Get Steel point through stretch
Given the delays that have characterized the evolution of the Steel Point development project since it first came up more than 30 years ago, we hope now that the first major component of the project -- construction of a Bass Pro Shops -- has moved into the home stretch, that city officials will be able to bring it home smoothly. Bass Pro Shops, the Missouri-based sporting goods retailer, submitted its application for a foundation permit to the city on July 24. The application should get a thorough review, for sure, by the city's building-associated departments, but the application is also entitled to expedited consideration. Though Bass Pro Shops was not even a twinkle in the eye of anyone in Bridgeport in 1983, that was the year that two development groups were competing for the right to develop what then was described as a 110-acre plot known as Harborpointe. Initially, with Republican Mayor Leonard S. Paoletta in the mayor's chair and Alderman Ernest E. Newton ensconced as president of the city council, Harborpointe was described as a $700-million project that would include townhouses, high-rise offices, luxury condos, stores and a convention center, with the first units to be built by Spring 1984 and the complete project to be built out over 20 years. CLICK TITLE TO CONTINUE
New Milford gets money for bridges
NEW MILFORD -- The Town Council approved entering into the Local Bridge Program Fiscal Year 2015 commitment with the Department of Transportation to pay for bridge repairs and replacement.
Two bridges are targeted through the program: the bridge over Bull Mountain Brook at the southern end of Mud Pond Road and the bridge over Morrissey Brook on Gaylord Road at the Sherman town line. Both bridges are in the Gaylordsville section of New Milford. DOT funding for the projects will be $235,000 toward the $440,000 cost of repairs to the Mud Pond Road bridge and $500,000 toward the $1.6 million replacement cost of the bridge on Gaylord Road.
Work is anticipated to begin in the spring 2015 construction season.
Big changes eyed for Southington Hospital
The Hospital of Central Connecticut plans to reconfigure and expand services in Southington, while eliminating 15 inpatient beds at its Bradley Memorial campus. The project, in its initial stages according to hospital officials, will include the construction of a new “state of the art” emergency department and ambulatory care center “in a more convenient location.” Tentatively, that location is the Knight’s Inn on Queen Street. The current structure would be torn down and replaced with a new “bigger and bolder” facility, said Lucille Janatka, president of Hartford HealthCare’s central region, which includes HOCC and MidState Medical Center in Meriden. It would be one of five standalone emergency departments in the state. A developer to be named would build and own the building. The plan calls for the current Bradley campus to be repurposed, with a focus on services for the aging. An ambulatory surgical center for orthopedics is a start of the new focus, and will open within a month, Janatka said. The process will take two to three years to implement. During that time, community involvement will be a critical part of the planning process, said Trish Walden, vice president of Hartford HealthCare’s Senior Health Services for the region and project manager for the Bradley reconfiguration. CLICK TITLE TO CONTINUE
Construction Institute executive director to retire
Bill Cianci, the long-time executive director of the Construction Institute at the University of Hartford, will retire on Dec. 31. Cianci served the Construction Institute for 28 years, overseeing the growth of the organization that acts as an industry group and an educational resources for all the many players in Connecticut's construction industry, ranging from property owners to contractors to government agencies to architects to engineers. UHart and the institute's board are looking for a successor to Cianci. The board began searching this month and expects to have a new executive director identified before Cianci's departs. During his time as executive director, Cianci oversaw the spread of the institute's reach from Greater Hartford to all of Connecticut. He advocated for new programming like the Visionary's Form, building information modeling, and the major programs series. The Construction Institute was founded in 1975.
Plans to build power house in Oxford resurrected
OXFORD - Plans to build a gas power plant on the northern town line are being resurrected despite some opposition. Competitive Power Ventures is proposing to build a 805-megawatt facility on an approximately 20-acre site in the Woodruff Hill industrial complex. "The growth that Oxford is having now, and will have in the near future, will be promulgated and helped very much by the addition of this power plant," said Andrew McGeever, economic development director of Oxford. Not all residents agree. At several town meetings held to address this topic, there has been a "mixed reaction," said Oxford's First Selectman George Temple. Sone residents of neighboring Middlebury are even less pleased. "It's like a nightmare for the town," said Middlebury First Selectman Edward St. John. The plans for the project originally belonged to Calpine Corp about 15 years ago, but after the business went bankrupt, General Electric took ownership. GE held onto the project for several years, but sold it to CPV within the last few years, said McGeever. GE is a minority partner in the current project, acting as an investor. Although the original plans for the power plant already have been approved, CPV must get permission for design changes, said Andy Bazinet, director of development for CPV. CLICK TITLE TO CONTINUE
Officials break ground on Litchfield Courthouse
TORRINGTON >> One of the shovels on the small pile of gravel had a sparkling white ribbon.
Lt. Gov. Nancy Wyman, the special guest on Tuesday during a groundbreaking ceremony on Field Street for the $81.4 million Litchfield Judicial District courthouse, thought it might have been for her.
But she was stopped in her tracks before she laid a finger on the instrument. “That’s mine, Nancy, don’t touch it!” said State Rep. Roberta Willis, D-64, as laughter broke out. Willis has seen the project unfold since joining the legislature in 2001, helping bring it back to the attention of the state after nearly 30 years of dormancy. Willis had been storing the shovel since 2002, waiting for this day. She emphasized the courthouse’s long history by handing out a timeline of the project compiled by the legislative research office. “I know the commissioner said he was going to bring me a shovel,” Willis said. “I said, ‘No,’ I’m bringing my own shovel.” Willis said the building will have a positive impact on the local community and the judicial community. “I think there was a lot of us who didn’t believe that this was going to happen, or at least within our lifetimes,” Willis said. CLICK TITLE TO CONTINUE
CT lobbies for upgraded freight rail line system
HARTFORD, Conn. (AP) From the port of New London on Long Island Sound north through Connecticut, Massachusetts, Vermont and into Canada, a 390-mi. (627.6 km) freight rail system linking New England to the rest of the Northeast lacks a key element: a 21st-century rail line in Connecticut. Elected officials in Connecticut, backed by regional business owners and Genesee & Wyoming Inc., owner of New England Central Railroad, are lobbying federal transportation officials for $8.3 million to upgrade railroad tracks to accommodate heavier freight and move more products to market. New England Central is contributing $2 million. Officials said it would be the first north-south heavy rail capacity corridor in Connecticut and could lead to expanded passenger rail service in eastern Connecticut. “You can see point-blank the rail line is rusty, bolted together, not that stable in terms of bearing weight,” said Rep. Joe Courtney, D-Conn., one of several elected officials lobbying for the federal money. The New England Central Railroad moves commodities such as lumber, panels, plywood, newsprint, printing paper, compressed gas, chemicals, fuel oil and construction debris. The Great Recession hit New England hard, but business is returning, said Charles Hunter, assistant vice president of government affairs at Genesee & Wyoming. Rail also looks attractive in comparison with truck transport, which relies on rising gasoline prices, he said. CLICK TITLE TO CONTINUE
Middlebury strongly opposes proposed Oxford power plant
MIDDLEBURY -- Competitive Power Ventures says an 805-megawatt power plant in Woodruff Industrial Park would bring millions of dollars in tax revenue and up to 500 new jobs to Oxford, but residents in neighboring Middlebury don't see much benefit for their community. The town strongly opposed similar plans to build a 512-megawatt plant there 15 years ago, and the latest plan rekindled First Selectman Edward B. St. John's concern for Middlebury's residential neighborhoods nearby.
"This plan is beyond the pale," he said Tuesday. "We're going from 500 to over 800 megawatts. The last project was bad. This one is worse." The town spent hundreds of thousands of dollars in legal costs to fight the original proposal by Towantic Energy in 1999. The Connecticut Siting Council, which has jurisdiction over power plants, approved those plans. But Towantic's parent company, Calpine Inc., went bankrupt in 2005 before construction could start. GE Energy Financial Services acquired the right to build the plant from Calpine in 2007. Project Director Andrew Bazinet said last week that the permits will be updated in about six to nine months, allowing CPV to break ground on the 26-acre property in the second half of next year. The Middlebury Board of Selectmen recently reappointed Ray Pietrorazio as the town liaison for the power plant project. "We're known to be fighters," St. John said. "We will continue to do that. The town of Middlebury doesn't get one benefit out of it." St. John says Middlebury opposes the power plant for environmental and safety reasons.
Pietrorazio, who is also the town representative for Waterbury-Oxford Airport, believes having a power plant within a half-mile of an airstrip can cause aviation hazards due to height and visibility problems from the smoke stacks, which are "like a fog machine." Before the Siting Council can decide on the proposal, Pietrorazio said, an approval from the Federal Aviation Administration is needed, adding the FAA had denied an extension of a past approval requested by Towantic. "To have this fast-growing, dynamic airport ruined by this power plant doesn't make sense," he said. "It's ludicrous." Pietrorazio said the plant would be pumping out sulfur dioxide, carbon monoxide and nitrous oxide — harming wetlands and posing health risks to residents, especially those with asthma.
He is also concerned over the amount of water to be used and the "huge amount of discharged water" the Naugatuck Treatment Plant would have to handle before it flows back into the Naugatuck River.
Many of the same concerns are being expressed at the grassroots on the Facebook page of Citizens Against CPV Oxford Energy Plant, started by a Middlebury resident who lives close to the property.
St. John does not want a power plant at Middlebury's border. "This has virtually no impact on Oxford, because it's in its upper northeast corner," he said. "We would have no objection if Oxford moved it to their town center."