BERLIN — Road construction crews are back out in Berlin — this time to perform repairs on the Christian Lane overpass on Route 9.
The state project, according to the Department of Transportation, came about as it was “issued on an Emergency Declaration basis” due to the state of the bridge to Hartland Builders and Restoration Company of East Granby.
The estimated cost of the overpass repair project is $500,000.
Construction began Monday and, if things remain on schedule, will be completed by Dec. 1.
“Traffic on Route 9 Southbound in Berlin will be impacted periodically during the bridge repair work,” the DOT stated. “Motorists can expect delays Monday through Friday from 6 p.m. to 5 a.m., and intermittently on weekends.”
It’s the second time in a matter of weeks that traffic will be slowed due to state work on roads that run through town. A month-long resurfacing and paving project of a two-mile section of the Berlin Turnpike wrapped up in late September.
The Berlin Turnpike also underwent a makeover further north. DOT spokesman Judd Everhart said the same work took place on a 1.83-mile section of the road that stretches from Newington into Wethersfield earlier this month.
Everhart said the Newington paving project carried a price tag of $1.14 million and the approximate cost of the Berlin section of the Turnpike was $1.03 million for paving.
Wall Street Journal follows Danbury's transformation
"Main Street still has historic redbrick buildings and old-style street lamps, but it looks more timeworn than quaint."
That's how the Wall Street Journal recently described downtown Danbury in an article about the city's struggle to revitalize the Main Street area.
WSJ paints an idyllic picture of a Connecticut city with "tree-lined, hilly streets, such as Deer Hill Avenue, with Colonials, Victorians and seemingly every other style of house. On the New York state border, which the city abuts, there are rolling hills where stately farmhouses sit on 2-acre lots."
Candlewood Lake is bustling children playing along the shore in early Autumn. Main Street doesn't fit into the picture.
"City officials think [Main Street] needs a face-lift, to spur new downtown shops and eateries, and draw residents away from the city's famed mall, which has 200 stores and dozens of restaurants," WSJ wrote.
Kennedy Flats, an $80 million housing project on Main Street, could be the answer to downtown Danbury's problem, according to WSJ.
"The idea is to have more market-rate housing on Main Street with tenants who have disposable income that they can spend downtown," Mayor Mark Boughton told the News Times in May. "If we have the people living here, they will demand services." CLICK TITLE TO CONTINUE
Connecticut Water adding treatment plant to Brooklyn location
BROOKLYN — An existing well field at Quebec Square in Brooklyn will soon have a new building to house a water treatment plant.
Nicholas Meder, a project manager for Connecticut Water, said there already are three well buildings on the Connecticut Water property at 101 Quebec Square. The public water utility would build a fourth building where all water would be treated before being put into the Connecticut Water system, Meder said.
“We’re late in the year, but we’d like to start construction at the end of October and continue through January,” Meder said.
Connecticut Water supplies water to about 90,000 households in 56 towns including portions of Brooklyn, Killingly and Windham.
In addition to constructing a new building, Meder said, Connecticut Water will also remove some pipe that is no longer in use on the property.
The buildings are near a wetlands area, but because Connecticut Water is a utility, it does not have to submit to a formal review. Jim Larkin, Brooklyn's interim town planner, said the application was reviewed by staff and engineer Syl Pauley and met all the requirements.
The proposed replacement town hall would be about 90,000 square feet — significantly smaller than the existing building. That's because the current town hall has so much wasted space, a legacy of its original use as a school. The building's corridors, for example, are unnecessarily wide.
Even with a smaller building, the new Mortensen Community Center would have two gyms instead of the current one, thanks to better use of space. CLICK TITLE TO CONTINUE
Developer sues New Haven, pollution control authority over wastewater backup
NEW HAVEN >> A developer with several properties in New Haven is suing the city and the Greater New Haven Water Pollution Control Authority seeking a hold on further growth until they prevent untreated effluent from entering local rivers and the harbor or backing up onto private properties.
Specifically, 26 Crown Street Associates, an apartment building in the Ninth Square, part of PMC Property Group Inc., has filed suit in U.S. District Court seeking damages for alleged damage to its basement. It says this occurs during wet weather, “when the combined volumes of storm water and of wastewater and sewage ... are greater than either the Combined Sewer System or the Treatment Plan can handle.” Attorney J. Christopher Rooney wrote that this results in “back-ups in the pipes followed by discharges of untreated wastewater, sewage and storm water known as ‘combined sewer overflows’ at various points within New Haven.”
While some over flows are planned through outfall pipes, they still represent the release “of untreated sewage and storm water,” which it claims violates federal standards. Other releases occur in “unplanned releases through virtually any leak or aperture in the pipes. This includes drain pipes in the basements of buildings such as the ones the plaintiffs own,” according to the suit.
It claims this amounts to a taking of the property and it is seeking money damages.
The plaintiffs are also seeking a temporary injunction against the city expanding its “user base” until it can prevent backflows onto private property or until trial. CLICK TITLE TO CONTINUE
Planning and Zoning Commission member Alan Carpenter said despite the exemption from review, Connecticut Water still should do everything necessary to protect the wetlands during construction. He's asked for a silt fence to be put in place to prevent construction runoff into the wetlands.
NEWINGTON — The town council will hold a public hearing Tuesday evening on the latest plan for a new town hall and community center.
The hearing will be 6 p.m. at town hall. The council may decide to vote on the plan at its regular meeting following the public hearing, according to its agenda.
If approved by the council, the proposal would still have to face voters at referendum.
The plan calls for razing the current town hall and community center and replacing it with an entirely new building. The project's estimated cost is $34.5 million, including the expense of relocating town hall and the center during construction. The town would bond most of the expense.
The existing town hall and community center, originally the community's high school, is in very poor condition. The building's problems include a badly leaking roof, a failing gym floor, crumbling footings, asbestos and PCB contamination and outdated electrical and other systems.
Experts have said that fixing the structure would cost more than building a new one.The proposed replacement town hall would be about 90,000 square feet — significantly smaller than the existing building. That's because the current town hall has so much wasted space, a legacy of its original use as a school. The building's corridors, for example, are unnecessarily wide.
Even with a smaller building, the new Mortensen Community Center would have two gyms instead of the current one, thanks to better use of space. CLICK TITLE TO CONTINUE
Developer sues New Haven, pollution control authority over wastewater backup
NEW HAVEN >> A developer with several properties in New Haven is suing the city and the Greater New Haven Water Pollution Control Authority seeking a hold on further growth until they prevent untreated effluent from entering local rivers and the harbor or backing up onto private properties.
Specifically, 26 Crown Street Associates, an apartment building in the Ninth Square, part of PMC Property Group Inc., has filed suit in U.S. District Court seeking damages for alleged damage to its basement. It says this occurs during wet weather, “when the combined volumes of storm water and of wastewater and sewage ... are greater than either the Combined Sewer System or the Treatment Plan can handle.” Attorney J. Christopher Rooney wrote that this results in “back-ups in the pipes followed by discharges of untreated wastewater, sewage and storm water known as ‘combined sewer overflows’ at various points within New Haven.”
While some over flows are planned through outfall pipes, they still represent the release “of untreated sewage and storm water,” which it claims violates federal standards. Other releases occur in “unplanned releases through virtually any leak or aperture in the pipes. This includes drain pipes in the basements of buildings such as the ones the plaintiffs own,” according to the suit.
It claims this amounts to a taking of the property and it is seeking money damages.
The plaintiffs are also seeking a temporary injunction against the city expanding its “user base” until it can prevent backflows onto private property or until trial. CLICK TITLE TO CONTINUE