Groton — The town plans to file an application by the end of this month to create an airport development zone around Groton-New London Airport, which could provide tax breaks to manufacturing and other businesses that locate within a 2-mile radius and create a potential economic gain for the region.
If approved, the zone would make it possible for a manufacturing or airport-related business to receive a tax exemption of 80 percent of assessed value for five years.
The incentives would help attract employers, said Jonathan Reiner, director of the Groton Office of Planning and Development Services. “When we start talking about this section of Connecticut versus southern Rhode Island, that may not have the tax abatements, we can get the businesses here (and) we can get the jobs here.”
The benefits of a zone could extend well beyond Groton, said Tony Sheridan, president of the Chamber of Commerce of Eastern Connecticut.
“It has an impact through the job creation process. Look at the thousands that are going to work at (Electric Boat) and Pfizer and the casinos every day. They’re from all over the area and from all over the state of Connecticut,” he said. “So it’s not about the parochialness of the decision. It’s about the job creation.”
The town would first propose the zone to the state Department of Economic and Community Development, which would then forward its recommendation to the Connecticut Airport Authority.
If approved, the zone would apply to businesses within the zone that buy or lease space and those that renovate, expand or build facilities used for manufacturing, warehousing, distribution and other services needed for industry.
Town leaders had earlier discussed a legislative proposal to try to shift the boundaries of the development zone. State law limits airport development zones to a 2-mile radius around the center of an airport, and in Groton, one-third to one-half of that area is under water. The Thames River, reservoir and Long Island Sound cover large areas, and other space is occupied by state parks and land that cannot be developed. CLICK TITLE TO CONTINUE
Orchard Hill Topping Out Ceremony
Town officials, members of the Public Building Commission, parents, and students all gathered together at the Topping Out ceremony for the new Orchard Hill School earlier this month.During the ceremony, the last beam to "top out" the framework of the new school was placed. The topping out signifies a milestone for the construction of the school and all parties involved were able to commemorate the occasion.
Mayor Tom Delnicki attended and recalled memories of attending the first Orchard Hill School the first year it was open – in the early 1960s.
The school will open next year. No decision yet on boatyard
STAMFORD — The city’s Zoning Board continued to grapple with the finer points of the Davenport Landing boatyard applications Monday as final decision was postponed for at least one more day.
The board to another step forward in the approval process when it began discussing and modifying the final drafts of the bundle of applications submitted by Building and Land Technology. Still, Zoning Board chairman Thomas Mills has made it clear that he is not adhering to a time frame.
“We’re not going to be rushed by BLT, the city or anyone,” Mills said in an interview Thursday. “I’m not going to waste five years on this and then rush and get something wrong.”
Time is of the essence for BLT, though, as a seasonal dredging window opens in September and proposed operator Hinckley Co. waits in the wings.
While some members of the board seemed optimistic that they could come to a decision Tuesday, Mills is skeptical. He encouraged the board to set aside time in August, when the board usually takes a hiatus, to continue deliberations.
The board made tentative plans to convene again on Aug. 8 to discuss the boatyard applications.
Several revisions
The proposed boatyard would replace the one BLT demolished in 2011, in violation of its zoning agreement with the city. The developer’s revised plan includes a 4.4-acre boatyard on Southfield Avenue with a 25,740-square-foot building. BLT also wants to build a 115-unit housing complex on the site. It proposed a separate boat storage site at 205 Magee Ave.
The Harbor Management Commission and the Planning Board already rejected BLT’s revised boatyard applications earlier this year, triggering a requirement for a two-thirds vote in favor from the Zoning Board.
Throughout its review process, the Zoning Board has been most concerned about the future viability of the Davenport Landing boatyard. As a safeguard, the board has shown interest in two significant conditions of approval, including a deed restriction that reduces the company’s development rights, promotes water-dependent uses and protects coastal resources at the 205 Magee site. CLICK TITLE TO CONTINUE
Block Island Wind Farm ready for final construction phase
Providence — The Block Island Wind Farm entered its final phase of construction Monday, with five foundations installed, 30 miles of undersea cable laid and the last shipment of turbine blades scheduled to arrive from France by the end of this week.
“By early September, the wind turbines on the first offshore wind farm in North America will be ready to start spinning,” said Jeffrey Grybowski, chief executive officer of Deepwater Wind, the company building the five-turbine, 30-megawatt project 3 miles offshore from Block Island’s south shore. “This is the start of something much bigger. This industry is just starting to take off.”
Grybowski spoke at an event at PortProv, where 15 of the 240-foot turbine blades and eight tower sections are being stored as they await transport to the construction site.
Gov. Gina Raimondo toured the site and praised the project as one that makes the country’s smallest state a national leader in a new and promising industry.
“This is precisely the kind of company and jobs we want to create,” she said, speaking at a podium set up in front of the stacks of blades. “This is the way to rebuild our economy, with high-wage, high-tech jobs. We cannot go back to low-skilled manufacturing jobs.”
The project is employing 300 workers, among them unionized iron workers, electrical workers, painters, carpenters and longshoremen, some of whom attended the event in “Block Island Wind Farm” hard hats. Also attending were representatives of General Electric Renewable energy, which manufactured the nacelles that will house the components that will turn the movement of the wind into electricity. GE also recently opened a digital technology office in Providence.
Bryan Martin, chairman of Deepwater Wind and managing director of D.E. Shaw & Co., a major investor in the company, said with the path paved by the Block Island project, the way is now clear for a burst of new projects. He noted that many of the nation’s fossil fuel plants are nearing the end of their lifespan, and that wind energy offers an economical and environmentally friendly alternative to replace them. CLICK TITLE TO CONTINUE
Commission Members Tasked With Review Of Power Plant Proposal
The members of Killingly's Planning and Zoning and Inland Wetlands and Watercourses Commissions have a huge task before them.
They have to review hundreds of pages of technical reports and applications from NTE Energy to the Connecticut Siting Council regarding a proposed power plant on Lake Road in Dayville. And they have 65 days to do so once NTE files an application with the CSC. That is expected to happen sometime in early August.
Both commissions have the opportunity to make recommendations to the CSC regarding the plant and whether plans to build it should move forward. The ultimate decision doesn't rest with them, however. It doesn't rest with the town or the residents and voters of Killingly. The final authority to sign off on the project belongs to the CSC, a nine-member council charged with balancing the need for energy with the impact on the environment.
Thirteen IWW and P&Z commission members met with a team of representatives from NTE on July 19 at Killingly High School. They heard an hour-long presentation on the project and nearly an hour of comments from citizens. Afterward, they had a chance to ask their own questions about everything from tonnage of air pollutants released to how the town could be held harmless if an equity partner bowed out of the project.
There is a lot of material to digest.
The CSC will review the impacts on air, wetlands, water usage, stormwater, cultural and historical resources, and species. The council requires studies on traffic patterns and usage, visibility, and economic and environmental benefits. "The review is long and difficult," said Timothy Eves, senior vice president of Development for NTE.
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New Haven mayor: alders have proposal for Yale science facility parking; Coliseum site may get redesign
NEW HAVEN >> Mayor Toni Harp said alders have a proposed solution for dealing with Yale’s Overall Parking Plan that should advance the university’s proposal to upgrade a $70 million science facility. On another important development deal, she said Max Reim of Live Work Learn Play has agreed to look at redesigning plans for the former Veterans Memorial Coliseum site so that major utility lines won’t have to be moved. Economic Development Administrator Matthew Nemerson, contacted while on vacation, said the regulatory issue of moving distribution and transmission lines adds $15 million to the project, brings ISO New England into the picture and pushes construction of the hotel piece to 2019. He said he drove to Montreal last Monday to talk with Reim on the delays that were not anticipated for the $400 million proposal on the 5.5-acre site when it was signed by former Mayor John DeStefano Jr. in 2013.
He said Reim, who has a dozen years to complete the project, would get back to the city on the proposed changes late next week.
Nemerson said changing the design would mean construction on the hotel could start in 2017, rather than 2019. Harp, on the radio show run by the New Haven Independent, and later confirmed to the New Haven Register, said Live Work Learn Play has also picked the Hyatt hotel chain as the group that will build the hotel. Nemerson said a redesign for the proposal would shift the whole plan about 30 feet to the north, while the central square would become a slightly elongated rectangle, possibly with the first floor of the hotel becoming part of the plaza where the retail shops would be located.He said he and Reim walked around Montreal to look at the design of plazas in that city.Two-and-a-half years into the Live Work Learn Play project, the director said the complications with the utilities were increasing rather than decreasing.He said the estimated 1,000 units of housing — with about 450 planned for Phase 1 and 20 percent affordable — as well as the 50 stores, would remain. The housing, retail and hotel components are estimated to each cost about $110 million. The state is committed to sending $21 million toward the infrastructure if the hotel deal is a certainty.Nemerson said plans for an extension of South Orange Street over the Route 34 corridor, which is 60 percent designed, would continue with slight changes. CLICK TITLE TO CONTINUE