The Board of Selectmen approved nearly $700,000 toward work on the first phase to build a 72-unit affordable housing development on Millport Avenue.
David McCarthy of Jonathan Rose Companies told the board that construction costs that remained static or fell after the 2008 economic downturn have begun to climb again. He projected the additional costs of labor and materials for the first phase to be more than $500,000.
“We’re looking at 20-percent higher construction costs on a $20 million project,” McCarthy said. “It is partially a sign of a very hot construction market right now.”
When bidding the first phase to build 33 units — mostly one-bedroom units on town land — only two contractors responded, according to McCarthy.
“It isn’t like a few years ago when you a put a job out on the street and everybody and anybody would bid on it,” McCarthy said.
McCarthy said the project could trim $250,000 in winter-related construction costs if it delayed the project until the spring. The board left open the issue of whether the project should begin next month or be delayed, which could possibly impact the town’s efforts to obtain a state affordable housing moratorium.
The units added in the first phase of the project are expected to qualify the town for a four-year break from affordable housing applications under the state’s affordable housing law 8-30g, which allows developers to sidestep local zoning rules with proposals that set aside 30 percent of units rented to tenants who fall within the state’s income guidelines as low and moderate income. CLICK TITLE TO CONTINUE
Questions raised about state transportation plan at Danbury forum
DANBURY — Questions remain about how to fund Connecticut’s $100 billion transportation plan, which state officials are praising as a needed improvement of the current system.
“There could be significant tax increases,” said state Sen. Toni Boucher, R-Wilton, who sits on the legislative Transportation Committee, cautioned during Wednesday’s transportation forum at Western Connecticut State University.
The forum was sponsored by the League of Women Voters of Greater Danbury as a way to inform the public on the 30-year transportation plan, and featured comments from elected and other state officials.
Boucher pointed to possible increases in the gas, sales and petroleum taxes, as well as the introduction of a mileage tax or tolls. Based on previous public discussions in the Danbury area, she said a gas-tax increase seems the least controversial and the fairest, as well as a quicker revenue source.
A funding recommendation isn’t expected to come from the Governor’s Transportation Finance panel until December, said Oz Griebel, who is a member. He said the panel has heard a lot of proposals, including general obligation bonds.
Griebel said he doesn’t think tolls would be a good idea because it would take 10 years before the state could get any meaningful revenue that way after a high initial costs of implementation.
“We would be irresponsible to not look at all options before making a recommendation,” Griebel said.
The state portion of the transportation expenses is paid for using the state gas tax. If only the gas tax is used, the Department of Transportation would have an operational deficit within several years. Once proposed sales tax revenue is factored in, the deficit wouldn’t occur until 2022, Griebel said. CLICK TITLE TO CONTINUE
DOT planning permanent repair of Norwich Route 12 retaining wall collapse
Norwich — The state Department of Transportation has announced plans for a permanent repair of the collapsed 17-foot high retaining wall on Route 12-North Main Street in Greeneville that involved the eminent domain seizure of an adjacent apartment house.
The field stone wall collapsed onto the lower yard of an apartment house at 665 North Main St. on June 15, leaving a large gap beneath an unsupported portion of sidewalk and roadway.
DOT crews immediately shifted traffic and closed a portion of the sidewalk and relocated the four tenants in the apartment house, located a few feet from the collapsed wall.
Truckloads of dirt and large concrete blocks were brought in to temporarily shore up the collapsed area, but the traffic lanes remain shifted with orange cones and caution tape still in place.
A dispute ensued between property owner Andrew Zeeman and DOT officials over the state's plan to acquire the property and the relocation of tenants.
Zeeman said the DOT made him what was termed a final offer in July of $160,000, but would not consider compensation for his recent refinancing of the property and for removal and storage of his belongings at the property. CLICK TITLE TO CONTINUE
Bridge connecting North Stonington, Westerly has been closed for seven years
North Stonington — Seven years ago, a 120-foot-long bridge connecting North Stonington and Westerly closed to traffic, forcing residents to take at least a 6-mile detour to get to the other side.
Today, the Boom Bridge Road bridge — or the Boombridge Road bridge, if one is in Rhode Island — remains closed, much to the chagrin of Rosalind Lewis, co-owner of the Beriah Lewis Farm.
The farm, with 750 acres on the Connecticut side of the Pawcatuck River and a smaller, rented amount on the Rhode Island side, has suffered economically because of the closed bridge, Lewis said.
"We're a pretty big business ... and we're pretty big taxpayers," Lewis said. "And yet this bridge cost us, this past harvesting season, $200 to $275 a day."
With cows and corn on the Rhode Island side of the bridge, she explained, up to five trucks need to make the 14-mile round-trip commute — rather than a mile-long one — several times a day during peak season.
The inoperative bridge also could pose a problem in the event of an emergency, Lewis said, especially if a fire at the sprawling farm were to make access from the Connecticut side limited or nonexistent.
Lewis and her two sons — who each live in separate homes nearby — aren't the only ones affected. Prior to its closure, the bridge's traffic averaged 450 vehicles per day. CLICK TITLE TO CONTINUE
Gas Pipeline Proposal Meets With Public Disapproval In West Hartford
WEST HARTFORD — Residents and local environmental groups at a public meeting at town hall Wednesday were vehemently opposed to a proposed gas pipeline expansion project.
"There's always alternative routes for gas pipelines but there's no alternative to clean drinking water for the population in Hartford," said Jack Looney, attorney for Connecticut Fund for the Environment and Save the Sound.
Representatives from a number of environmental groups expressed skepticism that Tennessee Gas Pipeline Co., a subsidiary of Kinder Morgan Energy Partners, could conduct a pipeline expansion project without affecting local wildlife, recreation areas, and watersheds for drinking water. Members of the public, including those whose property would be impacted, also spoke out against the plan.
But company representatives assured the public that the project is both safe and necessary.Allen Fore, vice president of Kinder Morgan, said the expansion proposal is in response to increased demand for natural gas in Connecticut and, "we're still early in the process."
The project includes 14.8 miles of pipeline from East Granby to Farmington, with 5.7 miles of that routed through Metropolitan District Commission property. CLICK TITLE TO CONTINUE
Ground Broken For 200-Apartment Complex In South Windsor
SOUTH WINDSOR — Dozens gathered Wednesday for the groundbreaking of a new apartment complex behind Evergreen Walk.
Members of the town council, planning and zoning commission, inland wetlands agency and planning department attended the ceremony at the site of the future Residences at Evergreen Walk.
Mayor Saud Anwar said the apartments signify an important step for the town.
"This is part of a strategic plan to attract young couples [and] young people," Anwar said. The plans include 200 apartments among nine buildings on the 10.5-acre parcel, which is part of Evergreen Walk and directly behind the Promenade Shops at Evergreen Walk.It includes a town square that will be the location of events and programs, such as concerts, art shows and festivals.
Howard S. Rappaport, principal with project developer Continental Properties, said the square and the Residences at Evergreen Walk's vicinity to the shops make the development a good community meeting place.
"We think this is a really unique project," Rappaport said. "It will make the area even more of a destination."
Construction started on the $45 million project in June and developers are expecting a grand opening in spring 2016. CLICK TITLE TO CONTINUE
Ground-broken ceremony
Warner Gardens developer thanks tenants, Waterbury officials
WATERBURY — Warner Gardens, the former black-owned housing cooperative, has never had it easy, so it is perhaps fitting that its transformation into modern affordable housing would also face daunting challenges.
After decades of neglect, when its aging residents could no longer maintain their property or pay its mounting tax and water obligations, the co-op sold out to a Providence-based developer who planned to rebuild it.
Omni Development Corp. broke ground in May, but it did so while it was in flux. With its longtime president, Joseph A. Caffey, dead, Omni began taking down the 122 units, sticking to its deadlines, but skipped the ceremony.
On Wednesday, Omni's new president, Lawrence Brown, thanked the tenants of Warner Gardens and city and state officials for having faith in the project that had meant so much to Caffey, despite the unexpected challenges.
"We're really quite blessed," said Loretta Hayre, a former co-op board member who has since moved to Prospect, after the groundbreaking. "I didn't know if it would happen, but this day has come, and it's happening."
The progress was visible behind her, with the wooden frames of several multifamily units already rising from the cleared ground just a few hundred feet from where the battered remains of some old units still stand.
Omni has obtained state and private financing for the first $14.3 million phase, which includes the reconstruction of 58 one-, two- and three-bedroom flats in 17 buildings.
Omni is still seeking financing for the remaining 64 units. The state Department of Housing and Connecticut Housing Finance Authority has invested $5.2 million in Warner Gardens. Over the last four years, the state has invested $70 million to build 749 new affordable housing units in Waterbury.
Although many of the demolished Warner Gardens buildings were empty, with conditions so bad that people had moved out, those residents who remained have been temporarily moved out to an apartment complex near the Wolcott line.
Former co-op board president Allen Sinclair said the community has remained intact, and most of the relocated tenants are eager to return, even if they won't own the units anymore. Sinclair has bought a house up the street.
"It was a good end to a bad situation," Sinclair said of the sale. "They're making something really beautiful, but it was always the people that made this place. It's about time, though, these nice people had nice places again."