Plan for 95/7 site in S. Norwalk exceeds 125K of retail space
NORWALK -- General Growth Properties, Inc., (GGP) forthcoming plan for the 95/7 site in South Norwalk likely will call for more than 125,000 square feet of retail within what officials still expect to be a mixed-use redevelopment project. In a letter to the Norwalk Redevelopment Agency, Douglas T. Adams, senior director for GGP-affiliate Norwalk Land Development, LLC, wrote that GGP will request modifications to the Reed Putnam Urban Renewal Plan, Land Disposition Agreement (LDA) governing the site, and also zoning regulations addressing maximum permitted square footage.
"Specifically, GGP anticipates that the plan which it will submit will require an increase under these regulations of the maximum permitted retail square footage, as well as other revisions which can only be determined when a fully designed plan is prepared," Adams wrote. "GGP and its representatives look forward to presenting the City of Norwalk with an exciting plan which will allow for the redevelopment of this important project." CLICK TITLE TO CONTINUE
Stamford orders BLT to stop work at South End site
STAMFORD -- City officials halted work at a major South End construction site after learning the project strayed from its originally approved plans. The Washington Boulevard project was first approved in 2008 as a 260,000-square-foot hotel topped with 60 condominium units. Building and Land Technology didn't break ground until last year, however, and by then had abandoned the hotel component in favor of two residential towers with ground floor retail. Construction continued at the site even though the Zoning Board has not yet signed off on the changes, prompting city officials to shut down the project until all approvals are in place. "They got sort of ahead of themselves," said Land Use Bureau Chief Norman Cole. "At some point they apparently decided they would start building from the set of plans that hadn't been approved yet." Chief Building Official Bob DeMarco issued a "verbal violation" two weeks ago to Building and Land Technology. He then sent a letter to the company Tuesday formally implementing a stop-work order. CLICK TITLE TO CONTINUE
Referendum on downtown plan is goal of petition drive
BRISTOL — Rather than trusting city leaders to make the decision on Depot Square, a number of residents are calling for a public referendum on whether to let the controversial project move ahead.
Bristol Veterans Council President Tim Gamache, who favors the project, said it’s a good idea to let people vote on it. “The people who are going to be paying that bill should have a voice,” Gamache said. Many of the opponents to the revitalization plan under consideration by the Bristol Downtown Development Corp. also pleaded for a referendum to decide its fate. CLICK TITLE TO CONTINUE
Downtown developer gets more time for plan
BRISTOL — City councilors unanimously agreed Tuesday to give Renaissance Downtowns more time to work out details of the initial phase of its ambitious plan to create a new urban center where the mall once stood on North Main Street. Mayor Ken Cockayne said the council’s willingness to provide more time doesn’t mean it will ultimately support the developer’s proposal, but it wants to give the developer time to try to come up with something acceptable. Some council members and the chairwoman of the nonprofit Bristol Downtown Development Corp., Jennifer Arasimowicz, said they were disappointed with the plan on the table to begin the project with a single four-story apartment building with 101 rental units and only a small commercial space. But, they said, they’re ready to give Renaissance a chance to work out an initial phase of its $280 million project that could win support among city leaders. CLICK TITLE TO CONTINUE
Cleanup phase begins at Southington Superfund site
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is scheduled this week to begin removing contamination from the Solvents Recovery Service of New England Superfund site in Southington.
The site used to be an approved hazardous waste treatment and storage facility that disposed of industrial solvents from 1957 to 1967 in two unlined lagoons. Although the solvent disposal was discontinued, the site remained a source of contamination until 1991 because of spills and poor housekeeping. The site has been on the EPA's national priority list for contamination cleanup for 31 years. The remediation work to be started this week includes using electric heaters to vaporize the solvents and then extract them using a vacuum system. The process will take six months to complete.
When the remediation is complete, the area will be capped, leading to the construction of a new segment of the Farmington Canal Heritage Trail.
Middletown sewer pipeline project breaks ground
MIDDLETOWN — Work will begin soon on a new pump station and pipeline project that will allow the city to join the regional Mattabassett wastewater treatment system, a major step toward redeveloping the riverfront. Officials held a groundbreaking ceremony Tuesday at the former fire training center off East Main Street to celebrate a process that has taken more than 20 years to complete. Water and Sewer Director Guy Russo said the construction contractor, Northeast Remsco Construction of Farmingdale, N.J., will begin bringing in equipment and preparing for construction on May 19. The pipeline will be the first component of the $40 million project, and is expected to take about 18 months. The building committee overseeing the project will seek construction bids on the pump station component this summer, Russo said. CLICK TITLE TO CONTINUE
Success not guaranteed for unique Stratford reef project
Stratford Point -- Three huge earth-movers are lined up end-to-end across the beach here. Bucket brigade style, they are handing off bell-shaped 1,500-pound concrete objects pocked with Swiss-cheese-style holes. They are placing them in two parallel lines along the mucky sand just above the low-tide line. These bells are Reef Balls – part of a first-for-Connecticut project aimed at stemming the rampant erosion on a 28-acre spit of land that borders Long Island Sound on one side and the Housatonic River on the other. And while the project will be watched carefully for potential applications elsewhere on the Connecticut coast, there’s one big problem.
No one is sure it will actually work. “It’s experimental,” said Jennifer Mattei, a biology professor who specializes in restoration ecology and population ecology at Sacred Heart University, one of several partners on the project. “We don’t know if it’s going to work. I can think about it and I can hypothesize -- wouldn’t it be great if it did all these things -- but we actually don’t know.” CLICK TITLE TO CONTINUE
Torrington High School field project has to go back out to bid
TORRINGTON >> “Go back, talk to the mayor, and get them to pony up the money.”
It was Andrew Nargi’s way of telling Ed Arum, chairman of the turf committee, the Board of Education would not approve a measure floating the turf committee money, on paper, for Torrington High School turf and track improvement project after the lowest bid exceeded the project’s budget.
Board members cited surging special education costs — what Superintendent Cheryl Kloczko called the school district’s “Waterloo” — in rejecting the proposal during a contentious special board meeting Tuesday capped when Ken Traub, board chairman and a member of the turf committee, resigned his post on the turf committee. He said he could no longer co-exist with co-chair Mario Longobucco, THS’ girls soccer coach, after they sparred over a scoreboard donation at a prior meeting. The turf committee asked for $117,000 to cover a gap between the lowest bidder, H.I. Stone, of Southbury, and the project budget of $2.73 million following nearly $80,000 in project expenditures. CLICK TITLE TO CONTINUE
