Incumbent Republican Mayor Roy Zartarian appeared headed toward re-election to a second term in Tuesday’s voting, according to unofficial returns.
Zartarian was leading the mayoral race over Democrat Terry Borjeson with five of Newington’s seven voting districts reporting late Tuesday night.
“It looks like Roy beat me … But it also looks like Democrats took majorities on the town council and board of education,” Borjeson said late Tuesday while waiting for the final returns to be announced.
Early returns also indicated that voters approved a referendum for $28.8 million in bonding to finance replacing Newington’s deteriorating and leaky town hall with a new facility that would include a community center as well as municipal offices.
The referendum on a new town hall appeared certain of approval, with early results showing voters favoring the project by a more than 2-1 margin.
Plans call for the new town hall and community center to be built in the upper town hall parking lot. While construction is going on, the current town hall would continue to be used. The new building will have the town council, community television and the Transition Academy on the first floor, government and human services offices on the second floor, and the board of education on the third. CLICK TITLE TO CONTINUE
Buyer found for Prospect school in Plymouth
PLYMOUTH - The old Prospect Street School will be sold to a developer who plans to turn the building into apartments and build townhouses on the athletic field.
Mayor David Merchant said the town has a contract to sell the old elementary school to Prospect Ridge LLC, which is based in Goshen.
Craig Bothroyd, principal for Prospect Ridge LLC, said he plans a total of about 50 rental units, 24 in the school itself and 26 townhouse-style units on the field.
The century-plus old school needs a lot of work, Bothroyd said. “There is no historic grant money in it, but we want to keep all of the masonry components and the trim work, a lot of the original doors and hardware, but at the same time make them very energy efficient and up-to-date.”
He described them as “market rate apartments, so it will not be low income housing. We’re hoping for more than middle of the road but I don’t know that I would venture to call them luxury.”
“We’re hoping to have all the permitting accomplished within the next three to four months and then hopefully start construction by late winter, early spring. Work on the school building would probably take about a year, maybe a year and a half, and we hope the townhouse-style units would follow suit in another half year, or three quarters of a year, so it would probably two years overall,” he said.
The hillside location of the property doesn’t pose any problems, he added. “We’re going to try to utilize it exactly how it is and just install additional drainage.”
Bothroyd said his construction company, Greenstone LLC, has worked on similar projects in other parts of the state for other clients but this will be the first such project he owns himself.
The school has sat empty since June of 2008. It closed as part of a district-wide change that saw the opening of the current Terryville High School, the old high school converted to Eli Terry Jr. Middle School, Harry S. Fisher Middle School converted to an elementary school, and some students moved to Plymouth Center Elementary School. Main Street School closed at that time as well and was used for Board of Education offices for a while, but is currently empty.
According to the town assessor’s website, the brick/stone school was built in 1900 on 1.76 acres. The land is valued at $79,800 and the building at $580,680. The actual selling price has not yet been disclosed. CLICK TITLE TO CONTINUE
Salem residents voice concern about plans to replace Route 85 bridge
Transportation public information meeting Wednesday night.
A small but passionate crowd attended the meeting, mostly to express their concerns about the plan, which would close Route 85 just south of Witch Meadow Road and Rattlesnake Ledge Road for two weeks in the summer of 2020 to replace the bridge.
Bridge No. 02540 was built in 1926. The current structure, a nine-foot concrete slab on stone masonry abutments, has cracks and other deterioration with the possibility of flooding in the event of a "100-year" flood. The DOT recommended it be replaced by a pre-fabricated box culvert and wingwalls, a process known as accelerated bridge construction. The entire project would take about five months and cost $1.7 million, with 80 percent coming from federal funds and 20 percent from state funds.
The plan would take traffic off Route 85 onto Witch Meadow Road, Route 11 and Route 82 before connecting back up to Route 85, and vice versa. The presentation by DOT project managers and engineers said the full detour would take nine minutes, which nearly everyone in the room decried, claiming drivers would have to speed to do it.
First Selectman Kevin Lyden, joined by a few other selectmen, the chiefs from both volunteer fire departments and other area residents, said he did not support the plan. He commended the DOT for bringing the option to the town for input, and the town approved a similar plan for bridge replacements on Route 82 near the East Haddam line, but he noted this plan would hurt the town, especially with regard to emergency services.
"Salem Fire House, right now, is a quarter-mile from here. As soon as you take out that bridge, it's six miles from here," he said.
Several fire department members noted the response times would increase dramatically with the road closure, since many volunteers also live south of the bridge, and the tankers couldn't take the narrow side roads to avoid the proposed detour.
"It all comes down to that's the main artery," Salem Volunteer Fire Company Chief Gene Maiorano said.
The proposed plans are available at the DOT Office of Engineering, 2800 Berlin Turnpike in Newington, from 8:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday through Friday. Anyone interested in discussing the project can contact Bryan Reed, transportation supervising engineer, at (860) 594-3418.
CT lawmakers push for feds to OK tribal compact amendments
Three Connecticut Congressmen have asked the head of the U.S. Department of the Interior to publicly approve tribal compact amendments that would allow for Mohegan Sun and Foxwoods to jointly open a third casino in East Windsor.
The letter from U.S. Sens. Richard Blumenthal and Chris Murphy and Rep. Joe Courtney follows similar requests made by the Mohegan and Mashantucket Pequot tribes.
All are asking U.S. Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke to take action on the amended language in the compact between the tribes and the state of Connecticut to allow a third casino.
The compacts currently allow both tribes to operate Mohegan Sun and Foxwoods, respectively, in exchange for paying 25 percent of their slots revenues to the state of Connecticut.
In return, the state has agreed not to authorize an additional casino within state boundaries. The amendments to the company would clarify that, allowing a third casino jointly run by the tribes in East Windsor. The arrangement would not jeopardize the existing compact arrangements, lawmakers say.
In Sept. 15 letters to the tribes, Acting Assistant Secretary of the Bureau of Indian Affairs Michael Black had said that approval of the amendment was "premature and likely unnecessary."
The Connecticut lawmakers and tribes are looking for a more definitive answer.
The proposed East Windsor casino, which received state approval earlier this year, is planned to compete with MGM Springfield, a $950 million resort casino set to debut next year. Tribes and lawmakers sought the East Windsor venue because the Massachusetts casino is expected to siphon off revenue from the tribes' existing casinos, impacting revenue the state receives from Mohegan Sun and Foxwoods. MGM is also looking to build a casino in Bridgeport.
Craig Bothroyd, principal for Prospect Ridge LLC, said he plans a total of about 50 rental units, 24 in the school itself and 26 townhouse-style units on the field.
The century-plus old school needs a lot of work, Bothroyd said. “There is no historic grant money in it, but we want to keep all of the masonry components and the trim work, a lot of the original doors and hardware, but at the same time make them very energy efficient and up-to-date.”
He described them as “market rate apartments, so it will not be low income housing. We’re hoping for more than middle of the road but I don’t know that I would venture to call them luxury.”
“We’re hoping to have all the permitting accomplished within the next three to four months and then hopefully start construction by late winter, early spring. Work on the school building would probably take about a year, maybe a year and a half, and we hope the townhouse-style units would follow suit in another half year, or three quarters of a year, so it would probably two years overall,” he said.
The hillside location of the property doesn’t pose any problems, he added. “We’re going to try to utilize it exactly how it is and just install additional drainage.”
Bothroyd said his construction company, Greenstone LLC, has worked on similar projects in other parts of the state for other clients but this will be the first such project he owns himself.
The school has sat empty since June of 2008. It closed as part of a district-wide change that saw the opening of the current Terryville High School, the old high school converted to Eli Terry Jr. Middle School, Harry S. Fisher Middle School converted to an elementary school, and some students moved to Plymouth Center Elementary School. Main Street School closed at that time as well and was used for Board of Education offices for a while, but is currently empty.
According to the town assessor’s website, the brick/stone school was built in 1900 on 1.76 acres. The land is valued at $79,800 and the building at $580,680. The actual selling price has not yet been disclosed. CLICK TITLE TO CONTINUE
Salem residents voice concern about plans to replace Route 85 bridge
Transportation public information meeting Wednesday night.
A small but passionate crowd attended the meeting, mostly to express their concerns about the plan, which would close Route 85 just south of Witch Meadow Road and Rattlesnake Ledge Road for two weeks in the summer of 2020 to replace the bridge.
Bridge No. 02540 was built in 1926. The current structure, a nine-foot concrete slab on stone masonry abutments, has cracks and other deterioration with the possibility of flooding in the event of a "100-year" flood. The DOT recommended it be replaced by a pre-fabricated box culvert and wingwalls, a process known as accelerated bridge construction. The entire project would take about five months and cost $1.7 million, with 80 percent coming from federal funds and 20 percent from state funds.
The plan would take traffic off Route 85 onto Witch Meadow Road, Route 11 and Route 82 before connecting back up to Route 85, and vice versa. The presentation by DOT project managers and engineers said the full detour would take nine minutes, which nearly everyone in the room decried, claiming drivers would have to speed to do it.
"Salem Fire House, right now, is a quarter-mile from here. As soon as you take out that bridge, it's six miles from here," he said.
Several fire department members noted the response times would increase dramatically with the road closure, since many volunteers also live south of the bridge, and the tankers couldn't take the narrow side roads to avoid the proposed detour.
"It all comes down to that's the main artery," Salem Volunteer Fire Company Chief Gene Maiorano said.
The proposed plans are available at the DOT Office of Engineering, 2800 Berlin Turnpike in Newington, from 8:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday through Friday. Anyone interested in discussing the project can contact Bryan Reed, transportation supervising engineer, at (860) 594-3418.
CT lawmakers push for feds to OK tribal compact amendments
Three Connecticut Congressmen have asked the head of the U.S. Department of the Interior to publicly approve tribal compact amendments that would allow for Mohegan Sun and Foxwoods to jointly open a third casino in East Windsor.
The letter from U.S. Sens. Richard Blumenthal and Chris Murphy and Rep. Joe Courtney follows similar requests made by the Mohegan and Mashantucket Pequot tribes.
All are asking U.S. Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke to take action on the amended language in the compact between the tribes and the state of Connecticut to allow a third casino.
The compacts currently allow both tribes to operate Mohegan Sun and Foxwoods, respectively, in exchange for paying 25 percent of their slots revenues to the state of Connecticut.
In return, the state has agreed not to authorize an additional casino within state boundaries. The amendments to the company would clarify that, allowing a third casino jointly run by the tribes in East Windsor. The arrangement would not jeopardize the existing compact arrangements, lawmakers say.
In Sept. 15 letters to the tribes, Acting Assistant Secretary of the Bureau of Indian Affairs Michael Black had said that approval of the amendment was "premature and likely unnecessary."
The Connecticut lawmakers and tribes are looking for a more definitive answer.
The proposed East Windsor casino, which received state approval earlier this year, is planned to compete with MGM Springfield, a $950 million resort casino set to debut next year. Tribes and lawmakers sought the East Windsor venue because the Massachusetts casino is expected to siphon off revenue from the tribes' existing casinos, impacting revenue the state receives from Mohegan Sun and Foxwoods. MGM is also looking to build a casino in Bridgeport.