Southington approves $20M recycling plant
SOUTHINGTON — Construction could start this fall for a $20 million, high-tech recycling plant that will turn food waste into gas for energy and yard waste into compost.
Both by-products would be used to grow lettuce and other produce in greenhouses on the land.
The project, a joint venture of Covanta Energy and Turning Earth LLC, won site plan approval Tuesday night from the town planning and zoning commission. The facility is planned for a 37-acre parcel off Spring Street not far from the junction with Queen Street. "We feel this is the best and highest use of this property," Economic Development Coordinator Louis A. Perillo III said
Groundbreaking is expected in October, with the project's backers aiming to open the facility in 2015. It will process 50,000 tons of food waste and 25,000 tons of yard waste to be collected from 14 to 16 central Connecticut cities and towns, including Southington.
The facility will have fewer than a dozen employees but will generate an estimated $330,000 in tax revenue once tax abatements awarded to the project through state programs end, Perillo said. Thursday. CLICK TITLE TO CONTINUE
Guilford gives conditional OK for design of the rock pile
GUILFORD >> After reviewing modified plans from DDR Corp. to develop the “rock pile,” the Design Review Committee on Wednesday conditionally approved the design, citing improvements made since the initial proposal was presented last week.
At last week’s meeting, committee members seemed largely pleased with the proposed 135,000 square-foot shopping center at Guilford Commons, but suggested changes that included modifying the “cookie-cutter design” that some members said permeated the plan.
“We took everything you said sort of as constructive criticism and we think we’ve come back with answers to some of the challenges you presented us with,” architect Frankie Campione told the committee Wednesday. Campione presented changes to the plan that would improve the shopping center’s appearance from Interstate 95, construct a pedestrian walkway in the complex and change the appearance of some of the retail spaces. CLICK TITLE TO CONTINUE