Fort Trumbull developer, city fail to reach agreement
New London - Formal talks have broken down between the developers who proposed building housing in Fort Trumbull and the Renaissance City Development Association.
Months-long mediation between RCDA and father-and-son developers Irwin and Robert Stillman of River Bank Construction did not result in an agreement, RCDA President Linda Mariani said Thursday.But the RCDA has not given up on development of the first phase of the proposed 103-unit, Village on the Green."Mediation produced no agreement. ...But we've been talking with the Stillmans to see if there's any chance this beautiful project can happen," Mariani said.
But, she added, at the December RCDA meeting, the board will consider cutting ties with the Stillmans if there is no new agreement in place. "I'm always optimistic, but it's really hard because it has taken so long to get an agreement," she said. "By the first of the year, we'll know."
The Stillmans have been working on the project since 2009, when they were granted prime developer status for about 7 acres in Fort Trumbull. Last spring, the Stillmans were preparing to sign the final papers and break ground on the first 34 units, but the RCDA refused to turn the land over after a dispute about how the $18 million to $20 million project was going to be financed. The Stillmans were prepared to self-finance the project, but the RCDA wanted assurances in the contract.
The two sides were in mediation until recently. The RCDA maintains the Stillmans are in default of the contract. The Stillmans believe the RCDA breached the agreement. Reached by email Thursday, Robert Stillman declined to comment. Mariani said the Stillmans are planning to apply for financing through Competitive Housing Assistance for Multifamily Properties, a state program through the Department of Economic and Community Development that offers low-interest loans and grants that address affordable housing needs.
East Lyme commission approves small change in Gateway Commons project
East Lyme - The Zoning Commission voted Thursday to allow five additional units, a total of 280 overall, for the initial residential phase of the long-planned Gateway Commons development.
In June, the commission approved a final plan for 275 residential rental units, the maximum number allowed in the zoning regulations for the proposed development near Interstate 95's Exit 74.
The residential and commercial village, for which the town approved a master plan five years ago, had stalled during the economic downturn. The commercial phase has yet to come before the commission, but the developers are in negotiations with the state regarding reconfiguring the Exit 74 ramps, a component of the overall plan, said Chairman Marc Salerno at Thursday's meeting.
The developers' lawyer asked to amend the regulations governing the planned development, which the town adopted several years ago, to allow five more rental units. The additional units would not change the project's footprint but would maximize unused spaces in the 10 buildings, he said.
Rocco Tricarico, one of three residents who spoke during the public hearing, said the five additional units were inconsequential, but the commission should have held a public hearing in June regarding the final residential site plan. He argued that there were significant changes to the project's master plan, such as more clustered housing and a residential component preceding the commercial one.
"In five years, we have heard nothing from the developers," he added, saying there were no outreach efforts, the way there were when they proposed the project years ago. The commission had held several public hearings years ago over the master plan, but the zoning regulations do not require a public hearing for the final site plan when the plan substantially conforms to the original master plan. The original master plan dropped the total number of units from about 475 to 275 units following public input.
CT projects help grow Oct. construction market
Groundbreakings on three major Connecticut developments helped boost the overall value of October construction starts by 5 percent, McGraw Hill Construction said in a report this week. The report cites Foxwoods' $120 million Tanger outlet mall, as well as two high-school construction projects totaling $169 million.They include additions and renovations at Orville H. Platt High School in Meriden and Wethersfield High School, McGraw said. Despite Connecticut's construction contributions, massive manufacturing plants in Iowa, West Virginia and Louisiana, as well as the start of a $2.8-billion replacement project at the Tappan Zee Bridge in New York represented much of the year-over-year gain, McGraw said.
Massive makeover planned for state office building in Hartford
The state plans a massive redevelopment of its office building opposite The Bushnell in Hartford — including the addition of a new parking garage — with the building being quietly figured into future space consolidation plans.The project, now estimated to cost $147 million, includes a top-to-bottom renovation of the 1931 building at 165 Capitol Ave. In addition, a parking garage would be constructed either just to the east of the building where there is a vast surface lot or to replace another existing garage on nearby Buckingham Street.“Everything in the building has to be modernized,” Jeffrey Beckham, a spokesman for the state Department of Administrative Services, told me. “She’s showing her age.”The plans, Beckham said, are at the earliest stages but are likely to include a complete gutting of the interior of the building and the possible elimination of interior, open-air courtyards. All the systems — heating, cooling and elevators — would be replaced, he said.
Beckham said some of the funds for the project have already been allocated but he declined to say how much, citing the project going out to competitive bidding.The building now holds 900 state office workers, mostly in the departments of education, administrative services, agriculture and consumer protection. But Beckham said a reconfiguration of office space in a modern floor plan could probably accommodate double the number of workers.That could make the building, at the corner of Capitol and Washington streets, key to the state’s plan to consolidate its office workers in fewer leased spaces to save money.Earlier this year, the state purchased two buildings in Hartford — 55 Farmington Ave. in Asylum Hill and Connecticut River Plaza in downtown — to help accomplish that goal.The purchase and renovation of those structures — totaling about 860,000 square feet — is expected to cost about $123 million. The state said it expects to save $100 million over 20 years in leasing costs by purchasing those buildings.Beckham said the state has selected Amenta/Emma, a Hartford architectural firm, to conduct a design study with development options. A report is due some time next year, Beckham said.
City seeks site for school
WATERBURY — Officials hoping to build a new elementary school in the East End are looking for a flat piece of land, with no pollution, preferably already owned by the city and with no need to displace any residents or businesses. But in a densely developed and hilly city with a long history of industrialization, it's hard to be too choosy. So school officials have set a list of priorities to help guide a private company hired to find a building site. The design and architectural firm Silver/Petrucelli + Associates has been hired to a roughly $25,000 contract, said Paul Guidone, chief operating officer and chief of staff for city schools. Silver/Petrucelli is expected to supply a list of possible sites in January. Guidone, working with consultant O&G Industries, set a list of priorities, along with boundaries for its search. These were shared with the Board of Education's Building Committee on Nov. 13, and generally agreed upon, Guidone said. The boundary chosen for the East End school search follows Wolcott Street from the Wolcott town line down through Hamilton Park, and then along Route 69 (Hamilton Avenue and Prospect Road) out to the Prospect town line.
School officials set their priorities as:
1) Size and shape of the property (at least five acres).
2) Reduction of student enrollment at Chase and Generali elementary schools.
3) A connection with the neighborhood and safety, including presence of sidewalks.
4) City-owned property preferred. Minimize acquisition of occupied space and subtraction from the taxable grand list.
5) Availability of sewer, gas, electric, stormwater and other utilities.
6) Level land preferred, followed by terraced land and lastly sloped.
7) Try to avoid polluted soils and groundwater.
Southbury suit is justified
Connecticut Attorney General George C. Jepsen has filed an antitrust lawsuit against three companies, and their respective top executives, that long had an informal agreement with Southbury to plow about a quarter of the town's roads. The Republican-American reported Mr. Jepsen contends the men launched "an illegal boycott and bid-rigging scheme" in the midst of the freak October 2011 snowstorm. The events that precipitated the suit are points of disgrace for town government, the companies and their executives. We're often leery of lawsuits, but this one is justified. In late 2010, the Republican-American and Sunday Republican exposed Southbury's questionable bidding procedures. Subsequently, the town rewrote its rules and severed the aforementioned agreement; the work was put to bid for the first time in decades. However, Southbury, then led by First Selectman H. William Davis Jr., waited until just before the storm to solicit bids. This inexcusable failure was disrespectful to residents and businesses. Obviously, unplowed roads are dangerous and a source of disruption, and bidding should have been done months in advance. The hold-up is especially egregious considering it's not unprecedented for Connecticut to see snow in October. As we asserted in a Nov. 11, 2011 editorial, the procrastination was rooted in town government's zero-accountability culture, and contributed to the town's "circus image." According to the suit, Harry H. "Chuck" Stone, Kevin W. Starchak and George H. Stone Jr., of H.I. Stone & Son, S&S Asphalt Paving Inc., and Stone Construction Co., respectively, were angry that their former plowing work would be open to bid. Days before the storm, they were asked to plow as usual, but, according to Mr. Jepsen, the executives knew "that an impending nor'easter gave them a unique form of leverage and opportunity (and) immediately began colluding and jointly refused to deal with the town ... unless they were given a guaranteed minimum contract." He summed up their attitude as "Agree to our demand to award us the work on our terms, or face the likelihood that a significant swath of town roads would be impassable." As a result, Mr. Davis called an emergency selectmen's meeting for Oct. 28, the day before the storm hit. The bidding policy was waived and the companies were granted a 75-hour contract, for $95 per hour. When it expired, they bid on a new one. The lawsuit alleges the executives conspired to submit rigged bids at rates — $125 per hour — significantly higher than they previously had been paid. They were awarded new contracts on Dec. 1, 2011. If Mr. Jepsen's version of events is accurate, the executives contemptibly used a serious situation to their financial advantage. In a Nov. 28, 2011 letter to the editor, Chuck Stone insisted they held firm because "it was not economical to plow one storm without knowing we would have the contract," yet when one takes the obstinacy in conjunction with the subsequent bids, it is hard to dispute Mr. Jepsen's assertions. According to Public Works Director Tom Crowe, this contract will not go to bid again until 2016. When it expires, the town owes it to residents and businesses to make sure a new one is in place well before snow season.