A new Harding High School can be built on General Electric's former toxic industrial site off Boston Avenue, now that the state Department of Energy and Environmental Protection has approved a plan to clean up part of the site.
The final decision, announced Thursday, comes after years of planning and removes a major hurdle for the project.
The city school board approved the project in a 6-3 vote in April on the condition that the state determine the site could be made safe enough for school children.
DEEP's 65-page decision, dated Wednesday, outlines the steps GE must take to remove some of the arsenic, lead and petroleum-based toxins from 17.2 acres of the property and cover the rest with clean fill, asphalt and a new school building.
When the cleanup is complete, and before school opens, DEEP said it would confirm the work was done to meet residential standards.
Interim Schools Superintendent Fran Rabinowitz, on Thursday, called the approval great news.
"I am happy we are moving forward," Rabinowitz said. "The new school is badly needed."
Rabinowitz added that her research taught her that if DEEP had any concern about the clean up plan, it would not have been approved.
Board member Howard Gardner, who voted against using the site, said he is still against the move.
"I realized that a good portion of Bridgeport's land is brownfield, but to build a school on the most contaminated plot of land in the entire city is unbecoming," Gardner said. "I believe this decision will come back to haunt this city."
In the meantime, Gardner said, GE finds a way to get rid of its contaminated land, Bridgeport Hospital can expand on the property where Harding now sits and poor minority kids get a school build on contaminated land. CLICK TITLE TO CONTINUE
Tetreau displeased by lack of details on Ludlowe project's higher cost
The Board of Selectmen wanted answers on why the Fairfield Ludlowe High School building project ballooned from $11.6 million to a figure projected to be just under $15 million.
On Wednesday, they got an analysis from the Ludlowe building committee, but not the answers they were looking for.
"This is not an attempt to blame anybody," First Selectman Michael Tetreau said, "but we've got to understand what happened."
The project at the Unquowa Road school, taking place in three phases, includes replacing the roof, building a classroom addition, expanding the cafeteria, replacing windows and remediating PCBs.
While the building committee officials said the higher cost is attributable to several factors, including the fact that "soft" costs for architectural and testing fees were not included in the original conceptual plans, Tetreau said the report shows otherwise.
"There's one line with the overage and there's no breakout of it," he said, referring to the line item for new construction/renovation in phase two. While originally estimated at $3.6 million, that figure now stands at $5.9 million.
Because of that increase, the committee will have to come back for additional funding to complete the third phrase -- replacing the school's windows and remediating the PCBs.
"This one line is driving the whole overage," Tetreau said. "It's literally that one line item."
At one point during the meeting, Tetreau expressed frustration that the committee was apparently unprepared to answer that question, particularly after the committee was told at a February selectmen's meeting what the board was looking for.
"We've asked for this information several times," the first selectman said.
Building committee members said the original estimate of $11.6 million, by Silver Petrucelli architects, was a conceptual estimate, while the $11.8 million estimate by Perkins Eastman was a design development estimate.
However, Tetreau noted that the two estimates were not far apart, and that doesn't explain the large increase in construction costs. "That jumped by $3 million on day one," he said. CLICK TITLE TO CONTINUE
Stamford senior home plans $18M expansion
Edgehill, a retirement community on Stamford's West Side, is undertaking its first significant expansion since opening more than 15 years ago, with plans to add a dedicated memory care unit, among other improvements expected to cost $18 million.
Created on an estate owned by Sir Douglas Alexander, the longtime president of Singer Sewing Machine Co., Edgehill caters to wealthy retirees looking for independent quarters but with assisted living and nursing options available on site.
Local options are few on that front -- besides Edgehill, other continuing care retirement communities, known as CCRC, in the area include Meadow Ridge in Redding and the Osborn in Rye, N.Y.
"When the place was initially designed, CCRCs were in their infancy. ... Memory care as a specialty was really unheard of then," said Christopher Barstein, executive director of Edgehill. "The whole object of this expansion is to enhance the continuum of care in assisted living, skilled nursing and also to have a dedicated memory care unit.
Previously owned by Stamford Hospital, Edgehill was acquired three years ago by Benchmark Senior Living, which runs Middlebrook Farms, in Trumbull; Benchmark Senior Living at Split Rock, in Shelton; Ridgefield Crossings; and the Village at Brookfield Common.
In a recent filing with the state of Connecticut, Massachusetts-based Benchmark listed the November 2011 acquisition of Edgehill at $68.7 million; excluding depreciation, it pegs the value of the facility at about $100 million.
Proceeds from the Edgehill sale helped support Stamford Hospital's new building under construction a short way from Edgehill's campus on Palmers Hill Road.
In contrast to the other Connecticut facilities managed by Benchmark, Edgehill offers more than 200 apartments for seniors who require little medical care, in addition to a skilled nursing unit.
The expansion will add a dedicated "memory care" wing for people with Alzheimer's disease and other forms of dementia, totaling 22 apartments, with Edgehill currently covering memory care in a wing of its existing 60-bed skilled nursing facility. CLICK TITLE TO CONTINUE
Mohegans unveil plans for $120M hotel
Mohegan — Gov. Dannel P. Malloy had no problem getting behind the Mohegan Tribe’s expansion plans Thursday, at least the on-site ones that call for a $120 million hotel at Mohegan Sun.
The governor, who attended a news conference at the casino, was far less committal when asked whether the state and its two casino-owning Indian tribes should protect themselves against out-of-state competition by introducing more gaming locations in Connecticut.
Legislation seeking such an end now appears all but certain.
Malloy said he met this week with representatives of the Mohegan and Mashantucket Pequot tribes during a visit to eastern Connecticut and was aware that the tribes have been lobbying at the state Capitol. He said they supplied him with a draft report on the topic Tuesday night.
“I haven’t had time to read it,” he said.
The governor acknowledged that mounting competitive pressures from out-of-state casinos have constrained revenues and caused significant job losses at Mohegan Sun and Foxwoods Resort Casino.
“It really is a big-picture matter,” he said.
Still, the governor stressed that he is not leading the debate about what to do about it and would have to study any proposals “before I stake out some territory.”
Kevin Brown, the Mohegan tribal chairman, also confirmed that both the Mohegans and the Mashantuckets have been meeting with legislators, though he declined to name any. He noted that gaming legislation has historically originated in the General Assembly’s Public Safety and Security Committee, which conducted hearings last month on a bill calling for slot machines at some of the state’s off-track betting facilities. CLICK TITLE TO CONTINUE
Tribes, CT lawmakers discuss possible new casinos
UNCASVILLE - The two tribes that own Connecticut's casino resorts have been holding discussions with state lawmakers about opening new, smaller casinos near state boundaries with Massachusetts and New York to keep up with competition in the neighboring states, officials said Thursday. The discussions involving representatives from both the Mohegans and the Mashantucket Pequots have focused on crafting legislation that could authorize new gambling halls. Rep. Steve Dargan, the co-chairman of the General Assembly's Public Safety Committee, said a bill could be ready as soon as Tuesday, but it remains uncertain how detailed the proposed legislation will be.His committee, which handles gambling issues, faces a March 19 deadline to forward legislation for the full legislature to consider. Dargan said there have been discussions of as many as three of these new facilities. He said lawmakers are motivated to help the tribes, which provide millions of dollars to state in slot machine revenues and provide thousands of jobs in southeastern Connecticut."We understand that, one, there's competition from other states and two, the tribes have been good corporate citizens to the state of Connecticut," Dargan said.The two federally recognized tribes currently have exclusive rights to offer casino-style gambling in Connecticut under an agreement that provides the state with 25 percent of the slot-machine revenue. The tribe's casinos, Mohegan Sun and Foxwoods Resort Casino, have been struggling to reverse slumps in a regional gambling market that is going to become more competitive with planned construction of new properties in Massachusetts and New York. "This ultimately is more of an issue of preserving tax revenue and jobs," said Mitchell Etess, chief executive of the Mohegan Tribal Gaming Authority. One proposal calls for a small-scale casino along Interstate 91 north of Hartford that might have 1,800 slot machines, some table games and perhaps some restaurants, Etess said. He said it would have very limited amenities compared to Mohegan Sun or Foxwoods, but enough to entice visitors who might otherwise travel north to Springfield, Mass., where MGM Resorts International is planning to open an $800 million casino. CLICK TITLE TO CONTINUE