BRISTOL — The city and Covanta are scrambling to polish off an agreement that would allow the company that runs the trash incinerator to build and operate a regional recycling operation on city-owned property next door.
“If we can work out these last couple of items, it will be a great deal for Bristol,” said Mayor Ken Cockayne. Though the mayor wouldn’t provide details, he said the agreement would last for 10 years and that its terms are “not even close” to those that city councilors and the Board of Finance declined to endorse in an earlier proposal they considered in October. Cockayne said late Monday that lawyers for both sides were poring over the proposed terms to try to hash out an agreement both sides could support. The recycling center eyed in the deal would be constructed at the city’s own transfer station on Lake Avenue. Successive special meetings of the City Council, Board of Finance and Joint Board have been scheduled today to begin at 5 p.m. and run for about 90 minutes. A regular finance board session will follow them at 6:30 p.m. CLICK TITLE TO CONTINUE READING
Steel goes up at Platt
MERIDEN — Construction is progressing smoothly at Platt High School despite the recent snowy weather, as crews began erecting steel at the site Monday. Work on the $111.8 million Platt renovations is on track, said project manager David Cravanzola, of construction management firm O&G Industries, while watching steel beams being set up and bolted in during the early afternoon.
“It’s been just about 60 calendar days since we began construction,” Cravanzola said. “Everybody has done a good job so far.” Construction at Platt calls for the school to be renovated “like new,” for a new classroom and library section to be built at the corner of Oregon Road and Coe Avenue and for a classroom wing to be demolished. So far, most of the work has been focused on the new construction and the renovation of the school’s pool. Though the city received close to six inches of snow over the weekend, much of it, within the construction area, had been cleared out or pushed to the side to allow for work to continue. Unless the snow is falling hard or “whipping around,” Cravanzola said construction crews typically continue to work. CLICK TITLE TO CONTINUE READING
Powell laid foundation for 2014 natural gas expansion
Rodney Powell's biggest 2013 victory came in late November.
The Public Utilities Regulatory Authority on Nov. 22 approved the $7 billion plan to add 280,000 customers to the natural gas home heating system over the next 10 years, making natural gas the heating fuel of choice in Connecticut. Powell — president of Yankee Gas, one of three utilities implementing the plan — had hoped to get the approval sometime in the second quarter with construction underway by the end of 2013. Despite the delay, having a plan in place to increase Yankee's 208,000 customer base by nearly 50 percent is enough to keep Powell smiling.
"I'm excited about what we were able to accomplish this year and even more excited about the possibilities for next year," Powell said. In 2014, Yankee will look to grow its customer base and begin expanding its 3,106 miles of pipeline in 71 Connecticut cities and towns, Powell said. CLICK TITLE TO CONTINUE READING
Burns & McDonnell elevates two to principal
Construction services firm Burns & McDonnell, which has its New England headquarters in Wallingford, has promoted employee-owners Chris Courtright and Don Chase to principal.
Courtright, who joined the firm nine years ago, will serve as both principal and regional construction operations manager for the construction design-build division of the company's New England office. He will supervise more than 100 employees across multiple projects.
Chase, who has been with Burns for three years, is living in Calgary, where he will continue to lead a team working on a $1 billion project for electric transmission operator Altalink.
Chesire retail complex moves one step closer to final approval
CHESHIRE >> Six years after being granted the first approval needed for a sprawling retail complex near the intersection of Route 10 and Interstate 691, a Massachusetts-based commercial developer will go before the town’s Planning and Zoning Commission next month to get final approval for the project. A lot has changed since W/S Development got its first approval in early 2008, most notably a decision to remove a movie theater and housing complex that were originally part of the plan as well as shift in overall focus from the faux-downtown of a lifestyle center to an outlet complex. But Louis Masiello, a W/S Development vice president, said key elements remain from the original plan, including between six and eight restaurants and an upscale organic grocery store. “We held a scheduling session with them last week and the hearings will begin on Dec. 13th,” Masiello said of the PZC on Monday. “Between now and then, their third party experts will be going over our plans and I would assume have questions for us when the hearings begin on Jan. 13th If the plan gets the final approval, construction would start sometime during the first quarter of 2014 and finish either at the end of the year, or more likely sometime during the first quarter of 2015. CLICK TITLE TO CONTINUE READING