Council green lights Costco with tax breaks
NEW BRITAIN — It took nearly four years of promises, deal and negotiations, but shortly after 10 p.m. on Thursday the Common Council voted to give the Costco store the green light in New Britain.
The vote authorizing Mayor Erin Stewart’s tax assessment modification agreement was 12-3. Aldermen David DeFronzo, Michael Trueworthy and Alderwoman Eva Magnuszewski — all Democrats — opposed The prelude leading to the vote was not without passion. The council heard 24 people speak about the future of a Costco store in New Britain, before grappling with the issue. Certain themes were sounded and echoed from speakers with pro and con points of view. Kyle Hedstrom, the golf pro at Stanley Golf Course, told the council he and his staff could not wait much longer for the go-ahead. Since the project involves relocating three holes from Stanley golf course, there is work to be done on the greens. “We need two growing seasons, fall and spring,” Hedstrom said. Bill DeMaio, city Parks and Recreation director, spoke in support of him. “If you’re going to move on Costco,” he told the council, “please do it right away. We want to keep Stanley Golf Course’s great reputation.” However, city resident Melanie Kulig, who spoke against the project, warned that storage tanks for Costco’s gas station would be too close to the golf course. CLICK TITLE TO CONTINUE
CT DOT worker impersonated Commissioner in email about Busway
BANTAM >> One way or the other, Brian Mercure was certainly busy. The list of items confiscated from his Torrington home to be used in the case against him included four different laptops of different brands—ACER, HP, Dell and Sony—two PC towers, an iPad, an SD Card and nine flash drives. This evidence was collected by state police to prove whether or not Mercure impersonated a high ranking state Department of Transportation official in email correspondence with a newspaper editor. Mercure was arraigned Thursday at Bantam Superior Court. His case has been continued to Aug. 19. Mercure, 52, a Torrington resident and a 29-year employee of the DOT, is alleged to have impersonated DOT Commissioner James Redeker in an email to Paul Hughes, an editor at the Waterbury Republican American. Mercure, who was arrested July 24, has been charged with criminal impersonation. Mercure is the assistant director for ConnDOT’s District 3A Construction Office in New Haven, working on the I-95 New Haven Harbor Crossing Corridor Improvement Program, according to the DOT’s website. The multi-billion dollar project includes replacing the bridge over the Quinnipiac River. According to court documents, the email was sent Nov. 25, 2013 from a Gmail account containing “information involving an ongoing and often publicly scrutinized project.” This project was CTFastrak, a New Britain-to-Hartford bus system. CLICK TITLE TO CONTINUE
What's the story with Branford's Rail Station
Work on Branford's "up and over" Shore Line East Railroad station is progressing with the recent delivery of some crane-worthy infrastructure last week. The station's parking area, accessed at the intersection of Maple Street and Indian Neck Avenue, is detouring most cars to the west lot, as most of the main area is fenced off so that workers for Connecticut Department of Transportation can prepare to install some major infrastructure components to complete the "up and over" phase of the multi-year station project. Open since 2005, the rail station upgrade is now winding toward its conclusion with construction that will install the final pieces to create a second station access platform on the north side of the rail. Also on the north side of the rail, where a private home once stood on Kirkham Street, a "kiss and ride" drop-off station with direct pedestrian connections (walkways and ramps) will be constructed. That site is currently being used as a staging area for the north side platform construction. The station was first built to offer its current, south-side, high-level rail platform. In 2011, parking at the station was increased, with a large segment added to the west, bringing the total to more than 300 spaces now available. CLICK TITLE TO CONTINUE
Natural gas expansion in Manchester likely to go ahead
MANCHESTER — Thanks to neighborhood leadership and a projected infusion of revenue, a natural gas expansion project in the southeastern corner of town that was abruptly halted is likely to go forward, gas company officials and state legislators said Thursday. About 70 residents of the Timrod Road neighborhood filled a banquet room at Manchester Country Club to hear the news from Roddy Diotalevi, senior director of sales and marketing for Connecticut Natural Gas. Pending approval from the state Public Utilities Regulatory Authority, CNG will start laying new lines before Labor Day and complete the work by the end of September, Diotalevi said. Responding to residents' interest in gas conversions, CNG began laying line in the neighborhood in the spring. Plans were to connect more than 100 homes, but last month, after hooking up about 65 homes, the company sent a letter to neighborhood residents saying that unexpected construction costs and a lack of signed agreements from homeowners had halted the project. The gas company found that expected revenue would not balance with the construction costs for the remainder of the project, Diotalevi said. But the notification angered residents who said they had been promised natural gas, which is much cheaper now than heating oil. Some had removed their oil tanks, hired heating contractors and even made deposits on conversions, Betsy Karhu of Tam Road said after the meeting. CLICK TITLE TO CONTINUE
Construction industry adds 22,000 jobs in July
New government data Aug. 1 show the uneven nature of the construction industry's recovery, as the sector added 22,000 jobs in July, but suffered a pullback in spending in June, according to an analysis by the Associated General Contractors of America. Association officials said that uncertainty about federal funding for a range of infrastructure and construction programs is one reason for the uneven recovery. “Construction employment and spending are both rising at a moderate year-over-year clip, but there have been some setbacks,” said Ken Simonson, the association's chief economist. “While prospects for private construction remain largely favorable, inadequate public investment still threatens to keep too many workers idle.” Construction employment totaled 6 million in July, the highest total since May 2009, while the industry's unemployment rate of 7.5 percent was the lowest July number in seven years, Simonson noted. The sector's employment rose by 211,000, or 3.6 percent, from a year earlier. Residential construction employers added 13,000 jobs in July and 115,600 (5.3 percent) over 12 months. Nonresidential construction employment increased by 9,100 for the month and 95,700 (2.6 percent) since July 2013. Simonson attributed the weaker growth in nonresidential employment to a decline in public construction spending. CLICK TITLE TO CONTINUE
Energy center to be discussed
OXFORD — The town's Planning and Zoning Commission and Oxford Conservation Commission / Inland Wetlands Agency will hold a special meeting next week to discuss the CPV Towantic Energy Center project. The meeting will be at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday at Town Hall. The agenda for the meeting calls for discussion and possible action on the proposed power plant. There will be no questions or comments from the public at the meeting. Competitive Power Ventures plans to break ground next year on an 805 megawatt combined-cycle electric generating facility. The natural gas power plant will be constructed on 26 acres at the Woodruff Hill industrial complex, near the Middlebury-Oxford line. The electricity generated by the facility is enough to power more than 750,000 Connecticut homes. Existing permits, approved in 1999, allow for a $300 million, 512 megawatt facility. The process is underway for updating these permits to incorporate updated technology, according to project director Andrew Bazinet. The project had been dormant after hitting some legal roadblocks, but was relaunched when General Electric Energy Financial Services purchased the Towantic Energy subsidiary from Calpine Corp. in 2007.