Town leaders approve natural gas plan for East Hampton
EAST HAMPTON >> The town has agreed to a proposal to bring natural gas to town. The Town Council voted unanimously earlier this month to accept a proposal that was made by Connecticut Natural Gas. The project was also approved by both the Board of Education and the Board of Finance, Town Council Chairwoman Barbara Moore said. Some details still must be worked out, town official acknowledge, including what form the town’s share of the project will take. Under the proposal, CNG would construct a nine-mile pipeline that would run from St. Clement’s Castle along Route 66 and then Route 16 then up through the Village Center and back out along 66 to the Marlborough Town Line. The projected cost of the pipeline is upwards of $5.7 million, town officials said. In addition to providing residents an option for heating their homes – and the town to heat its buildings — the proposal could also result in as much as $100,000 in additional tax revenues, Town Manager Michael Maniscalco said in unveiling the proposal earlier this month. “We really need to work on our infrastructure. It’s one of the paramount things we need to work on,” Maniscalco said in explaining the CNG proposal and its potential impact on town. The pipeline would connect to virtually every major commercial property in town, and anyone whose home is along the main route can tie in as well,” Maniscalco said. CNG is pressing for the town to sign an agreement in January, Maniscalco said on Wednesday. The utility has also outlined three conditions the town has to accept if the deal is to go forward. The first requirement is perhaps the easiest for the town to agree to: All town facilities must hook up to natural gas. Second, the town must “close the roads” after the company installs the pipeline – meaning the town would repave the trench line after the installation is completed, Maniscalco said. CLICK TITLE TO CONTINUE
Groton to build new middle school on Merritt property
Groton - The School Facilities Initiative Task Force decided Thursday to pursue plans to build a new middle school on the Merritt property, with an entrance off Fort Hill Road and the building as close to Robert E. Fitch High School as possible. The task force reviewed three options presented by educational consultants Milone & MacBroom and SLAM, an engineering, architecture and construction management firm. Two of the options would have built the middle school adjacent to the high school or behind it, with a goal of creating one campus. It also would use the same entrance on Groton Long Point Road as the high school. But to do that, the new building would have covered either the recently upgraded baseball field and tennis courts or the track/football field complex. It would have also led to choke points along the drive to the schools. The third option, which the task force told the consultants to move forward with, would create an entrance to the middle school off Fort Hill Road, and locate the building with Ella T. Grasso Technical High School to the rear and St. Mary's Church to the left. The middle school area would include a synthetic turf field, a multipurpose practice field, a softball field and a baseball field. The task force still wants students and staff to be able to easily move between Fitch High School and the middle school. "It's as centrally located as you're going to get," said consultant Mike Zuba of Milone & MacBroom, referring to the Merritt property. CLICK TITLE TO CONTINUE
Federal agency starts cleanup at Higganum Cove superfund site
HADDAM — A new chapter has begun at the old Higganum Cove industrial site near the Connecticut River, where huge tractor-trailer trucks are hauling away tons of contaminated soil and debris.Already, 1,000 tons of PCB-laced soil, asbestos, countless tires and construction debris have been carted away from the 12-acre property, a 200-year-old mill site beside scenic falls that was a state Superfund site for decades. "It's exciting because you can see a lot more of the old foundation," said First Selectwoman Melissa Schlag, referring to the federal Environmental Protection Agency's cleanup of Higganum Cove. "I think it would be really cool to have a picnic area here and some nature trails." Higganum Cove, at 19 Nosal Road, had been on the Superfund list since 1989, when fire destroyed the Frismar Co. factory beside the falls, which produced mimeograph paper. Originally a cotton spinning mill, the site also produced dyed cloth and yarn, bridge netting and boat paint. In the 1980s, Higganum Cove became a dumping ground for D&L Enterprises of Bridgeport, a demolition business run by brothers Russell and Geno Capozziello, who operated an illegal landfill in Bridgeport known as Mount Trashmore, according to the EPA. CLICK TITLE TO CONTINUE
New Haven's $400M downtown development to be underway by summer
NEW HAVEN >> Two years after he first met with the developer and city officials, Gov. Dannel P. Malloy was back in New Haven with news the state would come through with its share of funds for infrastructure that will make a $400 million development project possible. Shovels will be in the ground in the summer for the LiveWorkLearnPlay project on the former Veterans Memorial Coliseum site adjacent to Ninth Square. Where once there were hockey teams and rock shows at the Coliseum, plans are to convert the 5.5-acre site to an “urban village” with more that 1,000 units of housing, 75 local restaurants and stores, as well as a hotel and public square with an office building set for Phase 2. CLICK TITLE TO CONTINUE