Enabling a Stroll to Saybrook Station
OLD SAYBROOK - By this time next year, pedestrians will be able to walk on sidewalks from the train station along North Main Street to the Boston Post Road and then along Main Street. That's because a $999,900 state grant the town just received will pay for new sidewalks along both sides of that road. The State Department of Transportation (DOT) grant funding ensures that planned North Main Street upgrades will be completed before the end of 2015. On the list of fixes are the installation of new sidewalks along both sides of the road, a new stormwater drainage system, and full re-construction of the road from road-bed to new surface paving. First Selectman Carl Fortuna, Jr., said that Town Engineer Jeff Jacobson now can develop the detailed engineering drawings that will support the bidding process. North Main Street, the focus of this improvement project, is a two-block long town road that extends northward from the Boston Post Road to the train tracks adjacent to the Old Saybrook train station. Currently, train commuters park on the grassy area on both sides of this road every work day because the state's parking area is too small to accommodate all of the commuters' cars. That will soon change, however, since the state is moving forward on a project that will put a new 200-space parking lot on a 3.6 acre parcel bounded by the train tracks and North Main Street. DOT spokesman Kevin Nursick said that the state acquired the future parking lot land for a price of $1.577 million from Jandin Realty, LLC, in March 2014. The owner has appealed the purchase arrangement not due to the acquisition price set by the state's process but to better define the terms of the purchase agreement. "We are in friendly and professional discussions with the owner," said Nursick. CLICK TITLE TO CONTINUE
WPCA asks for funds for phase 2
OLD SAYBROOK - With Phase One almost complete, the Water Pollution Control Authority (WPCA) this month applied for $3.68 million in grant funds and $11.6 million in loans from the state's Clean Water Fund program to pay for the second phase of the decentralized wastewater management program. Once the state approves the town's new application, the WPCA will start work on Phase Two. First on the Phase Two task list will be septic upgrades for the 55 homes in the Meadowood and Ingham Hill neighborhoods. As originally approved, the WPCA's decentralized wastewater management program's costs are financed by Clean Water Fund loans and grants. Fifty percent of each septic system upgrade's costs and an allocation for program management costs are borne by the homeowner whose property is upgraded. To date in Phase One, 265 properties in the wastewater management district (WWMD) have had their septic systems upgraded or replaced with support from Clean Water Fund loans and grants. When Phase One ends on Oct. 31, the WPCA will have upgraded the septic systems of more than 300 properties. Under the WPCA's decentralized wastewater management program, WWMD homeowners who opt for Clean Water Funds get a low-interest rate loan to finance their share of the septic upgrade's costs. Participating homeowners' share is 50 percent of the site-specific construction costs and an allocated share, as yet undetermined, of the town's project management costs (soft costs). The mechanism for payment of the cost-share for hard construction costs and soft project management costs is via a benefit assessment levied on each participating property by the WPCA. When the WPCA approves a property's specific benefit assessment, the homeowner can then be billed by the WPCA. The annual bill the homeowner receives for the benefit assessment charge is one-twentieth of the total cost-share plus interest due on the two-percent, 20-year loan. CLICK TITLE TO CONTINUE
Construction set to begin at Big Y in Simsbury
SIMSBURY — Construction is set to begin on a 54,000-square-foot Big Y World Class Supermarket on Hopmeadow Street in the north end of town. Demolition and grading is expected to begin in September, according to Hiram Peck, the town's director of planning and development. The construction is expected to take about a year to complete, Peck said. The supermarket will be next to the International Skating Center, in the spot once occupied by the Wagner Ford dealership on Hopmeadow Street, also Route 10. "This will bring more business to the north side of town," zoning commission Chairman Robert Pomeroy said. "There's finally starting to have activity up there."
The commission approved the supermarket in September 2012, and the board of selectmen approved the final agreement in January this year. Peck said construction was delayed by negotiations over the proposed shared used of the skating center's driveway for deliveries the supermarket. The town leases the land to the skating center, so the town needed permission from the center to allow delivery trucks on the driveway. "It's all resolved now," Peck said. "I hope it makes its way along."
Peck said the agreement the town approved specified that the supermarket must be completed by the fall of 2015. "I look forward to seeing the development," Pomeroy said. CLICK TITLE TO CONTINUE
Seymour senior housing gets funding boost for developer
SEYMOUR >> A project slated to bring 26 affordable senior housing apartments downtown recently received a financial shot in the arm from the state. The State Bond Commission last week approved a low-interest loan for the construction of the apartments at 38 Columbus St. According to a press release from state Rep. Theresa Conroy, D-Seymour, the $4.95 million loan, with a one percent interest rate, will enable payments to be deferred for the first 15 years of the 40-year term. “This project will be a piece of continuing to revitalize downtown Seymour,” Conroy said. “Having people move into a downtown area will not only give them close resources, but will also help local businesses. I envision further projects that will expand the mix to include young adults and couples as the town and state work together to help make Seymour a local and transit oriented district.”
Local architect Joseph Migani of Seymour-based O’Riordan Migani Architects is the developer behind the $5.9 million building project. Migani was previously tapped by the state Department of Housing to receive a $250,000 loan under its Predevelopment Cost Revolving Loan Program.
The 26 proposed apartments are part of the second phase of Migani’s existing senior apartment complex at 16 Bank St., which was built in the 2008 in the former Eckhardt Furniture building. Migani received local approvals last year to build Phase II which calls for construction of a five-story building at 38 Columbus St. housing 26, handicapped-accessible, one-bedroom elderly apartments, a community room, elevator and 15 onsite parking spaces. CLICK TITLE TO CONTINUE
Refinancing debt clears way for Seymour projects
SEYMOUR >> The town’s recent bond rating upgrade is really paying off. Thanks to refinancing some $5.8 million in debt it took on back in 2004 for various school construction, sewer upgrades and other projects, Seymour stands to realize nearly $450,000 in savings over the next six years. And those savings, according to First Selectman Kurt Miller, will enable the town to tackle some much-needed road and infrastructure improvement projects, without impacting taxpayer’s pocketbooks. “We have worked very hard to save the taxpayers a substantial sum,” Miller said. “These savings will give the Town a lot of options moving forward.” Back in April, the Manhattan-based financial ratings agency, Standard & Poor’s, upgraded Seymour’s bond rating two levels to an AA+. That level is S&P’s second highest rating, and officials said a strong credit rating makes it easier for borrowers to gain access to capital, at very low interest rates. The AA+ rating, Miller had said, puts Seymour in the same category as the United States of America and one level higher than the State of Connecticut.
In this case, Miller said the upgrade has enabled Seymour to refinance some of its debt at incredibly low interest rates “below one percent.” Miller said the series of bonds the town took on in 2004 will mature in 2020, and thanks to refinancing, the town will begin realizing savings in the 2015-16 annual town budget. Next year, he said the town will recoup more than $133,000 in savings alone, followed by another $194,000 the year after that, and so on, until a total of $448,743.89 in savings through 2020 is realized. Miller said the savings can potentially be used to fund a new set of bonds “designed to tackle some of the $12 million in road work” projects that Town Engineer Jim Galligan outlined in the Town of Seymour Road Maintenance Program, which the selectmen approved earlier this month. CLICK TITLE TO CONTINUE
School Board may again extend O&G's contract
WATERBURY — A series of contract extensions has kept Torrington-based O&G Industries working as Waterbury's chief school construction consultant since 2005. The city's school administration is seeking to extend that contract for the coming year, making for a decade-long contractural relationship with O&G. The company has already helped oversee hundreds of millions of dollars in construction and expansion of Waterbury schools. The Board of Education today will be presented with the latest proposed one-year extension, worth up to $1.3 million between this Sept. 1 and Aug 31, 2015. This is a $263,945, or 18 percent, reduction from the current $1.5 million contract.
Schools Chief Operating Officer Paul Guidone said the lower figure stems from a reduction in the amount of work expected. "This period we are going into now has less construction than past years," Guidone said. O&G will still be needed to oversee an ongoing $23.2 million expansion of Kennedy High School, $3 million environmental cleanup of a 1-acre wetland behind Reed Elementary School, completion of a $15.8 million addition to Wallace Middle School, along with final sign-offs on the construction of Carrington Elementary School and the Waterbury Career Academy high school, Guidone noted. City officials first hired O&G to a three-year contract in 2005. At the time, O&G's construction experts helped oversee design and construction of additions to Wilby, Crosby and Kennedy high schools, along with construction of Duggan, Reed and Gilmartin elementary schools.
The city has since granted three one-year extensions and one three-year extension of the O&G contract. O&G recieves largely positive reviews from most city and school officials. It has faced some criticism and consistent questioning from Independent Party Alderman Lawrence V. De Pillo.
De Pillo's qualms led the district to end O&G's practice of bringing sandwich platters to meetings of the Board of Education's Building Committee. District officials have since assumed that expense.
De Pillo also complains of a relatively constant year-to-year fee in excess of $1 million, seemingly unaffected by the amount of work. De Pillo believes the city could save money by putting the contract out to bid. Guidone said the contract values are really just the maximum possible charge. Actual charges have varied and have always been under the maximum, Guidone said Tuesday. He will provide those figures to the school board Thursday. As for putting the contract to bid, Guidone said the district has been so busy revamping its building stock in the past decade that switching consultants would have created a disruption. With an expected lull after the coming year, it may be time to put these services out to bid, Guidone said. The school board will receive information about the proposal Thursday. A vote is expected at its Aug. 7 meeting. The Board of Aldermen would also have to approve the contract extension. That vote is expected to take place Aug. 25.
Today's school board meeting begins at 5:30 p.m. at Maloney Magnet School.