NEW BRITAIN — The Common Council voted late Wednesday to reject Mayor Erin Stewart’s rescission of a $1.07 million bond authorization for improvements at Chesley Park.
The voice vote by the council means the improvement project — which would include two softball fields, a football field and a soccer field — will likely move forward. “More conversations are needed to see how we move forward with this project,” said Alderman Michael Trueworthy after the meeting. The mayor said Thursday she recommended rescinding the project for financial reasons. “The bigger picture is a bleak financial outlook with our debt limits,” the mayor said. “We’ve got to prioritize. We don’t live in a world where we can afford luxury items when everyone else is downsizing. We’re spending money like we have it, and we don’t.” CLICK TITLE TO CONTINUE READINGNew England seeks to expand gas delivery network
HARTFORD >> New England governors have announced a plan to expand the region’s pipeline capacity to deliver more natural gas and cut energy costs. Maine Gov. Paul LePage said Thursday he and the governors of Connecticut, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island and Vermont have asked the region’s grid operator to help as the states seek proposals for transmission equipment and public works to deliver enough electricity to serve 1.2 million to 3.6 million homes. The proposal also would develop a way to finance pipeline construction to bring natural gas from Pennsylvania and adjacent areas to New England. LePage said the initiative will help cut costs in New England by capitalizing on more competitive energy sources. The governors agreed Dec. 5 to develop a regional energy strategy to reduce costs and boost reliability and efficiency.
New downtown Norwich police station would cost $20M
NORWICH — It’s unlikely a new police station could be built anywhere in downtown Norwich for less than $20 million, but there are more than a dozen sites around the city that could support a new headquarters at that price, an advisory panel said Thursday.Nearly a year after it was created by the City Council, the Police Station Committee finally began to rank 28 properties it believes would be suitable for a 50,000 square-foot headquarters. It also suggested a minimum lot size of 2.72 acres at a cost of between $18.5 million and $22 million for a modern facility. With the acreage restriction, more than half of those sites would be eliminated — including the 2-6 Cliff St. location that city leaders proposed in 2012 for a new $33.4 million, 57,000 square-foot public safety complex that voters rejected at a referendum. CLICK TITLE TO CONTINUE READING
Wethersfield officials explore options to cover high school construction cost overrun
WETHERSFIELD -- Cost overruns for reconstruction of Wethersfield High School have nearly doubled to $10.3 million, almost 14 percent of the project's original $75 million budget.
Preconstruction Manager Lorel Purcell of O & G Industries attributed the overruns, originally estimated at $5.5 million, to discovery of unexpectedly large amounts of hazardous materials. The asbestos, PCBs and other substances pose no immediate health threat, but must be removed, she said.
Purcell also blamed the overruns on the stronger economy, which inflated recently opened bids, and security upgrades mandated by the state after the Newtown school shooting.
"There's a lot of factors that compiled and piled up," Purcell said. CLICK TITLE TO CONTINUE READING
Governors ask electric customers to help pay for gas upgrades
New England's six governors stepped into uncharted territory Thursday, asking the region's electric grid to help pay for new natural gas pipelines to ease supply constraints. The governors announced a pact in December to push for regional investment in natural gas pipelines, and the request, in a letter to grid operator ISO New England, marked the first coordinated effort. Currently, New England electricity customers pay a winter premium for power because the region lacks adequate pipeline capacity for power plants. That situation contributed to the Jan. 1 hike in electric bills, and on Thursday pushed wholesale electricity markets above $400 a megawatt hour, while normal days average closer to $60. Under the plan, ISO New England would raise money for the pipelines by levying an additional fee on power plants, which would then pass the cost along to customers in their prices. The idea is to jumpstart construction of pipelines because, the governors say, the gas industry isn't moving quickly enough. CLICK TITLE TO CONTINUE READING
Construction firms expect growing demand in 2014
Many firms plan to start hiring again and most contractors predict demand will either grow or remain stable in virtually every market segment this year according to survey results released Jan. 21 by the Associated General Contractors of America. The survey, conducted as part of Optimism Returns: The 2014 Construction Industry Hiring and Business Outlook, provides a generally upbeat outlook for the year even as firms worry about growing worker shortages, rising costs and the impact of new regulations and federal budget cutting. “Contractors are more optimistic about 2014 than they have been in a long time,” said Stephen E. Sandherr, the association's chief executive officer. “While the industry has a long way to go before it returns to the employment and activity levels it experienced in the middle of the last decade, conditions are heading in the right direction.” CLICK TITLE TO CONTINUE READING
Video shows suspect car in the theft at Prospect construction site
PROSPECT -- Police continue to investigate a major theft that occurred between Jan. 11 and 13 at the site of an elementary school that is under construction. Resident Trooper Matthew Comeau on Wednesday said police have been able to obtain video stills of a suspect vehicle in the incident. The images show an older model, possibly Ford F250, green pickup truck that is pulling a dual axle trailer with a white tank on it, he said. According to state police in a release, at least two people unlocked a gate and drove onto a construction site at 75 New Haven Road, Route 69, and stole several items, including a quad and GPS unit valued at $48,000. The thieves also are believed to have siphoned about 800 gallons worth of red-dyed diesel fuel from several machines, police said.
The stolen items include an 1,800-watt generator and a 2011 Polaris Sportsman quad with an Ashtech Z GPS unit mounted on the front.
Anyone with information can call the Prospect Resident Trooper's Office at 203-758-6150 or Troop I in Bethany at 203-393-4200.