Q House hits another milestone as expansions begin
NEW HAVEN — After more than a dozen years, the Q House project has hit another milestone.
A large audience sat on folding chairs Saturday next to the new site to celebrate the third iteration of the Dixwell Community House that this time will also include an expanded Stetson Library and a senior center.
The construction documents are not yet available and the estimated $15 to $20 million cost is still fluid, but several rows of officials lined up with hard hats and shovels and dug into a symbolic pile of dirt in anticipation of a spring construction start and completion in 18 months. Older residents shared memories of what everyone refers to as the Q House, while the current leadership of New Haven, from Mayor Toni Harp to state Sen. Pro Tempore Martin Looney and Alder Jeanette Morrison, D-22, brought everyone up to date.
Originally built in 1924, as a settlement house, the second much expanded version opened in 1970, but was forced to close in 2003 because of financial problems.
A group of women, who became known as the Concerned Citizens for the Dixwell Q House, wouldn’t let the project die and several of them were honored for their consistent efforts pushing that agenda until a steering committee came together in 2012 to come up with a plan.
Sitting in the front row at the ceremony, were some members of that group included: Jacqueline Bracey, Elizabeth Hayes, Curlena McDonald, Bea Dozier and Carroll E. Brown.
Janet Parker, daughter of Jan Parker and Henry “Hank” Parker, a local civil rights leader and retired state treasurer, accepted an award for her mother’s efforts in keeping the project alive. Neither were able to attend because of health issues.
Jorge Perez, the state’s banking commissioner and the former president of the Board of Alders, said he has known Jan Parker for 30 years.
He called her a woman of “character, tenacity and one of the best friends you could have and one of the worst enemies you could have. For the most part, I have been her friend,” although he said he still has some of the scars from those times when they were on opposite sides of an issue.
Perez said he mentioned that because “never, never could I question her integrity or why she was doing it.”
He said people like Jan Parker were the Martin Luther King Jr.’s of New Haven.
“When it was not popular to march, when you did not know if a dog was going to bite you or not, when you did not know if you were ever going to make it to the cell, she was one of those people who stood up and said ‘things have to be different,’” Perez said.
Looney, who gave the history of the Q House, said the state delegation was able to secure $1 million in 2014 for a planning grant with $14.5 million awarded from the state in January 2016. CLICK TITLE TO CONTINUE
Plan for new East Hampton police station/town hall on Tuesday’s ballot
EAST HAMPTON - One key issue tops the ballot in Tuesday’s election: Whether residents will end 30-plus years of dithering and approve a proposal to build a new Town Hall/police station.
Voting will be held in the refurbished high school from 6 a.m. to 8 p.m. on Tuesday.
Heading the ballot is the proposal to spend $18.98 million to build a 33,400-square-foot building on a 5.4-acre parcel of land in the Edgewater Hills mixed-use development. If approved, the building would house town offices, the police department and the Board of Education under one roof.
The present Town Hall, at 20 East High St., was built in 1946 as a customer service center for Connecticut Light & Power. The town acquired the building in the 1970s. But by 1982, town officials were already beginning to look for alternative locations and/or structures.
And now, some 70 years after it was built, the building is no longer able to accommodate town employees and provide the type of services residents expect, Town Manager Michael Maniscalco said.
“First and foremost, there simply isn’t adequate parking for either staff or the public,” Maniscalco said Friday evening.
And, because it is hemmed in on two sides by Eversource (the successor to CL&P) there is no room to expand parking, Maniscalco said. Because of the dearth of available parking, police officers are forced to change into and out of their uniforms at a leased facility two miles from police headquarters, which is located in the basement of the Town Hall, Maniscalco said.
Because its well is tainted by contaminants, Town Hall does not have access to potable water, “which is really something we usually associate with Third-World countries,” Maniscalco said. Maniscalco is continually surprised that issue has not become the subject of either a grievance or a lawsuit.
The heating and cooling systems “are a hodge-podge of systems that we just can’t solve,” Maniscalco said.
Maniscalco knows the problem only too well. The cooling system in his office expired at the beginning of summer, “and my experience carries over to the whole of Town Hall,” the manager said.
The town clerk’s office “is on a wholly separate system; it’s very odd,” Maniscalco said. And that creates issues for “the quality of life” and the quality of the work environment that challenges worker efficiency, he said. Beyond that, “Structurally, there are a lot of problems” with Town Hall, Maniscalco said.
Because of the cramped quarters, consideration was given to adding another floor to the building. But an analysis determined the foundation could not support another floor, the manager said. The building is also subject to flooding, in the finance offices and in police headquarters. CLICK TITLE TO CONTINUE
Hearing set for $30 million Brainerd Place construction details on Elmcrest site
PORTLAND — The Planning and Zoning Commission — and the public — will get its first detailed look at the components of the proposed Brainerd Place development Thursday evening.
The commission is scheduled hold a public hearing on the site plan for the proposed $30 million mixed-use development during a meeting beginning at 7 p.m. in the Mary Flood Room of the Portland Public Library.
Earlier this month, representatives of the developers, BRT/DiMarco Group, submitted copies of the detailed plans of proposed buildings which will make up the project. Just this week, BRT provided architectural drawings of some of the structures, according to Ashley Majorowski, the town’s land-use administrator.
The commission will ask representatives from BRT to outline their proposals in depth Thursday evening for the commission, town officials who have oversight of the proposal, residents and members of the public.
Brookfield-based BRT proposes to construct some 240 studio, one-, and two-bedroom rental units, as well as various retail and commercial buildings on the 14.7-acre former hospital property.
“This is an opportunity for the Planning and Zoning Commission to gather facts and information about the development and for the public to make comments on the proposal,” according to Mary D. Dickerson, the town’s economic development coordinator.
The commission is not expected to make a decision Thursday. Given the interest the proposal has attracted through its two-year journey to this point, it is likely the hearing will be continued for at least one more meeting.
Majorowski acknowledged as much when she said, “I don’t anticipate closing the public hearing on Thursday.”
Once the session is open, the commission has 35 days in which to complete the hearing, Majorowski said.
However, that deadline can be extended — with the permission of the applicant — in this case, BRT. Once the hearing is closed, the zoning board has 65 days in which to render a decision. But that deadline, too, can be extended for up to 65 days, Majorowski said. CLICK TITLE TO CONTINUE
State to hold grand opening of Wallingford train station Monday
WALLINGFORD — Service out of the town’s new train station on North Cherry Street will officially begin Monday.
The state Department of Transportation will hold a grand opening on Monday at 12:30 p.m. Gov. Dannel P. Malloy is expected to attend.
The station, 343 N. Cherry St., is opening in advance of the May 2018 launch of the CTrail Hartford Line rail service, meant to increase commuter rail service between New Haven and Springfield. DOT said the Wallingford station will be the first station to open as part of the new rail service.
Amtrak trains that currently stop at the existing train station, 37 Hall Ave., will begin stopping at the new train station Monday morning. The new train station is located about a mile north of the old station.
There are currently six round trips going through Wallingford daily. That will increase to 17 once the new rail line launches in May, said John Bernick, DOT’s assistant rail administrator. The Wallingford station will serve both Amtrak and CTrail Hartord Line trains. Amtrak will make nine round trips between New Haven and Hartford on weekdays, while CTrail will make eight round trips.
While the Wallingford station won’t have bathrooms, it “features amenities aimed at providing a high-quality passenger experience, including high-level platforms, an overhead pedestrian bridge, overhead canopies, automatic snow melting systems, a passenger information display system, electric vehicle charging and bicycle racks,” according to a DOT statement.
Construction of the Wallingford station began in December 2014 and cost about $21 million, Bernick said.
The station includes two parking areas with a total of 221 spots. Bernick said when the station first opens, parking will be free, but added that a paid parking system will be phased in.
Commuters will pay for parking by entering their parking space number into a centralized meter. Parking fees at each station will be $2 per day or $20 per month. Parking will be free on weekends and federal holidays, according to DOT. Bernick said someone who isn’t using the train can also pay to use the parking lots.
DOT released proposed fares for the CTrail Hartford Line last month and is now going through a 35-day public comment period to receive feedback.
A one-way trip from Wallingford to New Haven would cost $3.50 under the proposed fare schedule. A trip from Meriden to New Haven would cost $4.75, while a trip from Meriden to Wallingford would cost $3. From Berlin, a trip to New Haven would cost $6. Trips from Berlin to Wallingford and Meriden would cost $3.50 and $3, respectively. Hartford to New Haven one-way would cost $8. Springfield to New Haven would cost $12.75.
Bernick said the proposed fares don’t apply to Amtrak trains and are “only applicable to the new CT rail trains.”
“We are working with Amtrak to institute a uniform fare structure for trips between Springfield and New Haven on all trains,” Bernick said.
DOT also laid out proposed fares for discount one-way, onboard one-way, weekly, 10-trip, discount 10-trip, monthly, school monthly and UniRail fares. CLICK TITLE TO CONTINUE
With Middletown HQs set, is Hartford on developer Abul Islam's radar?
With his state-assisted headquarters expansion done and his book of civil-engineering orders on backlog, Abul Islam had plenty to smile about on a recent October afternoon.
With a camera-equipped drone hovering overhead to memorialize the Oct. 18 occasion, the governor along with other state officials and dozens of AI Engineers Inc. (AI) staffers watched as Islam and wife Rubina cut a red ribbon to debut their firm's expanded Middletown headquarters at 919 Middle St., home to 132 employees. AI employs 182 total in its seven East Coast offices.
The 8,000-square-foot addition to his previously 16,000-square-foot building, Islam said, will accommodate a growing workforce and workload from civil engineering design-build and construction projects on roads, bridges and other infrastructure — AI's design billings, estimated to rise 12 percent from 2016 to $36 million, will continue to climb in 2018, he said. Nearly half of the 2017 billings growth come from AI's Connecticut work.
The firm has already hired the first 20 staffers as part of its commitment to hire 29 new workers — mostly engineers — by 2020, in exchange for the state providing a $1.6 million low-interest, forgivable loan to the project.
"We're growing,'' said Islam, whose firm's Northeast offices stretch from New York to Virginia. "If we're going to grow at the same rate, we'll need to add more space.''
Islam admits there is one other Connecticut location where he still hopes to install a greatly modified version of his aborted commercial high-rise development in downtown Hartford's Constitution Plaza.
Nine years earlier, on a dreary December day in 2008, Islam and then-Mayor Eddie Perez announced Islam's ambitious plan to raze the former Broadcast House building that formerly housed WFSB Channel 3, and replace it with a 12-story, $40 million office tower. The still vacant tract is 3 Constitution Plaza, at the corner of Columbus Boulevard and State Street, next door to The Spectra Boutique Apartments. CLICK TITLE TO CONTINUE