Middletown's state-of-the-art senior center eyes November opening
MIDDLETOWN >> Work on the city’s new senior and community center transforming the Eckersley Hall building on Durant Terrace into a state-of-the art facility has passed the midway point, with a grand opening slated for Nov. 1. It’s been a years-long effort to move seniors from their cramped location on William Street, abutting senior housing at Sbona Towers. The facility, originally intended as a temporary space 42 years ago, has become restrictive, undersized and inefficient. Its cafeteria doubles as a space for line dancing, bingo, card games, Wii bowling and meetings. Nearby is a small computer room with eight work stations which is also used for storage. The city’s purchase of the St. Sebastian School from the Norwich Diocese in early 2011 for $800,000 set the project in motion. The building was first constructed in the late 1800s, then burned down, and a local contractor finally rebuilt it and completed it in 1929. Costs for renovations, coming in at about $3.4 million, are staying well within budget, said Ed Dypa, who’s on both the Eckersley-Hall Building and Recreation and Senior Services commissions. Aresco Construction is doing all the work. “Things are progressing really quickly,” Dypa said. “They’ve got the sheetrock in, they’re trying to paint and the front entrance is being worked on. We’re right on schedule.” CLICK TITLE TO CONTINUE
New London to receive $200,000 for Bank Street flood plan
Gov. Dannel P. Malloy on Tuesday announced that $31.1 million in federal grants is going to cities and towns for improvements to multifamily housing, infrastructure and public facilities and for planning purposes in cities and towns affected by Superstorm Sandy. The funding includes $200,000 earmarked for planning of drainage improvements on Bank Street in New London. The money is to be used to evaluate the Bank Street drainage system, verify the cause of the flooding and design improvements, according to Malloy’s statement. “Flooding damages property and affects operation of the city's Fire Department Headquarters and makes it difficult to access Lawrence and Memorial Hospital,” the release states. “With these grants, we are not only helping these communities overcome the devastating impacts of one of the most severe storms in Connecticut’s history, but we’re also helping them to establish resiliency plans so they can be better prepared for future storms,” Malloy said. CLICK TITLE TO CONTINUE
Project to add 66 apartments to Norwalk's SoNo district
NORWALK — Construction will begin shortly on 66 largely luxury apartments and 154 public and private parking spaces in the heart of SoNo. Local officials and developer TR SoNo Partners on Monday celebrated the groundbreaking of what will be known as The SONO Pearl Apartments at 99 Washington St. "We gather to break ground on what will be another exciting addition to this very special neighborhood that we affectionately refer to as SoNo," said Thomas L. Rich, president of TR SoNo Partners affiliate F.D. Rich Co. "The SoNo Pearl will consist of 66 apartments — seven of them below market rate — and 154 parking spaces that will serve not only the building's residents and its guests, but importantly, [also serve] as a public parking resource in this neighborhood for many, many years to come." Several speakers, including Duff, cast the new development as the latest in the rebirth of South Norwalk, which began in the early 1980s.
Proposed industrial park may include Canton's highway garage
CANTON — A town highway garage may become part of the industrial park proposed for the Satan's Kingdom area near the Farmington River that has drawn strong opposition from people in Canton, New Hartford and beyond. In a proposal sent to the town last month, Borghesi Building and Engineering Inc. of Torrington has proposed to build the garage on vacant, wooded residentially zoned property on Route 44. That land is part of a parcel with 55 acres that straddle the town line with Canton and New Hartford that company Chairman Allan Borghesi is seeking to turn into an industrial park. In a move that drew criticism from residents, environmental advocates and others, Borghesi recently got the piece of the parcel he wants to develop in New Harford rezoned from residential to allow the industrial park. The land in Canton would need to be rezoned as well. Town Planner Neil Pade said Monday that so far Borghesi has not filed a rezoning application for the land in Canton. CLICK TITLE TO CONTINUE
Developer to present plans for "rock pile" in Guilford
GUILFORD >> DDR Corp. will take another step toward developing the rock pile on Wednesday as it is expected to present plans to the Planning and Zoning Commission that would transform the long-vacant site into a shopping center. The Ohio-based company met twice with the Design Review Committee in recent weeks to review renderings for the project, which calls for nearly 139,000 square feet of retail space at the 26-acre Guilford Commons site, according to an application filed with the town last week. The committee conditionally approved the design at the June 18 meeting after architect Frankie Campione presented changes to the plan to improve the center’s appearance from Interstate 95, construct a pedestrian walkway in the complex and alter the appearance of some of the retail spaces to the “cookie-cutter” look that some committee members previously criticized.
DDR has been attempting to develop the Guilford Commons site at 1919 Boston Post Road for years, but several false starts have stymied the company’s efforts. Construction began on a plan approved by the Planning and Zoning Commission in 2008 to build a 149,000 square-foot shopping center at the site, but as the economic downturn took hold, work at Guilford Commons abruptly stopped. Other plans have been rumored since then — including one for a Costco — but haven’t been realized. CLICK TITLE TO CONTINUE
Tappan Zee low-cost loan questioned
Environmentalists are questioning Cuomo administration plans to help pay for a new Tappan Zee Bridge with $511 million in low-cost loans from a fund dedicated to sewage, drinking water and clean water projects. The Environmental Facilities Corp. loans to the Thruway Authority will fund measures to protect Hudson River water and marine life while building the bridge and then tearing down the old one, Gov. Andrew Cuomo said in announcing the plans recently. The $3.9 billion project's funding already includes a $1.6 billion low-interest federal loan. The existing 3-mi. bridge is 25 mi. north of midtown Manhattan. It opened in 1955. Environmental Advocates of New York called for legislative hearings and has requested records about the Thruway Authority's application. Executive Director Peter Iwanowicz called it “a little bit of creative accounting” for the corporation to help pay for the project whose environmental damage it's protecting against. “Diverting funds meant for clean water to instead supporting the construction of a bridge establishes a deeply troubling precedent and raises many questions,” he said. CLICK TITLE TO CONTINUE
Canton gets federal go ahead to run two hydroelectric dams
CANTON — With a former electricity-generating dam behind them, state and local officials announced Tuesday that they have taken the first major step in reactivating the two dams that were built on the Farmington River more than 100 years ago by the old Collins Company. Sen. Christopher S. Murphy, D-Conn., and Rep. Elizabeth H. Esty, D-5th District, said President Obama signed the Collinsville Renewable Energy Promotion Act into law on Monday. The law will allow the town to operate the dams and generate nearly two megawatts of electricity, enough to power more than 1,500 homes. The upper and lower dams, located about a mile apart in the Collinsville section of town, were built in the 1800s to power the Collins Co. The company, which manufactured axes, machetes, scythes and adzes, closed in the 1960s and the dams have not generated electricity since then. "We are standing on an iconic piece of property that speaks to both Connecticut's past and Connecticut's future," Murphy said. Murphy said First Selectman Richard Barlow came to him seven years ago, when he was still representing the 5th Congressional District, about reactivating the dams, which are now owned by the state. The problem was that the federal license to operate the dams had expired and the cost for going through the process to obtain a new license from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission was steep. Barlow said it might have cost as much as $250,000.
The alternative was to craft legislation that would not only renew the license in the name of the state and the town without burdening them with the cost but still ensure that FERC would analyze the environmental impact of the project and hear from the public first before the dams are reactivated. The dams will have fish ladders to make sure that fish can pass through unharmed. CLICK TITLE TO CONTINUE
Watertown working on roads
WATERTOWN — Two big paving projects are underway, on Westview Drive and at Veterans Memorial Park. A contractor, Complete Services, is improving drainage and installing 10 new catch basins along Westview Drive, according to Public Works Director Roy E. Cavanaugh.
He said the number of new catch basins probably will increase as workers work around existing storm drains and gas and water mains that are not always where they are believed to be.
"There's always unanticipated conflicts underground. You just have to deal with them," Cavanaugh said. "It's a lot more complicated than new construction. ... In this case, we're fighting some funky stuff underground." Contractors have found tree stumps beneath the pavement, he said.
"It's an old road. It wasn't built to modern standards," Cavanaugh said. "Once you start finding stuff like that, it's not that tough to figure out why the road failed in the first place." Workers from Complete Services will grind up the existing pavement, then pave the road and put in new curbs once the drainage work is done. The project should take a couple more months, Cavanaugh said.
Complete Services bid $219,510, which will come out of a road bond passed in a referendum last year. Cavanaugh said about half of the original $4 million bond is left, some of which he hopes to use this summer for a culvert replacement on Jericho Road and reconstruction of Edgewood Road.
He said four or five of his road projects require permits from the Army Corps of Engineers, which the town has yet to obtain. CLICK TITLE TO CONTINUE