September 20, 2016

CT COnstruction Digest Tuesday September 20, 2016

Milling on West Main Street to begin Sunday, paving in October

NEW BRITAIN — The state Department of Transportation will oversee the milling and paving of 1.3 miles of road on the highly-traveled area of West Main Street beginning Sunday.
“The paving of West Main Street will be a welcomed improvement for the many drivers who travel along this roadway, a major corridor connecting Corbin Avenue to our downtown,” Mayor Erin Stewart said in a statement Monday. “This infrastructure project is one of many improvements being done throughout the city to improve the quality of life for residents.”
The $236,000 project — paid entirely with state bonds — should be completed around Oct. 6, officials said Monday.
The milling portion of the project – which begins at Corbin Avenue on West Main Street and goes to Main Street and West Main Street — will be done by the Newington-based Costello Industries.
The milling will begin Sunday and the paving — which will be conducted by the Plainville-based Tilcon Companies — is scheduled to start Oct. 2.
Paul Rizzo is the DOTs transportation maintenance manager and the lead on the project.
Rizzo said the current condition of the stretch of road is “fair to good, we are just making it better. We do not want to let our roads get to the point where they are bad.
“If you let a road get really bad, it will cost you more to get it repaired.”
The work is expected — depending on weather — to be done every day from Sept. 25 to at least Oct. 6 from 7 p.m. to 5 a.m.
Rizzo encourages motorists to use other routes if they can.
“If motorists can use alternates routes during the construction and minimize traffic, it will help us get the job done quicker,” Rizzo said. “It will also give us a better product.
“The less traffic we have during construction, the better jobs the contractors can do for us and the less traffic is also safe for employees, the contractors and the police officers.”
For those motorists who must use the affected streets during the off-peak hours, police will assist with traffic control. CLICK TITLE TO CONTINUE

Norwich hotel project moving forward

Norwich – Contractors from the local firm Engineered Construction are expected to be at 154 Salem Turnpike Tuesday morning to begin work on finishing the abandoned 113-room Hampton Inn project after it met two key milestones Monday.
Texas developer Patrick Levantino completed the purchase of the formerly defunct project Monday under the name 395 Properties LLC for $3.15 million from previous owner CT Norwich LLC, a subsidiary of Winston Hospitality Inc. of Raleigh, N.C.
And Monday night, the City Council voted unanimously to approve a seven-year property tax phase-in for the new hotel as allowed by state law for projects valued at more than $3 million.
The hotel is at a key gateway to the city on Route 82 off Interstate 395, Exit 11.
Assessor Donna Ralston provided the City Council with a chart detailing the tax phase-in plan. The new owner would pay full taxes on the assessment of $880,600. For the first two years starting with the October 2017 grand list of taxable properties, 395 Properties LLC would still pay full taxes on the $880,600 assessment, but would pay no new taxes on the value of the improvements.
In the third year, the firm would pay taxes on 50 percent of the value of the improvements, and that would increase by 10 percent per year until the hotel pays taxes on 100 percent of assessed value in the eighth year.
Norwich's coffers already felt the boon of the new hotel project with Monday's transaction. The city clerk's office received $15,750 in property conveyance taxes Monday, along with $75 in recording fees for the paperwork. At the city building department, Assistant Building Official Greg Arpin was holding building permits already approved for the project and awaiting the property transaction.
Building permit fees totaled $44,562 for the $2.575 million in work overseen by inspections through the city building office, Arpin calculated. The project needs another $648,000 in work that would not need building permits, Arpin said.
Arpin said Engineered Construction has been cooperative through the permit process, and the company is expected to be on the property by 8 a.m. Tuesday to get started on the work. CLICK TITLE TO CONTINUE

CT construction industry's challenges among toughest in U.S.

When Allstate Fire Systems submitted a bid in August to install sprinkler systems as part of a $4 million Hartford Public Library interior-renovation project, five other companies competed for the job.
While the work, which will accommodate the library's space-sharing arrangement with UConn's downtown Hartford campus and include buildout of classrooms and study areas, has not yet been awarded, the sprinkler-system bids ranged from $39,400 to more than $86,000, said Allstate Vice President David K. Thompson.
The numerous companies vying for the job underscores the intense competition for construction work in Connecticut, experts say, as the industry still faces a slow recovery from the Great Recession. Although there are fewer construction workers and firms in the state than there were in 2008, contractors and subcontractors are pursuing as many jobs as they can, making it harder for firms to win contracts.
That's also putting pressure on construction firms to shave margin on their bids so they can compete in a price-sensitive environment in which the lowest bidder, particularly for government projects, often rules the day.
Thompson said Allstate's more detailed bid wound up at the high end and may not be selected as a result.
"It's difficult," he said, "because you're looking at a project anticipating what the scope is, trying to be as detailed and thorough as you can, all the time knowing you're competing against others who may not be as detailed or informed. You spend a lot of time putting something together when others may be just taking a stab at it."
Industry slowdown
The Great Recession put a major damper on Connecticut's construction industry, and although the sector is in better shape today than it was a few years ago, the recovery has been slow.
In 2015, for example, Connecticut's private construction industry was tied with New York's for offering the least economic impact in the U.S. when measured as a percentage of gross domestic product (GDP), according to a recent report by the Associated Builders and Contractors (ABC).
In its report, ABC found the direct economic value added by the private construction industry — largely measured by the value of the labor force — accounted for just 3.1 percent of GDP in Connecticut, below the national average of 3.9 percent. (The number in Connecticut reached as low as 2.1 percent of GDP in 2010.)
Meantime, Connecticut's construction unemployment rate in July was the sixth highest in the country at 6.3 percent, compared to the nation's 4.5 percent jobless rate, according to ABC. The industry employs about 58,000 people in Connecticut, which remains 11,400 jobs short of 2008's peak employment of 69,400, state Department of Labor numbers show.  CLICK TITLE TO CONTINUE

P&Z Hears Third Party Review Of NTE Power Plant Application

Representatives of TRC Solutions presented 28 pages of findings to the Killingly Planning & Zoning Commission at a public meeting on Sept. 8.
The engineering firm was hired by the town of Killingly to review the application NTE submitted to the Connecticut Siting Council for a proposed power plant in Dayville.
The TRC presentation came after almost an hour of public comment. Approximately 200 residents from Killingly and surrounding towns attended the meeting. The majority of those who spoke cited concerns about the plant's potential impact on the environment, economy, real estate values, wells, aquifers, and health of area residents.
NTE has proposed building a 550 megawatt gas-fired power plant on Lake Road. The CSC is the sole authority on approving the power plant. However, the CSC takes into consideration public comments, and the reports and findings submitted by towns who are in close proximity to such plants.
Carl Stopper, principal engineer at TRC, highlighted the major concerns his firm was able to identify, as well as those things NTE did well in their application.
Stopper criticized NTE's analysis of the environmental and economic impacts of the plant for not using site specific data in the models and software packages. The models used were not uncommon ones, Stopper said, but they relied on default data rather than site specific data.
"These models are not meant to be used in a rigorous fashion," Stopper said. "It's almost a black box analysis."
NTE provided no information about the content of a proprietary environmental impact model or the information used for input. He cautioned reliance on proprietary models.
A geotechnical report was thorough, but Stopper had concerns about the data used. Five temporary observation wells were installed following drilling activity, but NTE only checked the water once.
"We don't know seasonal fluctuations," Stopper said.
One of those wells was close to a wetland on the north portion of the property. The impact of seasonal fluctuations on that well could be critical, Stopper said.
The type and permeability of the soil at the construction site raised concerns about drainage ability. Glacier till is soil that would compact into a dense material with construction activities. When recompacted, Stopper said it can act like concrete, changing the dynamics of stormwater runoff. CLICK TITLE TO CONTINUE

Lawsuits against New Haven developments tossed, projects to move forward

NEW HAVEN >> Now that certain lawsuits aimed at fellow developers have been dismissed by the courts, Economic Development Administrator Matthew Nemerson said he plans to reach out to the company that brought the suits to encourage a new relationship.
Suits initiated in 2014 by PMC Property Group against Spinnaker Residential LLC and developer Noel Petra to stop zone changes and halt construction of more than 500 apartments in two separate projects in Wooster Square were dismissed by the Superior Court in May.The state Appellate Court last week declined to hear an appeal of those rulings, effectively ending the challenge that largely was viewed by city officials as a way to stall competition in the area where PMC already has rental housing.Nemerson said the two separate developments will be “transformative” for the Wooster Square neighorhood as they fill in a transition area from downtown. He said both projects should get started in spring. Part of the Spinnaker plan would be located at the site of the former Comcast building and a parking lot, which is across the street and in front of a PMC property. Petra’s is close by along Olive Street and at 87 Union St. Nemerson said the decision by both Petra and Spinnaker to continue with the projects, despite the long delays, shows their faith in the growth of New Haven.
Mayor Toni Harp, in a statement, said the court’s ruling “is a clear affirmation of the city’s land use decision-making process and a testament to the work of its Board of Alders, City Plan Commission, and City Plan Department in setting forth a direction for New Haven in the form of Vision 2020, the city’s new Comprehensive Plan of Development.” Petra said the fact that they can finally move forward with the long-delayed construction is just sinking in.He said they will proceed with their due diligence on environmental issues as well as site plan preparation over the next few months, with contruction starting in late spring or early summer.Petra said “a few players” in the development world engage in these kind of “delay tactics,” but it is more common in big city construction. The economic development administrator said he will approach officials at PMC to come “join the community of nations” and sit down with the city to talk about its plans, including investment in its properties.“They have great projects,” Nemerson said of the developer and property manager whose headquarters are in Philadelphia. CLICK TITLE TO CONTINUE

New hearing, new vote ordered for West Haven outlet mall zoning

HARTFORD >> The judge overseeing a court appeal of the West Haven Planning and Zoning Commission’s approvals of zoning map and regulation text changes by holdout property owners within the project area for The Haven upscale outlet mall approved a stipulated settlement Monday.
Approval of the settlement by Superior Court Judge Marshall K. Berger, which was expected, will result in the city of West Haven 7 Comments.Attorneys for the city, PZC and property owners worked out the settlement after it came to light during the appeal process that the PZC’s recording system failed the night of the June 6 hearing and meeting and there was no official record of it.In a separate case, the city, since the appeal was filed, has initiated eminent domain proceedings against the property involved in the appeal as well as the owners of three other properties. That case is separate from the PZC appeal. The plaintiffs in the appeal are Robert McGinnity, whose family has owned two homes at 341 First Ave. and 349 First Ave. for more than 50 years, and SZS Enterprises LLC, which has owned the Citgo station and convenience store at First Avenue and Elm Street for 17 years.
Also named as plaintiffs were McGinnity’s mother, Natalie “Nellie” McGinnity, and his uncle, Michael Perrone, both former owners of the properties who continue to live in them and hold a “life estate interest” in them. The city and the PZC were named as defendants.Berger, who oversees the Superior Court land-use docket, to which the appeal was transferred after initially being filed in Superior Court in Milford, approved the settlement in a brief court hearing Monday morning. As part of the stipulation filed in court, the commission agreed to re-hear two applications that were filed by the city itself. The PZC “is unable to return to the court a transcript of the Commission’s June 6, 2016 approval of Defendant City of West Haven’s” applications “because the Commission’s audio-recording device malfunctioned that evening,” the stipulation reads. “Plaintiffs’ appeal in the above-captioned action is sustained and the decision of the Commission approving the application to amend the text of the zoning regulations is vacated,” it says. “The parties recognize and agree that the City of West Haven intends to file a new application to amend the text of the zoning regulations.“The plaintiffs reserve all their rights and remedies to support, comment on or object to all or any portion of a new application to amend the text of the zoning regulations that the City of West Haven may file,” it reads. CLICK TITLE TO CONTINUE