CT Construction Digest Tuesday January 31, 2017

Stonington buys land for boathouse park for $1.6 million

Stonington _ The town has officially purchased the land for the proposed Mystic River Boathouse Park for $1,672,914.
First Selectman Rob Simmons, signed the contract with property owner Frederic Baumgarten on Friday.
Last year, voters approved a $2.2 million bond to purchase the 1.5 acres of riverfront land on Route 27 just north of Mystic Seaport and turn it into a public park. In addition, the town has reached agreement with the Friends of Stonington Crew, in which the organization will raise money and construct a dock and boathouse on the property for use by the Stonington High School crew team and the public.
Simmons said the original $1.8 million purchase price was reduced by $127,086 to account for the cost to clean up contamination on the site. The Trust for Public Land negotiated the contract for the town.
Simmons said the next step is for the newly formed Mystic River Boathouse Park Implementation Committee to hold an organizational meeting on Feb. 7 at 7 p.m. in the Stonington High School commons.
Before work can begin to demolish buildings on the site and transform the land into a park, the committee and town will have to address issues such as whether to hire a project manager, secure and perform some initial clean up of the property and then obtain Planning and Zoning Commission approval for the new use.

Transportation Committee Agrees To Take Up Issue Of Tolls On Highways

Preparing for what's virtually certain to be a passionate debate, a legislative committee on Monday decided there will be a public hearing this year on whether Connecticut should reinstitute highway tolls.
The transportation committee agreed to raise the issue, but there's no sign that opposition has weakened.

Republican legislators and some Democrats have spent the past several years resisting the idea of highway tolls, but the committee agreed Monday to give the topic a hearing during this legislative session.

Lawmakers also indicated there's been little or no change in the partisan split over the possibility of a mileage tax. Republicans said even considering the idea would be foolish, and are trying to block spending $300,000 to study it. Democrats countered that Connecticut's aging highways and bridges need costly maintenance — and the state should look into all ways to pay for it. Gov. Dannel P. Malloy is expected to give a harsh assessment of the state's financial position when he proposes a two-year budget in February, and toll advocates believe the prospect of huge deficits ahead will lead lawmakers to reconsider their thinking. 
Rep. Tony Guerrera, D-Rocky Hill, co-chairman of the committee, has emphasized that modern electronic tolls don't use booths, attendants or coins and don't require drivers to slow down. He also says there might be a way to refund some of the cost to Connecticut drivers who must pass a toll in their commute to work.
But Republican Sen. Toni Boucher of Wilton, committee co-chairwoman, hasn't moved away from her solid opposition. She and other Republican legislative leaders insist the state can rebuild failing bridges and other infrastructure while expanding transit systems without a massive infusion of new revenue.
"Tolls would be another tax. For commuters, it would amount to a reduction in their pay," Boucher said Monday.
The committee generally hears virtually all relevant bills that are proposed, so Monday's action isn't a measure of the toll bill's chances of passing. The committee in February will schedule a hearing.
So far, there's been little sign of enthusiasm for developing a mileage-based tax on Connecticut drivers, but Democrats and Republicans remain split about whether to examine the idea.
"I'm not a big fan of this," Guerrera said. "But I get that we're only talking about a study."
Malloy last year said Connecticut would pay $300,000 toward a regional study of instituting a tax based on how many miles each driver travels in a year.  CLICK TITLE TO CONTINUE
Blumenthal Urges State Support For $1 Trillion Transportation Infrastructure Spending

lanked by union workers and the head of the state's construction industry association, Sen. Richard Blumenthal on Monday called for Connecticut to support the Senate Democrats' $1 trillion national infrastructure plan.
"We would create 15 million jobs - good, middle-class jobs" while rebuilding highways, bridges, airports, schools and water and sewer systems across the nation, Blumenthal said at a press conference.

"There's an opportunity for bipartisan cooperation on this," said Blumenthal, who stressed that the 10-year proposal is a starting point for negotiations with the Trump Administration and the Republican majority in Congress.

Facing the multi-billion-dollar cost of replacing the I-84 Hartford viaduct, the I-84 "Mixmaster" interchange in Waterbury and scores of structurally deficient bridges, Connecticut needs a federal plan for coping with overdue infrastructure repairs, according to speakers who sided with Blumenthal.

"We spend hundreds of millions of dollars a year waiting in congestion," said Lyle Wray, executive director of the Capitol Region Council of Governments. "With infrastructure, keeping up is a challenge - catching up is a bear." Wray said Connecticut is eager to build better mass transit connections to Boston and Manhattan, which he described as "white hot" spots for jobs and economic development.
Senate Democrats and President Trump have separately said they want mass-scale infrastructure rebuilding initiatives, but haven't specified exactly how they'd pay for it. Trump's administration appears to lean heavily toward public-private investment deals. Senate Democrats are more interested in a mix of closing tax loopholes, a government-sponsored infrastructure bank and an inducement to corporations to bring profits invested overseas back to the United States - at a lower-than-usual tax rate. CLICK TITLE TO CONTINUE