NORWALK — After a long and contentious budget season, Norwalk Public Schools has been approved to construct new schools for the first time in nearly 50 years.
The city will spend $93 million — with $23.6 million anticipated reimbursement from the state — over the next year to construct two new schools, including $6.4 million to make priority improvements to the rest of the district’s schools. Construction will begin in the 2018-19 school year.
The construction plan, as part of the Board of Education’s Capital Budget, was approved in a 13-2 vote during a long and sometimes heated Common Council meeting Tuesday evening at City Hall.
“This was a major milestone for Norwalk Public Schools,” said Mike Lyons, Board of Education chairman. “...This is the biggest commitment to our school system in a generation, and I’m very grateful to all the city boards and agencies that have supported us, particularly Mayor (Harry) Rilling and the Common Council.”
The Board of Education anticipates additional funds to be allocated to the school construction projects in future years to implement the full $172.8 million five-year capital plan — with a total of $42.3 million anticipated reimbursement from the state.
A split Board of Education approved its original $245.5 million five-year capital plan in January, which prioritized projects focused on school construction and expansion. As that budget was paired down by the city’s finance director and planning commission, the less-prioritized district-wide renovation projects were cut in their budget recommendations.
That’s when a mix of local and state leaders put forth the “Fix It First Proposal — Modernizing Norwalk’s Public Schools” as an alternative school plan aimed to flip the prioritization of the Board of Education’s plan to renovate the district's existing schools before building or expanding others.
After weeks of controversy and meetings between school, city and state officials, a revised capital plan that was ultimately passed this week — which lowered construction and renovation costs and allowed for the construction and expansion and renovation of other schools — was agreed on and put forth by Rilling.
The Common Council approved funding in 2017-2018 for the construction of a $41.9 million new school building at the former Nathaniel Ely School site, which Columbus Magnet School will move into, and a $43.4 million addition to Ponus Ridge Middle School, which will transform it into a pre-K through 8 STEM-themed magnet school.
The longer-term five-year plan also includes $21 million in funding in 2018-19 for the renovation as new of the current Columbus Magnet School building, which would subsequently be turned into an IB Early Years Programme magnet school, and $24.1 million for Jefferson Science Magnet School building, which would be stripped of its magnet school status and return to a neighborhood school.
The effort to act swiftly on school construction plans comes as the district runs roughly 750 seats short, a number expected to grow to over 1,000 by 2025, and nearly 400 kids are stationed in 15 portable trailers that are nearing the end of their designed life span. CLICK TITLE TO CONTINUE
House Speaker says some tolls could be ready in 18 months
HARTFORD, Conn. (AP) — House Speaker Joe Aresimowicz (ehr-eh-SIM'-oh-wits) says he believes at least some electronic tolls could be installed on Connecticut highways in about 18 months.
The Democrat on Wednesday said he questions predictions that the process to install the devices could take three or more years. Aresimowicz, who represents Berlin, says lawmakers have been learning from officials in states that have implemented electronic tolls.He says timing is important because Connecticut's main fund for transportation projects is expected to be "pretty much emptied out" by 2020, partly because the state is not generating enough gas tax revenue.
It's unclear whether the General Assembly will authorize tolls this session. A bill recently cleared the Transportation Committee. But Aresimowicz says he expects tolls would ultimately be woven into the budget or another transportation bill.
Keith Hayden, director of public works, said that Jersey barriers will be put in place to divide the bridge in half. NJR Construction of Torrington will demolish one half of the bridge and then reconstruct it.
After that half of the bridge is reconstructed, the other half will be closed off, demolished and reconstructed. During the second phase of the bridge reconstruction there will be two lanes of traffic.
The project, which was awarded to NJR for a $1.117 million bid, is scheduled to complete in late November.
“We will receive a 48 percent reimbursement from the state for this project,” said Hayden.
Hayden said that the bridge had been inspected by the Department of Transportation and was found to be deficient. Thus, the town applied for a grant to get it fixed. These funds have already been locked in place and won’t be affected by any potential state budget cuts this year.
“The state signed a commitment letter to ensure us that the funding will be in place for West Center Street Extension,” Hayden said. “Before we go forward on projects like this we always make sure that we have a commitment letter.”
In addition to West Center Street Extension, the town recently completed repairs last August on the Queen Street bridge. They are also currently looking into repairs for another bridge on Spring Street.
“The Spring Street project is not under design yet,” said Hayden. “We have advertised for someone to do the design work, and then we will review it. I expect that we will have the design work done within the next 32 months, or two-and-a-half years. That project will also be a complete bridge replacement and we will receive an 80 percent Federal reimbursement.”
Delays expected as paving work begins next week on Route 1 in Stonington
Stonington — Police are advising drivers that the state Department of Transportation will begin milling and paving of Route 1 from Flanders Road to Lathrop Avenue beginning Monday.
Motorists should expect delays as Route 1 will be reduced to one lane in some areas and are being advised to seek alternative routes from 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. weekdays.
The work will not end until the first week of May.
CT rebellion against federal rail plan grows — and may have impact
Washington – A rebellion that began in Old Lyme and has spread along coastal Connecticut is pressing the federal government to make big changes in an ambitious plan to bring high-speed rail to the Northeast, and to turn the proposal into merely “aspirational” recommendations.
“Opposition is growing along the entire shoreline,” said Gregory Stroud, director of special projects for the Connecticut Trust for Historic Preservation, a leader of the opposition.
Connecticut would be the most affected state among the eight involved in the Federal Railroad Administration’s NEC Future, a $135 billion plan to upgrade train service in the nation’s busiest rail corridor.
Demographers project that between 2010 and 2040, the population in the Northeast Corridor will grow to 64 million, an increase of roughly 23 percent. Six of Amtrak’s busiest stations are in the corridor, with New York and Washington, D.C., ranked first and second for passenger traffic.
Besides improving rail lines and adding tracks along parts of Connecticut’s coastline the NEC Future plan incorporates the state’s plan to upgrade the New Haven to Hartford to Springfield line, the only part of the proposal for Connecticut that hasn’t come under attack.
But the wave of opposition to the FRA’s other recommendations may push the agency to scrap many of its ideas, including construction of a bypass that would cut though eastern Connecticut, including Old Lyme.
“Old Lyme has made its concerns known,” said FRA spokesman Marc Willis.
The FRA is under great pressure as it drafts its final Record of Decision – which could be released as early as late May – to focus instead on what the Malloy administration and many local officials want – to upgrade and fix Connecticut’s existing rail infrastructure.
State officials and residents, as well as a number of state historical societies and environmental groups, have sent hundreds of letters to the Federal Railroad Administration since the beginning of the year to try to influence the agency.
There’s evidence the heavy lobbying may have made an impact and that some of the proposed changes – besides the proposed new route between Old Saybrook and the village of Kenyon in Richmond, R.I. – may be eliminated and others downgraded to suggestions.
A Bottleneck
While eight states are involved in NEC Future, all through the planning process Connecticut was viewed as a “bottleneck,” it’s old, curved tracks, especially those that hugged the coastline, an impediment to upgrading rail transportation in the Northeast. CLICK TITLE TO CONTINUE