STAMFORD — City auditors are looking into the reasons why the Urban Redevelopment Commission didn’t have the funds last year to pay a developer and needed a loan from the city to pay the debt.
“It’s not a full audit of all its financial matters,” said Michael Pollard, Mayor David Martin’s chief of staff. “It’s very targeted.”
The audit was one of the conditions placed by the city on a $300,300 loan granted to the URC last year.
The loan was used toward a $400,300 deposit due to Boston-based developer Trinity Financial for a development project known as Park Square West.
Trinity recently received a $51.3 million construction loan for the latest phase of that project, a 209-unit luxury high-rise apartment building on Washington Boulevard.
City officials have been discussing the future of the URC for years. The agency was established in the 1950s to handle municipal development projects, according to the city’s website. Its $740,000 operating budget is separate from the city’s funds.
The URC obtains its funding from sites that it owns around the city, and application fees for developments.
In 2011, then-Mayor Michael Pavia’s Task Force on Governance found that the commission had been mismanaging its funds for years. CLICK TITLE TO CONTINUE
Big New England electrical transmission project gets boost
MONTPELIER, Vt. (AP) — A proposal to lay a 1,000-megawatt power line from the Canadian border down Lake Champlain and then across Vermont to Ludlow is taking another big step forward.
Developer TDI New England said Monday it had received its permit from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers for the 154-mile project that is designed to carry renewable electricity from Canada to southern New England. The project is still awaiting a presidential permit. It has already won approval from the state of Vermont.
There are a number of projects, including TDI New England, that are being proposed to deliver Canadian power to Massachusetts, Connecticut and Rhode Island.
TDI New England hopes to begin construction next year and be transmitting power by 2019.
“Home and apartment construction continued growing strongly while public construction, particularly for highways, has also advanced,” said Ken Simonson, the association’s chief economist. “But spending on most private nonresidential categories has stalled or turned negative in the past several months. Contractors still say they are very busy now but uncertainty over the economy may mean new projects dry up.” CLICK TITLE TO CONTINUE
Tribes to begin narrowing field of proposed casino sites
Groton — Leaders of the Mashantucket Pequot and Mohegan tribes announced Monday they expect to soon narrow the number of Hartford-area municipalities being considered to host a casino.
The list of contenders — East Hartford, East Windsor, Hartford and Windsor Locks — will likely be trimmed in an “intermediate” phase and then pared to a sole candidate after negotiations take place with those left in the running, the tribes’ chairmen said at a press conference at Paul’s TV on Bridge Street.
They hope to announce the results of the first round of eliminations “in a couple weeks,” said Kevin Brown, the Mohegan chairman.
The Mashantuckets and the Mohegans, respective owners of Foxwoods Resort Casino and Mohegan Sun, are jointly pursuing a Hartford-area casino to compete against MGM Springfield, a $950 million resort casino under construction a few miles from Connecticut’s northern border.
Rodney Butler, chairman of the Mashantuckets, said MMCT Venture, a partnership between the two tribes, has made “substantial progress” in vetting the proposals, a process he said was complicated by the number of towns that responded. CLICK TITLE TO CONTINUE
Developers pitch five, 240MW CT clean energy projects
Connecticut may soon source more of its clean energy from within its own borders, if newly proposed projects are successful in a unique and ongoing multi-state bidding process.
A joint procurement by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Rhode Island — the first of its kind for the states — garnered 24 bids from developers and companies for solar, wind, fuel cell and hydro projects, including five offering power that would be generated in Connecticut.
"This is good news for Connecticut's ratepayers and signals the very real potential for us to deliver a cheaper, cleaner, and more reliable energy future for residents and businesses of our state," said Department of Energy and Environmental Protection Commissioner Rob Klee, whose agency oversaw Connecticut's participation in the bidding process.
The RFP, authorized by a 2015 state law, could result in ground-mounted solar installations that are four to eight times larger than the biggest existing facilities in Connecticut. It could also boost an already approved 63.3-megawatt fuel cell park in Beacon Falls — which would be not only the largest in Connecticut, but in the world. CLICK TITLE TO CONTINUE
Extended-Stay Chain Proposes Four-Story Hotel In Manchester
MANCHESTER — An extended-stay hotel chain is proposing to build a four-story hotel on Pavilions Drive.
The 87,840-square-foot Homewood Suites hotel would have 105 rooms, Senior Planner Renata Bertotti said Friday. A review of preliminary plans for the building at 109 Pavilions Drive recently began, Bertotti said. The planning and zoning commission will decide whether to approve the project.
The applicant is TMI of Manchester L.P. The current owner of the 3.5 acres of vacant land is the Shoppes at Buckland Hills, and the property is appraised at about $1.34 million, according to assessor's records. CLICK TITLE TO CONTINUE
Just as proposals to increase gas taxes to pay for roads have failed in most states, Obama's latest pitch to tax oil companies is likely dead on arrival. Raising the gas tax is a tough sell in Missouri.
For one thing, the state's constitution limits the total annual increase in all taxes and fees to about $90 million. Since each penny of tax on gasoline brings in $39 million, lawmakers couldn't increase the tax by much more than 2 cents. There's widespread recognition that roads require more revenue, and the state's gas tax is among the lowest in the nation. But even a modest-sized bump is unlikely to pass this year.
"In an election year, it's an uphill battle," said Glen Kolkmeyer, who chairs the Missouri House Transportation Committee.
The same is true all over the country.
Many states have long lists of projects that are approved but not paid for. Even with the recent passage in Congress of a five-year, $300 billion package -- the first major federal transportation bill in a decade -- there's not enough money to make up the shortfalls in states. Despite all that, most governors and legislators are reluctant to raise their gax tax rates to increase infrastructure funding. CLICK TITLE TO CONTINUE
For one thing, the state's constitution limits the total annual increase in all taxes and fees to about $90 million. Since each penny of tax on gasoline brings in $39 million, lawmakers couldn't increase the tax by much more than 2 cents. There's widespread recognition that roads require more revenue, and the state's gas tax is among the lowest in the nation. But even a modest-sized bump is unlikely to pass this year.
"In an election year, it's an uphill battle," said Glen Kolkmeyer, who chairs the Missouri House Transportation Committee.
The same is true all over the country.
Many states have long lists of projects that are approved but not paid for. Even with the recent passage in Congress of a five-year, $300 billion package -- the first major federal transportation bill in a decade -- there's not enough money to make up the shortfalls in states. Despite all that, most governors and legislators are reluctant to raise their gax tax rates to increase infrastructure funding. CLICK TITLE TO CONTINUE