MERIDEN — Below freezing temperatures and heavy snow accumulation halted construction work on the Hub for most of February, pushing the deadline for the park project back to the end of the year, city officials said Friday.
“The snow impacted us,” said Public Works Director Bob Bass. “And the cold really killed us. You have to be careful about the workers. There was very little work done in February.”
City officials will meet with representatives of general contractor La Rosa Construction next week to determine how much more work is needed and whether or not to extend the company’s contract. The mostly funded $14 million Hub project is part of a larger flood control upgrade taking place throughout the city.
“There will not be additional costs due to any weather-related delays,” said City Manager Lawrence Kendzior. “We expect the project to reach substantial completion in the November/December 2015 time frame, with the park fully ready by spring of 2016.”
Work crews were back on the job for much of March, and the loud banging at the Hub site is the sound of workers driving piles 45 to 60 feet down to the bedrock to install the supports needed to hold the large pedestrian bridge that will span the width of the 14-acre site from Pratt Street to State Street leading to and from the city’s new train station, and two smaller foot bridges.
“It’s going to look like a staircase,” Bass said.
Rip-rap or large stones can be seen lining the bottom and sides of the newly dug channel. The stone base will mimic the rocky bottom of a naturally occurring river or stream. Rip-rap placed along the banks of the channel will prevent erosion of the surrounding soil. CLICK TITLE TO CONTINUE
SOUTHINGTON — Demolition is underway at Ideal Forging, a factory that's been closed since 2003.
A brick building at 61 High St. was being torn down Monday by Stamford Wrecking, which has the job of demolishing almost all the buildings on the property near the Quinnipiac River."We'll likely finish this building in a few days. Then we'll start on the one across the street," company Superintendent John Hennessey said as his crew slowly took apart walls and the roof of the High Street structure. "We'll likely finish this building in a few days. Then we'll start on the one across the street," company Superintendent John Hennessey said as his crew slowly took apart walls and the roof of the High Street structure.
Huge sections of the metal roof trusses were carefully lowered into a pile of scrap metal that will be recycled, he said. Bricks and other debris will be hauled away in covered trucks.
Under the permits issued by the town and state, the wrecking company must wet down the work site to minimize dust and follow specific routes to truck away materials. Hennessey said the job will require several months.
Prior to demolition, mitigation crews removed as much hazardous materials as possible. CLICK TITLE TO CONTINUE
Committee starts looking at turf field at Avon High School
AVON — Members of the town's recreation and parks committee who are charged with creating a plan for a synthetic turf playing field at Avon High School will start their work on Tuesday morning. According to an agenda for the meeting it will be at 7:30 a.m. in the selectmen's chambers in town hall. An earlier study that included building a turf field at the high school will be discussed and the panel will also talk about the scope of work for the consulting firm that will take another look at the project. The consultant, BSC Group, will draw up plans for the committee and it will then recommend one to the town council. This is the second time the recreation and parks committee has taken a look at building a turf field. Last year, it looked at building one on a 15-acre parcel the town owns on Thompson Road. BSC staff told the committee doing that would cost at least $5 million. After reviewing a report from the committee, the council decided to take another look at the high school. A study done several years ago by another firm put the cost of building a turf field at the high school at about $2.78 million, but it also found that doing so would be difficult. CLICK TITLE TO CONTINUE
Officials announce $100M plan to fix Raymark contamination around Stratford
STRATFORD >> State and federal officials have announced a $100 million plan to clean up sites around town that remain contaminated from dirt that came from the Raymark Industries Superfund site.
The consensus agreement calls for the federal government to pay for 90 percent of the cleanup for any private property that has been contaminated by materials from the former automotive components plant on East Main Street, said Dennis Schain, a spokesman for the Connecticut Department of Environmental Protection. The state and federal governments would split the cost of any cleanup associated with any public properties like parks or athletic fields, according to Schain.
The basic terms of the agreement were announced in a press conference held Monday at Town Hall.
“We are still early in the process and nothing is written in stone,” U.S. Rep. Rosa L. DeLauro, D-3, said in a statement about the agreement reached between federal, state and local officials. “The proposed approach still needs to go through a public comment process, so I have no doubt that some aspects may change. But it gives me hope that we are finally moving to a permanent resolution to Raymark.”
The terms of the agreement provide a conceptual approach to address cleanup of all waste from Raymark still left in town, whether it is on residential, commercial or recreational properties. It also includes any pollution caused to Ferry Creek as well as any groundwater coming from the former Raymark plant site. The agreement calls for more than half of the waste from Raymark that is still left in town to be removed from the community entirely. That includes the most hazardous of the excavated waste.
The plan that is being proposed calls for keeping environmental clean-up activity as far away as possible from any neighbors of the contaminated properties, especially those who live near the former Raymark athletic field. Vertical barriers will be constructed between the environmental clean-up site and the neighborhoods.
Any trucks removing the contaminated material will use secure covering and will seek to minimize the use of routes that go through residential neighborhoods. CLICK TITLE TO CONTINUE
Mayor Harp's appointment to equal opportunities panel withdraws
NEW HAVEN >> A nominee for a seat on the board of directors of the Commission on Equal Opportunities, who is also under investigation by that agency, has been withdrawn from consideration. The Board of Alders passed over approving the appointment of Rodney Williams at its March 2 and March 16 meetings after the leadership became aware of the investigation.
The issue arose when a contractor for whom Williams was working, Yul Watley of Advanced Construction Technologies, questioned a workers’ compensation insurance document that Williams had given to him to prove he had coverage protecting ACT and Neighborhood Housing Services, while Williams’ company worked as a subcontractor at 15 Lilac St. in December 2014.
Watley showed the CEO a copy of a document he said was sent to him by Williams to prove he had the required insurance.
It lists a Nationwide Insurance agency address in Guilford as the office where the policy was issued.
It lists First Choice LLC as the name of the company at that address, but there is no First Choice LLC there, according to agents at the site. The owner of the agency in Guilford said he did not have a policy for Mr. Rock Drywall LLC, which is the name of Williams’ company on the document.
The insurance agency owner said he did not know who Williams was and the agent referenced on the policy, a John Steinback or John Stienbach, did not work for him. He said he reported the situation to Nationwide Insurance.
Williams has declined several requests to answer questions about the insurance document.
“The excuse he gave me was that, you know, he wasn’t working,” Watley said. “I told him, I said man, you put my company at risk. One of his guys could have fallen off the scaffolding and gotten hurt and — boom — that would be on me.” CLICK TITLE TO CONTINUE