WESTPORT—The creaky 87-year-old wooden Saugatuck Island Bridge is unable to be crossed by emergency vehicles, posing a serious safety concern to the residents of the island in times of need.
The one-lane timber bridge, originally constructed in 1929, is currently inaccessible to emergency vehicles due to weight constraints, but residents of Saugatuck Island are now well on their way to receiving a much-needed replacement bridge in order to provide more expansive access to the island.
Through a unanimous vote, the Board of Finance okayed a $2.6 million expenditure for a new steel bridge complete with a concrete deck surface. The bridge will continue to be only one lane.
Located on Harbor Road, the bridge has undergone several renovations, but in 2012 Hurricane Sandy decimated the span, causing it to float off of its pilings, according to Town Engineer Pete Ratkiewich.
Half of the project will be paid for by a Federal Emergency Management Agency grant. The remaining $1.3 million will be split equally between the town and the Saugatuck Island special taxing district. The special taxing district owns the bridge.
Finance Board Chairman Brian Stern said although the island owns the bridge, this appropriation is necessary due to the safety hazards of not being able to get emergency management vehicles and services across—a service the town is required to provide to all taxpayers in Westport.
“This is a unique situation because of the safety aspect,” Stern said. “To the extent that there’s a fire at high tide or at some point like that, you are almost to the point where if a fire truck can’t go over a bridge like this, you’re into getting waterborne fire operators from Norwalk and other things, which inherently will be a dangerous situation for those people, who are taxpayers of Westport.”
Fire Chief Andrew Kingsbury said the new bridge will shorten response time to the island.
“It will cut down our response time to several parts of the island. It’s a long response; it could be eight minutes out to the end [of the island],” Kingsbury said. CLICK TITLE TO CONTINUE
Exploring other staging areas for Walk Bridge replacement
NORWALK — At a recent rally to save a local business, East Norwalk residents and business owners pleaded for the Connecticut Department of Transportation to find alternative staging areas for the upcoming replacement of the Walk Bridge.
The DOT has its sights set on Goldstein Place, where Vincent and Robin Penna operate A.J. Penna & Son Excavating and Contractors, as the primary staging spot for the bridge replacement project slated to begin in mid-2018.
“We feel that ConnDOT should consider Vets Park — not the whole park, just the boat launch area,” said Vincent Penna during the rally outside his business last Wednesday. “Norwalk has plans to repair that area in the next couple years and it has appropriated, or will appropriate, $2-plus million to do that.” At a recent Norwalk Common Council meeting, Penna asked Mayor Harry W. Rilling to consider allowing the DOT to use the boat launch area to stage the bridge project and have the state pick up the bill for the city’s capital improvements afterward.
“It would save the taxpayers $2-plus million,” Penna said. “It would save my property and the businesses around us that will be disturbed.”
Veterans Memorial Park wasn’t the only alternative staging location put forward at the rally that drew nearly 200 people to Penna’s business at 10 Goldstein Place on Wednesday morning.
Veteran’s Memorial Park
Spanning 35 acres and located near the Walk Bridge, Veteran’s Memorial Park is the ideal staging area for the bridge replacement project, according to those advocating its use.
“Veteran’s Park is huge,” former Councilman Jerry E. Petrini said at the rally. “You have contracts in place for a rink we know we’re going to do, but what’s the difference if you push it a little bit farther down?” On Tuesday, the DOT made public its Environmental Assessment/Environmental Impact Evaluation as required under federal and state law to proceed with the bridge replacement.
The report contains a map of proposed parcel uses related to the bridge project. Veterans Memorial Park is not among those parcels. The park, however, is referenced in the report as being located 900 feet downstream of the Walk Bridge and home to a public marina, boat launch site, playground ball fields and multi-use path overlooking Norwalk Harbor. CLICK TITLE TO CONTINUE
Dunkin' Donuts Park Contractor Sues Former Developer Centerplan
The company that installed the roof system on Dunkin' Donuts Park is suing Centerplan Construction Co., a former developer of the ballpark, saying it has not been paid for work that was done.
Massachusetts-based Greenwood Industries said it did a little more than $1 million worth of work in the ballpark but is still owed about $686,000, plus interest, costs and attorneys' fees.
According to the suit, Greenwood completed its contractual obligations but was refused payment on numerous occasions, resulting in breach of contract.
The suit also alleges that DoNo Hartford, the other former developer on the project, paid Centerplan more than $630,000 for the roofing work and that Centerplan paid Greenwood only about $352,000. "Centerplan has intentionally, wantonly and willfully misappropriated at least $278,005.45 in monies paid to Centerplan on Greenwood's behalf," the suit says.Raymond Garcia, attorney for the former developer, said Friday that the roofing company had significant defective work issues and that the city, by contract, had to pay Centerplan whatever the roofers billed.
"Centerplan by contract could withhold payment for work that's defective," Garcia said. "It's a strange arrangement, but the city did it to get the contractors off its back politically."
The company is also suing Arch Insurance, the bonding surety firm guaranteeing completion of the $71 million minor league baseball stadium. The suit alleges that Arch has failed to pay Greenwood the money owed to it under terms of the payment bond. Centerplan and DoNo Hartford were fired by the city in June after failing to meet a May 17 deadline for handing over the ballpark to the Hartford Yard Goats baseball team, a minor league affiliate of the Colorado Rockies.
The city claimed that the failure to complete the ballpark by the deadline resulted in breach of contract, but the developers countered that more than 100 change orders led to the missed deadline.
The developers have sued the city, claiming they were improperly terminated, and are seeking an injunction to prevent the city from hiring another contractor to finish the job. The two sides are in court-ordered mediation.
The city announced earlier this week that it has an agreement in principle with Arch to restart work at the ballpark, with Arch paying for the work once the city has spent its remaining $4.4 million budget. CLICK TITLE TO CONTINUE
The Ghost Bridge And Highway Of Colebrook River Lake
The old iron bridge spanning the lost banks of the Farmington River seems to call out to visitors approaching along a dusty forgotten road.
"Come cross my span," the bridge seems to say. "I long to feel the scuffling of shoes or wheels of a bike. Come cast a fishing line through my iron girders. Or sit and watch the waters of the river gently flow past."
The bridge once spanned the west branch of the Farmington River and flowed through the village of Colebrook River near the border of Massachusetts. In order to quench Connecticut's thirst and control flooding downstream in the 1950s and 1960s, the Army Corps of Engineers came in and purchased land, homes, a church and a schoolhouse, and relocated a cemetery in Massachusetts. Everything was demolished, including a suspension bridge. A dam was built creating a 750-acre lake. The village of Colebrook River was a distant memory. But the iron bridge remained, a watery gravestone so the village of Colebrook River would never be forgotten. Over the years, the water levels dipped and the top of the bridge appeared like an apparition on the surface of the lake. But this summer was different. Levels of the lake have dropped to historic lows due to the drought. And much of the northern portion of the lake resembles a barren desert.
And the iron span — known as Harvey Mountain Bridge — has taken its rightful place again, spanning the sliver of river that still flows through the area. During my visit last week, people marveled at the old iron bridge. Some old-timers came with shocked faces, noting they had never seen the water level so low. Others walked their dogs across like it was some kind of daily ritual for all these years. The bridge is still in remarkable shape for being underwater for nearly half a century. The span is rusted orange, but seems as sturdy as the day it was built. Large boulders — perhaps put into place as the town was abandoned — mark the western entrance. A roadway can still be seen on the eastern side of the bridge. It leads up the bank past once-submerged old stone walls into the deep forest. Lost pieces of the village — bits of bricks and rusted hinges — can be seen in the muddy dirt. CLICK TITLE TO CONTINUE
HAMDEN >> Quinnipiac University’s application to renovate the second field on Mount Carmel Avenue sailed through the Inland Wetlands Commission Wednesday and has only to win Planning and Zoning approval later this month to begin work there.
For months, the proposal to refurbish the two fields near Hogan Road has drawn strong opposition from people living around the site, and it initially was denied by the commissions, mainly because the second field located on the southern section of the site was too close to wetlands. The university came back with plans for the northern field, which was approved, and is now half-way to having the revised plans for the southern field set.The plans call for not only resurfacing the fields with synthetic turf, but also for the construction of two stadiums — a 1,500-seat stadium surrounding the northern field and a 500-seat stadium around the southern field. The facilities also will include locker rooms, bathroom facilities and maintenance facilities. Neighbors weren’t happy with those plans, and especially the traffic they fear the project will generate. School officials note that the fields already are being used and traffic isn’t anticipated to increase dramatically due to the project. They also point out that the work is the result of a federal consent decree against the school ordering it to improve its athletic facilities used by women’s teams. The fields will be used by a number of teams, most notably the women’s field hockey team. Wednesday night’s hearing lacked the amount of opposition that the other public hearings generated, Town Planner Dan Kops said. The speakers were mainly the university’s consultants, he said, as well as attorney Keith Ainsworth, who was hired by one neighbor to represent him as an intervenor on the application. Ainsworth also has filed an appeal in Superior Court to the Planning and Zoning Commission’s approval of the northern field. CLICK TITLE TO CONTINUE
For months, the proposal to refurbish the two fields near Hogan Road has drawn strong opposition from people living around the site, and it initially was denied by the commissions, mainly because the second field located on the southern section of the site was too close to wetlands. The university came back with plans for the northern field, which was approved, and is now half-way to having the revised plans for the southern field set.The plans call for not only resurfacing the fields with synthetic turf, but also for the construction of two stadiums — a 1,500-seat stadium surrounding the northern field and a 500-seat stadium around the southern field. The facilities also will include locker rooms, bathroom facilities and maintenance facilities. Neighbors weren’t happy with those plans, and especially the traffic they fear the project will generate. School officials note that the fields already are being used and traffic isn’t anticipated to increase dramatically due to the project. They also point out that the work is the result of a federal consent decree against the school ordering it to improve its athletic facilities used by women’s teams. The fields will be used by a number of teams, most notably the women’s field hockey team. Wednesday night’s hearing lacked the amount of opposition that the other public hearings generated, Town Planner Dan Kops said. The speakers were mainly the university’s consultants, he said, as well as attorney Keith Ainsworth, who was hired by one neighbor to represent him as an intervenor on the application. Ainsworth also has filed an appeal in Superior Court to the Planning and Zoning Commission’s approval of the northern field. CLICK TITLE TO CONTINUE