PORTLAND >> A defiant Board of Selectmen has refused to allocate $75,000 to pave parking cutouts along a portion of Main Street.
Instead, the board has challenged the state to do the work as part of the repaving of Main Street which is scheduled to begin on May 9. The state Department of Transportation contends the town assumed responsibility for the parking cutouts along the west side of the street tin 1981, when the town used a grant to pave them. Minutes found in the town’s archives appear to bear that out, town officials said. But during a regular board meeting on Wednesday, Deputy First Selectman Brian M. Flood rejected that assertion. “I don’t think the taxpayers of Portland should be responsible for taking care of property that belongs to the state of Connecticut,” Flood said. He was also “troubled” that the town is assuming responsibility for paving cutouts that serve businesses like Liberty Bank and the Portland Memorial Funeral Home. “I struggle with this. Why are we elevating a business over an individual taxpayer,” Flood said. “It doesn’t make sense to elevate one property owner over another one.” Flood and Selectman Benjamin Srb had taken the lead in saying no to the state over the issue. “I do not believe we should get involved in paving this area,” Srb said. At their meeting on April 18, the selectmen reduced the proposed 2016-17 budget by $200,000 because of a projected loss of state aid in the coming year. The cuts came equally from the Board of Education and general government.
Selectmen, including Kathleen G. Richards in particular, said they were troubled by the idea of cutting aid to education and town services on the one hand and then paying $75,000 to pave the cutouts on the other. CLICK TITLE TO CONTINUE
More than 100 Section 8 units planned for new downtown Meriden
MERIDEN — Out of 700 proposed living units to be built downtown, between 100 to 140 of them will be subsidized rents, or Section 8 housing, according to the Meriden Housing Authority.
The only project to contain all subsidized housing is the nine-unit Hanover Street Veterans Housing project.
The housing authority last week approved 20 Section 8 units in the planned 81-unit development at 11 Crown St., the former Record-Journal building.
About 20 units will be market rate. Developer Michael Development has not submitted final plans so the numbers could change, said MHA Executive Director Robert Cappelletti. The housing authority’s challenge is to replace the Section 8 housing lost when it demolishes 140 units at the Mills Memorial Apartments. Federal law dictates a one-to-one replacement.
The authority has approved 20 percent or 12 Section 8 units at 143 W. Main Street, but the final tally is unknown because plans are not finalized.
At 24 Colony St., developer Westmount Development Group partnered with the MHA and the city to build 63 apartments on the second, third and fourth floors. Final plans call for 51 one-bedroom units that are 700 square feet each, and 12 two-bedroom units between 900 and 1,100 square feet. CLICK TITLE TO CONTINUE
HARTFORD — Replacing the I-84 viaduct with a highway built below ground level would bring many benefits, state engineers say, but at the cost of demolishing the Capitol View apartment tower as well as the Capitol Archives & Record Storage center.As state and federal officials draw closer to choosing how they will replace the outdated viaduct, engineers caution that each option has advantages and costs.
"There are tradeoffs in every one we've looked at," said Rich Armstrong, project manager with the state Department of Transportation.
"There's very little public support for the elevated [highway] alternative. The tunnel would cost $10 billion to $12 billion," Armstrong said. "The lowered [highway] alternative does a lot of good things, but there would be impacts on some buildings." The DOT and federal planners are only months — or perhaps just weeks — from deciding on an overall concept for how to replace nearly 2 miles of the busiest highway in the state. After examining more than a dozen options, DOT engineers are leaning heavily toward building partly at ground level and partly in a slightly lowered trench.
To make that work, though, the state would have to relocate the Amtrak line, redesign exit and entrance ramps, and modify some surrounding municipal streets.
Engineers said they would need to acquire and demolish several buildings, most notably the roughly 270-unit Capitol View apartment tower on Asylum Avenue. City records indicate the 10-story building last sold for $16.5 million in 2008. Depending on the precise configuration of the highway, ramps and railroad tracks, several smaller residential buildings also might have to be razed. CLICK TITLE TO CONTINUE
Parking review question still unanswered for new Yale science facility
NEW HAVEN >> There was no push-back to Yale University’s proposal Wednesday to build a new science facility to replace the Gibbs Laboratory, but the issue of aldermanic review of the parking needs of the project is still unanswered. The Board of Alders recently adopted a new ordinance clarifying its role in approving parking for Yale projects, but whether it is applicable in this particular case — where the number of workers will stay the same — is under review by an attorney hired by the board. The City Plan Commission Wednesday asked for more information on stormwater management and feedback from the Department of Transportation, Traffic and Parking on the proposal. It was tabled until the May 18 commission meeting. The university plans to build a 280,300-square-foot, six-story building after the current Gibbs Laboratory that faces Whitney Avenue is demolished. The proposal would be part of the 24.4-acre campus that contains numerous buildings on what is generally known as Yale’s Science Hill. CLICK TITLE TO CONTINUE
Airport Authority Must End Silence On Casino
Last October, the Connecticut Airport Authority's directors met in secret to discuss their negotiating strategy to obtain a satellite casino for Bradley International Airport. They met in secret again in December — and then again in January and February.
Last week, they did it again. Another executive session, with the public and media barred from entry, to discuss what would be a major policy shift for Connecticut — the state's first commercial casino.
Behind closed doors, a plan that would have a profound impact on Windsor Locks and surrounding communities was proposed, or revised, or finalized. Or all three. They won't say, so we don't know.
The airport authority, established just a few years ago, oversees the state's major airports, including Bradley. Members are appointed by elected state officials and legislators, with state commissioners among the members. None of them lives in Windsor Locks. But surely they understand and respect the public's right to know. Surely they can appreciate Connecticut's long-standing legal tradition — going back to Windsor Locks native Gov. Ella Grasso's commitment in the 1970s — of public access to government decision-making. Yet, month after month, the closed meetings continue and the public remains shut out. It's time some light was shed on what's happening. Our community and our state deserve to know.As a public official, I understand there are legitimate occasions when an executive session — from which the public is excluded — is appropriate, but only when used sparingly. Meeting in executive sessions for half a year on a significant public policy issue is, at the very least, excessive, inappropriate and potentially perilous. From October through April, not one word of public explanation has appeared in the authority's minutes. Not one word offering an explanation of the benefits, costs or factors being weighed or evaluated. CLICK TITLE TO CONTINUE
Special walls under construction for I-84 project
