Spanning the Bridgeport border, near the Fairfield and Easton town lines, the Bridgeport Hospital satellite campus under construction in Trumbull is all about easy access. "Part of our strategy is to recognize that health care is moving to more of an outpatient-oriented service," said Norman Roth, chief operating officer for Bridgeport Hospital. "That means being out closer to our patients at convenient locations." The $90 million project at 5520 Park Ave. will eventually total 210,000 square feet of medical office space. The facility is meant to work in support of the main Bridgeport campus, where most inpatient care would continue to take place. "It's our biggest venture in our history," Roth said. Brad Bevers, executive director for facilities, design and construction for Yale-New Haven Health System, with which Bridgeport Hospital is affiliated, said the location was key. "It's a prime spot," he said. "It's easy to get to, and actually gets us out closer to a lot of our patients." The construction will connect two existing buildings. On the first floor will be a radiation oncology center affiliated with the Smilow Cancer Center in New Haven. The next floor, which will be ground level from the front of the building, will have a walk-in clinic, radiology, a breast-health center and space for plastic surgeons. The third floor will have operating rooms and a gastroenterology-endoscopy suite, with office space throughout the facility, officials said. The 475-car garage, over the town line in Bridgeport, opened in September. Bevers said patient disruption has been minimal. Some roadwork required as part of project, including installation of new traffic signals and a roundabout at exit 47 off the Merritt Parkway, has been completed, with only some landscaping to be finished.
Foundation work for the new building has started, and the steel frame should start to rise after the first of the year, topping out in the spring, Bevers said. Construction on the rest of the building should take about a year. CLICK TITLE TO CONTINUE
Clearing for Costco
NEW BRITAIN — Workers on the new Costco development have started clearing trees at Stanley Municipal Golf Course, leveling things out. Construction had been scheduled to start next spring. But, Joe Montesano, project coordinator for Costco, called Mayor Erin Stewart last Friday.
He told her the weather looked fair and his workers were ready to begin the final phase of a four-year effort to bring the warehouse store to a site south of Westfarms mall. Costco is expected to open for business in the fall of 2015. Montesano said Costco would start clearing and grating the land near the Red 13 hole near the maintenance shed, not only due to the fair weather, but also because city resident Elaine Lechowicz had decided not to file a third appeal. A lawsuit had been filed by Lechowicz to block construction of the store. Lobo & Associates of Manchester had filed a motion for reconsideration, asking Supreme Court Judge Cynthia Swienton to reconsider her ruling on the Costco case. The judge had dismissed the lawsuit against Costco on the grounds of “lack of standing.” The issue was whether Lechowicz was legally the proper person to challenge the transfer of property. “Costco was waiting to start work because they wanted to respect the court,” said Stewart. “They wanted to make sure Ms. Lechowicz wouldn’t file an additional appeal. So, that’s why we had to wait those two, 20-day windows. When she didn’t file a third appeal, Costco gave the project the thumbs-up.” CLICK TITLE TO CONTINUE
Gracey Ave. truck terminal waits traffic study
MERIDEN — Plans to move a waste treatment transportation operation to Gracey Avenue stalled Wednesday as the Planning Commission awaits results of a formal traffic study. A plan by Tradebe Environmental Services LLC to move a truck transfer facility to 45 Gracey Ave. won’t be acted on by the commission of the Zoning Board of Appeals until the study is completed. Both bodies tabled the issue at their respective meetings this month. The proposal, said attorney Dennis Ceneviva, who represents the company, is to expand and move a tractor-trailer truck terminal from its current location on Duffy Street to a largely vacant parking lot on Gracey Avenue. The covered truck terminal would include parking for 12 tractor-trailer trucks — six spaces on each side of a loading ramp accessible by a forklift. The company’s environmental manager, Rick Baker, explained Wednesday that the facility sends trucks out to businesses that generate waste. Some of that waste — most commonly packaged in 55-gallon steel drums — is treated at the plant on Duffy Street. Some of the materials however, need to be shipped elsewhere in the country for treatment. The truck bay would be a staging area, where barrels of hazardous waste are removed from incoming trucks, sorted, and loaded back onto outgoing trucks. “Nothing is processed there (at the truck transfer facility). No containers are opened, they’re just going from one truck to another for storage and eventual removal,” Ceneviva said. Still, spillage systems have been planned to surround the site, including using impervious concrete, underground drainage systems and containment tanks. CLICK TITLE TO CONTINUE
MERIDEN — Once home to Connecticut Telephone and Electric, a thriving telecommunications and auto parts manufacturer, the 90,000-square-foot factory at 70 Britannia St. now sits vacant. But state transportation officials see promise in the four-story brick factory building. The property was one of four statewide recently identified by the Department of Transportation as being vacant and having the potential for redevelopment. Other former industrial properties identified by the state are in West Hartford, Hartford and Windsor Locks. Each property is adjacent to the Amtrak railroad right-of-way and may be eligible for federal or state tax credit programs, according to the DOT. “If you’re a developer, you might say ‘let’s tear this thing down,’” said John Bernick, assistant rail administrator for the DOT. “But it might make better economic sense to keep the structure and rehabilitate it.”
Bernick said the rail corridor between New Haven and Springfield has been deemed historic due to the construction of the New Haven-Hartford-Springfield commuter rail. In August 2012, an agreement between the DOT, Federal Railroad Administration, Federal Transit Administration and Connecticut State Historic Preservation Office was established to mitigate the impact of construction on historic structures. These structures include buildings and bridges, Bernick said. The agreement sets forth guidelines for construction and final design plans to preserve the historic nature of such structures, he said. It stipulates that the DOT “identify at least one and no more than five vacant historic industrial properties” that may be eligible for federal or state historic tax credits. “Many people don’t know that these incentives exist,” Bernick said. CLICK TITLE TO CONTINUE
LEARN Executive Director Eileen Howley and O&G Assistant Vice President Ken Biega said both proposals would include community outreach, meetings with the Board of Education and cost estimates for the final school construction or renovation plan that would be proposed for referendum.
Either option would result in "recommendations toward structure of schools, grade level arrangements, locations of schools" and would have cost estimates for the renovation plan chosen by school officials. In the $80,000 option, there would be six meetings with the school board, two community meetings and three meetings with school administrators to gather input for the plan. The consultants would update the 2011 assessment of the school buildings with revised cost estimates.
The $100,233 plan would involve nine meetings with the Board of Education, three community meetings and six meetings with administrators. In this plan, the consultants would visit every building and conduct new condition assessments. CLICK TITLE TO CONTINUE
Congress likely to vote on Keystone XL Pipeline
Washington - For the first time in the six-year fight over the controversial Keystone XL pipeline, both houses of Congress will hold a vote on the proposed project, which has become a sudden flashpoint in a runoff election for a Senate seat in Louisiana. The two lawmakers locked in a tight Senate runoff election, Sen. Mary Landrieu, D-La., and Rep. Bill Cassidy, R-La., seized control of the congressional agenda Wednesday, extracting assurances from House and Senate leaders that votes will be held to bypass President Barack Obama's authority and authorize construction of the pipeline.
A large showing of Democratic support for the pipeline could complicate the administration's decision-making process, given the party's dismal showing at the polls on Election Day. Environmentalist allies of the president are solidly against the project, and have been doggedly lobbying the administration against approving it. But Republicans successfully used the president's environmental and climate agenda as key lines of attack against Democrats in several contested midterm races. Acknowledging the importance of energy to the Louisiana economy, both Landrieu Cassidy have championed construction of the pipeline, which would transport oil from the tar sands of Canada to the Gulf of Mexico. The GOP-controlled House has repeatedly voted its support for the pipeline, while the Senate, in deference to the administration, has resisted holding a vote on the matter. CLICK TITLE TO CONTINUE
Zone change paves way for Backus expansion in Plainfield
PLAINFIELD — A zone change approved tonight paves the way for the William W. Backus Hospital to expand its medical foot-print in Plainfield. The Planning and Zoning Commission unanimously approved re-zoning 3.68 acres on Gallup Street — adjacent to the Plainfield Backus Emergency Care Center at 582 Norwich Road — from commercial to residential, a required step before any future medical facilities can be built on the site. In Plainfield, hospitals and hospital facilities must be located in residentially zoned areas. Branford-based ORL Plainfield LLC, which owns the land and emergency clinic, leases the clinic building to Backus. The property up for discussion Wednesday is part of an 18-acre parcel owned by Disch Family Limited, with Peter and Kathy Disch listed as owners by town assessor records. Engineer Joseph Wren, representing ORL, said Backus officials are negotiating with the Disch family to purchase the re-zoned parcel land, along with other pieces of property in the area, potentially expanding Backus' reach to the Interstate 395 corridor area. "The application submitted by Backus is to expand operations," Wren said. "(The clinic) is bursting at the seams, with the patient circulation higher than thought. That's why the purchase is being discussed, to build another facility to enhance patient care." CLICK TITLE TO CONTINUE
Demolition and one more dirty job at Manchester sewer plant
MANCHESTER — Two 500,000-gallon tanks at the sewer plant have been cleared of everything that can be pumped, but a dirty job remains. Installed in 1954, the "biosolids disposal tanks" employed microorganisms that broke down and reduced waste. Of course, people flushed a lot of other stuff that did not readily dissolve. That material, mostly rags and plastic items, is piled about ten feet deep at the bottom of one tank, town officials said Wednesday. Replaced by modern equipment, the tanks are to be demolished as part of a $43 million plant upgrade. Town administrators are working to complete an agreement with a contractor to tear down the tanks and buildings that were part of the old wastewater treatment plant, General Manager Scott Shanley said. Removing the accumulated, waste-encrusted material will be part of that job, he said. A contractor started pumping waste from the tanks in August. After being dried in a portable centrifuge, the material was dumped in the local landfill. A feared stench from the operation, thankfully, did not materialize, at least not on a wide scale, Shanley said. "Thus far, the process worked quite well," he said. "We got rid of everything that's pumpable without any serious odor upset." The final cleanout, however, still has the potential to raise a stink, Shanley said. Asked about the content of the material to be removed, water and sewer Administrator Patrick Kearney said, "Think of all the stuff you flush down the toilet." The contractor likely will use an excavator to remove the material, Kearney said. CLICK TITLE TO CONTINUE
Sewer renovation project in Southington to begin next year
SOUTHINGTON — Shop drawings and other preparation for a $5.2 million renovation of the town's aging water treatment plant are underway, with construction likely to begin early next year, the sewer committee was told Wednesday. "We are planning. Don't expect to see a shovel out there until late February, early March," James Grappone, the town's assistant engineer and a committee member, said. "The project will take about a year to complete." The improvements are mostly on the equipment that processes sewage sludge, the solid waste left over after the average daily flow of 4.5 million gallons of wastewater is processed at the facility. The equipment being upgraded is the gas digester, which uses bacteria to decompose sludge. The 30-year-old device, shut down last year for cleaning, was found to need extensive repairs. Last week, voters approved a $5.2 million bond authorization to finance an overhaul of the system. It should resolve the sporadic noxious odors that have plagued neighborhoods near the plant for the past two years. The new system will improve drying and decomposition of the sludge, decreasing the odor. John De Gioia, the plant superintendent, has said the odor issue was worsened this past year by after-effects of a chemical mixed into partially treated wastewater to remove phosphorus. The chemical, polyaluminum chloride, interfered with the further decomposition of the sludge, causing the stink.