RIDGEFIELD - Officials will shift the travel lanes on Route 35 beginning Monday so construction can begin on the road.
Northbound traffic on Route 35 will be directed over a temporary bridge, while southbound traffic will be moved onto a shifted southbound lane, according to the Ridgefield Police Department’s Facebook page.
The south Fox Hill driveway will be used as an entrance only
Mohegan tribe announces development plans for former Norwich Hospital
Preston — The Mohegan Tribal Gaming Authority announced details of its potential $600 million development plan for the former Norwich Hospital property Saturday, which includes a marina, hotel, sports complex, large retail center, senior housing and indoor and outdoor recreation facilities.
The announcement was made following an hourlong, closed-door meeting of the Preston Board of Selectmen and Preston Redevelopment Agency at Town Hall on Saturday, as the negotiation period to reach a purchase and sale agreement with the Mohegan tribe winds down. The parties set a Feb. 19 deadline for having a final deal approved by both the Mohegan Tribal Council and Preston residents.
A news conference with Gov. Dannel P. Malloy tentatively is planned for Tuesday to announce details of the plans, and the tribe will present plans to the Preston Planning and Zoning Commission at a special meeting at 6 p.m. Tuesday at Preston Plains Middle School. The meeting will provide "the first glimpse" of the plans, First Selectman Robert Congdon said Saturday.
Two public informational meetings tentatively are planned for Feb. 2 and 4 for Preston residents, with a tentative town meeting date of Feb. 9, Congdon said. If that schedule holds, the earliest voters could be asked to approve the sale at a referendum would be Feb. 21, Congdon said.
In a news release issued Saturday, Mohegan Tribal Council Chairman Kevin Brown, also chairman of the MTGA Management Board, called the announcement a “major step in finalizing the Property Disposition and Development Agreement with the town of Preston.”
The tribe will present plans to the Preston Planning and Zoning Commission, calling for “the potential for $600 million in development of tax paying amenities.” The list included a marina, indoor and outdoor entertainment facilities including a theater, indoor water park and RV park, timeshare units, a sports complex with a hotel, a senior living center with residential units and a “large retail and entertainment venue.”
The Board of Selectmen and PRA have met in executive session to discuss negotiations in recent weeks, and PRA officials also discussed in closed session draft zoning regulations the development might need with town planning and zoning officials.
Tribal and town officials announced last May that the tribe planned to purchase the entire 393-acre former Norwich Hospital property in Preston with plans for $200 million to $600 million in development. The parties initially set a six-month negotiation period to finalize the deal, but extended that to Feb. 19 in November.
The preliminary deal announced in May also included a commitment by the state for the final $10 million needed to complete the environmental cleanup of the former state mental illness institution.
“The redevelopment of the former Norwich Hospital property is great news for the region and for the state,” Gov. Malloy said in the release issued by the tribe. “It has been a priority of mine, not only for the direct benefit that remediating this brownfield will have to the local community, but also for the future economic development potential that this valuable property can bring to the entire region.”
Malloy added that the project would cement southeast Connecticut as a “premier tourism destination” and would add to the region's appeal to visitors. Malloy also touted the estimation that the project would bring hundreds of jobs to the region.
Congdon, who plans to retire after 22 years in the position in November, credited the “incredible leadership and vision” of the Mohegan tribe, the PRA and Malloy, the state Department of Economic and Community Development and the Department of Energy and Environmental Protection for bringing the project to fruition.
Since the town agreed to take over ownership of the former hospital property in 2009, with its dozens of abandoned, decaying buildings, town agencies have obtained about $15 million in state and federal grants to clean up the property, and used about $1.5 million in scrap metal value to offset further cleanup costs, PRA Chairman Sean Nugent said Saturday.
"The voters of Preston took a huge leap when they voted to take this property," Congdon said Saturday after the closed-door meeting. "A lot of people said 'you're never going to climb that mountain.' We wouldn't be here today if the townspeople didn't take that leap." CLICK TITLE TO CONTINUE
ARTBA Outlines for New Trump Administration Regulatory Reforms to Help Speed Transportation Project Delivery
“Ripe for Reform: Federal Regulatory Issues Impacting Transportation Project Delivery” is aimed at assisting the incoming administration's previously announced review of federal regulations, and has already been shared with transition officials. The recommendations were developed with input from ARTBA's public and private sector members, and its state contractor chapter affiliates.
The association is also distributing the report to House and Senate transportation leaders and their staffs, and plans to share it with new federal agency officials following the Jan. 20 inauguration.
Citing President-elect Donald Trump's oft-stated commitment to investing major dollars to upgrade the nation's infrastructure, ARTBA notes that “(l)essening the transportation construction industry's unreasonable regulatory burden will maximize the value of the significant new dollars being invested in transportation improvement projects, unleash innovation in designing and building them, and take full advantage of job-creation possibilities.”
The compilation document addresses existing rules, proposed rules, guidance and executive orders currently in place, a flurry of which have been issued by the Obama administration. These include regulations and policies administered by the: U.S. States Department of Transportation (Disadvantaged Business Enterprise program, project labor agreements, hours of service); Environmental Protection Agency (Waters of the U.S., Clean Air Act standards); Department of Labor (silica exposure and recordkeeping); Department of the Interior (Endangered Species Act); and the White House Council on Environmental Quality (greenhouse gas).For more the full report, visit http://url.ie/11nnp.