkway. The company also planned to buy another two acres from a private landowner for the station to supply CNG to drivers. The station would have consisted of six compression cylinders, with a total capacity of 300 gallons, used to funnel fuel to three pumps