PLAINVILLE — Tilcon officials presented a detailed plan for relocation of the company’s quarry site at a public information session Thursday, meeting skepticism from local well users and environmentalists.
The Town Council chambers were packed with more than three dozen residents Thursday, many from neighborhoods close to the current site at 395 Woodford Ave.
Tilcon’s proposal, which requires approval from the council and state legislators, would move its operation 1,000 feet from Plainville homes onto land belonging to the New Britain Water Department, creating a forested buffer around the new site. Tilcon can now dig within 300 feet of Plainville homes.
The land Tilcon intends to move to is covered under the state’s aquifer protection law, meaning legislators would need to create an exception to allow it to be mined. In exchange, Tilcon will provide 157 acres of open space to Plainville, 95 to New Britain and 75 to Southington. Additionally, once operations on the site are finished, in 40 years, Tilcon intends to remediate the site and turn it into a reservoir.
“To put things into perspective, Tilcon has been operating in Plainville since 1923,” Town Manager Robert E. Lee said, introducing company officials. “They are the second-largest taxpayer in town, paying $23.2 million annually, which is twice the value that we receive from the third-highest taxpayer. They are here to give this presentation to make sure that everybody is on the same page and to answer any questions residents may have. There is a lot of information out there, some of which is more true than the rest.”
“I’m on Plainville’s side in this,” Lee continued. “”I think that this is a win-win and that there is a tremendous value to acquiring this open space property and making sure that it is not commercially developed.”
Gary Wall, president of Tilcon, spoke next, accompanied by a PowerPoint presentation featuring topographical maps and satellite maps that indicated the proposed area in relation to neighborhoods.
“Expanding our existing quarry with the adjacent water department property will extend the viable life of our business and build a reservoir to plan for future water needs,” he said. “The proposed reservoir will hold 4.7 billion gallons of water, a 3.2 billion increase over the Shuttle Meadow reservoir. This would increase New Britain’s yield by 160,000 gallons per day and serve an additional 2,000 people year round.”
Wall said that if the legislation is approved, Tilcon will begin work next year. The results would be improved storm water management and reduced impact of blasting. He added that no water will leave the site without Department of Energy and Environmental Protection testing it first. Additionally, there would be no increased truck traffic and no change in the public view of the currently closed operations. CLICK TITLE TO CONTINUE
Norwich City Council supports Route 82 redesign project
Norwich – Reflecting the mixed opinions offered by numerous business owners and residents, the City Council voted 5-2 in favor Monday to support the state Department of Transportation's preliminary $42 million plan to restructure Route 82 with a series of roundabouts and a median divider to eliminate left turns.
Mayor Deberey Hinchey said the resolution would allow the DOT to start designing the complex project with assurances that state officials will return to the city with updated designs as plans progress. She said the DOT will give an update after 30 percent of the design work has been completed.
At this point, the preliminary design calls for six roundabouts replacing traffic signals from the major New London Turnpike intersection to the Asylum Street-Mechanics Street intersection. A median divider would prohibit all left turns along that stretch, and other improvements would be made along the rest of the busy commercial strip to improve safety.
“It's called by its nickname 'Crash Alley' for good reason,” Norwich Police Chief Louis Fusaro said.
Fusaro said at first he was not in favor of the drastic redesign proposed, but admitted he “got an education” on roundabouts and how they improve traffic flow and safety.
Several business owners along the strip offered mixed opinions of the preliminary plan for major reconstruction of the major roadway. Heidi Thony, whose father, Paul Agranovitch owns Universal Discount Package Store, strongly opposed the roundabouts plan. She said her father recalled the last time the state reconstructed the road – widening it from two to four lanes – in the 1980s, businesses struggled greatly. CLICK TITLE TO CONTINUE
West Haven officials say ‘renovate-as-new’ high school project likely to begin in 2017
WEST HAVEN >> The project to rebuild West Haven High School remains a “renovate-as-new” project with the same state project number and original 75 percent reimbursement rate and is likely to begin in the spring of 2017, Superintendent of Schools Neil Cavallaro and Mayor Ed O’Brien told the Board of Education Monday night.
Cavallaro told the board he felt compelled to discuss the project’s status because of conflicting details that have been circulated about where it stands following a recent meeting with state officials that followed a letter from the city saying it no longer wanted to proceed with the current project and it “must be terminated.”
In discussions with the officials from the state Department of Administrative Services’ Office of School Construction Grants in the wake of the letter, “we were actually advised by the state to give our best-case scenario of what we would like to see,” Cavallaro told the board at a regular meeting in the Carrigan Intermediate School auditorium.
“I think what we decided was not to scrap what we were working on,” he said. CLICK TITLE TO CONTINUE
New Haven Board of Alders approve James Street bus depot conversion project
NEW HAVEN >> As expected, the Board of Alders Monday approved a three-way deal that will allow two city entrepreneurs to convert a last century bus barn to a 21st century tech and innovative business park. The project, now known as DistriCT NHV, is expected to get started in early April, with the alders shaving off a few weeks in its approval process so the deal could get going as soon as possible.
The partners, Eric O’Brien of Urbane New Haven and Crossfit, and David Salinas of Digital Surgeons, will put $16 million into the conversion of the bus depot at 470 James St. The state bonded $5.5 million to clean up the petroleum left by CT Transit, which occupied the site from 1950 until five years ago. The bonding package was lobbied by the city’s state delegation led by state Senate Pro Tempore Martin Looney, D-New Haven, as a jobs investment where a number of local businesses expect to expand, while the 100,000 square foot site will also bring new businesses and start-ups.
Alder Jessica Holmes, D-9th, called it a “key parcel,” that will provide more permanent space for Digital Surgeons, Crossfit, as well SeeClickFix, Make Haven, LaunchCapital, and a multimedia studio, among others, “in a campus-style atmosphere,” as it attracts additional tech talent to the city.
The redevelopment under private ownership means the nine acres will again be tax producing. “Putting city land back on the tax rolls and creating economic opportunities for residents is one of the priorities of my administration,” Mayor Toni Harp said in a statement. “This redevelopment will do just that by retaining close to 100 jobs and creating a new home for businesses to hire an estimated 200-300 new jobs at all skill levels.” CLICK TITLE TO CONTINUE