An FBI investigation into a construction manager who is close with Gov. Dannel P. Malloy is widening and now extends from Stamford to Trumbull.
Both municipalities find themselves involved with the Justice Department in connection to Al Barbarotta, the head of Bridgeport-based AFB Construction.
In Trumbull, investigators directed the town to turn over all contracts, leases, agreements, bids, invoices, payments, canceled checks, records of meetings, emails, text messages, voicemails and other correspondence related to the firm and Barbarotta, according to a July 18 subpoena.
Hearst Connecticut Media obtained a copy of the order Monday as part of an open-records request submitted in Trumbull, where Barbarotta resides and has been entangled in a defamation lawsuit against the town’s Republican first selectman, Tim Herbst. The subpoena is also seeking all records associated with Conveo Energy, in which Barbarotta is a partner in and which operates out of the same address as AFB.
Neither Barbarotta nor his attorney were immediately available for comment Monday.
Spokesmen for Malloy and the state Democratic Party, for whom Barbarotta has been a major bundler of campaign cash, declined to comment.
Business practices questioned
The timing of the Barbarotta probe is another headache for the governor and the state Democratic Party, who are contending with a separate Justice Department investigation into the financing of Malloy’s 2014 re-election campaign. Barbarotta has often referred to himself as the governor’s “best friend.”
In the spring, Hearst reported that both the FBI and Stamford police were investigating whether AFB Construction used its role as facilities manager for that city’s school district to obtain business with another city contractor. Law enforcement officers seized a pair of city computers used by the company at the time. CLICK TITLE TO CONTINUE
New central Greenwich fire station almost complete
GREENWICH — The years-long construction of the new Greenwich Central Fire Station is almost complete, and administrative staff will begin to move into the building as early as November, Greenwich Fire Chief Peter Siecienski said Monday.
The new building will allow the Fire Department to better cover downtown and points beyond, Siecienski said.
“Now we come back to central Greenwich and have all our apparatuses in place so our response becomes faster in central Greenwich and provides a springboard into the backcountry as well,” he said.
The new building will allow firefighters who have been dispersed to other stations in town to come together again under one roof. It includes basic features common to modern firehouses that Greenwich firefighters have been lacking for a long time, the chief said.
“The best way to put it is there is nothing sexy about the building,” Siecienski said. “It’s a functional modern fire station.”
When the old firehouse was built, there weren’t many females in the industry, Siecienski said. As such, there wasn’t much privacy in the old building. The new one will have adequate facilities for firefighters of different genders, as well as larger common kitchen and dining facilities so everyone can eat together at one time.
Modern knowledge of contamination has also had an impact on the new design. The new station is equipped with segregated areas so firefighters returning from fire sites can clean off and remove their equipment without spreading dangerous toxins throughout the building.
The department decided to make four oversized bays, which hold the trucks, rather than five, Siecienski said. Two volunteer fire departments were displaced during the construction, and they will once again be able to move their rigs back to the central station.
The new building will have a space for on-site training and storage of materials.
“The thing we’re most excited about is regaining our presence back into downtown Greenwich because that central fire station is truly the headquarters building,“ Siecienski said. “We’re in there just about weekly right now working on odds and ends. As of this morning the project was on time and on budget.“ CLICK TITLE TO CONTINUE
$4 million Cromwell road project set to begin; utility seeks input on gas line
CROMWELL >> With the signing of a contract Thursday, the way has been cleared for construction to begin on the long-delayed improvements to the drainage and road system in the Raymond Place neighborhood. The contract was signed Thursday morning by the town and by the approved contractor, DeRita & Sons Construction Co. of Middletown.
Town Engineer Jon Harriman said the required notice to proceed could be issued by his office as soon as Sept. 6. The $4.123 million project will involve replacement of an inadequate drainage system, the replacement of the existing water mains and the reconstruction of the roads in the neighborhood. The project, which will involve both the town and the water division of the Cromwell Fire District, is being paid for in part by funds from a bond issue that was approved by residents at a June 8 town meeting. The work will include repairs to all or portions of 10 roads: Sunset Drive, Grove Road, Goodrich Avenue, Freestone Avenue, Jewell Avenue, West Tract Road, Raymond Place, Botelle Manor, Mann Memorial Drive and Herbert Porter Drive. In addition, a detention pond will be built in Watrous Park.
A total of 14 companies submitted bids for the project, Harriman said. “I was pleased with the number,” Harriman said. “It was a good turnout,” Director of Public Works Louis J. Spina said, agreeing with Harriman. The bids were reviewed by Harriman and by a consulting engineer who will help oversee the project. “He checked the references and I personally reached out to some of the people who were used as references,” he said. DeRita was the low bidder, he added. Their $4.123 million bid was below the projected cost, he added. The contract calls for the work to be completed in 420 days, Spina said. However, that schedule could be adjusted as Eversource gauges the interest from a number of residents who would like a gas main installed in the neighborhood.When residents — predominantly from the affected neighborhood — turned out for the town meeting in June, “a few residents did come up and ask us” if a gas line could be extended into the neighborhood, Mayor Enzo Faienza said. CLICK TITLE TO CONTINUE
Effort to revive defunct Norwich hotel project moving forward
Norwich – The proposal to revive the defunct hotel project on Route 82 is moving forward this week, with the property owner's request for a two-year extension of the original planning and site development permits.
The Commission on the City Plan will hold a special meeting at noon Friday at 23 Union St. on the request from property owner CT Norwich LLC, a subsidiary of Winston Hospitality Inc., to allow a two-year extension to Sept. 19, 2018, of the permits originally approved Sept. 19, 2006. The request came two weeks after the City Council on Aug. 15 approved a zoning regulation change allowing developers to seek permit extensions of up to 14 years on approved projects.
Developer Patrick Levantino could not be reached for comment Monday. In recent weeks he has declined to comment on the project until the transaction is completed.
Robert Mills, president of the Norwich Community Development Corp., which has been working with the developer to revive the project, said Levantino has a Sept. 13 deadline to put the deal together, which led to the request for a special meeting by the planning commission. The commission's next regular meeting is Sept. 20.
Mills said reviving the project, and repairing extensive vandalism and metal theft from the abandoned building is expected to cost about $7 million.
The original hotel plan proposed by Philadelphia hotel developer PRA at Norwich LLC was approved Sept. 19, 2006. That plan called for a six-story, 113-room Hampton Inn & Suites with 142 parking spaces. PRA built the hotel structure and started some land work, but the project ultimately failed and was abandoned. CLICK TITLE TO CONTINUE
Foundation issues spreading to condominium complexes
Along with Ryefield Condominiums in Vernon, parts of which were found in April to have crumbling foundations, units with failing foundations have been identified at Lydall Woods in Manchester, Willington Ridge in Willington, and Laurel Hill in Stafford.
Steve Cabanis of Westford Real Estate Management in Vernon, which manages Laurel Hill, said that testing so far has found that at least 17 of its 85 units are affected, 11 of which are standalone units.
Cabanis said the cost for the testing was about $6,500, and the condominium association filed a blanket complaint with the Department of Consumer Protection and urged residents to file individual complaints on their own.
He said that following the testing, an engineer said that "basement walls at this time are structurally unsound and corrective action is necessary." But the condominium association is waiting to see if there will be financial assistance from the state or federal governments, he added.
Three or four units are showing signs of severe deterioration, with a "powder-like substance" falling from basement walls, Laurel Hill resident Michael Packard said, adding that his own home appears to be fine.
With estimates close to $100,000 per building, replacing each failing foundation "would be backbreaking for an association like this," Cabanis said.
Packard said he believes the association is considering a $2 million loan to be paid off over 15 years. "A lot of us may not be able to cover that," he said of the association members.
His own insurance company issued a statement before a claim was even submitted, saying it would not cover the foundations if claims were made.
"It's not in their best interest to help us out," Packard said. "How can they reject it before they know what the problem is?"
Packard said that he had been considering moving to a larger home that could better accommodate a growing family, but is now "helpless" and no one is being held accountable.
"It's frustrating," he said. "It's sad. Sitting around and waiting and hoping is a lousy feeling." CLICK TITLE TO CONTINUE
215 luxury Bloomfield apts. coming to its center
Demolition and site work has begun on a six-acre Bloomfield tract near the town center for a 215-unit luxury apartment community.
Currently known as 700 Bloomfield Ave., the studio, one-, two- and three-bedroom units will be spread among several four- and five-story buildings. Rent for the units, averaging about 893 square feet, will run about $1,400 monthly, said Ronald Garner, project manager for Fairfield developer Post Road Residential.
Once the last of a half-dozen houses has been razed, Milford, Mass., contractor Plumb House Inc. will begin construction right away, with the first completed units due for initial occupancy in Aug. 2017, and totally completed six months later, Garner said.
Norwalk's Beinfield Architecture P.C. designed the community to feature such amenities as a 16,000-square-foot clubhouse, with media room, lounge and fitness center, he said. Outdoors, an interior courtyard will have a swimming pool and other recreational attractions.
On-site parking will accommodate 320 vehicles, 24 of which will be covered by carports, Garner said.
The tract is sandwiched between Jerome and Tunxis avenues, less than a quarter mile from the town green, police station and a pair of retail plazas fronting Park Avenue.
Post Road was drawn to Bloomfield because of its 35-acre development district, created to encourage new construction and rehabilitation of properties and acreage within the quadrant, Garner said.
"The town has been a peach to work with,'' he said.
Although this is Post Road's first Hartford region development, it has built or is building apartments in other corners of the state. In Stamford, it opened a few years ago the 75 Tresser luxury apartments, 75 Tresser Blvd.
In New Haven, it's close to finishing by November the 235-unit luxury Corsair Apartments, 1050 State St., the first 60 or so of which are already occupied, Garner said.
– Gregory Seay
Lawmakers seek answers to troubles on Metro-North’s Waterbury Branch Line
While improvements are on track for Metro-North’s Waterbury Branch Line, which has stops in the Valley, the month of August proved troublesome for riders, prompting Connecticut lawmakers to get onboard. That’s according to Jim Gildea, vice president of the Connecticut Commuter Rail Council, who said the line has seen a drop in service following a string of delays and lapses in service.
“As everyone has experienced, August has not been a great month on the branch,” Gildea said. “We have seen delay after delay and a lack of reasonable on-time performance, as well as communication. We have come a long way since the dark days a few years back. It is critically important that we not allow such a drop in service to go unchallenged.”Gildea noted that a recent article in the Waterbury Republican-American prompted a response from U.S. Sens. Chris Murphy and Richard Blumenthal and U.S. Reps. Elizabeth Esty and Jim Himes. The delegation penned a letter last Friday to MTA President Jospeh Giulietti calling on officials to address the problems that occurred over the last month with the Waterbury Branch.
“We write today to express concern regarding the recent increase in service lapses on the Waterbury Branch Line. While riders will be the first to note that service on the line has improved, their experience with the line this August has been lacking. When on-time performance slips and is accompanied by poor communication with riders, riders have a right to be angry and to seek explanations. Further, we worry that our ability to continue to win funding for improvements will be hampered by the lack of reliability on the line. Simply put, riders deserve better. ... We look forward to your prompt response and to partnering with you to improve commutes for all the customers you serve.” Gildea, who commutes to work daily on the line, said planned improvements for the Waterbury Branch, including the addition of four passing sidings, will definitely improve service and increase ridership, but until that’s complete, “we must keep raising the bar and ensuring we receive only exemplary service.” CLICK TITLE TO CONTINUE