Two meetings set to discuss Woodridge Lake proposals in Torrigton
TORRINGTON – Woodridge Lake Sewer District filed its application to hook up to the Torrington sewer system on Tuesday after more than a year of planning on the proposed route down Route 4.
At least two meetings are planned to discuss the proposed sewer line: an information session on Jan. 31 for stakeholders, including Woodridge Lake and the Torrington Water Co.; and a hearing on Feb. 20 for residents. Both meetings will be held at 6:30 p.m. at City Hall. A tentative date for a vote is March 5.
“We’re looking forward to having a public hearing and telling our story,” said James Mersfelder, vice president and treasurer of the Woodridge Lake Sewer District.
The city has 65 days, or until March 7, to decide on the application. The city also could ask for a 65-day extension.
Mayor Elinor C. Carbone said the application was submitted on Tuesday, along with 50 to 75 pages of blueprints on the proposed sewer line. The blueprints are being reviewed by city engineers, as well as the administrator of the Water Pollution Control Authority.
“We’re going to move this along as quickly as we can because there’s significant interest from the public, from the applicant, from the state and from the Torrington Water Company,” Carbone said.
The lake’s sewer district is looking to send an estimated 110,000 gallons of sewage each day through 6 miles of sewer lines to connect with the city’s treatment system. Of the 6 miles, 4,600 feet would pass through the Allen Dam Reservoir watershed and Parker Brook, which feeds into the reservoir. The Allen Dam is Torrington Water Co.’s emergency backup reservoir and holds 3.5 million gallons of water.
It is estimated the project will cost Woodridge Lake residents $15.5 million. A federal grant of $2.8 million would offset the cost. WLSD would finance the balance over 40 years.
WLSD is pursuing the project to put an end to a 1989 consent order from the state’s environmental agency. The state raised concerns about Woodridge Lake’s disposal field for its 19 miles of sewer lines, which connect to a treatment plant on the lake property, and then to a 98-acre field of ridge and furrow beds to handle the treated water. The state cited use of the ridge and furrow beds, questioning whether they could adequately handle the treated water.
The property borders a tributary of the Bantam River, which flows into Bantam Lake. The current treatment center at Woodridge Lake and its disposal site are in the Bantam River watershed.
Susan M. Suhanovsky, president of Torrington Water Co., said she plans to send out notices to her customers about the upcoming meeting. The company’s attorney and engineer plan to testify at the informational meeting, she said.
“It’s the last pitch to ask the city to change the route,” Suhanovsky said.
The water company has spent more than $200,000 in legal and engineering bills so far in challenging the proposed route.
Richard Calhoun of Torrington, who has started a grassroots campaign against the proposed route through the watershed, said he plans to spread the word about his concerns and about the meetings in the coming weeks. Calhoun is on the board of directors of the Torrington Water Co., but he is acting on his own in the campaign.
Supporters of the project also are looking to spread the word. Mersfelder provided a copy of a letter by Waterbury Mayor Neil M. O’Leary regarding Woodridge Lake Sewer District’s “good stewardship” of the Brass City’s watershed. Woodridge Lake is within Waterbury’s watershed, and O’Leary wrote that the sewer district has never had any spills or breaks in its sewer lines.
In addition to DEEP, the state Department of Public Health has given the project its blessing. Following almost a yearlong review, DPH established a number of monitoring requirements.
If the Torrington City Council approves the sewer hookup, discussions then will move on to the intermunicipal agreement between Torrington and WLSD. Carbone said the project will be contingent upon that agreement being approved. CLICK TITLE TO CONTINUE
Connecticut Port Authority looks to resolve DOT easement issue in New Haven port area
NEW HAVEN — Scott Bates, chairman of the Connecticut Port Authority, is betting on New Haven.
“Our position is that we advocate for the maritime economy of the state and that means properties in the (New Haven) port area we hope would be put to maritime use,” Bates said The Connecticut Department of Transportation took over several parcels in the city’s port to accommodate construction of the massive Interstate 95 Harbor Crossing Corridor.
The immediate concern for the New Haven Port Authority is a parcel in the heart of the port. Bound by Stiles, Waterfront and Alabama streets, the local authority owns a little less than an acre of this four-acre piece.
It was scheduled to automatically revert back to the port once the corridor was finished, which occured last spring.
The state DOT was using the property as a waste stock pile for dredged material. An easement on the property, signed with the state in 2006, stipulated that it be returned in its original condition.
The DOT is now looking to keep it longer, potentially for other projects, or taking it by eminent domain.
“We want those properties to be used for maritime use,” Bates. “We are focused like a laser beam driving this to resolution,” Bates said of the property issue.
He said the state authority’s most recent conversations with the DOT “are going in a positive direction.”The chairman said there also will be a study of the best place to put additional rail lines in the New Haven port to move freight here.
“New Haven is the busiest port in Connecticut so we have got to move product quickly down there. It is not optimal just yet. Our mission is to make sure that this is an active port, that this port is filled up to capacity with work,” Bates said.
The chairman said some improvements have been made to rail travel as far as moving passengers, but investments also need to be made in freight delivery.
“In the Northeast, Connecticut needs to be able to move people and goods quicker than anyone else,” he said.
“This truly is the gateway to New England and we are going to do all we can to make sure that that remains the case and we improve our competitive status. You look at Connecticut and the logical place for real investment is New Haven,” he said.
Bates commented on the issue after a special meeting of the Connecticut Port Authority, which this month was held in New Haven City Hall.
New Haven Mayor Toni Harp said she greeted the authority and emphazied the importance of the port to the city.
She said she told the members that “the reason that John Davenport founded New Haven was because of our great rivers and our port and that our port has been a part of the life of this community for thousands of years.”
Harp told them of the importance of the upcoming dredging project that will allow more ships to come to the New Haven port and she was happy with the rail expansion.
Design options presented for South Norwalk School, Ponus Ridge expansion
NORWALK — Architects on Wednesday evening laid out design options for a new South Norwalk School and a major expansion of Ponus Ridge Middle School. After speaking with Columbus Magnet School staff and surveying the 17-acre development site next to the former Nathaniel Ely School, JCJ Architecture has recommended two options for the South Norwalk School.
Both options call for leaving the existing Nathaniel Ely School, which is used as an early childhood center, maintaining the basketball court, expanding the tennis courts and creating a 320-by-200-foot soccer/multi-use field on the north end of the site — provided the city can obtain two private parcels there.
Option 1 would create the new two-story school in the area of the existing softball field. Option 4 would build it partly in the hillside to the east.
“It creates a single-loaded corridor that comes through, but there’s classrooms down below you,” said James Hoagland, senior project designer with JCJ Architecture, pointing at a drawing of Option 4. “So we have the opportunity to create a green roof along here, and that could be a combination of some sort of planted roof and some decks where the middle school kids could actually have access to outdoor learning.”
Mayor Harry Rilling, who attended the presentation before the Norwalk Facilities Construction Commission and Land Use and Building Management Committee of the Common Council at City Hall on Wednesday evening, noted both options result in a net gain in outdoor recreational space.
In April, the council approved $41.9 million in capital funding to build the new South Norwalk School at the Nathaniel Ely school site, which Columbus Magnet School will move into, and $43.4 million to reshape Ponus Ridge Middle School into a pre-K through grade 8 magnet school. CLICK TITLE TO CONTINUE
Southington PZC considers 40-unit apartment complex
SOUTHINGTON — Neighbors of a proposed 40-unit age-restricted rental complex attended Tuesday’s Planning and Zoning Commission meeting to oppose the development on Hunters Lane.
Wonx Spring Road Partners LLC faced legal opposition from neighbors in 2014 when it tried to build an industrial park on the former site of Allied Controls, a company that moved to Waterbury three decades ago. Developers agreed to abandon the industrial plan, rezone the land, and limit it to residential uses.
Some area residents recently bought homes at a nearby subdivision built by the partnership and said they were never told of the possibility of rentals nearby.
The commission took no action Tuesday evening by press time.
Local attorney Bryan Meccariello and engineer Steven Guidice, of Harry E. Cole & Son, represented the partnership, along with other traffic and environmental experts
All but five acres of the 24-acre property is contaminated by factory use and can’t be used for enclosed buildings. Guidice said the five apartment buildings would be built on the five unrestricted use acres, and only carports and a driveway would be built on contaminated land.
Town Planner Rob Philips said he didn’t see a danger to residents from the volatile organic compounds in the soil if there weren’t any buildings. After a question from commission members, he said he doubted there would be any danger from construction on the land.
“The health risk is breathing in those VOCs (volatile organic compounds),” Philips said. “If you’re not concentrating that, they’re just evaporating into the atmosphere.”
David James, president of the Quinnipiac River Watershed Association, opposed the development and voiced concerns about toxins spreading from the restricted area.
Residents told the commission they were worried about increased traffic and the danger to young children and a property value decline due to nearby rentals.
Guidice told the commission that the rental units conformed to the character of the neighborhood, which was greeted by laughter from the audience. “We think there’ll be an improvement actually,” he said.
Other residents who bought homes recently said they were never told about the contaminated property or plans for development by real estate agents or partnership officials.
Jeffrey Martin bought his Hunters Lane home in mid-October.
“Never at any point of planning or purchasing were I or my family made aware that this development was underway,” he said. CLICK TITLE TO CONTINUE
Atlanta construction distributor to buy W. Htfd. supplier for $380M
Atlanta contracting distributor HD Supply Holdings Inc. said Wednesday it plans to purchase West Hartford's A.H. Harris Construction Supplies for $380 million.
Founded in 1916, A. H. Harris generated about $380 million in annual sales over the last 12 months, HD Supply said. Kim Corwin is CEO. The Connecticut company, which distributes building products and equipment to the heavy and highway, commercial, industrial and residential construction markets, has more than 600 employees and more than 50 locations in 12 states in the Northeast and mid-Atlantic.
The purchase strengthens that regional position for HD Supply and deepens its product expertise, said John Stegeman, president of HD Supply, which operates three companies in the U.S. and Canada. HD Supply has 220 locations in North America and more than 4,800 employees, the company said.
The deal is expected to close in HD Supply's first fiscal quarter of 2018.
US construction spending hit record high in November
U.S. builders spent 0.8 percent more on construction projects in November, the fourth consecutive monthly gain.
November advance follows October's revised 0.9 percent gain, the Commerce Department said Wednesday. The increase brought total construction spending for the month to a seasonally-adjusted annual rate of $1.26 trillion, an all-time high. Private construction spending, which was up 1 percent from last month, also hit an all-time high.
The increase in spending by builders, along with a robust manufacturing report released separately Wednesday, underscores the solid momentum of the U.S. economy heading into the new year. The November increase was led by a solid advance in homebuilding, which rose 1 percent from October as strength in single-family construction offset weakness in apartment building. Construction of single-family homes rose 1.9 percent in November, offsetting a 1.3 percent drop in apartment building.
Non-residential construction rebounded 0.9 percent in November after declining four of the last five months, led by office building, which rose 5.5 percent.
Spending on transportation construction was up 3.7 percent, putting it 42.2 percent higher than a year ago, the largest advance by far by any sector.
Government construction posted a modest 0.2 percent increase after much bigger gains in the previous three months. Federal construction spending plunged 4.8 percent, the biggest drop in five months. That weakness was offset by a 0.7 percent rise in state and local construction, which accounts for more than 90 percent of total government activity.
I-95 turns 60: facts, figures and history of the highway
Connecticut portion of Interstate 95 officially opened to the public on Jan. 2, 1958, meaning the highway everybody loves to hate has turned 60.
It was originally built to serve as an alternate route to U.S. Highway 1, commonly known as the Boston Post Road in Connecticut. For much of its six decades, I-95 has been the bane of commuters' existence twice daily.
The entirety of I-95 spans nearly 2,000 miles along the Eastern Seaboard, from Maine to Florida. Connecticut's portion covers 111.57 miles, from the New York state line to the Rhode Island state line.
The highway has seen its share of calamities, from the devastating toll plaza crash in 1983 that spelled the end for tolls in Connecticut, to the Mianus River Bridge collapse, to the tanker truck explosion in Bridgeport.
Click through the gallery at the top of the story for some facts, figures and history about Connecticut's portion of Interstate 95.