Norwich report recommends building police station on grounds of former school
Norwich - The city should build a 51,000-square-foot police station on the grounds of the former William A. Buckingham School, but should conduct an extensive public education campaign before seeking voter approval, the Police Station Study Committee said in its final report submitted this week. A copy of the report is on file at the city clerk's office. The committee was established a year ago after voters in November 2012 overwhelming defeated a $33 million new police station using the former Sears building and several surrounding downtown properties. The committee considered 30 different sites ranging from city property to viable businesses to places of worship. Nineteen sites were eliminated immediately - including the former YMCA building on Main Street - because they did not meet the minimum 2.72 acres needed or were located in a 100-year floodplain.
Using four weighted ranking criteria, the 4.2-acre former Buckingham School site scored 3.8 on a scale of 1 to 5, with a former auto dealership at 390-420 W. Thames St. coming in second at 3.6 points and the New London County Mutual Insurance building atop a steep hill at 101 High St. coming in third. City-owned property would be less expensive than buying out a viable business, but site cost would be just a small portion of the project total cost, the report said. Construction of the building alone is expected to top $19 million. The former Buckingham School property is located between Washington and Cedar streets, abutting residential Greene Avenue on one side. The property has a popular playground and basketball court at the lower level on Washington Street and a steep hill used for sledding. CLICK TITLE TO CONTINUE
Busway contractors preparing for last big construction season
NEW BRITAIN — With the heart of the snow season gone, contractors are gearing up for a major push to complete CTfastrak construction before October so that system testing and driver training can begin. Motorists have encountered periodic brief delays and short detours since the work began nearly two years ago, and may experience more of the same this spring and summer. The state Department of Transportation on Tuesday announced that a stretch of Stanley Street will be shut down during weekdays throughout the week of April 7 and possibly again on the week of April 14. Meanwhile, construction of the new downtown station is likely to continue bringing extra truck traffic to the Columbus Boulevard site for a few months. By mid-fall, though, the $567 million bus-only highway from the center of New Britain to downtown Hartford should be essentially complete. The DOT plans to start service next February, but needs time to train drivers in approaching and pulling away from the elevated platforms, using the synchronized traffic control system and other skills that aren't part of the regular CT Transit driver's job. CLICK TITLE TO CONTINUE
Zoning board appeals voted to uphold cease and desist order
ENFIELD -- The zoning board of appeals Monday voted to uphold a recently-issued cease and desist order for construction at a magnet school. The board voted 1-4 aganist the appeal by Capitol Region Education Council. CREC received the cease and desist order on Feb. 24 reporting nine violations against the town's zoning regulations. The violations are for construction at 1617 King St., the future home of CREC's Public Safety Academy, which will educate up to 700 students. James Bailey Brislin was the lone voter in favor of the appeal and said CREC's paperwork included written testimony from officials who worked with the town's former planner Jose Giner. Brislin said CREC's paperwork indicated they had made plans "in good faith" with Giner. CLICK TITLE TO CONTINUE
Branford looks to move Exit 53 to Commercial Parkway
BRANFORD >> Town officials are resuscitating an old proposal to reconfigure the Short Beach exit on Interstate 95 and are focusing their efforts on landing a federal grant. Town Engineer Janice Plaziak said the proposal calls for the elimination of the connector highway linking Interstate 95 and U.S. Route 1. Traffic would instead enter and exit the highway from Commercial Parkway, an industrial road that already features a Walmart at the Cherry Hill Shopping Center. The other part of the project involves shifting the path of Main Street to intersect Route 1 to connect with Commercial Parkway, a move that would result in a new, four-way intersection. The plan also calls for adding a northbound on-ramp. Interstate 95 drivers can only access Exit 53 from the northbound lanes. The connector empties onto I-95 southbound; there is no ramp for traffic looking to head north.
The plan does not yet involve a proposal to create a southbound off-ramp for drivers coming from Guilford. “Before Walmart was built, we had this thing people called the “pretzel,” not a real roundabout but a series of islands and confusing turns,” Plaziak said. “Then Walmart came and we built three intersections — it’s still kind of a pretzel, but it was worse before. CLICK TITLE TO CONTINUE
Construction employment increased in 37 states from a year ago
Construction firms added jobs in 37 states over the past 12 months and in 30 states between January and February according to an analysis March 28 by the Associated General Contractors of America of Labor Department data. Association officials said the jobs gains came even as many parts of the country experienced unusually severe winter weather, include cold and snowy conditions in the Northeast and Midwest, and warm and unusually dry conditions in much of the Southwest.
“Considering the mix of states adding and losing construction jobs for the month and year, it seems winter conditions had less of an impact than many had expected,” said Ken Simonson, the association's chief economist. “Instead, what appears to be driving construction employment is differing levels of demand for new buildings and infrastructure amid a relatively uneven economic recovery.” CLICK TITLE TO CONTINUE