CT Construction Digest Tuesday, May 16, 2017

MEDIA ADVISORY

REP. GUERRERA/REP. PERONE TO DISCUSS DECAYING CT ROADS AND BRIDGES – AND TOLLS

Press Conf. Today/11:30am/Capitol Old Appropriations

House Chair of the Transportation Committee, Rep. Tony Guerrera (D-Rocky Hill) and State Rep. Chris Perone (D-Norwalk) Chief Transportation Financial Officer for House Democrats will discuss transportation issues during a news conference Tuesday at the State Capitol.
The event will highlight a new report from TRIP, a national nonprofit transportation research group. The report examines road and bridge conditions, congestion, economic development, highway safety, and transportation funding in Connecticut.
WHAT: Transportation Press Conference
WHEN: Tuesday, May 16, at 11:30 a.m.
WHERE: Connecticut State Capitol, Old Appropriations (310)

National Infrastructure Week 2017

One Week. One call to action. Many voices, united.
 It’s #TimeToBuild
Infrastructure Week is a national week of education and advocacy that brings together American businesses, workers, elected leaders, and everyday citizens around one message: It’s #TimeToBuild. From May 15-19, leaders and citizens around America will highlight state of our nation’s infrastructure – roads, bridges, rail, ports, airports, water and sewer systems, the energy grid, and more – and encourage policymakers to invest in the projects, technologies, and policies necessary to make America competitive, prosperous, and safe.

Our bipartisan Steering Committee and over 150 affiliates host events, drive media attention, and educate stakeholders and policymakers on the critical importance of infrastructure to America’s economic competitiveness, security, job creation, and in the daily lives of every American. As a business, union, non-profit, government, or an individual who depends on infrastructure, you have an important story to tell. Find a way to participate and tell America that it is Time to Build.

Why Join Us?

America’s infrastructure is crumbling, inefficient, and inadequately designed to meet 21st century needs. Yet it is also one of the rare issues on which both political parties, the business and labor communities, and leaders from the White House to State Houses to City Halls, find common ground. In the private sector, and at the state and local levels, innovators from the public and private sectors are investing in new projects, policies, and technologies to put America back in the fast lane.

CLICK TITLE FOR ACCESS TO WEBSITE FOR NATIONAL INFRASTRUCTURE WEEK

Office park approved for site of former Wilber & King in Guilford

GUILFORD >> Work has commenced on an office park at 350 Goose Lane, the home of the former upscale Wilber & King Nurseries. The plan calls for updates to the existing post and beam building and the construction of two additional buildings.
Approximately seven and a half acres of the 15.9 acre property can be developed. The remaining acreage is protected wetlands and about an acre of Carter Pond.Since purchasing the property in 2014, 350 Goose Lane, LLC has tried, unsuccessfully, to get approval for a single family cottage style home development. The initial plan was to build 48 units, subsequently reduced to 38. Yet, after months of review by the Inlands Wetlands Commission the residential complex was denied at the Oct. 26, 2016 meeting. “There will likely be adverse impacts to the surrounding wetlands and pond because of inadequate buffers,” according to commission minutes.

“It was a tough pill to swallow,” said Kenny Horton, president of 350 Goose Lane, LLC, a part of Horton Group, LLC. “It was very costly, but if Plan A doesn’t work out, you go to Plan B.

“I thought that Plan A was better than Plan B, for our town, but this still is going to be absolutely unbelievable,” he said. “It’s going to be beautiful.”Horton was surprised at the decision. “It was a beautiful project,” he said. “I thought that it was definitely less stress on the wetlands than the project they had already accepted, the one that we’re going to build now.”The accepted plan, approved by Inland Wetlands in 2010, is a business park, designed by John Matthews of Madison’s John A. Matthews Architecture. The complex will include a parking lot, a viewing platform near Carter Pond and a courtyard, which will incorporate much of the patio work that was done for the former garden center. “When they did Wilber & King they invested so much money in that courtyard, in fieldstone, so it’s so beautiful,” said Horton. “We’re going to bring it right back again.” The business park will be a welcome addition to town, according to Economic Development Coordinator Brian P. McGlone. “I do think it’s a good addition to Guilford,” he said. “We have had multiple inquires for people looking for 6,000, 10,000, 12,000 square feet of office space, but we didn’t have anything open.“I’m optimistic that if we put it in there, it’s like ‘if you built it, they will come,’” he said. “I’m optimistic that will happen.”