Stonington — First Selectman George Crouse announced at Thursday night’s Board of Selectmen debate that a developer is planning a major project for Perkins Farm that would generate an estimated $1 million in annual tax revenue for the town.
He said it would contain a geriatric health center, professional offices and residential units and have an open space buffer along Jerry Browne Road to shield it from the Stone Ridge retirement community across the street.
Crouse could not provide any other details about the project after the debate. No application has been filed yet for zoning approval.
Property owner David Lattizori has approval for a subdivision of single family homes, which have never been built. His attempts in the past to construct a major commercial development on the site have been rejected by the town.
The debate, sponsored by The Day, included Crouse, his Republican opponent Rob Simmons, and the two Board of Selectmen candidates — unaffiliated incumbent Selectman Michael Spellman and Democratic candidate Kate Rotella.
It attracted a standing-room-only crowd at the Stonington Community Center, who listened to them answer questions about topics ranging from economic development and reimbursement for residents who lost flood insurance discounts to preparing for climate change and responses to Freedom of Information requests.
Simmons, a former three-term congressman, led off the debate saying he is running because “I’m tired of reading bad things in the paper about a good town, and I want to do something about it.” CLICK TITLE TO CONTINUE
Road, Site Work Near Hartford Ballpark Tops $12 Million
HARTFORD — The cost of road work and site preparation near Dunkin' Donuts Stadium, now rising north of downtown, has exceeded $12 million under a no-bid contract the city awarded Centerplan Cos., part of the development team building the minor league ballpark.
City administrators had estimated the work could cost as much as $8 million to $10 million.
Records show that the city awarded Centerplan a no-bid contract last winter, citing a tight deadline required to complete the work.
In its "waiver of competitive requirement" form, city officials wrote: "To meet a spring 2016 opening day as well as contractual and leasing agreements, an extremely aggressive schedule was necessary. … If the project is bid publically (advertised) for three weeks and no bids or no qualified bids are received, this delay in procurement would negatively impact the planned schedule and facility opening date."The form says Centerplan was chosen because the company was the "selected developer for the baseball stadium and the development of the Downtown North Area."An amended contract between the city and Centerplan in May shows the cost of the project, which includes the relocation of Trumbull Street, at $5.83 million. An invoice from June shows the cost has risen to $12.35 million. CLICK TITLE TO CONTINUE
New Haven announces local firm will design first phase of coliseum site redevelopment
NEW HAVEN >> Newman Architects founder and design principal Herbert S. Newman said Thursday that the company’s involvement in the $400 million redevelopment plan for the former Veteran’s Memorial Coliseum site has been a labor of love.
Yet despite all the work the company, the city and the state have poured into it, something’s still missing.“We haven’t given this place a name yet,” Newman said.
He suggested getting people in the city involved in naming the project, which would seem fitting, given how much Newman said he hopes the project will benefit residents of the Elm City.
“This place, this coliseum site, we think it can play a role in bringing people together and making it a more vibrant community for the people that are going to be living here,” Newman said.
During a press conference at the firm’s offices, Newman’s firm was introduced as the lead architect for the first phase of the grand, mix-used development at the site of the former Coliseum. The announcement marks a ceremonial moment for the development projected to include 1,000 mixed-residential units — with at least 20 percent of the units consisting of affordable housing — as well as 30,000 square feet of retail space supporting between 30 to 40 new businesses and 20 to 30 incubator businesses. The development also would include a public square and a hotel.
The development intersects with the Downtown Crossing Plan and is being led by Montreal-based LiveWorkLearnPlay. CLICK TITLE TO CONTINUE
State aims not to repeat history
WATERBURY — History won't repeat itself — at least not on Interstate 84, the state Department of Transportation says.
But memories of the last major construction project on I-84, which was finished three years behind schedule and more than $20 million over budget, still linger.
"Certainly we've learn-ed things here since that unfortunate series of events," said Kevin Nursick, spokesman for the DOT. "Sometimes it takes things like this as a wake-up call to improve your operations."
The current I-84 reconstruction project, which involves a 2.7-mile stretch between Washington Street and Pierpont Road, is running ahead of schedule.
Despite a few surprises, such as a rockier terrain than expected and the need to close Harpers Ferry Road for eight weeks, the work is going smoothly, the project engineer says with cautious optimism.
The $298 million job is scheduled to be finished in 2020, with incentives for the contractor to complete substantial portions by 2019. The work includes widening the highway to add a third lane in each direction, eliminating an S-curve near Harpers Ferry Road and improvements to local roads and bridges.
The previous project, which involved widening 3.5 miles between Exit 25A and Cheshire, was widely seen as a debacle. The primary contractor, L.G. DeFelice, walked off the job in early 2006 after the DOT discovered extensive defects in the work.
Among the problems were light poles at risk of falling down, drainage basins that led nowhere and a defective bridge that needed to be rebuilt.
The DOT fired the Maguire Group, which was responsible for inspecting DeFelice's work, and hired Empire Paving to repair the botched project.
Ironically, Empire Paving moved into DeFelice's North Haven headquarters shortly after DeFelice went out of business, though it's a different company with different management.
The state recovered $22.1 million from DeFelice, its subcontractors and insurance carrier, which more than covered the cost of Empire Paving's repairs. But the fiasco remains a pock mark in the DOT's history.
"We took those issues seriously, we did a lot of self examination and we implemented lot of changes, not all right away, but continual improvements," said Mark Rolfe, construction administrator for the DOT.
The agency has implemented new policies and procedures that force contractors to be more accountable, he said. Also, the DOT has created a new system for logging unfinished or defective work.