City officials would rather Ansonia voters think of the $18.3 million in capital improvement projects on the Nov. 8 ballot as a household budget, not a wish list.
“It’s like in your house: Things wear out and you have to replace them,” Police Chief Kevin Hale said. “We have to provide services, and at some point things have to get done. This list has been thoroughly vetted over the past 12 or 15 months.”
More than $17 million in grant funds and a 2 percent loan for the remaining $40 million is available from the state’s Clean Water Fund if the project is approved in November. Officials say they need the OK to complete design work and hire a contractor by the June 2019 deadline for funding.
The state’s new, stricter limits on how much phosphorus can be discharged into the water take effect in 2022. Clean Water Fund resources are only available if the town has complied. Southington also faces fines if the new limits aren’t met. Paul Champagne, a Republican town councilor and member of the sewer subcommittee, is among the town officials who have been holding informational meetings with PTO groups and civic organizations urging them to vote yes on the referendum.
With the town facing fines if it doesn’t reduce phosphorus discharge and the incentive of low-interest loans and the Clean Water Grant, Champagne said it makes no sense to wait on the project. “If we do it now, we’re going to meet the time frame,” he said.
Champagne said the peak increase for debt repayment would be 0.7 mills. Each mill is one dollar of taxes on every $1,000 of assessed property value.
The sewer plant is the only referendum on the Southington ballot.
In Cheshire, the largest item before voters is the rehabilitation of the West Johnson Avenue pump station, the town’s second largest and more than 30 years old. The work is expected to cost $3.5 million.
The referendum also asks voters whether they want to spend $3.2 million for an upgrade to the emergency radio system for police and fire, as well as tie in the communications of other town departments, such as Public Works and the Board of Education. CLICK TITLE TO CONTINUE
MMCT Venture, the Mashantucket Pequot-Mohegan partnership pursuing a third Connecticut casino, announced Monday that it has accepted new site proposals from the two north-central Connecticut towns, adding them to a mix that already included East Hartford, Hartford and Windsor Locks.
The tribes, bent on blunting the impact of MGM Springfield, the $950 million resort casino under construction in Massachusetts, hope to build a $200 million to $300 million “satellite” facility in the Interstate 91 corridor provided the state legislature legalizes commercial gaming. Jobs and revenue provided by the Mashantuckets’ Foxwoods Resort Casino and the Mohegans’ Mohegan Sun are at stake, the tribes say.
MGM Resorts International, developer of the Massachusetts resort, has repeated its negative critique of the tribes’ state-sanctioned request for casino proposals.
“As we have been saying for quite some time, this so-called process is a sham,” Alan Feldman, an MGM executive vice president, said in a statement. “As a result of the passage of Special Act 15-7, the state is forced to let MMCT do whatever it wants, whenever it wants, and however it wants. If the state really wants to maximize the revenue and jobs associated with its first commercial casino, it should repeal 15-7 and do what every other state does: have a fair, open, transparent, competitive process.”
MGM Resorts has sued state officials over the law that enabled the tribes to form their joint venture. A U.S. District Court judge granted the state’s motion to dismiss the suit, prompting MGM to appeal. The 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals will hear oral arguments in the case Nov. 28 in Manhattan.
South Windsor’s casino bid involves a vacant, “shovel-ready” development zone along I-291 between I-84 and I-91, according to Matthew Galligan, the town manager.
Galligan said South Windsor wasn’t ready to submit a proposal when MMCT Venture first sought them last year. But when the tribes reopened the process a month ago, “We thought we should take a shot,” he said.
“We’re eight minutes out of Hartford,” Galligan said. “I think it’s a great site. We’re ready to go — there’s sewer, water and gas service there now. It’s very viable.”
South Windsor is partnering with DCK Worldwide, an international construction firm that has agreed to develop 22 town-owned acres at the site, Galligan said. CLICK TITLE TO CONTINUE
Larson: $10B tunnel plan will reshape Greater Hartford
Q&A talks to U.S. Rep. John Larson (D-CT) who recently unveiled a $10 billion plan to replace a stretch of I-84 and I-91 through Hartford with two separate highway tunnels.
Q: What was the genesis of this plan?
A: This is all about a long-term vision. I wanted to examine the big infrastructure challenges our region faces and what we want our communities to look like for generations to come. Replacing the Aetna viaduct presents an enormous opportunity to reshape the Greater Hartford region for the better. In my view, there is no reason we should be wedded to a highway configuration that was laid out in the middle of the last century in order to accommodate the G. Fox department store, which has long since closed. Let's have a vision for our future.
What I am proposing is burying I-84 in a tunnel under much of Hartford and into East Hartford as well as tunneling I-91 in Hartford along the Connecticut River. This will cost more than the current alternative under consideration but it will provide greater benefits and has the advantage of solving the region's infrastructure challenges in a holistic manner.
The Aetna viaduct will become an urban boulevard that will reconnect neighborhoods in Hartford that have been tragically divided for a half-century. It will also be a tremendous boost to East Hartford by allowing the current mixmaster interchange that takes up acres of valuable real estate to be repurposed into developable land. When you add to this reverting the Bulkeley, Founders, and Charter Oak bridges into boulevards for local traffic, pedestrians and bicyclists, what you are left with between Hartford and East Hartford is a livable, interconnected community.
Furthermore, it provides a solution for one of the most crucial challenges facing both sides of the River: the continued erosion of our levees.
On top of that, by tunneling I-91, you open up access to Hartford's riverfront from downtown all the way to Coltsville, our newest national park. Not only will this make the riverfront accessible to recreational and development opportunities but it will facilitate needed improvements to the levee system, which remain vulnerable due to the current configuration along I-91. Finally, by keeping the viaduct in service during construction of the tunnels, we avoid the massive disruption to the city that businesses and residents are fearing may happen under the current plans to replace the viaduct. CLICK TITLE TO CONTINUE
CT’s transportation infrastructure ranks among bottom 10 in U.S.
&A with David T. Hartgen, senior fellow, and Baruch Feigenbaum, transportation policy analyst, with the Reason Foundation, which just released its 22nd Annual Highway Report that ranks how state-owned road systems are performing relative to others in categories like traffic fatalities, pavement condition, deficient bridges and spending per mile.
Q: The Reason Foundation's 22nd Annual Highway Report finds that 40 states now have traffic delays that cost drivers at least 20 hours per year; states made progress on deficient bridges; state highway spending decreased slightly; and pavement conditions worsened marginally. Of those four points mentioned, which is the most troubling?
A: All are of concern, but in our view the greatest concern is traffic congestion, which increases commuter travel times and reduces regional and national productivity. With the economy growing and total vehicle-miles traveled increasing, traffic congestion has increased much faster since 2012 than it did during prior years, where the recession was playing a role in reducing travel and congestion. Without adequate improvements in road capacity, congestion is likely to continue to worsen in many states, which would negatively impact quality of life and the economy. Connecticut currently ranks 31st in congestion delays.
Q: Connecticut ranks 44th in overall performance and cost-effectiveness rankings in your report. What drives the state's low rankings?
A: Connecticut has a relatively small state-owned road system, 4,079 miles, but it spends three times as much money per mile ($478,000 per mile) than the average state. Per-mile expenditures for capital work, maintenance and administration are also high.
As one of the states that is spending the most per mile in these categories, taxpayers might expect superior results. But the system's condition ranks 46th out of 50 in percent of deficient bridges and 44th in rural primary road condition. Connecticut ranks better on Interstate pavement condition (24th), narrow lanes on rural roads (12th) and fatality rate (9th).
Q: From your national perspective, what can Connecticut do to improve its standings? Are there any "easy" solutions to the issues it faces?
A: The number of deficient bridges and the pavement conditions on rural arterial roads are clearly hurting the state's overall rankings. A greater focus on those problems would almost certainly help the state's rankings. Overall, the state can look for ways to have its higher-than-average spending numbers translate into better results or it can reduce its costs. CLICK TITLE TO CONTINUE
Developer Offers Master Plan For Former Site Of The Hartford In Simsbury
The former site of The Hartford office complex on Hopmeadow Street is one step closer to becoming a mixed-use residential site.
The zoning commission on Monday formally received a master plan for the site from New Jersey development firm The Silverman Group. A public hearing on the application is scheduled for Nov. 21.
The plan is on file in the planning and land use office in town hall. The proposal was designed using The Hartford-Simsbury Form-Based Code, a document created by the town in collaboration with The Hartford in August 2014.
Form-based code provides a developer with the town's expectations in the scope of use. The code's purpose, according to the 63-page document, is to "implement a long-term, sustainable redevelopment strategy for the Hartford site." In the master plan document, The Silverman Group says the project will replace an "obsolete suburban corporate office asset that no longer is viable with a master planned mixed use community."
The proposed development, The Ridge at Talcott Mountain, is described as a "compact and walkable ... mixed-use neighborhood with embedded green space and appropriate pedestrian accommodation," with a "decidedly New England style."
The submitted master plan details 125 townhouse units with various layouts and facades, each ranging from 1,240 to 1,435 square feet. Also suggested are 156 luxury apartments with elevators, a club house, a 120-bed assisted living facility and 8,000 square feet of retail.
It also describes an interior walking and bike trail. About 46 percent of the 40-acre property will remain open space, according to the plan.
In a traffic study included with the plan, engineers projected 186 net new vehicle trips during the weekday morning, 263 new trips during the weekday afternoon and 263 new trips during midday Saturdays.
T.J. Donohue, the attorney representing The Silverman Group, said the applicant is eager to receive the commission's approval of the master plan before developing individual site plans for the property.
Donohue said a more detailed presentation will be given at the public hearing.
Last month, the developer revealed concept plans for the property and announced it would file a formal application in October.
Zoning commission members did not oppose the concept, but voiced concerns of a surplus of residential development in town.
The 172-acre property was sold for $8.52 million in late December, including 641,000 square feet of building space and the 40 acres of farmland to the north.
The Silverman Group filed an application for demolition at the site with the conservation commission in February and the buildings were torn down in May. CLICK TITLE TO CONTINUE