BROOKFIELD — If all goes to plan, the town will begin construction on its new downtown within weeks.
For the past five years, officials have been working in earnest to revitalize the Brookfield Town Center, more commonly known as the Four Corners.
In February, voters approved $1.7 million to top off the funding from grants for the first phase of a streetscape project that will add sidewalks, lights and parking to the area.
The town expects the state this week to approve its recommendation for a firm to head the project.
The town received bids from four firms last week, with base prices ranging from $1.6 million to $1.9 million. The chosen firm will be required to substantially complete the project by mid-November and be completely finished by mid-December.
As long as the firm starts in June as expected, Project Manager Greg Dembowski said, this should not be a problem. Construction is anticipated to take four to five months.
Dembowski and other project leaders met with business owners Tuesday afternoon to update them and reaffirm their commitment to work together.
“If you’ve got questions or issues or concerns, come to us,” First Selectman Steve Dunn told the business owners. “We want to work with you. We want to make this as painless as possible. It’s not going to be easy for a few months, but I think it’s going to improve the town center. It’s going to increase property values for everybody and when we’re done, we’re going to have a beautiful downtown.”
The town is working with business owners to move 18 mailboxes that sit where the sidewalks and parking spots will be. The town asked the businesses to purchase a post office box or agree to use a community mailbox.
Dunn said the town would pay for the businesses’ first year of the post office box and to set up the community mailbox.
“You’re working with us to accommodate the town,” Dunn said. “We’re working with you, so I think that’s a fair way to approach it.”
Some businesses will have to move their road signs, so Dembowski encouraged business owners to adhere to the zoning regulation’s standards for signs downtown. The town will pay for businesses to switch to the new standard if they do so now.
The first phase runs from the Federal and Station roads intersection south to Brookfield Funeral Home, north to Alexander’s Restaurant, west to the edge of the Mobil station and east to the Brookfield Craft Center. CLICK TITLE TO CONTINUE
Cheshire officials present $106.4 million middle school plan
CHESHIRE — Architects proposed a three-story, 185,000-square-foot, $106.4 million middle school at Cheshire Park to replace Dodd Middle School at a public hearing Thursday.
Consultants said the town would likely pay more than $70 million, with the rest coming from the state.
Cheshire Park’s existing fields and facilities won’t be disturbed by the project. The school will be set back from Route 10 and have access from Country Club Road.
Ryszard Szczypek, an architect and educational planner with TSKP Studio, said he and other consultants evaluated more than a dozen parcels in town that would meet the needs of the new school, which included 20 acres and utility connections
Although it’s somewhat uneven, the Cheshire Park site is the best fit. Szczypek said dirt can be moved around to level the site without having to bring fill in or out.
The size of the building is determined by state guidelines for schools of between 1,000 and 1,200 students. A school any larger wouldn’t be eligible for the maximum amount of state reimbursement, Szczypek said.
Tai Soo Kim, an architect with TSKP Studio, explained his design of the building, which is set among woods.
“I feel it has to be very friendly, small scale. Not an institutional building,” he said. “I think the building has to be in harmony with its surroundings. That’s what I’m aiming for.”
Nearly all of the construction and other costs of a new building would be eligible for state reimbursement, according to Szczypek.
“Cheshire’s rate is 33.93 percent today. The future may be another story,” he said.
The state requires submissions for grant applications by the end of June. Szczypek said waiting another year could mean a lower reimbursement since the state is looking into changing guidelines. He said the state’s reimbursement percentage has also been dropping, although the rate for next year is unknown.
“Your guess is as good as mine, but I don’t think it’s going to go higher,” Szczypek said.
A new middle school is the first step in a larger plan to rebuild or renovate the town’s educational facilities. The Town Council would have to approve the plan. CLICK TITLE TO CONTINUE
WALLINGFORD — State officials have pushed back the closure of the Route 150 railroad underpass to June.
Department of Transportation officials previously said the underpass would be closed from May 15 to May 25 and May 31 through early June. On Thursday, the agency announced the closure would instead begin at 7 a.m. June 5 and continue until 7 a.m. June 25. “The work will include, but is not limited to, installation and repairs of supporting bridge structures, such as retaining walls and joints, as well as preparation of the rail bed for a new track,” DOT said in a statement released Thursday.
Signs, variable message boards and detour routes alerting the public of the closure will be posted on-site prior to the closure. Businesses and area residents should expect construction noise and temporary overnight lighting during the closure.The project is part of the New Haven-Hartford-Springfield commuter rail project, which is expected to begin expanded service in 2018. As part of the project, a second track was added along the line. New stations are also under construction in Wallingford and Meriden.
The red granite railroad trestle crossing over Route 150 in Yalesville has a long history. It was built in the mid- or late-1800s by stonemason William MacKenzie, who is buried in the historic Center Street Cemetery — with a stone fittingly made of red granite.
The underpass is called a skew arch because it meets Route 150 (Main Street) at 30 degrees, not a right angle. And skew arches are rare, John Bernick, assistant rail administrator for the DOT, previously told the Record-Journal.
“You don’t see them too much over roadways,” he said. “Over time, many were replaced with steel structures.”
Work almost ready to begin on Stonington elementary schools
Stonington — There will be a flurry of activity over the next few weeks as school officials get ready for the start of the long-awaited $67 million project to renovate Deans Mill and West Vine elementary schools.
Actual construction is expected to begin before the current school year ends on June 16. Students will return to school after Labor Day and the project is now slated for completion during Christmas break in 2018 instead of September of 2018.
A community meeting has been slated for 6 p.m. Wednesday, May 31, in the Stonington High School Commons to discuss the project schedule and phasing. Groundbreaking ceremonies are scheduled for June 5 at Deans Mill School and June 6 at West Vine Street School. Both start at 4:30 p.m.
The project, which has an aggressive timeline, originally was slated to begin in March but there has been a delay because of the requirements of the bidding and permitting process, according to K-12 School Building Committee Chairman Rob Marseglia. He said the committee has been very careful in analyzing and vetting bids to ensure they meet all requirements.
In addition, school officials are working with the Gilbane Building Co., the construction manager, to develop phasing of the project that involves the removal of asbestos floor tiles and windows that contain caulk with low levels of PCBs.
While the schools will remain open during construction, the committee and school officials do not want students and staff to be in the building when work is being done to remove those hazardous materials.
Marseglia said the need to remove potentially hazardous materials is not unexpected, as the schools are 50 years old and were constructed at a time when such materials were commonly used. Testing previously had revealed their presence.
In addition, he said, the committee’s goal is to minimize the disruption to students and learning and not use portable classrooms, if possible.
Meanwhile the K-12 School Building Committee is scheduled to meet on Tuesday to approve the first round of bids for work such as site preparation, steel work and pouring foundations. The bids will then move on to the Board of Selectmen for final approval on Wednesday. If they are approved, Marseglia said crews can be mobilized by the end of the month.
Redeker: The smartest guy in transportation
im Redeker has the best job in transportation. And the toughest.
As Commissioner of Transportation for Connecticut for the past six years, he’s guided the agency through hundreds of millions of dollars in spending while managing three competing taskmasters: his boss, Gov. Dannel Malloy… the legislature, which controls his budget… and commuters / drivers who depend on his product.
Redeker has successfully managed all three.
I’ve known the commissioner for all his years in Connecticut and always considered him the smartest guy in the room. But recently I watched him in action in a venue he told me he actually enjoys: a commuter forum sponsored by Danbury line politicians.
Organized by State Rep. Gail Lavielle (R-Wilton), the single best commuter advocate in the State House, it was held on the first night of Passover in a week of school vacations, so the crowds were thin. The 780-seat Clune auditorium at Wilton High School was empty aside from the 30 or so commuters spread across the room. On the dais, a long table filled with area state representatives and senators looked like The Last Supper with Commissioner Redeker as the main course.
“Why was there no publicity for this event on the trains or at the stations?” asked one commuter. No answer. “Why was I stuck three times this winter on diesel trains with no explanation from conductors?” No answer. “Why do we pay all the taxes but get nothing back from Hartford?” No answer, even from the pols.
Redeker was pacing himself, giving each complainer a chance to vent, then cherry-picking which issue to address. When he didn’t have an answer (which was rare), he said so. But when he did have a response (most often), he nailed it.
“Why does the New Canaan branch have more trains at lower fares?”
Easy one: the New Canaan branch is electrified and has twice the ridership. “The Danbury branch only has 1,400 daily passengers,” said Redeker. “That works out to a per-trip subsidy of $17. Now if we had better service we’d probably have more riders. I just don’t have the money.”
Surprisingly, only a few of the 11 Hartford lawmakers on the dais said anything all evening. Given their budget-juggling skills, they offered no explanation or optimism for improved funding of mass transit.
But to the downtrodden Dashing Dans and Danielle’s, the Commissioner offered some hope: new rail cars for the branch lines are coming (in about four years) and old diesel locomotives are being rebuilt.
Less satisfied were residents of semi-rural Georgetown and Redding who complained about the trains’ noise pollution: constant horn-blowing and bell-ringing at crossing gates. Three folks from Metro-North sitting in the auditorium were mute as neighbors said they were afraid to complain ‘lest train engineers retaliate by leaning on the horn. CLICK TITLE TO CONTINUE