Mystic — The Stonington Planning and Zoning Commission has scheduled a Jan. 17 public hearing on a proposed master plan needed to develop the Perkins Farm into a medical/research campus with townhouses and apartments.
The hearing is slated to begin at 7:30 p.m. at Mystic Middle School and the commission tentatively has planned to meet the next evening, Jan. 18, if it needs to complete the hearing.
The commission also has slated a Feb. 21 hearing on another major project, Greylock Property Group’s master plan application to the develop the former Mystic Color Lab site into 42 luxury condominiums.
Over the past two decades, attempts have been made to develop both sites but no projects were ever built.
David Lattizori has filed an application for a master plan to develop nearly half of the 71 acres of the former Perkins Farm off Jerry Browne Road. If built, the project would become the town’s largest taxpayer, generating an estimated $1.3 million in annual tax revenue for the town, about as much as the town’s two current biggest taxpayers, Stone Ridge and Connecticut Light & Power, now pay combined. According to the application, it also would generate several hundred permanent jobs.
The plan calls for 90,000 square feet of medical office space in five one- and two-story buildings. Additionally, there would be one 10,000-square-foot academic research building. The plan also calls for one apartment building with 121 units and 50 three-bedroom townhouses spread among 13 buildings.
If the commission approves the master plan application, Lattizori then would have to submit a detailed site plan for approval, which would require another hearing.
At the five-acre color lab site, the Mystic Harbor Landing project calls for three-story buildings placed around a central courtyard. Like the Perkins Farm project, if the commission approves its master plan, developer Greylock Property Group then would have to seek site plan approval.
CT seeks paving contractor's victims
Gregory Seay
Connecticut's consumer watchdog is asking the public's help identifying victims of an alleged paving-contractor's scam.
State Department of Consumer Protection (DCP) Commissioner Jonathan A. Harris said Monday his office is looking for homeowners or businesses that may have dealt with paving contractor Edward Branciforte as part of its ongoing investigation into Branciforte's activities.
According to DCP, Branciforte has been involved in 19 complaints with the agency since 2008, and operates mainly in the eastern and central parts of the state. Branciforte's DCP registration is suspended.
DCP is seeking additional information about Branciforte's activities to supplement our ongoing investigation, Harris said in a statement.
Branciforte typically shows up unannounced at a consumer's door offering paving services, officials said. Consumers should be wary of any home improvement contractor who goes door-to-door soliciting business.
Consumers may file complaints or provide information about Branciforte by emailing dcp.frauds@ct.gov or calling 860-713-6100 or 800-842-2649.
Rail overhaul plan is both a winner and a loser in CT
Connecticut officials have been more critical than those in any other state of the Federal Railroad Administration's plan to overhaul train service in the Northeast Corridor, yet some of its strongest critics also admit they like much of the plan.
New York and New Jersey officials have lauded the plan, which the FRA says would reduce travel time between New York and Boston by 45 minutes and between Washington, D.C., and New York by 35 minutes. Rhode Island officials came aboard after a stop in Providence was included. Maryland officials say they are studying the plan, called NEC Future, and Pennsylvania's Gov. Tom Wolf said he supports the proposal but is concerned about its $135 billion price tag.
There are powerful supporters of the plan in Congress, including Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., who said: "I'm going to continue my laser-like focus on making improvements throughout the NEC," beginning with a new tunnel under the Hudson River.
But, because of concerns over a proposed bypass that would run through Old Lyme and other scenic coastal towns, the FRA's plan, released last month, was greeted frostily by Connecticut officials. The plan proposes a new segment of track between Old Saybrook and the village of Kenyon in Richmond, R.I.
There is support in the state for other parts of the plan.
The most favored is the NEC proposal to upgrade the rail line that runs through the center of the state, from New Haven to Hartford and then Springfield, Mass.
The proposal, however, does not include new rail service to Bradley International Airport, something that had been promoted in comments from the public to the FRA. Instead, the state Department of Transportation is planning a van service from the Windsor Locks train station to the airport, a distance of about three and a half miles.
The Malloy administration opposes the coastal bypass, and has said it supports investments to maintain and improve existing rails in the state before building new lines.
The New Haven to Hartford to Springfield proposal would do just that, building on state efforts to improve the existing tracks, so the Connecticut Department of Transportation supports that part of the NEC plan. CLICK TITLE TO CONTINUE
Air Quality, Water And Natural Gas All Tangled Up In Killingly Power Plant Debate
ov. Dannel P. Malloy's pro-natural gas policies, the drought, air pollution and questions about how public waters are used have all become part of a controversy over a proposed eastern Connecticut energy plant.
Plans for the Killingly Energy Center call for construction of a $537 million natural-gas fired facility capable of generating 550 megawatts of electricity. The proposal by a Florida-based company called NTE Energy is under consideration by the Connecticut Siting Council.
But the plan is drawing strong opposition from activists, environmentalists and some politicians. Critics fear the natural gas project will create more air pollution in a region that already has its fair share of existing power plants and lung disease, use industrial-scale amounts of drinking water during the drought, and have damaging environmental impacts. State officials are also asking about the possibility that the energy plant could sometimes use up to 400,000 gallons of water a day, and whether the facility would actually reduce regional air pollution. Malloy's administration has been pushing natural gas as a cleaner, cheaper alternative to coal or oil for generating electricity. NTE's proposal appears tailored to fit with the governor's energy policy.
Company officials are telling the siting council their project "will result in lower wholesale capacity and energy prices, thereby resulting in electricity costs savings to Connecticut ratepayers."
According to the plan, the construction project on 73 rural acres in Killingly will create hundreds of jobs and $236 million in "total economic output" over the next three years. The developers claim their facility "will result in a decrease in annual [air pollution] emissions by… older, inefficient and higher-emitting power plants in the market," thus improving the environment.
Those claims haven't convinced elected officials like Democratic Sen. Mae Flexer of Killingly.
Flexer noted in a letter to the siting council that Killingly is already home to a major electric power generator, a 792-megawatt natural gas facility known as the Lake Road Generating Plant. Adding a second major power plant would be "an enormous burden to place on the people of Killingly," Flexer said.
"To require so much of the state's electricity to be generated here, and along with it to concentrate such a large fraction of the state's pollutants and emissions from power generation in this town, is grossly unfair," Flexer said.
Chris Coyle, an activist with Concerned Citizens for a Safe Northeastern Connecticut, said the proposed NTE plant would also be "the ninth power plant in a 30-mile radius in an area with an asthma rate double the national average." CLICK TITLE TO CONTINUE
Guilford selectmen voice opposition to Shoreline Greenway Trail, consider creating town’s own path
GUILFORD >> The Board of Selectmen is inching closer to issuing a decision on a proposal to build a Shoreline Greenway Trail along Route 1 — a project that has left a community divided.
For months, Guilford residents have voiced their support or opposition on a plan to build a 0.7-mile Shoreline Greenway Trail that runs along the south shoulder of Route 1 from the Madison line to the Route 146 intersection.Supporters of the project say construction of the bike path would allow residents to walk, bike and wheel to the town’s center safely. Opponents, however, argue the trail would destroy historic property and place a significant financial burden on taxpayers.
After hearing 57 residents express their opinions on the trail at a 2 Comments and receiving more than 100 letters communicating different views, selectmen held a workshop last week to vet the public’s input. While selectmen said they were in favor of creating a walkable path to the town’s center, members said the proposed location was not the proper site for a bikeway. “My personal position is it is all about pedestrian access. I have to agree with everybody that this particular plan, while it will give us pedestrian access, it just is the wrong plan at the wrong place at the wrong time,” Selectman Charles Havrda said during Tuesday’s workshop. If approved, the trail would be part of a 25-mile continuous path starting from Lighthouse Point in New Haven, through East Haven, Branford and Guilford to Hammonasset Beach State Park in Madison. The path — to be 8 to 10 feet wide — is to be made with a chip-seal surface of Stony Creek granite over a hard base.
But rather than constructing a Shoreline Greenway Trail in town, board members suggested it would be in the town’s favor to create a path that embraced the notion of “green to green.”“I was an original supporter of the Shoreline Greenway Trail. I drove to East Haven where the trail was supposed to begin and I followed that trail all the way from East Haven to Madison. It became very clear to me that it didn’t work,” Selectman Gary MacElhiney said. “I think a pathway is justified if we could find a way to use some of this money to create a viable pathway. If we can do something to work with Madison and create the pathway from the Guilford Green to the Madison Green, that is a viable idea.” CLICK TITLE TO CONTINUE
Plan to sell High Street Parking Lot sparks debate
NORWALK — Douglas Fraser looks out the window of his business at Main and Wall streets and asks how elderly customers and delivery trucks will get to his door if apartments go up in the municipal parking lot outside.
“It could kill us because actually we get deliveries around back,” said Fraser, president of Connecticut Surgical Supplies, Inc. at 14 Main St. “We have people coming in on crutches and in wheelchairs, or handicapped, and without this access it’s going to be really tough for them to get in here.”
At issue is the future of the 91-space Main/High Street Lot, where Wall Street-based developer M.F. DiScala & Co. and partner EDG Properties are looking to build Head of the Harbor North. Conceptual plans show a five-story, 80-unit apartment building rising along High Street and a two-story, 8,000-square-foot retail building on Main Street.
Public invited to view parking plan
At a public information meeting Jan. 18, representatives of the Norwalk Parking Authority and M.F. DiScala will discuss “the temporary parking plan, the structure of the replacement parking and any potential area wide parking impacts associated with the proposed development and construction.” The meeting is set for 6 p.m. in Room 231 of Norwalk City Hall, 125 East Ave.
M.F. DiScala has proposed a temporary parking plan for during construction and permanent replacement plan for afterward. The temporary plan calls for, among other things, directing motorists to the Mechanic Street Lot and Yankee Doodle Garage to the west. Collectively, the two municipal parking facilities provide 500 parking spaces, according to DiScala.
Long term, M.F. DiScala would replace the 91 spaces in the High Street Lot with 63 covered spaces in a new public parking garage and 28 surfaces spaces. The spaces would be for the public and separate from those used by Head of the Harbor North residents.
Kathryn Hebert, the city’s administrative services manager, said the Parking Authority would manage the new 91 public spaces.
Alan Webber, chief financial officer for M.F. DiScala, said the company is negotiating with the city regarding the lot.
“We are negotiating an option agreement with the City whereby when we are ready to pull permits, the City sells us the land and the compensation for the sale is we build them a new level. CLICK TITLE TO CONTINUE
MGM Calls On Foxwoods, Mohegan To Release Report On Proposed Third Casino
MGM Resorts International, the developer of a Springfield casino and entertainment complex, Monday called on the operators of Foxwoods and Mohegan Sun to release the economic analysis that led them to choose East Windsor and Windsor Locks as the best options for a Hartford-area casino.
"MMCT has indicated that the economic analysis was pivotal in their decision-making, and officials at the state and local levels, have a right to see the study firsthand," said Alan Feldman, executive vice president at MGM. "Communities should not be negotiating in the dark, and the public should not be kept in the dark."
MGM is challenging in court the state law that allowed the tribes, and no one else, to search for the casino site. It has heavily criticized MMCT for a "lack of transparency" in how it is pursuing sites, especially at Bradley International Airport.
"MGM knows that the two remaining towns under consideration will hurt their bottom line," Doba said.
On Monday, Feldman reiterated that the results of an economic analysis it commissioned concluding that "southwest Connecticut is the location that would result in the creation of many more jobs and the raising of significantly more revenue than would a casino in north central Connecticut."
Doba said MGM wants the casino in southwestern Connecticut "because it's as far away from their billion dollar casino in Massachusetts as possible, not because it's good for the state's economy."
MMCT has been considering for more than a year which site to choose, and it has been through two rounds of proposals. The tribes still need legislative approval when a site is selected. And there was the aim to have the Hartford-area casino open before Springfield. CLICK TITLE TO CONTINUE
Electric Boat: Boost in sub building means boost in CT jobs
Washington – Increased federal spending on submarine building this year will lead to the hiring of 1,350 employees in Connecticut by Electric Boat in 2017, for a net gain of 800 jobs, the company said Monday.
Some of the new employees will be taking the place of those retiring or leaving for another reason, but the EB workforce will grow, both in Connecticut and Rhode Island.
General Dynamics Electric Boat has about 14,500 employees at its shipyards in Connecticut and Rhode Island now.
But the company said more workers are needed to build two Virginia-class submarines this year, as well as work on the “Virginia Payload Module,” a plan to lengthen the boats to add four large-diameter payload tubes, each capable of storing and launching up to seven Tomahawk cruise missiles. The new hires also will work on the design and initial construction of the new Columbia-class submarine.
The Navy last week moved forward on the Columbia-class, a nuclear ballistic submarine designed to replace aging Ohio-class subs.
Electric Boat spokesman Dan Barrett said the new jobs would be in engineering, design, shipyard trades, and support. The hiring projections were released at a legislative breakfast hosted by company President Jeffrey S. Geiger in Groton.
Rep. Joe Courtney, D-2nd District, who attended the breakfast, said “the sustained growth in hiring at Electric Boat is continuing to significantly boost the economy of our region and the entire state.”
Courtney also said the increased hiring would boost business at “a statewide network of nearly 500 small parts suppliers and precision manufacturing firms that are growing along with the company.”
Connecticut’s senators, who also have worked to secure funding for the Virginia-class and Columbia-class programs, hailed Electric Boat’s expansion plans. CLICK TITLE TO CONTINUE
Bloomfield Council Approves Tax Break For Trader Joe's Distribution Center
he town council Monday approved a property tax abatement for Trader Joe's East Inc. and World Class Distribution Inc.
The 50 percent, four-year abatement was approved 8-0. The national grocery store chain is considering building a $78.5 million distribution center on Phoenix Crossing, near the Blue Hills Avenue Extension. The company also is exploring an unnamed site in New York, according to its consultant.
Town Planner Jose Giner said the company has filed permit applications to the town's planning and zoning and wetlands commissions.
Earlier this month, the Bloomfield Economic Development Commission, which is an advisory board, recommended that the council approve a tax abatement of up to 70 percent for four years.
At a subsequent joint meeting of the council's land-use subcommittee and its economic development and finance subcommittee last week, the offer was reduced to 50 percent after the company declined to take advantage of incentives the town is offering in its still-developing abatement policy.
The draft policy includes incentives of 5 percent each for companies in four areas: paying wages that exceed the median wages for similar positions in the Hartford labor market area; giving 20 percent or more of its jobs to Bloomfield residents; hiring a minimum of 10 percent of Bloomfield-based businesses for construction jobs; and incorporating alternative energy and green technology. CLICK TITLE TO CONTINUE
Company officials are telling the siting council their project "will result in lower wholesale capacity and energy prices, thereby resulting in electricity costs savings to Connecticut ratepayers."
According to the plan, the construction project on 73 rural acres in Killingly will create hundreds of jobs and $236 million in "total economic output" over the next three years. The developers claim their facility "will result in a decrease in annual [air pollution] emissions by… older, inefficient and higher-emitting power plants in the market," thus improving the environment.
Those claims haven't convinced elected officials like Democratic Sen. Mae Flexer of Killingly.
Flexer noted in a letter to the siting council that Killingly is already home to a major electric power generator, a 792-megawatt natural gas facility known as the Lake Road Generating Plant. Adding a second major power plant would be "an enormous burden to place on the people of Killingly," Flexer said.
"To require so much of the state's electricity to be generated here, and along with it to concentrate such a large fraction of the state's pollutants and emissions from power generation in this town, is grossly unfair," Flexer said.
Chris Coyle, an activist with Concerned Citizens for a Safe Northeastern Connecticut, said the proposed NTE plant would also be "the ninth power plant in a 30-mile radius in an area with an asthma rate double the national average." CLICK TITLE TO CONTINUE
Guilford selectmen voice opposition to Shoreline Greenway Trail, consider creating town’s own path
GUILFORD >> The Board of Selectmen is inching closer to issuing a decision on a proposal to build a Shoreline Greenway Trail along Route 1 — a project that has left a community divided.
For months, Guilford residents have voiced their support or opposition on a plan to build a 0.7-mile Shoreline Greenway Trail that runs along the south shoulder of Route 1 from the Madison line to the Route 146 intersection.Supporters of the project say construction of the bike path would allow residents to walk, bike and wheel to the town’s center safely. Opponents, however, argue the trail would destroy historic property and place a significant financial burden on taxpayers.
But rather than constructing a Shoreline Greenway Trail in town, board members suggested it would be in the town’s favor to create a path that embraced the notion of “green to green.”“I was an original supporter of the Shoreline Greenway Trail. I drove to East Haven where the trail was supposed to begin and I followed that trail all the way from East Haven to Madison. It became very clear to me that it didn’t work,” Selectman Gary MacElhiney said. “I think a pathway is justified if we could find a way to use some of this money to create a viable pathway. If we can do something to work with Madison and create the pathway from the Guilford Green to the Madison Green, that is a viable idea.” CLICK TITLE TO CONTINUE
Plan to sell High Street Parking Lot sparks debate
NORWALK — Douglas Fraser looks out the window of his business at Main and Wall streets and asks how elderly customers and delivery trucks will get to his door if apartments go up in the municipal parking lot outside.
“It could kill us because actually we get deliveries around back,” said Fraser, president of Connecticut Surgical Supplies, Inc. at 14 Main St. “We have people coming in on crutches and in wheelchairs, or handicapped, and without this access it’s going to be really tough for them to get in here.”
At issue is the future of the 91-space Main/High Street Lot, where Wall Street-based developer M.F. DiScala & Co. and partner EDG Properties are looking to build Head of the Harbor North. Conceptual plans show a five-story, 80-unit apartment building rising along High Street and a two-story, 8,000-square-foot retail building on Main Street.
Public invited to view parking plan
At a public information meeting Jan. 18, representatives of the Norwalk Parking Authority and M.F. DiScala will discuss “the temporary parking plan, the structure of the replacement parking and any potential area wide parking impacts associated with the proposed development and construction.” The meeting is set for 6 p.m. in Room 231 of Norwalk City Hall, 125 East Ave.
M.F. DiScala has proposed a temporary parking plan for during construction and permanent replacement plan for afterward. The temporary plan calls for, among other things, directing motorists to the Mechanic Street Lot and Yankee Doodle Garage to the west. Collectively, the two municipal parking facilities provide 500 parking spaces, according to DiScala.
Long term, M.F. DiScala would replace the 91 spaces in the High Street Lot with 63 covered spaces in a new public parking garage and 28 surfaces spaces. The spaces would be for the public and separate from those used by Head of the Harbor North residents.
Kathryn Hebert, the city’s administrative services manager, said the Parking Authority would manage the new 91 public spaces.
Alan Webber, chief financial officer for M.F. DiScala, said the company is negotiating with the city regarding the lot.
“We are negotiating an option agreement with the City whereby when we are ready to pull permits, the City sells us the land and the compensation for the sale is we build them a new level. CLICK TITLE TO CONTINUE
MGM Calls On Foxwoods, Mohegan To Release Report On Proposed Third Casino
MGM Resorts International, the developer of a Springfield casino and entertainment complex, Monday called on the operators of Foxwoods and Mohegan Sun to release the economic analysis that led them to choose East Windsor and Windsor Locks as the best options for a Hartford-area casino.
"MMCT has indicated that the economic analysis was pivotal in their decision-making, and officials at the state and local levels, have a right to see the study firsthand," said Alan Feldman, executive vice president at MGM. "Communities should not be negotiating in the dark, and the public should not be kept in the dark."
On Friday, MMCT, a joint venture of the Mashantucket Pequots and Mohegans, said it eliminated three municipalities — East Hartford, Hartford and South Windsor — as possible sites for the first Connecticut casino off tribal lands.
Andrew Doba, an MMCT spokesman, said the tribes considered a number of factors, including what effect the sites would have on their existing businesses and which would keep the most gaming revenue in Connecticut.
"MGM wants nothing more than to distract from the only single point that really matters: if MGM wins, Connecticut loses," Doba said. "It's that simple."
The Hartford-area gaming venture has been pushed as a defensive measure against the competitive threat of MGM's $950 million development in Springfield. Construction is well underway and the venue is expected to open in late 2018. MGM is challenging in court the state law that allowed the tribes, and no one else, to search for the casino site. It has heavily criticized MMCT for a "lack of transparency" in how it is pursuing sites, especially at Bradley International Airport.
"MGM knows that the two remaining towns under consideration will hurt their bottom line," Doba said.
On Monday, Feldman reiterated that the results of an economic analysis it commissioned concluding that "southwest Connecticut is the location that would result in the creation of many more jobs and the raising of significantly more revenue than would a casino in north central Connecticut."
Doba said MGM wants the casino in southwestern Connecticut "because it's as far away from their billion dollar casino in Massachusetts as possible, not because it's good for the state's economy."
MMCT has been considering for more than a year which site to choose, and it has been through two rounds of proposals. The tribes still need legislative approval when a site is selected. And there was the aim to have the Hartford-area casino open before Springfield. CLICK TITLE TO CONTINUE
Electric Boat: Boost in sub building means boost in CT jobs
Washington – Increased federal spending on submarine building this year will lead to the hiring of 1,350 employees in Connecticut by Electric Boat in 2017, for a net gain of 800 jobs, the company said Monday.
Some of the new employees will be taking the place of those retiring or leaving for another reason, but the EB workforce will grow, both in Connecticut and Rhode Island.
General Dynamics Electric Boat has about 14,500 employees at its shipyards in Connecticut and Rhode Island now.
But the company said more workers are needed to build two Virginia-class submarines this year, as well as work on the “Virginia Payload Module,” a plan to lengthen the boats to add four large-diameter payload tubes, each capable of storing and launching up to seven Tomahawk cruise missiles. The new hires also will work on the design and initial construction of the new Columbia-class submarine.
The Navy last week moved forward on the Columbia-class, a nuclear ballistic submarine designed to replace aging Ohio-class subs.
Electric Boat spokesman Dan Barrett said the new jobs would be in engineering, design, shipyard trades, and support. The hiring projections were released at a legislative breakfast hosted by company President Jeffrey S. Geiger in Groton.
Rep. Joe Courtney, D-2nd District, who attended the breakfast, said “the sustained growth in hiring at Electric Boat is continuing to significantly boost the economy of our region and the entire state.”
Courtney also said the increased hiring would boost business at “a statewide network of nearly 500 small parts suppliers and precision manufacturing firms that are growing along with the company.”
Connecticut’s senators, who also have worked to secure funding for the Virginia-class and Columbia-class programs, hailed Electric Boat’s expansion plans. CLICK TITLE TO CONTINUE
Bloomfield Council Approves Tax Break For Trader Joe's Distribution Center
he town council Monday approved a property tax abatement for Trader Joe's East Inc. and World Class Distribution Inc.
The 50 percent, four-year abatement was approved 8-0. The national grocery store chain is considering building a $78.5 million distribution center on Phoenix Crossing, near the Blue Hills Avenue Extension. The company also is exploring an unnamed site in New York, according to its consultant.
Councilman Leon Rivers said that there has been a debate about whether tax abatements are good policy, but that he believes it is a good tool when used properly.
"I believe it's something we're doing as a positive thing for this area," Rivers said. "I believe we're on the right track."
The 690,000-square-foot Trader Joe's facility would include 90,000 square feet of frozen food storage, as well as some light manufacturing, including cheese cutting and produce packing, according to the company. It said the facility would employ 675 people, including 150 transportation jobs.
The abatement would save the company about $600,000 a year, while the town would still collect about $600,000 a year in property taxes. The town also would earn about $400,000 in building permit fees. As part of the agreement, the company would be required to remain in Bloomfield for four years after the abatement ends or pay back the $2.4 million it saved.Town Planner Jose Giner said the company has filed permit applications to the town's planning and zoning and wetlands commissions.
Earlier this month, the Bloomfield Economic Development Commission, which is an advisory board, recommended that the council approve a tax abatement of up to 70 percent for four years.
At a subsequent joint meeting of the council's land-use subcommittee and its economic development and finance subcommittee last week, the offer was reduced to 50 percent after the company declined to take advantage of incentives the town is offering in its still-developing abatement policy.
The draft policy includes incentives of 5 percent each for companies in four areas: paying wages that exceed the median wages for similar positions in the Hartford labor market area; giving 20 percent or more of its jobs to Bloomfield residents; hiring a minimum of 10 percent of Bloomfield-based businesses for construction jobs; and incorporating alternative energy and green technology. CLICK TITLE TO CONTINUE