North Stonington — The third proposed solution to upgrade the town's schools will be vetted by residents at two public hearings scheduled for Monday and Saturday.
The proposed project could eventually be voted on by residents at a referendum this spring.
The project aims to fix numerous problems at the elementary and middle/high school, including hazardous PCBs in the window and door caulking, insufficient science lab space as well as outdated heating and cooling systems.
Proposed changes to the current operation of the school include moving the sixth-grade students from the middle school to the elementary school and adding a central kitchen, building an addition onto the gymatorium to house the middle and high schools, ending the use of the tunnel under Route 2 and demolishing or leasing the current middle school space.
Renovating both schools would cost an estimated $38.1 million. The committee is counting on the state reimbursement that would leave taxpayers responsible for $21.2 million.
The proposal also comes as the emergency services building committee held its first public hearing on Jan. 30 for an additional $2.25 million funding request.
Two previous school projects, both costing more than $40 million, failed at the polls in 2014, with residents expressing concern about the potential 4.08-mill tax increase. CLICK TITLE TO CONTINUE
A Ballpark Takes Shape: Pressure's On To Ready Dunkin' Donuts Park For May 31
HARTFORD — It takes some imagination to see beyond the concrete, dirt and steel that is becoming Dunkin' Donuts Park, a $63 million minor league baseball stadium taking shape just north of downtown.
But they provide the basic elements of what the developer, the team and city officials say will be one of the nicest minor league ballparks in the country.
Steel studs beneath the stands frame space for heated and cooled indoor batting cages. Tiered concrete forms give shape to stadium seating areas. Skeletal metal towers await high-powered lights high above the playing field.
The gravel base for the warning track in right field is down. The outline of the pitcher's mound and the diamond shape of the infield are clearly visible. With an impasse over stadium financing apparently behind, the project is moving steadily toward a Yard Goats home opening date of May 31.
In December, it became apparent the stadium would not open on time, on April 7, and could not be completed for the previously agreed upon budget of $56 million. But the developer, city and team's owner have agreed to share the burden of cost overruns, and everyone is shooting for a new home opener."There's no more 'stop, go stop, go,'" said Jason Rudnick, construction manager for Centerplan Cos. and DoNo Hartford LLC, the developer of the ballpark. "We reset the bar and we're on schedule." CLICK TITLE TO CONTINUE
Power plant vote looms
OXFORD — Voters will decide Thursday whether to accept the largest single influx of tax revenue this community has seen in anyone's memory. On the periphery, it seems an easy question: Why wouldn't a growing town that wants to keep taxes low accept $112 million over the next 22 years?
But anyone who has been at all involved in discussions surrounding the proposed power plant, which would generate that tax revenue, knows it is not that simple.
Many people simply don't want the project — for any amount of tax dollars. Many also say Oxford is getting a raw deal and want the town to negotiate a better one.
Residents vote between 6 a.m. and 8 p.m. at Quaker Farms School. They will be asked to vote 'yes' or 'no' on whether to support the tax stabilization agreement and accompanying documents between the town and CPV Towantic as approved by the Board of Selectmen on Dec. 16. All documents are on the town's website at www.oxford-ct.gov.
First Selectman George R. Temple, who has been a firm supporter of the power plant project since it was first proposed by General Electric in the late 1990s, said he believes "the town is going to win" Thursday.
"It's going to pass," he said. "The people who have talked to me have been overwhelmingly in support of the agreement, and people are satisfied with the amount of money that we're getting and satisfied that we did everything we could. So I'm confident."
The opponents, he said, are misguided if they believe Maryland-based Competitive Power Ventures will simply pack up and go away after investing more than three years and millions of dollars into the 785-megawatt power plant project, the rights to which CPV acquired in 2012.
Furthermore, Temple said, the argument that the town is not receiving its fair share is a red herring for those who just don't want the project.
"They still think they can stop this project, and it ain't gonna happen," he said. "People who believe that are living in a fool's paradise." CLICK TITLE TO CONTINUE