Bass Pro Shops sets Nov. 18 opening
The long-awaited opening of Steelpointe Harbor’s flagship retailer is finally in sight.
Bass Pro Shops will hold a grand-opening ceremony on Wednesday, Nov. 18, starting at 6 p.m., with a ribbon cutting at 6:30. The free event will feature “an all-star cast of celebrities from the world of sports, entertainment and the outdoors joining together to help Bass Pro Shops celebrate the opening and make a significant contribution to conservation initiatives,” according to the company’s website.
Company founder Johnny Morris is expected at the opening event, according to Bob Christoph Jr., principal of Bridgeport Landing Development, which is part of Miami-based RCI Group and is developing Steelpointe Harbor.
“It’s been a great experience, and we’re really looking forward to the opening of the store,” Christoph said. “Everyone is talking about it.”
Bass Pro Shops plans to donate 50 cents of every dollar spent during the event to nonprofit conservation organizations.
The store, which sells outdoor gear for fishing, camping, hunting and boating along with apparel and footwear, will also include a nautical-themed underwater restaurant and “ocean-themed” bowling. “Casual family dining is available and a sunken ship-themed bar area offers visitors the experience of feeling like they are underwater exploring the skeletal remains of a ship,” according to the website. CLICK TITLE TO CONTINUE
Malloy: Highway projects will be boon to state’s economy
East Hartford — Gov. Dannel P. Malloy announced Thursday that the state Department of Transportation has determined the proposed widening of Interstates 95 and 84 would produce $40 billion in economic benefits by 2040, about four times the estimated cost of the projects.
With I-84 traffic whizzing by behind him, the governor told reporters gathered outside a DOT maintenance facility here that his highways plan would generate more than 20,000 construction jobs and reverse decades of neglect.
“Quite frankly, Connecticut residents have been shortchanged for 40 years,” Malloy said.
Unveiled earlier this year, the Democratic governor’s 30-year, $100 billion transportation plan calls for improvements to highways and other infrastructure, and to rail and bus systems and bike trails. Republicans have criticized the plan as overly ambitious and too costly.
The widening of I-95 in southern Connecticut would involve adding a lane along much of the expanse in either direction, from Greenwich to North Stonington. The undertaking would produce $15.5 billion in new business sales, add $9 billion to Connecticut’s gross state product, generate $6.3 billion in new wages for workers, and support between 11,000 and 19,000 construction jobs over a 10-year ramp-up period, according to the DOT’s analysis.
Widening I-84 between Danbury and Waterbury would produce $4.4 billion in new business sales, add $2.6 billion to the gross state product, generate $1.8 billion in new wages and support 4,000 construction jobs.
“This is about long-term thinking, about delivering a down payment on our future,” Malloy said. “It’s not just about quality of life — our transportation system is directly tied to our state’s economic future and our ability to grow jobs. The DOT’s analysis demonstrates that by acting now, we will see dramatic benefits in the long term.” CLICK TITLE TO CONTINUE
Dillon Stadium redevelopment possibly dead
The $12 million redevelopment of Hartford's Dillon Stadium appears in doubt, following revelations that a key developer has a 16-year-old felony conviction for embezzlement and more recent legal judgments for unpaid debts.
The Hartford Courant reported this week that Somers resident and former arena football player James C. Duckett was convicted in 1999 for embezzlement, related to work he did for a staffing agency.
News of Duckett's legal problems come after a previous developer for Dillon Stadium sued the city, alleging officials wrongfully terminated its "preferred developer" status on the project. The suit is still open.
In addition to Duckett's felony conviction, Duckett lost a handful of civil judgments totaling $119,000, the Courant reported.
Reached by phone Thursday, City Council President Shawn T. Wooden said the revelations have made him decide he won't support the stadium redevelopment. He also has concerns about Black Diamond's ability to finance the deal.
"I have enough concerns that I've decided I'm not supporting this project," Wooden said. "The principal involved is not a principal we should be doing business with." CLICK TITLE TO CONTINUE
Feds outline next step in Housatonic cleanup
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has taken another step on the long road to cleaning up PCB contamination in the Housatonic River, but it still figures to be years before the next shovel full of tainted sediment is removed. The EPA last weekend released its intended final decision on a proposed $613 million, 13-year cleanup of the Housatonic, updating the plan originally unveiled in June 2014. The bulk of the project will be done in Massachusetts, where dredging, excavation and capping are called for in several heavily polluted spots along the river in Pittsfield, Lenox and Great Barrington. No such work is proposed for Connecticut, where PCB levels are much lower, but the removal of pollution north of the border should one day result in anglers in Connecticut being able to safely eat fish caught in the Housatonic, according to the EPA. Since 1977, the state Department of Energy and Environmental Protection has warned people not to eat trout, catfish, eels, carp or northern pike pulled from the river. It has advised restricting consumption of other fish, such as bass or perch, to one meal per month, with stricter limits for pregnant women or children 6 and younger.
Those advisories may eventually be relaxed, but that day still looks to be a long way off.
GENERAL ELECTRIC, WHICH LEGALLY DUMPED PCBs into the river at its former power transformer plant in Pittsfield from 1932 to 1977, has until Oct. 30 to notify the EPA if it wishes to dispute the intended final decision. PCBs, a man-made substance classified as a carcinogen, were outlawed in 1979. GE already has cleaned the first two miles below the plant at a cost of $100 million. It also would be required to pay for the next cleanup, known as the Rest of the River.
The Fairfield-based corporation released a statement this week: "GE will be carefully reviewing the EPA intended final decision for the Housatonic Rest of the River. We look forward to working with EPA toward a common sense solution for the Rest of the River that protects human health and the environment, as well as complies with the Pittsfield-Housatonic consent decree approved by the federal court." If GE disputes the intended final decision, the company would begin negotiating a compromise with the EPA and state agencies from Massachusetts and Connecticut.
"We would try to get the discussions going expeditiously," EPA spokesman Jim Murphy said. "We know everybody has been waiting for this and working on this for a long time."
If talks fail to reach a solution, the EPA would issue a final decision, which GE then could appeal first to a federal board and then to U.S. courts, where the legal process might take years to play out.
Even if GE agrees with the intended final decision, the project would go into the design phase.
"It could be two years before people see anything," Murphy said. GE is not the only party mulling whether to contest the final decision, though.
MUNICIPAL LEADERS IN MASSACHUSETTS are fearful the lengthy project, estimated to involve 43,000 truck trips, would be disruptive to the tourism that is the lifeblood of their local economy. CLICK TITLE TO CONTINUE
I-84 project to close Harpers Ferry Road about Oct. 19
WATERBURY — A portion of Harpers Ferry Road, a main artery that connects Hamilton Avenue and East Main Street, will be closed for up to eight weeks as part of the Interstate 84 reconstruction project. Starting during the week of Oct. 19, Harpers Ferry Road will be closed between Plank Road and Ashmun Street for construction of new sewer and water mains The closure will occur just as Plank Road, which is closed between Brookdale Lane and Harpers Ferry Road, reopens. A new box culvert on Plank Road has been constructed and soon will be paved. "The contractor has promised us they will devote all of the resources necessary" to have Plank Road open by the week of Oct. 19, said Project Engineer Christopher J. Zukowski, of the state Department of Transportation. That may mean crews will be working extended hours and Saturdays. As Plank Road access to Harpers Ferry Road is restored, the stretch of Harpers Ferry north of Plank Road will be closed. Initially, the DOT hoped to keep Harpers Ferry Road open during construction of the new sewer and water mains.
"But there's not enough availability of land because of the proximity of houses, telephone poles and the Mad River," Zukowski said. "There's not enough room to perform construction while leaving it open to traffic."
Motorists headed northbound on Harpers Ferry will take a detour along Reidville Drive to Scott Road to East Main Street. Headed westbound from Reidville Drive, motorists can take Harpers Ferry Road south to Hamilton Avenue to Silver Street Expressway to East Main Street. Only local traffic will be able to access Plank Road from Harpers Ferry. The closure is necessary to replace sewer and water mains along Harpers Ferry Road.
"The existing facilities are in conflict with our new retaining wall that will help hold up Harpers Ferry Road in its new alignment along the Mad River," Zukowski said.
During construction, workers will build a temporary water line to maintain service to homes while the new main is installed. The work is expected to take about eight weeks and must be finished before asphalt plants shut down in the winter. There will be no closures or detours in the area during the winter, but in the spring, Harpers Ferry Road will be closed for short time while railings are installed for the new retaining wall. "Even with these couple of new road closures and detours, we're