NEWS ADVISORY
Rep.
Steinberg/Lavielle Lead Transportation Infrastructure DiscussionA bipartisan transportation caucus will attend a news event/first meeting on Friday, Jan. 30, at 10:30 AM in Room 310.
The goal is working together to define needs and a plan of action, a legislative agenda -- focusing on Metro-North, but also on I-95 and other traffic issues -- for the upcoming session.
And because Metro-North extends beyond Fairfield County's borders, one of the first orders of business at the meeting will be to discuss extending caucus membership beyond these borders.
What: Transportation Infrastructure news conference
When: Friday, January 30, 2015 10:30 a.m.
Where: Capitol Room 310
City to recommend site for synthetic field
BRISTOL — A city panel created to pick the site for a new synthetic athletic field is ready to recommend a $3 million multi-use one at Page Park.
Bob Fiorito, a parks commissioner, said he hopes there will be a bandwagon of support for the project from the many people with ties to the city’s youth sports leagues.
The proposed field, which would be created along the King Street side of the park, would be large enough to accommodate at least two softball fields and would have space for regulations games of soccer, football, lacrosse and other sports.
The field committee created last year agreed Wednesday it would likely pursue the proposal if the Board of Education allows the use of parking lots at nearby Bristol Eastern High School and if the price tag is reasonable enough. It plans to meet again in a couple of weeks to endorse the idea.
Before the field can be built, it will need the approval of the City Council and the Board of Finance, both of which have indicated they’d back a new artificial turf field but perhaps not one as large or costly as the committee intends to endorse.
The panel rejected calls from many youth league backers to try to push for three new synthetic fields instead, one at each public high school and another at a city park. Its members said they were told by city councilors to recommend a single site, not a trio of fields.
John Stavens, who collected 200 signatures on an online petition backing the three field solution, said that a trio of new fields “would go a long way” to solve the space problems teams face “and provide more bang for the buck.” Panel members said more fields would be great – and some said the Roberts sports complex proposed in 2006 would still be the best alternative — but something is better than nothing.
“One’s better than zero,” said Park Director Ed Swicklas, who’s been pushing for a synthetic field for a decade. CLICK TITLE TO CONTINUE
Two Southington sewer projects underway
SOUTHINGTON — Two sewer system upgrade projects are underway.
One project will reduce bad smells at the water pollution control plant on the Meriden-Waterbury Turnpike and lessen the amount of waste hauled from the plant. The other is the replacement of the 1970s-vintage Queen Street pump station that’s susceptible to flooding.
Town Manager Garry Brumback said Kovacs Construction of Danbury was the lowest bidder for both projects.
Voters approved the sewer plant work at referendum in November. While $5.2 million was authorized, the town received a $3.8 million bid from Kovacs.
Construction should begin in the early spring, Brumback said, and end by this time next year.
“They’re still in the process of designing and marshaling their resources,” he said.
Town Engineer Keith Hayden said equipment has been ordered for the Queen Street pump station replacement. That work, costing less than $1 million, should also be complete before next winter.
The pump station serves the northeast section of the town’s sewer system and is located near the Quinnipiac River. Pumping equipment is about 20 feet down within the small brick station which makes it vulnerable to flooding.
“When the river rises, the water comes over the threshold of the door because the building isn’t waterproof,” Hayden said.
Pumping equipment, which includes electronic components, gets submerged during major storms which can shut down the pumps. The water then has to be pumped from the pit and repairs done. CLICK TITLE TO CONTINUE
Yankee said it converted more than 5,500 customers and added 20 miles of new gas main last year. It had set a target of 5,200 conversions.
Yankee said state regulators have assisted by approving recommendations that give the utility more flexibility in developing projects and make it easier to enroll new customers.
Wilton was the site of Yankee's first major expansion, starting in July.
The company said it has several other large-scale projects in the works for this year.