A brand new, state-of-the-art arena, right in the center of campus. An arena that would seat between 3,500 and 4,500 for sporting events and even more for graduations, lectures and concerts. An arena that would be the crowning jewel to an athletic footprint that already includes a new lacrosse stadium, renovated soccer and baseball fields and an upgraded recreation center.
Can you picture it? Fairfield University certainly can. In the Fall 2016 issue of Fairfieldmagazine — which was mailed to alumni on Sept. 13 — features a story entitled “The Master Plan,” which features the university’s vision to grow, and vastly improve, its overall footprint through various projects, including a parking garage, new residence hall, expansion of the Barone Campus Center and a new Alumni Hall, which would become the centerpiece of a continued commitment toward athletic excellence.
“The campus-wide master plan is transforming our academic, living and learning and athletic facilities over the next 10 years,” Fairfield University president Father Jeffery von Arx S.J., said in a statement. “We are excited about the potential for a new convocation and athletic center on campus that will be an integral part of our student life and athletic prominence.”
“This is something that we’ve always wanted,” Fairfield athletic director Gene Doris said. “The ability to have a first-class facility on your own campus … the excitement is very high.”
The permanent seating capacity for the new Alumni Hall would be somewhere between 3,500 and 4,500, which according to Doris, “is pretty much the right size for the mid-major level.”
Women’s basketball and volleyball would be the primary tenants with the possibility of an occasional men’s basketball game. But sports would only be one part of the building’s use.
“We have to look at it as a multi-use space and space that achieves university goals as opposed to just athletic goals,” Doris said. “There’s nothing definite in terms of use. It will be much more of a convocation center because we just don’t have anything like that on campus.” CLICK TITLE TO CONTINUE
Derby High in line for $3 million athletic facility
DERBY — New facilities for track and field, baseball and other Derby High School sports are once again on the fast track.
The State Bond Commission is scheduled to vote Friday on a $3 million grant-in-aid package for the city to make improvements to athletic facilities at the high school. The funds were on the agenda in May but not acted upon.
The grant requested by the state Department of Energy and Environmental Protection will pay for the construction of a new multipurpose artificial turf field with a rubberized surface and an eight-lane running track surrounding it, according to the agenda for Friday’s bond commission meeting.
The Derby legislative delegation of state Senator Joe Crisco, Jr., D-Woodbridge and state Representatives Theresa Conroy, D-Seymour, and Linda Gentile, D-Ansonia, Derby, announced that the State Bond Commission approval is expected for that project, including construction of a baseball field off of Kings Court.
“I played sports throughout high school and college, so I know how much pride students and parents take in their athletic achievements as well as their academic achievements,’’ Crisco said. “It’s a source of pride for the entire town, too. The kids in Derby deserve this. They’ve gone on long enough without sufficient athletic facilities, and I want to see them succeed and be happy. I think this state bonding will help accomplish that.”
“Replacement of the high school’s athletic field and track is critical to the health and well-being of our young people,” Gentile said. “Athletics plays a critical role in their overall development, especially during their secondary school years. I am very pleased that the state is approving these funds for the Derby high school community.” CLICK TITLE TO CONTINUE
New Stamford Hospital officially opens
STAMFORD — Pat Agostino has been a nurse long enough to remember the old Stamford Hospital emergency room. The one before the last one.
A nurse for 49 years, she worked in the oldest ER from 1967 to 1974, and in the last one from 1974 until 7 a.m. Monday.
“I used to say that they built this place around me,” she said, seconds before hospital president and CEO Brian Grissler snipped the red ribbon outside the newest ER.
“We started out with two surgical rooms, one orthopedic room and four medical rooms,” she said.
With 48 private rooms, the new ER is three times larger than the former department, which saw its last patients early Monday morning.
The new ER admitted its first patient at 7:10 a.m. Monday, a young woman who complained of stomach pain and was released a short time later.
“The idea is to treat people quickly, but what’s most important is to treat them safely,” said Dr. Arun Nandi, ER chairman and director. “Speed is a product of quality care. If you do it right, speed is inevitable.”
The ER’s opening marked the hospital’s official transition from being headquartered at what will now be called the Wheeler building to a new $450 million facility located on the same campus.
Hospital staff celebrated with a midday ribbon-cutting ceremony at the ambulance bay, the sounds of construction still clanging in the distance. CLICK TITLE TO CONTINUE
Cheshire PZC approves solar farm for landfill site
CHESHIRE — The Planning and Zoning Commission unanimously approved a solar panel array for the town landfill Monday.
SolarCity officials and their representatives presented details of the plan to the commission and answered questions about panel ownership, maintenance and whether the landfill cap could be harmed by the construction.
SolarCity and the town will execute a 20-year agreement where the town would buy the reduced-cost power generated by the panels at the landfill at 1286 Waterbury Road.
Mike Libertine, an environmental consultant with SolarCity, said the site was a good one since it’s clear and trees are casting shadows over the panels. He said the site would be surrounded by a chain link fence and is already screened from neighboring properties by trees.
“It’s our feeling there’s sufficient mask,” Libertine said.
The company will build about 4 acres of solar panels and manage them for 20 years. Commissioners and members of the public questioned whether the town would be responsible for the panels at the end of the agreement. “At the end of the useful life of the solar panels, who’s going to take them out?” said Jim Vibert.
Town Engineer Walter Gancarz said at the end of the agreement period, the town can buy the panels, continue to buy power from SolarCity or require the company to remove them.
“The town has all three options and in any case wouldn’t be liable for the removal of them,” he said.
Commission members and members of the public also questioned whether installing solar panels could cause contamination due the landfill underneath the proposed site.
Libertine said the cap consists of about two feet of low-permeability soil. There’s no plastic cap that can be penetrated, he said, and any ruts made by construction equipment can be filled. To avoid that, tracked or balloon tire vehicles will be used. CLICK TITLE TO CONTINUE
But the city says the approximately $1 million resurfacing of the one-way thoroughfare linking Main and Trumbull streets is on schedule and nearly finished.
City Hall spokeswoman Diana Tomezsko said via email Sept. 20 that the remaining work involves replacing some of the remaining granite pavers with bricks within the next two weeks.
"This is within the timeframe originally negotiated between the city and its contractor,'' Tomezsko said.
Pratt Street's upgrades included more than just new pavers, she said. While the street was torn up, Comcast laid a high-speed, fiber-optic cable beneath it, infrastructure valued at $250,000, Tomezsko said. In addition, Aetna contributed $400,000 toward the work bill.
City officials, including the Public Works Department, met Sept. 15 with a few dozen Pratt merchants and landlords, to update them about the streetscape work and hear their concerns.
Attendee Gerry Grate, owner of The Tobacco Shop, 89 Pratt St., said his is one of a number of Pratt Street businesses that have lost foot traffic and sales during the makeover. They insisted on meeting with the city, Grate said, because "there has been no transparency, no communication'' with them about the streetwork and a timetable for completion.
"We got answers to some of our questions,'' said Grate, past president of Business for Downtown Hartford, an advocacy group. CLICK TITLE TO CONTINUE
Construction of boathouse breathing life back into New Haven’s Long Wharf waterfront
NEW HAVEN >> With the Boathouse at Canal Dock starting to become visible behind them, Karen Gilvarg and Donna Hall got to take a rare public bow Monday as the planners who shepherded the project for almost two decades.
Construction of the boathouse by Nosal Builders is finally underway almost a decade after the George Adee Memorial Boathouse was razed as part of the $2.2 billion expansion of Interstate 95 and the Pearl Harbor Memorial Bridge.John Pescatore, who heads the agency that will run the boathouse, called Gilvarg, New Haven’s city plan director, and Hall, the senior project planner “our two greatest partners,” who “have poured their lives into this project.”“I have become aware of how complicated a project like this can be when you have to tie together so many agencies. ... the patience ... and the dedication that they have shown to bringthis project to where it is now, is really impressive,” Pescatore said, one of several tributes to the pair. Those who landed the congressional funding, engaged in the bureaucrat reviews and designed the new structure were at the site on Long Wharf Drive. The occasion was the official kickoff of phase two of the boathouse following construction in 2015 of the one-acre platform upon which the 32,000-square-foot two-story boathouse will rest.
The boathouse will be a public facility where non-motorized boating programs, including rowing, kayaking, canoe paddling and sailing will take place, as well as environmental education. Preparatory programs at three city high schools are already under way. The University of New Haven will also be on the site as part of its marine program. “This is a success story of governments working together,” said Matthew Nemerson, economic development administrator for New Haven, of the cooperation among federal, state and local partners. The site was once the terminus for the Farmington Canal Line where freight was transferred from canal barges to sailing ships. Later, goods were delivered on the railroad that took the place of the canal, Mayor Toni Harp told the crowd. It is now the end point for the Farmington Canal Greenway. CLICK TITLE TO CONTINUE