Sewers could spur growth
Newtown officials said they hope infrastructure improvements in the Hawleyville section of town, funded in part by a $500,000 state grant announced this week, will pave the way for additional commercial and industrial development. The town will receive the grant through the state's Small Town Economic Assistance Program to pay for a new sewer main from Mount Pleasant Road north to Hawleyville Road and Covered Bridge Road, state Rep. Mitch Bolinsky, R-Newtown, announced Monday. "This line is needed to spur the economic development necessary to grow our local tax base without further overburdening homeowners," Bolinsky said. Town voters authorized $2.8 million for the project, according to Economic Development Director Elizabeth Stocker. Construction on the project is expected to begin this summer. "Hawleyville has been considered an area of potential growth for the town for many years," she said. CLICK TITLE TO CONTINUE
Voters to decide soon on Shepaug repairs/renovations
Region 12 voters will again go to the polls June 17. This time voters in Washington, Bridgewater and Roxbury will decide on a proposed $8.3 million project to renovate and repair Shepaug Valley School, which houses the district's middle and high schools. The polls will be open June 17 from noon to 8 p.m. in all three towns. Voters in the region rejected middle/high school repairs April 29, as well as the construction of a new consolidated elementary school on the Shepaug campus.
It is hoped by the region's Board of Education that the defeat of the construction question was due to the two projects being linked together in one $40 million referendum question. Work at the 44-year-old middle/high school would include a $1 million replacement/upgrade of the science labs, a new atrium entrance area, replacement of bleachers, site lighting improvements, heating, ventilating and air conditioning system improvements, and energy management system improvements among other renovations. CLICK TITLE TO CONTINUE
State grant to allow East Hampton to clean up old factory site
EAST HAMPTON >> A $500,000 state grant could enable town officials to complete the remediation of a former factory site and in doing so, eliminate the worst liability of any town-owned property. Doing so could help spark the hoped-for revitalization of the Village Center, officials say.
On Monday, the state announced that it had awarded a $500,000 Small Town Economic Assistance Program grant to the town. Old Saybrook received $500,000 for the Main Street Connections Park and Parking Lot Project. Town Manager Michael Maniscalco said the money will be used to remediate a brownfield site at 13 Watrous St. “This is a big step down the road toward eliminating the worst liability of any property the town owns,” Maniscalco said. CLICK TITLE TO CONTINUE
Yale close to reaching fundraising goal for expansion
New Haven - Yale University is closing in on its fundraising goal for a nearly $500 million project to build two new residential colleges in what will be its largest expansion since the Ivy League university began admitting women in 1969, a spokesman said Wednesday. The new colleges will allow the school to admit about 15 percent more students each year and bring total undergraduate enrollment to 6,200, up from about 5,400. Yale officials are hoping to start construction in February 2015 and complete the colleges by August 2017. Yale spokesman Tom Conroy would not disclose the precise amount raised, but says Yale is close to reaching its goal. The project received a major boost last year with a $250 million gift from Charles B. Johnson, a 1954 graduate who retired in 2012 as chairman of the board of Franklin Resources, the parent company of Franklin Templeton Investments. Yale said at the time that the gift brought it within $80 million of its goal. Yale President Peter Salovey, who was inaugurated last year, said building the new colleges was one of his top priorities. CLICK TITLE TO CONTINUE
State gets $12M for UCONN Law Library Settlement
HARTFORD — The state has received about $12 million from more than two dozen companies it sued over construction problems at the UConn law school library, closing a case that arose after significant structural and safety problems were discovered soon after the building opened 18 years ago. The state received $12,073,001.20 on Tuesday, resolving the lawsuit filed in 2008. The payment was made by 28 defendants and their insurance carriers under terms of a mediated settlement, said Stephanie Reitz, a UConn spokeswoman. A breakdown of the payouts was not available from the university or from the attorney general's office. State lawyers withdrew the lawsuit Wednesday at Superior Court in Waterbury. The six years of litigation included a precedent-setting, state Supreme Court ruling that the state is not bound by statutes of limitations when filing suit to recoup on behalf of taxpayers. The high court's decision was viewed at the time to have wide implications for the construction industry. CLICK TITLE TO CONTINUE
Bridge over Farmington River closed for a study
CANTON — Access to the historic bridge that takes Town Bridge Road over the Farmington River is still restricted as engineers assess the span, one of the final steps before recommending improvements. The bridge was closed on May 19 and town officials expect that it will remain so for at least part of each day for the rest of this week, and possibly into next week.
Robert Skinner, the town's chief administrative officer, said engineers hired by the town are assessing the approaches to the bridge and the abutments that support it on the river banks. Skinner said he expects a report from those consultants in June. Town officials are considering their options for upgrading the bridge, which was built in 1895 and is on the National Register of Historic Places and the Historic American Engineering Record. Officials say the bridge, built with a through-truss design, is among a small number of that type still in use. CLICK TITLE TO CONTINUE
DOT agrees to try to hasten moving of drain pipe for Allingtown project
WEST HAVEN >> The state Department of Transportation, at the city’s request, will try to rearrange the construction schedule for the upcoming reconstruction of the Route 1/Campbell Avenue/Forest Road intersection in order move up diversion of an aging drain pipe beneath the Carroll Cut-Rate Furniture store. DOT officials agreed to try to fast-track sealing the 36-inch concrete pipe — which runs through the soon-to-be-redeveloped store’s foundation — and diverting the stormwater that flows through it elsewhere. The decision came during a meeting on the site Wednesday morning.
The work already was supposed to be done as part of the reconstruction project, but probably not for at least a year, officials said. CLICK TITLE TO CONTINUE
CT looks to spend nearly $12M on roads ravaged by winter
HARTFORD >> Connecticut is spending nearly $12 million to fill in potholes and make other repairs to roads ravaged by the harshest winter in years. Gov. Dannel P. Malloy and state transportation officials announced Wednesday that the state Bond Commission will be asked this week to approve $11.9 million to pay for the state’s annual maintenance and road resurfacing program. With $57 million previously approved, 264 miles of primary roads will be fixed. Malloy touted the work as needed road repair and job creation projects. “Our Department of Transportation is keeping our roads in a state of good repair and hiring Connecticut workers to get the job done,” he said. Rep. Antonio Guerrera, House chairman of the legislature’s Transportation Committee, said the damage caused by the weather is in addition to the usual wear and tear and justifies new sources of revenue for repairs. The Rocky Hill Democrat repeated his call for tolls, particularly as gas tax revenue declines with more energy-efficient cars and trucks on the roads. CLICK TITLE TO CONTINUE