City reviewing vision for downtown redevelopment in Middletown
MIDDLETOWN >> A development consultant has turned in a concept plan to the city that makes a case for residential and commercial development downtown. Centerplan Development Company and the Leyland Alliance, whom the city hired to perform a market study and draft a concept plan for downtown development, turned in their final report to the Department of Planning, Conservation and Development on Aug. 11. Michiel Wackers, who heads up the planning department, stressed that Centerplan’s concept plan is merely “a feasibility report about possibilities.” The hypothetical development comprises open green space, high-rise construction, subterranean parking and a completely overhauled downtown block where Metro Square currently sits. Everything, however, seems to hinge around a newer, bigger parking lot where the Arcade parking lot is now. The city’s parking department has made initial overtures to the Common Council to bond $24 million for a new, four-story parking garage. Director Geen Thazhampallath has said that the city should anticipate $6.9 million in federal aid to offset that price tag. Wackers has said that new commercial and residential lots would depend on parking to support them. “Our goal is that this garage will support long-term development,” Wackers told the Press. All in all, Centerplan suggested that Metro Square and several parcels across Dingwall Drive could be the future sites of 100,000 square feet of retail shops and restaurants and more than 400 residential units. Centerplan commissioned a market study from Robert Charles Lesser & Co., who reported that there was particular demand for health and personal care retail, as well as “building materials, garden and supply” and “electronics and applicances.” CLICK TITLE TO CONTINUE
Clinton eyes retail, dining, homes for Morgan school site
CLINTON >> The vast hulk of a building that is The Morgan School could be replaced by a bucolic development that draws together the elements of village life — retail stores, places to dine, private homes, walkways — surrounded by greenery. The opportunity to develop that vision on what some consider the most valuable retail property in Clinton — the current site of The Morgan School on Route 81 — has been granted to Mill Pond LLC of Essex, developers whose past projects extend throughout southern New England and in Washington, D.C. Selectman endorsed the firm’s selection in their meeting Wednesday, leaving ahead of them the formidable tasks of negotiating with the developers the terms and purchase price for the property, as well as gaining the approvals by the finance and zoning boards, and finally a vote to endorse the deal by a town meeting. The town has approved construction of a new high school on property further north on Route 81, away from the busy interchange with Interstate 95 that makes the current school’s location and its 39 acres such an appealing candidate for commercial development. While not a recent appraisal, the property has been valued at $5 million as it currently stands, with the sprawling school building in place. The proceeds from the sale would be used to defray the $64.7 million cost of the new high school — of which the state is paying $19.1 million — in addition to producing new tax revenue roughly estimated at $500,000. CLICK TITLE TO CONTINUE
Killingly council establishes town's repayment portion of loan to upgrade sewer plant
KILLINGLY — The Killingly Town Council this week approved a resolution — with caveats — that states the town will contribute approximately $2.5 million in general funds toward a loan repayment for a proposed sewer plant upgrade. The council's decision on Tuesday was predicated on voter approval of the overall $25.8 million project to refurbish the town's 43-year-old waste water treatment facility. If voters approve the plan, the council, at a later date, would have to pass a separate ordinance to access the general fund money. Officials said the treatment plant overhaul will address several concerns at the aging plant, including replacing aging infrastructure and tweaking the systems that filter nitrogen and phosphorous to meet more stringent state and federal discharge regulations. The project cost also includes funding to demolish the former Danielson borough water treatment plant, which consists of several 70-year-old buildings near the town’s Little League field complex on Wauregan Road. A pump station in Rogers also would be upgraded as part of the project. A public hearing and town meeting on the proposal is scheduled for Tuesday, with a machine vote on Sept. 9.
"Those meetings and the vote will only be about the project itself," Town Manager Sean Hendricks said. "To include a question on the ballot on the general fund proposition would be putting the cart before the horse." CLICK TITLE TO CONTINUE
Officials hit the switch on Hartford landfill solar array
The Materials Innovation and Recycling Authority has turned on a new one-megawatt solar panel array at the Hartford landfill alongside I-91. MIRA, formerly called the Connecticut Resources Recovery Authority, turned the system on in mid-June after capping the six-acre section of the landfill upon with the 3,993-panel array sits. Earlier this month, MIRA asked the Public Utilities Resources Authority to classify the system as a Class I renewable energy source, which will allow it to generate renewable energy credits. MIRA will sell those credits — equivalent to one megawatt hour a piece — to Connecticut Light & Power for $110, or 11 cents per kilowatt hour, according to the application. MIRA would also sell excess power to CL&P for the same base price, but with a variable price on top of it set by grid operator ISO New England, according to David Bodendorf, senior environmental engineer at MIRA. Bodendorf estimated that the solar array may bring in approximately $200,000 in income per year. The landfill is the first in Connecticut to generate solar power. The panels sit atop a cap made of artificial turf designed to protect the landfill's methane gas collection system. The Closure Turf cap, made by Georgia's Watershed Geosynthetics, and solar generators were installed East Berlin's Tecta America. Massachusetts-based E.T. & L. Corp. is general contractor for the landfill project. CLICK TITLE TO CONTINUE
Manchester completes $5M in construction projects
MANCHESTER — When the 2014 construction season ends, the town will have completed about $5 million worth of road improvements, Public Works Director Mark Carlino said Thursday.
Carlino recently updated the board of directors on completed, ongoing and planned road work. One completed major job was the milling and resurfacing of Middle Turnpike from Green Manor Boulevard to Brookfield Street. General Manager Scott Shanley said at the directors' meeting Tuesday that the formerly pot-holed section had been the subject of many complaints.
Major projects slated to start soon include the resurfacing of bridge decks on three spans over I-384 — Keeney, Prospect and Wyllys streets. The Wyllys Street project also will include milling and paving the section from Highland Street to the area of the one-lane Spring Street bridge, Carlino said. The work is to begin later this month or in early September, he said. Woodland Street from Broad Street to Main Street will also be resurfaced, starting at the end of this month. Woodland Street from Broad Street to Main Street will also be resurfaced, starting at the end of this month. CLICK TITLE TO CONTINUE
U.S. Equipment rental revenue projected to exceed $51B in 2018
The equipment rental industry in the United States is expected to generate $35.8 billion in revenue and outpace gross domestic product (GDP) by more than four times in 2014, according to the American Rental Association's (ARA) latest forecast from the ARA Rental Market Monitor. Economic data and analysis for ARA Rental Market Monitor are compiled by IHS Inc., the leading global source of critical information and insight. In the United States, total equipment rental revenue is forecast to grow 7.6 percent in 2014 to reach $35.8 billion, 10.5 percent in 2015 to reach $39.6 billion and another 10.2 percent in 2016 to reach $43.6 billion, surpassing the previous industry record of $36.9 billion in 2007. The growth rate is expected to be 8.9 percent in 2017 and 7.7 percent in 2018, with total rental revenue of $51.2 billion. “The U.S. economy slowed more than expected in the first half of the year, but equipment rental demand has remained strong and rental growth will still handily outperform the overall economy. Looking forward, commercial construction and housing starts will contribute to growth in the construction and industrial and general tool segments,” said Scott Hazelton, managing director of IHS Global Insight. CLICK TITLE TO CONTINUE
Employment in Waterbury
Catherine Awwad's job ought to be the easiest job in Waterbury. The agency Ms. Awwad leads, the Northwest Regional Workforce Investment Board, is supposed to bring employers and job hunters together — and incredibly, it seems to have more of the former than the latter, in a city with the second-highest unemployment rate in Connecticut. "The jobs pay anywhere from $15 an hour for entry-level laborer work to $45 an hour for high-skilled heavy highway construction jobs," the Republican-American's Penelope Overton reported Monday. Child-care assistance? Check. Transportation help? Check. Free tools and toolbelts to use on the job? Check. Yet incredibly, just 14 applicants entered the program's training component in late July, and "after that, the bucket is empty," Ms. Overton wrote. The agency staged a job fair Wednesday afternoon at Kennedy High School in hopes of drawing more people into the workforce. Waterbury's unemployment rate is 10.4 percent, second only to Hartford in Connecticut at 12.3 percent. Many more undoubtedly are underemployed.
It's easy to blame political progressives for providing for unskilled people rather than shepherding them into the ranks of working people, or conservative business people for refusing to give inexperienced people a chance. And indeed, the workforce agency needs to challenge its own assumptions regarding strategies for attracting eager applicants for training and jobs.But whether the agency is doing all the outreach it should be doing, this one's on the people of Greater Waterbury and the other communities the agency serves — young people, in particular — for failing to exploit a splendid opportunity to start an honorable, well-paying career in the trades.