WASHINGTON (AP) — The Senate is set to take up legislation to keep federal highway money flowing to states, with just three days left before the government plans to start slowing down payments. The House passed a $10.8 billion bill last week that would pay for highway and transit aid through the end of May 2015 if transportation spending is maintained at current levels. Under a schedule outlined by Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., the Senate would take up that bill Tuesday. But senators who say the House bill uses budgetary gimmicks to pay for roads and bridges or who want to force Congress to act before the end of the year on a long-term plan to pay for transportation programs are expected to offer amendments. If any amendment passes, it would alter the underlying House bill and set up an 11th-hour showdown between the House and Senate on how to resolve the differences between their bills. The Transportation Department says that by Aug. 1 the federal Highway Trust Fund will no longer have enough money to cover promised aid to states, and the government will begin to stretch out payments. Congress has kept the trust fund teetering on the edge of bankruptcy since 2008 through a series of temporary fixes because lawmakers have been unable to find a politically acceptable, long-term funding plan. States have been warned to expect an average reduction of 28 percent in aid payments. Without action from Congress, the balance in the fund is expected to drop to zero by late August or early September. Some states already have cut back on construction projects because of the uncertainty over federal funding. President Barack Obama and other state and local officials have complained that the uncertainty over funding is costing jobs. CLICK TITLE TO CONTINUE
Photo: Lindsay Perry
STAMFORD -- They seem to be everywhere in downtown Stamford, dominating the skyline and hovering above the gaping, dusty construction sites that sit like missing teeth on the city's landscape. They are the markers of progress and renewal in the city, but for many, the construction cranes that are forging the downtown's redevelopment represent a mixed blessing, part of the cost of doing business in a growing urban center. With more than 1,000 residential units currently under construction in downtown Stamford, the work poses a dilemma for business owners, who must weigh the present inconveniences against the promise of future rewards. On one hand, there is the annoyance of the building under construction amid partially closed streets, limited parking spaces and grumbling customers. On the other, the potential for a new flow of business from completed residential projects is often enough incentive for businesses to wait out the building process.According to Sandy Goldstein, president of the Downtown Special Services District, construction is the worst and best thing that can happen to a business. Goldstein estimated the new housing units could bring as many as 3,000 residents downtown. These are people, she said, "who will at one point eat in your restaurant, shop in your shoe store, or get their hair done at your salon." CLICK TITLE TO CONTINUE
Plainville manager backs demolition of old Linden Street school
PLAINVILLE — With the fate of the old Linden Street School hanging in the balance, Town Manager Robert E. Lee recommends demolition.
A public hearing to discuss the fate of the school at 69 Linden St. has been set for Aug. 18 at 7:30 p.m. at the municipal center at 1 Central Square. The Capital Projects Building Committee held two public information meetings — on Oct. 11, 2012, and Jan. 17, 2013 — to ask for input from citizens. According to Lee, the meetings were sparsely attended, and the committee ultimately made the recommendation to demolish the school. Lee said he agrees with their decision. “Their minds weren’t made up going in and many wanted to save it, but because the building is located on school grounds, there is very limited use for it,” he said. “We don’t want to allow just anyone to walk onto school grounds unless it is after hours. That is a pure safety issue. Also, there is really no parking in the area. The cost to renovate is estimated to be between $4 million and $6 million: why would anyone want to invest that much in a building with such limited use? Also, there are bricks on the upper level coming loose and the interior is not in very good shape.” CLICK TITLE TO CONTINUE
Newington community project presentation gets feedback, opposition from residents
NEWINGTON — Town Manager John Salomone shared details on the proposed Town Hall/Community Center Project with the Newington Rotary Club this week.
This was among his first presentations to various community groups before voters weigh in on the $30 million project at a Sept. 9 referendum. On Monday, July 28, Salomone will make a presentation about the center at Paradise Pizza in New Britain during a meeting of the Newington Kiwanis Club.
Architectural renderings and an informational brochure that was just finalized and approved by the State Bond Commission and Town Council guides presentations. This very same brochure will be mailed to all Newington households of registered voters in the next few weeks. “I am obliged and honored to be as neutral as I can,” Salomone told Rotarians Wednesday. “I’ve been in this business for 38 years and I really trust citizens in making good choices,” he added. The project includes an interior renovation to Town Hall and construction of a new community center in Mill Pond Park, adjacent to the Town Hall complex. Moving the center to open park land has sparked the most opposition from residents, who came to the council’s meeting Tuesday sporting blue and yellow T-shirts that read “Save Mill Pond Park” and hand-written “Say No Sept. 9” stickers. CLICK TITLE TO CONTINUE
Documents reveal details of plan of former Waterford school
Waterford — The proposed multi-family development on the property of the former Cohanzie School includes four new buildings containing 154 apartments plus a swimming pool and children's play area, according to documents obtained by The Day through a Freedom of Information Act request. Centerplan Companies is slated to present its proposal for an apartment complex on the property of the former school to the Board of Selectmen on Aug. 11 at 5 p.m at Town Hall.
Also scheduled is a public hearing and possible vote to sell the property to the firm for $1 million. The firm plans to restore the original 1923 section of the school and use it as a recreation facility.
"The site plan was designed to locate smaller two-story buildings at the front of the site along the existing roadway [Dayton Road] and to locate the larger four-story buildings at the rear of the site in order to take advantage of this steep slope and natural site topography," states materials submitted by Centerplan to the town's building department. The materials include a conceptual map and rendering of what the development would look like. Centerplan CEO Robert Landino referred to the map as a "schematic design" that the firm will refine if the town approves the sale. Landino said the four residential buildings will include studio, one-bedroom and two-bedroom apartments and would satisfy town requirements for minimum parking with 270 spots. Some of the parking would be on the first floor of the four-floor buildings located by a portion of the Jordan Brook watershed, while some parking would be in separate single garages with the two-story buildings, and other parking would be in parking lots, he said. CLICK TITLE TO CONTINUE
Time to abandon CT Studios project?
It's no secret economic development projects can be a tough slog in Connecticut. Whether it's attempting to build a new minor league ballpark in the Capital City, or a billion-dollar residential-commercial development in Windsor's Great Pond Village, new and significant developments can take years of planning and politicking before the first shovel sifts dirt. Many projects often fail to see the light of day, overwhelmed by a tough and costly regulatory environment, the high cost of doing business in the state, and local politics. In some cases, however, the slow process serves businesses and residents well, providing time for the necessary oversight to ensure developers have well thought-out plans that don't leave taxpayers carrying all the risk. In that respect, citizen outrage over the Rock Cats' planned move to Hartford has been a good thing, forcing city officials to re-think plans to finance a $60 million stadium fully on the backs of taxpayers. There is a question of "How long is too long?" for a town or city to consider a proposed development before a project is abandoned. South Windsor officials need to start asking themselves that as they weigh the future of a proposed $100 million film studio, which has been planned since 2008, but still hasn't broken ground.
It may be time to pull the plug on the deal. CLICK TITLE TO CONTINUE
E. Hampton High's redo embraces chilled-beam AC
East Hampton schoolkids and their parents have waited decades for their aging high school to undergo the kinds of improvements that will facilitate 21st-century learning.
If antiquated classroom space unconducive to a modern science/technology curricula wasn't bad enough, on sweltering days, pupils and teachers find it even more challenging to keep cool, because much of the schoolhouse isn't air conditioned. High-school A/C has topped residents' and town educators' complaint- and wish-lists for years. Now, countdown has begun toward the scheduled November start of a $52 million inside-out, "as-new" renovation of the approximately 123,000-square-foot, single-story hilltop structure at 15 N. Maple St. Construction is expected to be finished by summer 2017. When completed, the 52-year-old building that underwent a 47,000-square-foot addition in 1974, with minor handicapped-access upgrades in 1989, will be the most modern of the town's four schools. The new science wing, gymnasium and an overhead cooling system found in only a handful of Connecticut buildings but used mostly outside the U.S., stand out among the lengthy list of enhancements, according to S/L/A/M Collaborative Inc. architect Glenn Gollenberg, principal in charge of East Hampton High's makeover.
Downes Construction in New Britain has been hired as general contractor. CLICK TITLE TO CONTINUE
CT borrows $725M for roads, housing, schools and non-profits
The Bond Commission authorized approximately $725 million in borrowing, the bulk of which will go to transportation infrastructure. Repair, replacement and equipment programs for roads, bridges, bus and rail projects received more than $524 million. Housing was the second-largest category, with approximately $49 million. Dakota Partners' conversion of Hartford's 390 Capitol Ave. into 112 apartments and commercial space and Spruce Meadows' construction of 43 apartments on South Broad Street in Meriden each received a $5 million loan from the state's housing trust fund. Four multi-family housing owners also received a total of $12.2 million in improvement loans.
Business-related borrowing totaled approximately $40 million. The bulk, $30 million, was split among replenishing the Small Business Express Fund — which provides loans and assistance to business — and a reallocation of Manufacturing Assistance Act funds to six companies.
Area companies receiving MAA assistance include C. Cowles & Co. in North Haven for property and training costs and Marsam Metal Finishing Co. in New Britain for construction and equipment purchases. The Subsidized Employment and Training Program (STEP), which subsidizes the cost of hiring and training employees, received $3.7 million. Meanwhile, the Hartford Economic Development Loan Fund received $2.5 million to provide revolving grants and loans to small and minority-owned businesses. The Connecticut Science Center received $4 million for HVAC improvements and technology and exhibit upgrades. The Mark Twain House and Museum in Hartford received $2.2 million for renovations and improvements. CLICK TITLE TO CONTINUE
Ansonia gets $500K grant to help redevelop former industrial sites
ANSONIA >> The city plans to redevelop nearly 60 acres of former industrial sites with a $500,000 grant the state Bonding Commission approved Friday. Economic Development Director Sheila O’Malley said she credits state Rep. Linda M. Gentile, D-Ansonia, for her efforts in getting the bond funding for Ansonia. “I have to thank Linda Gentile, she saw the need for economic development money and took (our request) to Hartford,” O’Malley said. “She was just wonderful; our hats are off to her.” Gentile said she and O’Malley started working on the grant application in late March. She said state officials “have an understanding of the needs and challenges that Ansonia is facing as a mill town.” Gentile and state Sen. Joseph J. Crisco, D-Woodbridge, joined Mayor David S. Cassetti, O’Malley and state and city officials Monday to announce the funding at a press conference at the former ATP Building. The city owns the ATP building at 497 E. Main St. and the adjoining Palmer Building at 153 Main St. It would like to develop both into residential sites. Other buildings being considered for redevelopment include the former Ansonia Copper and Brass offices at 75 Liberty St., and the cavernous former Ansonia Copper factory on Riverside Drive. Some funds will also be used for an access to Fountain Lake Industrial Park. O’Malley said the city will also “try to beef up the revolving loan fund to make it more of a substantial business loan.” Most of the $500,000 would be used for demolition, acquisition and cleanup. O’Malley said the funding request was made “because the properties that remain in Ansonia are difficult to develop.” They’re the more complex sites, she said, and require a partnership with developers. Standing Monday at the Riverside Drive entrance to the former Ansonia Copper and Brass site, Cassetti called it “an albatross. It’s 44 acres of desolation.” CLICK TITLE TO CONTINUE
Soil sampling has begun at Litchfield Courthouse
TORRINGTON >> Preliminary work for the Litchfield County Courthouse complex started Monday as crews began soil sampling on the site on Field Street. Rob Brautigam, a field engineer at GeoDesin of Middlebury, is overseeing the week-long phase of the project this week, working alongside the father and son team of John DeAngelis, Jr., and John DeAngelis III, of SITE, LLC, which is based in Beacon Falls. The DeAngelis are operating a drill rig with a hollow-stem auger made of heat-treated steel. Brautigam said the parking lot cap has about three inches of asphalt before turning into soil. The drilling is a form of a geotechnical engineering exploration, Brautigam said, as it will help determine the kind of foundation the 147,000 square-foot courthouse will need. “These guys are doing the soil boring up to 30 feet deep,” Brautigam said. “Basically, we are going to take all this data soil samples, send them off to a lab, bring them back to an office and our professional engineers will put together some designs for either a shallow or deep foundation for the courthouse itself.”
The week-long project will drill 20 holes, four per day, throughout the 3.2 acre lot, which will include a bulk of the courthouse facility and adjacent parking. CLICK TITLE TO CONTINUE