New Haven, internationally known firm to create vision for ‘New Long Wharf’
NEW HAVEN — Perkins Eastman just finished phase one of the waterfront Wharf in Washington, D.C.; has been chosen for a major project in San Francisco; and is regularly the designer of major international projects.
And the firm now has been hired through a state grant to develop a strategic plan for the “New Long Wharf” in the city to advance business growth and complete a “big picture” plan for the area that will improve the streetscape, offer specific design work along Sargent Drive and landscaping of Long Wharf Park.
City Deputy Economic Development Administrator Michael Piscitelli was the author of the successful $950,000 grant, half of which already was used for infrastructure improvements along Long Wharf Drive, which includes the first two-way cycle track in the state; new parking for the popular food trucks and their patrons; and work scheduled on riprap protection for the park.
The remaining $400,000 will fund the “New Long Wharf” plan that will cover 400 acres and be worked out with community input over the the next nine months by the Stamford-based firm.
The latest version of New Haven’s waterfront along its harbor is about 60 years old, going back to former mayor Richard C. Lee’s era, but it has always played a major part in its history.
“This area has been associated with New Haven’s prosperity as a trading post, as a seaport, a commercial center and, later, an industrial hub,” Mayor Toni Harp said at a press conference at the New Haven Village Suites on Long Wharf Drive, which recently was upgraded as a long-term-stay hotel.
Goods were transported by horse-drawn carriage to the harbor and later on the Farmington Canal to sailing ships and then to overseas. The next evolution was the rail connection and then Interstate 95, although that construction cut off New Haven from its waterfront.
The coming phase picks up after the decade-long improvements to the Interstate 91-Interstate 95 interchange.
In this era of climate change and rising sea levels, a lot of emphasis also will be put on coastal resiliency to protect the businesses there and downtown.
Economic Development Administrator Matthew Nemerson said whether or not the city had the resources to hire Perkins Eastman, it has been looking at the problem of sustainability and protecting important assets such as the Metro North rail yard, the oil tank farm, the highway and such businesses as the Maritime Center and Assa Abloy.
Stan Eckstut, a principal in the firm, said his company is known for its “pragmatic vision” for projects it embraces and in the case of New Haven it wants to leverage what already is underway.
“This is probably one of the greatest harbors anywhere. It is not fully realized and taken advantage of. If you go up and down Long Island Sound, there is nothing like it. This is why the city began,” Eckstut said.
They are looking forward to completion of the Canal Dock Boathouse on Long Wharf next year and to make the city’s harbor even more of a destination for residents and visitors.
He said there is nothing like the Long Wharf district with the confluence of the highway, Union Station, the waterfront and downtown, as well as the mixed-use land and corporate entities located here, such as Long Wharf Theatre, Assa Abloy, the Maritime Center, Ikea and the Food Terminal. CLICK TITLE TO CONTINUE
Greeniwch seeks to have substation ruling reversed
GREENWICH — The town is seeking reconsideration of a decision to allow Eversource Energy to build a controversial new substation in downtown Greenwich.
Local officials have filed a petition with the Connecticut Siting Council seeking to have it overturn its ruling last month to allow the substation. The filing cites new evidence that Greenwich officials say was not taken into account by council members.
“We are doing all that we can to protect the town’s interests, as we have done throughout this process,” First Selectman Peter Tesei said.
The approved location for the substation is 290 Railroad Avenue, the current location of Pet Pantry.
Eversource spokesperson Mitch Gross said Tuesday an arrangement has been negotiated “with the owners of Pet Pantry regarding their exit, but the terms are confidential.”
The business, which recently opened another, smaller Greenwich shop in Riverside, subleases the space from Eversource.
The town’s petition was filed on Nov. 29 by attorney David Ball of the firm of Cohen and Wolf.
It cites new planning recommendations and sea rise projections put together by the Connecticut Institute for Resilience and Climate Adaptation, which is a joint effort of the University of Connecticut and the state Department of Energy and Environmental Protection. The recommendations were released after the record in the Eversource application was closed by the Siting Council.
They state Connecticut is susceptible to greater sea level rise than other areas and note the 290 Railroad Avenue location is within a FEMA flood zone and within the coastal boundary.
“The CIRCA Report makes clear the real risk of flooding and potential impact on any substation built at 290 Railroad Avenue,” the petition states. “That risk is far worse because the Siting Council ordered an open-air substation, which is more vulnerable to the effects of sea level rise than would be an indoor substation. It is essential that the substation be fully-enclosed.”
The petition suggests an alternate plan in which the substation would be fully enclosed and located at 281 Railroad Avenue.
Residents and town officials have argued the 290 Railroad Avenue location is too close to Airgas, on Field Point Road, which sells gas and welding supplies
“Even before the publication of the new CIRCA findings, the record made clear that there is an unacceptable health and safety risk in locating an open-air substation at 290 Railroad Avenue, next door to a compressed gas facility,” the petition argues. “Ignoring this fact, the decision merely states that ‘[t]here are no standards or safety codes that would prevent an open-air substation from being constructed at 290 Railroad Avenue, adjacent to the AIRGAS commercial property.’ This finding is wrong.” CLICK TITLE TO CONTINUE
Southbound traffic to shift over Gold Star Bridge
Groton — The southbound travel lanes of Interstate-95 over the Gold Star Bridge will be shifted to the south side of the bridge beginning Dec. 8, the state Department of Transportation said in a news release.
The Bridge Street on-ramp will have to merge into the right lane of I-95 southbound traffic when the shift occurs, the release said. The state Route 184 on-ramp will begin as a dedicated lane and will not need to merge into I-95 southbound traffic.
Pavement markings on the road will be reconfigured to show three lanes of traffic across the bridge, the release said. The work zone will be separated from the road with a temporary concrete barrier, and traffic will be kept to the two left lanes. The right lane will remain a dedicated exit-only lane at Exit 82 to Route 32, the release said.
All entrance and exit ramps will remain open during construction, but additional lanes may be closed during off-peak hours, the release said.
MGM, tribes open new fight over casino expansion in Connecticut
Trumbull — The chief executive officer of MGM Resorts International courted a business audience Tuesday night, asking they join him in lobbying the General Assembly next year for legislation ending the gaming monopoly enjoyed by two Indian tribes and allowing MGM to provide Bridgeport with the “life-changing opportunity” of a waterfront casino.
“This could be one of my crowning achievements,” said James Murren, the CEO and chairman of MGM. He played up his local roots, mentioning his birth at St. Vincent’s Hospital in Bridgeport and nodding to his mother, Jean, and other family members seated at a table in the sold-out annual dinner of the Bridgeport Regional Business Council.
His tribal gaming competitors, the Mashantucket Pequot and Mohegan tribal nations, launched a pre-emptive digital advertising campaign hours earlier, the harbinger of yet another debate at the State Capitol of Connecticut’s willingness to compete for gamblers’ dollars with New York, Massachusetts and Rhode Island.
Murren said MGM is game for a long slog, ready to make the case that Connecticut must either expand gaming or accept that its slots revenues from Foxwoods Resort and Mohegan Sun will continue to slide. From a high of $430 million in 2007, they fell to $265 million last year and are projected to keep shrinking.
In September, MGM unveiled plans for a casino on the Bridgeport waterfront at a press conference attended by legislators, Mayors Joseph P. Ganim of Bridgeport and Toni Harp of New Haven, union members and a local partner who owns the site, Robert W. Christophe.
The tribes won a major victory over MGM three months earlier, winning legislation allowing them to jointly develop a casino off I-91 in the Hartford suburb of East Windsor. It is to blunt the loss of business to the MGM resort scheduled to open next year over the state line in nearby Springfield.