October 22, 2015

CT Construction Digest October 22, 2015

Major sewer rehabilitation project in store for central Greenwich

The town is on the verge of beginning a major sewer rehabilitation project that will create a closure and detour on Bruce Park Avenue.
The detour will stretch from Havemeyer Place to Davis Avenue and is expected to be in place for one week. A time has yet to be determined, due to construction questions still needing to be settled, but the work is expected to take place in late October or early November and again twice more — for less than 12 hours at a time — in mid-to-late November.
Residents and business owners in the area will be notified when an exact date is set and signage will be put in place to alert drivers.
“We continue to do these types of projects all over town,” Richard Feminella, wastewater division manager for the town Department of Public Works, told the selectmen last week.
Workers will be rehabilitating a 600-foot segment of a 39-inch interceptor sewer line on Bruce Park Avenue near Davis Avenue. The town will have to utilize an easement it has behind homes on Bruce Park Avenue and near the railroad tracks north of Interstate 95.
Feminella told the selectmen last week prior to getting unanimous approval for the road closure and detour that the interceptor in question handles a “significant portion” of the town’s wastewater collection and sees a substantial flow go through it. A bypass will have to be used in order for the work to proceed without interrupting service to homes and businesses.
To put the bypass in place, close to 110 feet of temporary lines and two temporary manholes will be constructed at the Bruce Park/Davis intersection, requiring excavation in the middle of the street and other disruptions, necessitating the closure and detour.
“It’s a complicated bypass,” Feminella said.
Feminella said it would be similar to what was used by DPW during the 2014 sewer rehabilitation project at Horseneck Lane and Shore Road. CLICK TITLE TO CONTINUE

Meriden land transfer clears way for razing Mills, building new

MERIDEN — The demolition of the Mills Memorial Apartments complex and the building of a new housing and commercial building are both a step closer after a pivotal vote Wednesday by the Planning Commission.
Commission members voted unanimously at a special meeting to approve the transfer of two city-owned properties — 177 State St. and 62 Cedar St. — to the Meriden Housing Authority.
“This is all for flood control purposes and so we can tear down the Mills,” City Planner Dominick Caruso told the commission. “This development ... we’ve already started to review the plans for that, and this is the mechanics behind it, essentially.”
The transfer will enable the MHA and partner Pennrose Properties to build a four-story, 96,700-square-foot mixed-use, mixed-income building with 75 apartment units, roughly 6,500 square feet of ground floor commercial space, and an 80-space parking lot.
The development is part of a larger plan to demolish the aging, outdated Mills apartments and extend flood control measures into that area.
The new building would include 23 apartments that serve as replacement units for residents displaced from Mills; 37 affordable units; and 15 market-rate units. CLICK TITLE TO CONTINUE
 
 
Norwich — Representatives from the Connecticut Siting Council and the development firm hoping to build a 2.74-megawatt solar power project at the city landfill toured four areas of the Rogers Road site Wednesday as part of the state review process for the project.
Representatives from SolarCity, which would own and operate the facility, and Brightfields Development LLC, joined Norwich city Engineer Patrick McLaughlin in a hike to the top of two steeply sloped former landfill areas and back down again to view two flat fields across Rogers Road from the landfill.
The proposed project would include a combined total of 8,854 solar panels on the four sites to generate 2.74 megawatts of electric power that would be fed into Norwich Public Utilities lines.
SolarCity has a 20-year solar purchase power agreement with the Connecticut Municipal Electric Energy Cooperative, a consortium of municipally owned power generators in the state.
Michael Singer, principal of Brightfields Development, who led the 90-minute tour Wednesday, told state officials that the smaller of the two non-landfill areas would be developed only if it proves economically feasible.
Solar panels on that field, at the corner of Rogers Road and North Wawecus Hill Road, could generate only 83 kilowatts of electricity, Singer said.
Standing atop the former bulky waste landfill — which offered commanding views of the hilly, rural western Norwich landscape — Singer explained how the panels would be erected on platforms that would not penetrate the sealed landfill cap. CLICK TITLE TO CONTINUE

Sale completed on Norwich portion of former hospital property

Norwich — The sale of the nearly 50-acre Norwich portion of the former Norwich Hospital property to a private developer for $300,000 was completed Wednesday — with the transaction signed by state officials and the developer, and recorded in Norwich land records.
Developer Mark Fields of Colchester, who signed documents as the manager of the development firm Thames River Landing LLC, which first reached a deal to buy the Norwich portion of the hospital property in 2012.
Fields said Wednesday he has no definite plans for the property he has been pursuing since 2004, both the Norwich and Preston portions of the former state hospital site.
“Now that we got title, we have to pursue all possibilities and give it a lot of thought on what we're going to do, and then start the application process,” Fields said Wednesday. “I've been talking to people for years, but until I had title to the property I couldn't have any serious talks.”
Thames River Landing LLC paid a $30,000 deposit on the Norwich property when it was approved as the purchaser in 2012, and paid the remaining $270,000 Wednesday, state Department of Administrative Services spokesman Jeffrey Beckham said.
Thames River Landing took out a $450,000 mortgage on the property from Castanho Development LLC of East Hartford.
The sale involves a 40.95-acre parcel on the east side of Route 12 at the Preston line that includes a former residential subdivision for hospital employees along with institutional buildings. CLICK TITLE TO CONTINUE

Farmington School Board Questions Legality Of Apartment Complex Easement

FARMINGTON — An attorney for the school board says that the town council did not have the authority to grant an easement near the site of a proposed 268-unit apartment complex in Unionville.
CenterPlan Development Co. has proposed the $60 million complex on 10 acres at 19 Perry St., adjacent to the Union School and bordering the Farmington River.
On Sept. 8, the council voted 5-2 to grant a 3-acre easement from the rear of the 19 Perry St. site, outside the fence that forms the perimeter around the far side of Union School's field and out onto Mill Street, contingent on approval by other boards and commissions.
Thomas Mooney, the school board attorney, wrote a letter to the town attorney on Oct. 6, saying the property was under the jurisdiction and control of the board.
"The town council took this action notwithstanding our conversation in August in which I informed you that the board of education asserts the property in question is currently dedicated to use for school purposes and that, accordingly, the town does not have the legal authority to grant rights to others with regard to that land," Mooney wrote. CLICK TITLE TO CONTINUE

Developer Delays Second Phase of Hartford Baseball Stadium Construction

The developer building Hartford’s new $56 million minor league baseball stadium is now saying that a groundbreaking on the second phase of the revitalization project will be delayed until the spring.
The baseball stadium is only part of the roughly $350 million development in downtown Hartford. The city is paying for the stadium. But the developer is financing the second phase -- with retail, housing, and other amenities -- which was to have broken ground this fall. But that’s not going to happen.
“We were nervous that, if we started [the second phase] prior to the completion of the ballpark, that it would dilute our commitment to the ballpark -- and that’s obviously the most critical and time-sensitive event that we’re working on,” developer Bob Landino said. He expects the second phase of construction to start early next year. “We will break ground sometime in the spring, once the ballpark is completed.”
Landino said the delay is well within the scope of his contract with the city. Immediate efforts to reach the city were unsuccessful.
“The difference between November and March or April certainly isn’t enough time to reinforce skeptics,” Landino said. “If the end of next year happens and we haven’t done anything, then I think it’s a legitimate point.” CLICK TITLE TO CONTINUE

New Haven plan commission approves housing proposal for Anderson Street

NEW HAVEN >> Three attached homes were approved Wednesday for Anderson Street, which the developer hopes will be ready before the next academic year begins in a neighborhood that attracts many Yale University graduate students.
The three single-family, three-bedroom units will be located on a lot at 66 Anderson St. in East Rock.
They originally wanted to build five residences, but that was scaled back after the neighbors objected.
The City Planning Commission unanimously approved the development by Larry Levinson and John Esposito Jr.
There is also an existing law office on the site fronting on Anderson that will remain, while the commission gave the OK for the demolition of a building that previously housed automotive uses and storage at the rear of the lot.
The owners testified that there is no hazardous material in the building that will be removed.
They plan to start construction as soon as possible with completion by June 2016.
The commission, in other action, approved a special exception for Elm City Auto Wrecking to continue to run its motor vehicle junkyard at 46 Middletown Ave.
It’s permit had expired in May 2012 and the Building Department issued a cease and desist order in July for violating the terms of that special exception which required that “no junk yard related business or activities shall be conducted on Fawn Street or Middletown Avenue.”
At the time, the city had determined the business had spilled onto Fawn Street, but that has been cleaned up. The auto wrecking business also was found in compliance with the city’s coastal management plan. CLICK TITLE TO CONTINUE