Connecticut housing permit actvity at highest January level since 2014
By Luther Turmelle
Housing permit activity, often considered a leading economic indicator, has gotten off to a good start in 2018: The 297 units approved in Connecticut during January was the highest level for the month in four years The January housing permit numbers, released Wednesday by the Connecticut Department of Economic and Community Development, represent a 2.4 percent increase over the same period in 2017. Connecticut’s new housing market ended 2017 with permits issued for 3,803 units, the lowest level of activity for a full year since 2014.
Nearly half of the new units issued a permit in January came from one town. There were 122 new units issued permit in East Windsor during January. Old Saybrook and Milford led the New Haven area in new housing permit activity. There were permits issued for 15 new units in Old Saybrook and 11 in Milford, according to DECD officials.
More new housing permits were issued for multi-family housing than single-family homes Of the 297 new units approved, 178 were in complexes with five or more units. There were 109 permits issued for single-family homes. Donald Klepper-Smith, chief economist and director of research for New Haven-based DataCore Partners, said drawing any conclusions about new housing trends during the first quarter of every year is very difficult. “The data is going to be subject to fluctuation and small sample sizes because of the weather,” Klepper-Smith said. “Taken strictly on face value, it is a decent number and in line with what I would expect.” New housing permits also can’t be judged in a vacuum, he said.
“We’ll have state employment numbers coming out next week and that will be a factor in the housing market going forward,” Klepper-Smith said. “So is the fact interest rates are probably going to be a half a percentage point higher than they were at this time last year. That’s not going to help new housing, either.”
New housing permits are considered to be a leading indicator of future economic activity because of the impact that home building has on other industries, such as banking, employment, construction and manufacturing.
UConn notifies city of plans to sell Torrington campus
TORRINGTON — The University of Connecticut announced plans to sell the former Torrington campus Wednesday, offering the city the right to purchase the property. Under state statute, UConn is required to offer Torrington the opportunity to buy any property it plans to sell within the city before offering it to other buyers, according to a release from university Spokeswoman Stephanie Reitz.
The city has 45 days to notify UConn that it wishes to negotiate a purchase of the 95-acre site at 855 University Drive, and in this case, the three buildings it contains, Reitz said Wednesday.
If it does not, the university is free to offer the property on the market. Torrington would then have the opportunity to match a later agreement. A letter from UConn President Susan Herbst was sent Wednesday to Mayor Elinor Carbone and other city and state officials to notify them of the university’s plans, according to Reitz. Carbone could not be immediately reached for comment.
EdAdvance, one of the six Regional Educational Service Centers in Connecticut, “has expressed an interest in buying the M. Adela Eads Classroom Building and property around it for use” in its educational programming, Reitz said. In August, the Board of Trustees authorized the university to negotiate a three-year lease to allow EdAdvance to use the classroom building and sell the property to Torrington. “Since then, though, EdAdvance determined it would be more practical to buy the classroom building than to lease it, since it would need to bear the expenses of modifying the structure for its use,” Reitz said Wednesday.
Any deal between the city of Torrington and the university would have to be approved by the Superior Court for the Judicial District of Litchfield or another similar court, according to the letter from UConn President Susan Herbst. Julia Brooker Thompson bequeathed funds “for the purchase or construction of a building or buildings in Torrington or in the vicinity of Torrington for use by the Torrington Branch of the University of Connecticut” in her estate, according to Herbst.
This money was used to construct the classroom building — a legal issue that would need to be hashed out in a sale. “It is not known what conditions the court might impose on the City in order to approve the transfer of title to the classroom building from UConn to the City,” said Herbst. “ It is our understanding that the requirement of court approval does not apply to the sale of the remaining buildings, other improvements or the unimproved land.” In any agreement between the city and the university, UConn would also have to be able to lease the on-site Extension Building at no cost through 2026 due to a charitable use restriction, according to Herbst. “UConn is appreciative of the importance of this property to the City. At the same time, UConn has an obligation to be prudent with its assets,” said Herbst in the letter. “We look forward to continuing a constructive conversation with the goal of reaching an outcome that serves Torrington, UConn and the State of Connecticut. “ CLICK TITLE TO CONTINUE
Tilcon study released; would nearly double water supply
NEW BRITAIN - Findings from a city-funded environmental report examining a proposed Tilcon quarry expansion in Plainville concluded the project would nearly double the city’s water supply in 40 to 45 years.
The study was required by law as part of a proposal that would allow Tilcon to mine 131 acres of protected watershed owned by the New Britain Water Company.
According to the executive summary of the 500-plus page report, the mining would leave a reservoir that would increase the city’s water supply by 45 percent.
Tilcon and the city originally estimated in 2016 that the new reservoir created by the project could provide 160,000 gallons a day of drinking water. But the report released by the state Council on Environmental Quality Wednesday morning said the new reservoir could safely provide 2 million gallons a day of drinking water, according to Lenard Engineering. The firm was hired by the city in 2007 and 2016 to do an environmental impact study of the project. A similar quarry proposal was dropped in 2008 under stiff public opposition.
The study released Wednesday also indicated that the quality of the water in the new reservoir created by 40 years of mining wouldn’t have “significant differences” from the water in the city’s existing reservoirs. The tests were based on “samples assumed to be representative of the proposed reservoir,” the report said.
The report also indicated that “no impacts to the existing air quality permits or potential emissions are anticipated as a result of the quarry expansion.”
Under the proposal, Tilcon would mine New Britain-owned protected watershed land in Plainville for 40 to 50 years before returning the land to the city as a reservoir. Tilcon would lease the land from the city for an unspecified amount during the mining and give nearly 300 acres of open space to Plainville, New Britain and Southington as part of the deal. In a 2007 proposal Tilcon offered the city of New Britain $15 million to lease the mineral rights to the property. The city has said that no financial terms have been discussed.
The legislature must vote to approve a change of use for the land in order for Tilcon to mine the property. The state Department of Health must also sign off on the plan.
A law passed in 2016 carefully delineated the steps the city must take to get the project on the legislative agenda including hiring a consultant to do an environmental study of the area.
The state’s Water Planning Council and the Council of Environmental Quality will have 90 days to review the report and submit comments to the city.
The city will have 60 days to hold a public hearing on the findings of the study.
City officials and Tilcon representatives said Wednesday they had not yet seen the report.
“While Tilcon has not received the report, we understand that Lenard Engineering has released its study on a proposed change of use of watershed lands in Plainville owned by the City of New Britain,” said a statement from Tilcon. “When we receive the report, we will spend the time necessary to learn more about the study’s results and findings. As appropriate, the company will also participate in the review process established by the legislature.”
The proposal has generated spirited opposition from area residents and environmentalists who fear that the change in land use will imperil protected watersheds throughout the state. Protect Our Watersheds CT, a group formed after the 2016 proposal came to light, has at least 2,500 signatures on a petition asking the legislature to quash the plan.
Attorney Paul Zagorsky, one of the founders of the group, asked the Council of Environmental Quality Wednesday morning to consider going to the watershed site before they form their written recommendations to the city and the state.
“You’ll see what’s at stake here and what’s going to happen,” said Zagorsky, who handed out photos of the flora and fauna that can be found in the watershed which acts as a tributary to Shuttle Meadow Reservoir. CLICK TITLE TO CONTINUE
New plan would deliver potable water throughout East Hampton
EAST HAMPTON — It is the first issue Town Council Chairwoman Melissa Engels said she wanted to address following her re-election last November. It is an issue that, in one form or another, has been discussed since 1931, according to Councilor Dean Markham. Town Manager Michael Maniscalco says it is key to guaranteeing economic development that can diversify both the town’s economy and its tax base. Tuesday night, the Town Council heard details of four proposals to bring clean, potable water to portions of the town that don’t currently have it. Assisted by Tim Smith, the town’s public utilities administrator, Maniscalco presented the results of an interconnection study conducted by the engineering firm of Tighe & Bond. The manager’s command of the details of the proposals prompted one sage observer to describe the presentation as “a full-court press.”
“The town finds itself at a crossroads to determine how to deliver water to parts of the community that are in need while balancing the financial impacts and other strains of current times,” Maniscalco said in his opening remarks. The proposals did not address the totality of the town. Rather, they focused on “a portion of the community either lacking quantity or quality,” he said. The village center suffers from decades-old contamination of its underground water sources by solvents and chemicals used in various manufacturing processes. Specifically, those areas including the village center, Route 66 and some residential neighborhoods around Lake Pocotopaug that need water, Maniscalco said in a memo he submitted to the council. “The ultimate goal for East Hampton should be to have a completely built-out water system serving all residents, commercial or residential, that need it. However, “Due to the growth of East Hampton, the only way to continue in a financially responsible manner is to look at a phased approach,” Maniscalco said. “The intent of a phased approach is to grow a water system just ahead of the need so East Hampton never finds its self in a place where water [or lack of] is inhibiting intended purposeful growth.” Phase one involves an interconnection between Royal Oaks, Memorial School and the Village Center. The water, 55,685 gallons per day, would be sourced on South Main Street. “This will allow for line extension up to Route 66 and would service many of the commercial customers in need of water in that area,” Maniscalco said. The estimated cost of phase one is $16.1 million. Phase two involves connecting a water source between Edgemere Condominiums, the high school and Stop & Shop. The proposal was would serve the west side of the lake and more of Route 66 at a projected cost of $7 million. Phase three would move water from the Pine Brook Aquifer on Route 16. The proposal would infill phases one and two and supply all customers along the pipeline route at a project cost of $25 million.
Phase four involves sourcing water from Oakum Dock and/or the Metropolitan District Commission to serve the north side of the lake “plus infill along the route” at an estimated cost of $59.9 million.
That does not include the cost of extending the MDC pipeline from Portland to East Hampton.
At present, the MDC water line ends at the Glastonbury/Portland town line, according to Richard D. Kelsey, Portland’s director of public works. The distance down Route 17 and across Route 66 to the East Hampton town line is roughly eight miles, he estimated. CLICK TITLE TO CONTINUE
Federal regulator finds no pipeline manipulation
Matt Pilon
Following a staff inquiry, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) said on Tuesday that it found no evidence that Eversource and Avangrid natural gas businesses artificially manipulated capacity on the Algonquin pipeline, driving up costs.
The review was spurred by an October report, led by the Environmental Defense Fund, that alleged that the utilities' gas ordering practices between 2013 and 2016 had artificially inflated electricity and gas prices, costing New England ratepayers an extra $3.6 billion.
Eversource has railed against the EDF report as spreading "incredibly false narratives" that are "completely unsupported by any legitimate data." In December, it threatened to sue EDF for making false statements.
FERC this week said it also found the study to be flawed.
"Commission staff took these allegations very seriously and conducted an extensive review of both publicly available and non-public data," the agency said. "On the basis of that review, staff determined that EDF's study was flawed and led to incorrect conclusions about the alleged withholding. Commission staff found no evidence of capacity withholding."
Connecticut's Public Utilities Regulatory Authority (PURA) launched its own review in October, which is ongoing.
In justifying its findings Tuesday, FERC cited an assessment of the EDF study that was commissioned by Eversource and just released to the public.
The assessment, prepared by Boston's Levitan & Associates (the same firm that recently advised PURA and the Department of Energy and Environmental Protection on Millstone Power Station's financial health), calls the EDF's findings "uninformed, baseless, and quixotic."
In the report, Levitan concludes there was no market manipulation and that Eversource would have no direct or indirect motivation to withhold gas capacity. The report also questions the $3.6 billion calculation, holding that cancellations of scheduled gas late in the day (which EDF calls "down scheduling") amounted to "an infinitesimal portion of average demand."
Levitan said EDF didn't account for the fact that the utility is required to have enough gas on hand to address weather fluctuations, back-stop delivery failures by third-party suppliers, and ensure that customers have adequate gas supply in freezing temperatures.
Eversource said the Levitan report "unequivocally disproves the inaccurate claims promoted by the Environmental Defense Fund."
Responding to the new developments, EDF's Naim Jonathan Peress, senior director of energy market policy, said EDF stands by its analysis.
"EDF has been clear from the outset," he said in a statement. "Whether intentional or not, and regardless of business motives, the scheduling decisions by these two companies had a multi-billion-dollar side-effect on New England electricity users."
Gaming Bill Calls For Scrapping East Windsor Casino, Opening Expansion To Private Companies
As expected, a bill that would open casino expansion in Connecticut to competitive bidding calls for scrapping plans for a casino in East Windsor.
The bill requires that proposals include a workforce of at least 2,000 and an agreement to give the state at least 25 percent of gross gaming revenues from all games, plus at least 10 percent from slot machines. Bids are due by Jan. 1.
The proposals also must show the bidders are able to pay a one-time $50 million licensing fee to the state.
The legislature’s public safety and security committee, which oversees gaming, will hold a public hearing on the bill on March 8.
On Thursday, the committee will take a broader look at the future of gaming in the state, including sports betting, in an informational forum.
Speakers at the forum will represent Major League Baseball, the National Basketball Association and others. The meeting is at 11 a.m. in room 2C of the Legislative Office Building.
Casino expansion has been roiling for several years in Connecticut.
A year ago, the General Assembly passed a law that allowed the tribal operators of Foxwoods Resort Casino and Mohegan Sun to jointly establish a satellite gaming venue in East Windsor. The move was framed as a defensive response to protect state revenue and jobs in the face of the opening this fall of MGM Resorts Intenational’s $960 million casino in Springfield. At the same time, there has been a push by MGM and others to open up bidding to look at all regions of the state.
MGM has rolled out a plan for Bridgeport, which it says would tap in to the lucrative New York markets.
Rep. Joe Verrengia, D-West Hartford and the public safety committee’s co-chairman, said the law passed last year had to be repealed because this session’s bill requires the $50 million licensing fee and there isn’t one tied to the East Windsor expansion.
“If we’re going to have a legitimate competitive process, we would have to do that without the East Windsor casino in play because we are asking as part of the process a $50 million licensing fee,” Verrengia said. “We can’t go out to market and ask for $50 million when what’s out there right now is zero.”
Verrengia, long a supporter of open competition, said there also is too much uncertainty surrounding East Windsor. Demolition of an old movie theater on the property is scheduled to start Monday, but there is no firm construction timetable and it’s uncertain what will happen with jobs there.
The project has slowed as the Mashantucket Pequots and Mohegans along with the state have gone to court to force the U.S. Department of the Interior for a definitive response as to whether the expansion would affect revenue-sharing agreements with the state. Those agreements have brought $7 billion to state coffers since the early 1990s.
Sen. Tim Larson, D-East Hartford and co-chairman of the public safety committee, has been a staunch supporter of the tribes’ plans. He also has been critical of MGM, arguing the company is the force behind the bill and simply trying to delay action in Connecticut while its Springfield casino nears completion.
“I frankly was and still remain extremely upset that this new idea is just a baked plan by MGM,” Larson said. “They have no reason to do anything but slow down what is happening.”
Larson called the bill a “slap in the face” to the tribes and said it reinforces perceptions that the state is not business friendly. CLICK TITLE TO CONTINUE
Ansonia’s Peck School being torn down
ANSONIA—The huge crane with his monster size teeth bit through brick, plaster and wood while opening a hole in what was once a second floor fourth grade classroom.
The overloaded mouth spit out pieces of wood and plaster as rubble rained down on the first floor second grade class room where Nora Sullivan spent years introducing students to reading, writing and arithmetic. And by next week Peck School which for nearly 95 educated the city’s west side children and provided them an after school and summer spot to play basketball, fleece ball, kickball and volleyball, will be a rubble of memories. “The outside was pretty bad,” said Ann Bogucki, an AECOM engineer overseeing the school’s razing by Standard Demolition Services of Trumbull. “The brick was crumbling probably from water running through the downspouts. The mortar was all gone.” But Bogucki said the roof which was removed Tuesday “was pretty intact.”
On the street Mayor David Cassetti, Fifth Ward Aldermen Joseph Jaumann and Chicago Rivers,Third Ward Alderman Joseph Cassetti and Aldermanic President Lorie Vaccaro watched as residents occasionally came by to share memories as well as thoughts of what should replace Peck on the nearly acre size site. “It’s bitter sweet,” said Cassetti who had the PUBLIC SCHOOL 1905 copper letters removed from Peck’s front, cleaned and hung on a wall in his city hall office. “My son (former Fifth Ward Alderman) Anthony went there for third and fourth grade. He loved it.”
But that was the 1990s. At the end of the 2000 school year, the city’s board of education decided to close the school, which once educated students from kindergarten through eighth grade.. It was purchased by C&H Management LLC of Beacon Falls. For the next 17 years plans to turn the class rooms into condominiums, senior citizen or veteran’s housing were proposed but nothing ever materialized. “The past administrations had a lot of chances to do many things with this building but instead let it sit here and deteriorate,” said Cassetti. “My administration took the time to look into remodeling it or demolishing it. Remodeling was too expensive.”
Meanwhile vandals and vagrants took their turns on the building covering the inside and outside with graffiti, breaking windows, stealing copper pipes and more.. Of the 80 windows outside only 17 remained unbroken. “There’ve been a lot of issues here,” said Rivers, who with Jaumann represent the residents in the district. By last summer C&H owed $45,955 in taxes and $12,507 in WPCA fees. Rather than wage what could have been a lengthy legal fight, the Board of Alderman chose to pay the owner $20,000 for the building and implement the city’s residents desire to demolish the building as approved in a 2013 referendum.
Standard’s $441,000 bid was lower than the $500,000 residents approved for demolition. Residents have been calling Greg Martin, Cassetti’s director of constitutent services, and urging him to make sure a time capsule buried by students in front of the school in 1976 is dug up and opened. CLICK TITLE TO CONTINUE
“Jobs, Jobs, Jobs” – Union Workers Rally MGM Gaming Proposal
Roaring like a grappler who has one last fight in him, Bridgeport’s just-turned 82-year-old political and labor warrior State Senator Ed Gomes stepped on the podium of an East End events hall, not far from the Steelpointe Harbor redevelopment area where MGM Resorts proposes a $675 million waterfront casino destination projected to create 7,000 jobs. Addressing the crowd Gomes declared “Bridgeport has been on hard times and people take cracks at us…Do we needs jobs? Hell, yeah!” Gomes set the tone of a Tuesday night rally filled by roughly 200 affiliated members of the Fairfield County Building Trades – carpenters, electricians, operating engineers and others - urging state legislators to support a bill calling for an open, competitive process to select a casino operator in the state’s largest city. We need transparency,” added Gomes, a reference to the state’s gaming monopoly that allows 25 percent of the slot take in exchange for granting exclusivity to the state’s two tribal nations operating Foxwoods and Mohegan Sun. “I want those jobs to remain up there, but I want jobs for Bridgeport. We have the best opportunity here. We got the land. And we’re the biggest city in the state.” Gomes, who is retiring from public service at the end of this term, is backing his former aide Aaron Turner to replace him. Turner, who attended the rally, supports the MGM plan for Bridgeport.
One of the Bridgeport legislators leading the charge, State Rep. Chris Rosario whipped up the crowd.
“Do carpenters ever back down from a fight?”
“No.”
“Do electricians ever back down from a fight?”
“No.”
“Does Bridgeport back down from a fight?”
“No.”
“This is a grassroots fight for jobs.”
Peter Carroll, president of the Fairfield County Building Trades, kicked off the rally addressing his diverse membership. “We want our jobs, in our city now!” CLICK TITLE TO CONTINUE
Repairing America's Highway Bridges
America's highway bridges need repair. Everyone agrees more money needs to be spent on them. So many bridges are “structurally deficient” that every local TV news team gets to pose a nervous-looking reporter on a local bridge and infer that the structure is apt to collapse the next time they drive across it — if it doesn't implode on camera under the weight of the reporter.
In reality, of course, such collapses are extremely unlikely. Much of the consternation surrounding the nation's bridges can be explained in the old saw about lies, damned lies, and statistics. That is, there are lots and lots of numbers attesting to the less-than-pristine condition of tens of thousands of highway bridges in the United States, but they do not necessarily add up to impending catastrophe.
It sounds very severe to a layman,” said Glenn A. Washer, a professional engineer and professor of civil and environmental engineering at the University of Missouri. Washer is not a layman. Before he became a university faculty member, he worked for 14 years as a researcher at the Federal Highway Administration's Turner-Fairbank Highway Research Center in McLean, Va., where he practiced the science of bridge inspection.
He knows bridges. He also is a member of the American Society of Civil Engineers, the organization that periodically issues a report card on the infrastructure of America. The society's 2017 report gave the nation a C+ for the condition of its bridges. But wait … That means Uncle Sam is a whisker away from a B-. Many a student would kill for such a grade. Furthermore, the very first ASCE report in 1988 also graded highways and bridges with a C+. That may not be evidence of progress, but it at least suggests stability.
What Crisis?
With all due respect, where's the crisis? A look at the numbers in the 2017 ASCE report suggests that, while there is cause for genuine concern especially in respect to funding, the state of bridges in the United States is not as quite as dire as frequently portrayed in popular media. For a look at numbers, here is the summary paragraph from the ASCE report:
“The U.S. has 614,387 bridges, almost four in 10 of which are 50 years or older. 56,007 — or 9.1 percent — of the nation's bridges were structurally deficient in 2016, and on average there were 188 million trips across a structurally deficient bridge each day. While the number of bridges that are in such poor condition as to be considered structurally deficient is decreasing, the average age of America's bridges keeps going up and many of the nation's bridges are approaching the end of their design life. The most recent estimate puts the nation's backlog of bridge rehabilitation needs at $123 billion.”
The essential takeaway from the summary is that there are lots of old bridges across this land and many millions of vehicles passing over these bridges on a normal traffic day. Though the number of deficient bridges is decreasing each year, the average age of the bridges is rising and common sense tells us the structures won't stand forever. Many billions of dollars must be invested to completely rehabilitate them.
This is all unsettling, if something less than horrific, and reasonable people are grateful for the issuance of the ASCE reports. However, the organization's description of the problem comes a cropper in its reliance upon the term “structurally deficient.” The phrase infers rickety structures on the verge of collapse. In fact, the ASCE defines the term as “a bridge that requires significant maintenance, rehabilitation or replacement” and goes on to say: “Structurally deficient bridges are not unsafe, but could become so and need to be closed without substantial improvements.”
Washer acknowledges that being deficient doesn't mean a bridge is going to fall down.
“The term 'structurally deficient' does cover a pretty big area, but it means a bridge needs to be maintained to remain serviceable. For example, if you can't drive across a bridge at normal speed in normal traffic because potholes and patches slow the flow of traffic, that bridge can be described as structurally deficient.”
Unsafe Structures
He was asked how many functioning bridges in the country are actually “unsafe.” Not many, he suggested.
“Unsafe bridges get closed. When a bridge is unsafe, it is closed. That does not happen often. More often, a load [maximum weight] posting will be put on the bridge, which means the bridge in question is safe for all vehicles meeting the posted load.”
Such postings mostly occur on rural bridges on secondary roads. Federal highway rules regulate such postings and state departments of transportation monitor the condition of posted bridges.
Bridges generally are inspected every two years by qualified inspectors who hew closely to federal guidelines. Suspect bridges are inspected annually. Washer says state and federal highway authorities are serious about assessing bridges and “pretty cautious” about safety issues. On the other hand, until a closely watched bridge shows real evidence of being unreliable, it is kept open.
In his federal career, Washer was involved in bridge inspection and inspection technology. At the university, his technical focuses are on materials science, structural engineering, and “nondestructive evaluation.” The latter refers to a “host of technologies” that are utilized to determine the true condition of these structures.
Ultrasonic and other technical tools detect defects in welds and materials, hidden stresses and failures, and any other deteriorated components of a bridge. An example is a fully automated data-collection device that robotically and comprehensively assesses bridge decks. It was developed by the Federal Highway Administration and Rutgers University.
The ASCE report sets the average age of a U.S. bridge at 43 years. As a benchmark for concern, the report cites bridges that are a half-century old. Why 50 years? Because, the report writers say, “most of the country's bridges were designed for a lifespan of 50 years.”
According to Washer, that 50-year standard is mostly a rule of thumb.
“I don't know that there is any science around that number. Bridges aren't built for a thousand years, nor for 10 years. There is not really an equation that suggests a bridge's useful life runs out at 50. Because a bridge is 51 years old doesn't mean it is about to fall down. Theoretically it could stand forever.”
Corrosion Is the Enemy
Highway structures are as vulnerable to the passage of time as any other manmade structure. Given enough years and seasons, natural elements deconstruct about everything. The gradual chemical erosion of metallic components, a process called corrosion, is usually what weakens the integrity of a bridge.
“When you have damage to a bridge structure, 98 percent of the time it is because of corrosion,” said the Missouri university professor.
Northern states that frequently apply snow-melt compounds to roadways and bridges are more apt to experience corroded bridges than are southern states. By the same token, states that hug a coast and experience sweltering summers will see more corrosion in bridges than will arid states.
“A bridge's lifespan is time dependent plus is subject to its environment and how much chloride [de-icing solution] it experiences,” he said.
Various protective measures have been engineered into modern structures to mitigate the impact of corrosion. An epoxy coating is applied to rebar imbedded in concrete beams and pillars to at least slow the erosion process. More impermeable concrete has been developed to stop water and chlorides from penetrating and a sealer membrane is placed between bridge decks and the top driving course of roadway pavement.
Washer describes a design-stage preventive measure. CLICK TITLE TO CONTINUE
I-84 in Waterbury to close four nights next week for construction
WATERBURY – Interstate 84 will close overnight twice in each direction next week while steel is removed from the Scott Road bridge overpass.
The bridge is being rebuilt as part of the I-84 widening project. Traffic currently runs on a newly constructed side of the bridge; the old side is being demolished and will be rebuilt.
On Monday and Tuesday, I-84 westbound will be shut down at Exit 25 starting at 11 p.m. and until 5 a.m. the following day. During that time, traffic will be detoured off the highway at the Exit 25 off-ramp and will continue straight onto Plank Road and reenter the highway via the westbound on-ramp.
Then, on Wednesday and Thursday, I-84 eastbound will be closed at Exit 25, starting at 11 p.m. and lasting until 5 a.m. the following day. During that time, traffic will be detoured off the highway at Exit 25.
The new Exit 25 eastbound off-ramp will open temporarily to funnel traffic off the highway. At the end of the ramp, traffic will continue straight onto Reidville Drive and reenter I-84 via the on-ramp at Scott Road.
When the closure ends at 5 a.m., traffic will continue to access Exit 25 eastbound through the Exit 23 detour.
The nighttime closures will be in addition to regular nightly lane closures within the I-84 construction area.
In case of inclement weather, the work schedule will be pushed forward a day.
Also, if steel removal is completed over I-84 westbound in one night instead of two, eastbound steel removal will begin a day earlier, starting Tuesday night.
According to the executive summary of the 500-plus page report, the mining would leave a reservoir that would increase the city’s water supply by 45 percent.
Tilcon and the city originally estimated in 2016 that the new reservoir created by the project could provide 160,000 gallons a day of drinking water. But the report released by the state Council on Environmental Quality Wednesday morning said the new reservoir could safely provide 2 million gallons a day of drinking water, according to Lenard Engineering. The firm was hired by the city in 2007 and 2016 to do an environmental impact study of the project. A similar quarry proposal was dropped in 2008 under stiff public opposition.
The study released Wednesday also indicated that the quality of the water in the new reservoir created by 40 years of mining wouldn’t have “significant differences” from the water in the city’s existing reservoirs. The tests were based on “samples assumed to be representative of the proposed reservoir,” the report said.
The report also indicated that “no impacts to the existing air quality permits or potential emissions are anticipated as a result of the quarry expansion.”
Under the proposal, Tilcon would mine New Britain-owned protected watershed land in Plainville for 40 to 50 years before returning the land to the city as a reservoir. Tilcon would lease the land from the city for an unspecified amount during the mining and give nearly 300 acres of open space to Plainville, New Britain and Southington as part of the deal. In a 2007 proposal Tilcon offered the city of New Britain $15 million to lease the mineral rights to the property. The city has said that no financial terms have been discussed.
The legislature must vote to approve a change of use for the land in order for Tilcon to mine the property. The state Department of Health must also sign off on the plan.
A law passed in 2016 carefully delineated the steps the city must take to get the project on the legislative agenda including hiring a consultant to do an environmental study of the area.
The state’s Water Planning Council and the Council of Environmental Quality will have 90 days to review the report and submit comments to the city.
The city will have 60 days to hold a public hearing on the findings of the study.
City officials and Tilcon representatives said Wednesday they had not yet seen the report.
“While Tilcon has not received the report, we understand that Lenard Engineering has released its study on a proposed change of use of watershed lands in Plainville owned by the City of New Britain,” said a statement from Tilcon. “When we receive the report, we will spend the time necessary to learn more about the study’s results and findings. As appropriate, the company will also participate in the review process established by the legislature.”
The proposal has generated spirited opposition from area residents and environmentalists who fear that the change in land use will imperil protected watersheds throughout the state. Protect Our Watersheds CT, a group formed after the 2016 proposal came to light, has at least 2,500 signatures on a petition asking the legislature to quash the plan.
Attorney Paul Zagorsky, one of the founders of the group, asked the Council of Environmental Quality Wednesday morning to consider going to the watershed site before they form their written recommendations to the city and the state.
“You’ll see what’s at stake here and what’s going to happen,” said Zagorsky, who handed out photos of the flora and fauna that can be found in the watershed which acts as a tributary to Shuttle Meadow Reservoir. CLICK TITLE TO CONTINUE
New plan would deliver potable water throughout East Hampton
EAST HAMPTON — It is the first issue Town Council Chairwoman Melissa Engels said she wanted to address following her re-election last November. It is an issue that, in one form or another, has been discussed since 1931, according to Councilor Dean Markham. Town Manager Michael Maniscalco says it is key to guaranteeing economic development that can diversify both the town’s economy and its tax base. Tuesday night, the Town Council heard details of four proposals to bring clean, potable water to portions of the town that don’t currently have it. Assisted by Tim Smith, the town’s public utilities administrator, Maniscalco presented the results of an interconnection study conducted by the engineering firm of Tighe & Bond. The manager’s command of the details of the proposals prompted one sage observer to describe the presentation as “a full-court press.”
“The town finds itself at a crossroads to determine how to deliver water to parts of the community that are in need while balancing the financial impacts and other strains of current times,” Maniscalco said in his opening remarks. The proposals did not address the totality of the town. Rather, they focused on “a portion of the community either lacking quantity or quality,” he said. The village center suffers from decades-old contamination of its underground water sources by solvents and chemicals used in various manufacturing processes. Specifically, those areas including the village center, Route 66 and some residential neighborhoods around Lake Pocotopaug that need water, Maniscalco said in a memo he submitted to the council. “The ultimate goal for East Hampton should be to have a completely built-out water system serving all residents, commercial or residential, that need it. However, “Due to the growth of East Hampton, the only way to continue in a financially responsible manner is to look at a phased approach,” Maniscalco said. “The intent of a phased approach is to grow a water system just ahead of the need so East Hampton never finds its self in a place where water [or lack of] is inhibiting intended purposeful growth.” Phase one involves an interconnection between Royal Oaks, Memorial School and the Village Center. The water, 55,685 gallons per day, would be sourced on South Main Street. “This will allow for line extension up to Route 66 and would service many of the commercial customers in need of water in that area,” Maniscalco said. The estimated cost of phase one is $16.1 million. Phase two involves connecting a water source between Edgemere Condominiums, the high school and Stop & Shop. The proposal was would serve the west side of the lake and more of Route 66 at a projected cost of $7 million. Phase three would move water from the Pine Brook Aquifer on Route 16. The proposal would infill phases one and two and supply all customers along the pipeline route at a project cost of $25 million.
Phase four involves sourcing water from Oakum Dock and/or the Metropolitan District Commission to serve the north side of the lake “plus infill along the route” at an estimated cost of $59.9 million.
That does not include the cost of extending the MDC pipeline from Portland to East Hampton.
At present, the MDC water line ends at the Glastonbury/Portland town line, according to Richard D. Kelsey, Portland’s director of public works. The distance down Route 17 and across Route 66 to the East Hampton town line is roughly eight miles, he estimated. CLICK TITLE TO CONTINUE
Federal regulator finds no pipeline manipulation
Matt Pilon
Following a staff inquiry, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) said on Tuesday that it found no evidence that Eversource and Avangrid natural gas businesses artificially manipulated capacity on the Algonquin pipeline, driving up costs.
The review was spurred by an October report, led by the Environmental Defense Fund, that alleged that the utilities' gas ordering practices between 2013 and 2016 had artificially inflated electricity and gas prices, costing New England ratepayers an extra $3.6 billion.
Eversource has railed against the EDF report as spreading "incredibly false narratives" that are "completely unsupported by any legitimate data." In December, it threatened to sue EDF for making false statements.
FERC this week said it also found the study to be flawed.
"Commission staff took these allegations very seriously and conducted an extensive review of both publicly available and non-public data," the agency said. "On the basis of that review, staff determined that EDF's study was flawed and led to incorrect conclusions about the alleged withholding. Commission staff found no evidence of capacity withholding."
Connecticut's Public Utilities Regulatory Authority (PURA) launched its own review in October, which is ongoing.
In justifying its findings Tuesday, FERC cited an assessment of the EDF study that was commissioned by Eversource and just released to the public.
The assessment, prepared by Boston's Levitan & Associates (the same firm that recently advised PURA and the Department of Energy and Environmental Protection on Millstone Power Station's financial health), calls the EDF's findings "uninformed, baseless, and quixotic."
In the report, Levitan concludes there was no market manipulation and that Eversource would have no direct or indirect motivation to withhold gas capacity. The report also questions the $3.6 billion calculation, holding that cancellations of scheduled gas late in the day (which EDF calls "down scheduling") amounted to "an infinitesimal portion of average demand."
Levitan said EDF didn't account for the fact that the utility is required to have enough gas on hand to address weather fluctuations, back-stop delivery failures by third-party suppliers, and ensure that customers have adequate gas supply in freezing temperatures.
Eversource said the Levitan report "unequivocally disproves the inaccurate claims promoted by the Environmental Defense Fund."
Responding to the new developments, EDF's Naim Jonathan Peress, senior director of energy market policy, said EDF stands by its analysis.
"EDF has been clear from the outset," he said in a statement. "Whether intentional or not, and regardless of business motives, the scheduling decisions by these two companies had a multi-billion-dollar side-effect on New England electricity users."
Gaming Bill Calls For Scrapping East Windsor Casino, Opening Expansion To Private Companies
As expected, a bill that would open casino expansion in Connecticut to competitive bidding calls for scrapping plans for a casino in East Windsor.
The bill requires that proposals include a workforce of at least 2,000 and an agreement to give the state at least 25 percent of gross gaming revenues from all games, plus at least 10 percent from slot machines. Bids are due by Jan. 1.
The proposals also must show the bidders are able to pay a one-time $50 million licensing fee to the state.
The legislature’s public safety and security committee, which oversees gaming, will hold a public hearing on the bill on March 8.
On Thursday, the committee will take a broader look at the future of gaming in the state, including sports betting, in an informational forum.
Speakers at the forum will represent Major League Baseball, the National Basketball Association and others. The meeting is at 11 a.m. in room 2C of the Legislative Office Building.
Casino expansion has been roiling for several years in Connecticut.
A year ago, the General Assembly passed a law that allowed the tribal operators of Foxwoods Resort Casino and Mohegan Sun to jointly establish a satellite gaming venue in East Windsor. The move was framed as a defensive response to protect state revenue and jobs in the face of the opening this fall of MGM Resorts Intenational’s $960 million casino in Springfield. At the same time, there has been a push by MGM and others to open up bidding to look at all regions of the state.
MGM has rolled out a plan for Bridgeport, which it says would tap in to the lucrative New York markets.
Rep. Joe Verrengia, D-West Hartford and the public safety committee’s co-chairman, said the law passed last year had to be repealed because this session’s bill requires the $50 million licensing fee and there isn’t one tied to the East Windsor expansion.
“If we’re going to have a legitimate competitive process, we would have to do that without the East Windsor casino in play because we are asking as part of the process a $50 million licensing fee,” Verrengia said. “We can’t go out to market and ask for $50 million when what’s out there right now is zero.”
Verrengia, long a supporter of open competition, said there also is too much uncertainty surrounding East Windsor. Demolition of an old movie theater on the property is scheduled to start Monday, but there is no firm construction timetable and it’s uncertain what will happen with jobs there.
The project has slowed as the Mashantucket Pequots and Mohegans along with the state have gone to court to force the U.S. Department of the Interior for a definitive response as to whether the expansion would affect revenue-sharing agreements with the state. Those agreements have brought $7 billion to state coffers since the early 1990s.
Sen. Tim Larson, D-East Hartford and co-chairman of the public safety committee, has been a staunch supporter of the tribes’ plans. He also has been critical of MGM, arguing the company is the force behind the bill and simply trying to delay action in Connecticut while its Springfield casino nears completion.
“I frankly was and still remain extremely upset that this new idea is just a baked plan by MGM,” Larson said. “They have no reason to do anything but slow down what is happening.”
Larson called the bill a “slap in the face” to the tribes and said it reinforces perceptions that the state is not business friendly. CLICK TITLE TO CONTINUE
Ansonia’s Peck School being torn down
ANSONIA—The huge crane with his monster size teeth bit through brick, plaster and wood while opening a hole in what was once a second floor fourth grade classroom.
The overloaded mouth spit out pieces of wood and plaster as rubble rained down on the first floor second grade class room where Nora Sullivan spent years introducing students to reading, writing and arithmetic. And by next week Peck School which for nearly 95 educated the city’s west side children and provided them an after school and summer spot to play basketball, fleece ball, kickball and volleyball, will be a rubble of memories. “The outside was pretty bad,” said Ann Bogucki, an AECOM engineer overseeing the school’s razing by Standard Demolition Services of Trumbull. “The brick was crumbling probably from water running through the downspouts. The mortar was all gone.” But Bogucki said the roof which was removed Tuesday “was pretty intact.”
On the street Mayor David Cassetti, Fifth Ward Aldermen Joseph Jaumann and Chicago Rivers,Third Ward Alderman Joseph Cassetti and Aldermanic President Lorie Vaccaro watched as residents occasionally came by to share memories as well as thoughts of what should replace Peck on the nearly acre size site. “It’s bitter sweet,” said Cassetti who had the PUBLIC SCHOOL 1905 copper letters removed from Peck’s front, cleaned and hung on a wall in his city hall office. “My son (former Fifth Ward Alderman) Anthony went there for third and fourth grade. He loved it.”
But that was the 1990s. At the end of the 2000 school year, the city’s board of education decided to close the school, which once educated students from kindergarten through eighth grade.. It was purchased by C&H Management LLC of Beacon Falls. For the next 17 years plans to turn the class rooms into condominiums, senior citizen or veteran’s housing were proposed but nothing ever materialized. “The past administrations had a lot of chances to do many things with this building but instead let it sit here and deteriorate,” said Cassetti. “My administration took the time to look into remodeling it or demolishing it. Remodeling was too expensive.”
Meanwhile vandals and vagrants took their turns on the building covering the inside and outside with graffiti, breaking windows, stealing copper pipes and more.. Of the 80 windows outside only 17 remained unbroken. “There’ve been a lot of issues here,” said Rivers, who with Jaumann represent the residents in the district. By last summer C&H owed $45,955 in taxes and $12,507 in WPCA fees. Rather than wage what could have been a lengthy legal fight, the Board of Alderman chose to pay the owner $20,000 for the building and implement the city’s residents desire to demolish the building as approved in a 2013 referendum.
Standard’s $441,000 bid was lower than the $500,000 residents approved for demolition. Residents have been calling Greg Martin, Cassetti’s director of constitutent services, and urging him to make sure a time capsule buried by students in front of the school in 1976 is dug up and opened. CLICK TITLE TO CONTINUE
“Jobs, Jobs, Jobs” – Union Workers Rally MGM Gaming Proposal
Roaring like a grappler who has one last fight in him, Bridgeport’s just-turned 82-year-old political and labor warrior State Senator Ed Gomes stepped on the podium of an East End events hall, not far from the Steelpointe Harbor redevelopment area where MGM Resorts proposes a $675 million waterfront casino destination projected to create 7,000 jobs. Addressing the crowd Gomes declared “Bridgeport has been on hard times and people take cracks at us…Do we needs jobs? Hell, yeah!” Gomes set the tone of a Tuesday night rally filled by roughly 200 affiliated members of the Fairfield County Building Trades – carpenters, electricians, operating engineers and others - urging state legislators to support a bill calling for an open, competitive process to select a casino operator in the state’s largest city. We need transparency,” added Gomes, a reference to the state’s gaming monopoly that allows 25 percent of the slot take in exchange for granting exclusivity to the state’s two tribal nations operating Foxwoods and Mohegan Sun. “I want those jobs to remain up there, but I want jobs for Bridgeport. We have the best opportunity here. We got the land. And we’re the biggest city in the state.” Gomes, who is retiring from public service at the end of this term, is backing his former aide Aaron Turner to replace him. Turner, who attended the rally, supports the MGM plan for Bridgeport.
One of the Bridgeport legislators leading the charge, State Rep. Chris Rosario whipped up the crowd.
“Do carpenters ever back down from a fight?”
“No.”
“Do electricians ever back down from a fight?”
“No.”
“Does Bridgeport back down from a fight?”
“No.”
“This is a grassroots fight for jobs.”
Peter Carroll, president of the Fairfield County Building Trades, kicked off the rally addressing his diverse membership. “We want our jobs, in our city now!” CLICK TITLE TO CONTINUE
Repairing America's Highway Bridges
America's highway bridges need repair. Everyone agrees more money needs to be spent on them. So many bridges are “structurally deficient” that every local TV news team gets to pose a nervous-looking reporter on a local bridge and infer that the structure is apt to collapse the next time they drive across it — if it doesn't implode on camera under the weight of the reporter.
In reality, of course, such collapses are extremely unlikely. Much of the consternation surrounding the nation's bridges can be explained in the old saw about lies, damned lies, and statistics. That is, there are lots and lots of numbers attesting to the less-than-pristine condition of tens of thousands of highway bridges in the United States, but they do not necessarily add up to impending catastrophe.
It sounds very severe to a layman,” said Glenn A. Washer, a professional engineer and professor of civil and environmental engineering at the University of Missouri. Washer is not a layman. Before he became a university faculty member, he worked for 14 years as a researcher at the Federal Highway Administration's Turner-Fairbank Highway Research Center in McLean, Va., where he practiced the science of bridge inspection.
He knows bridges. He also is a member of the American Society of Civil Engineers, the organization that periodically issues a report card on the infrastructure of America. The society's 2017 report gave the nation a C+ for the condition of its bridges. But wait … That means Uncle Sam is a whisker away from a B-. Many a student would kill for such a grade. Furthermore, the very first ASCE report in 1988 also graded highways and bridges with a C+. That may not be evidence of progress, but it at least suggests stability.
What Crisis?
With all due respect, where's the crisis? A look at the numbers in the 2017 ASCE report suggests that, while there is cause for genuine concern especially in respect to funding, the state of bridges in the United States is not as quite as dire as frequently portrayed in popular media. For a look at numbers, here is the summary paragraph from the ASCE report:
“The U.S. has 614,387 bridges, almost four in 10 of which are 50 years or older. 56,007 — or 9.1 percent — of the nation's bridges were structurally deficient in 2016, and on average there were 188 million trips across a structurally deficient bridge each day. While the number of bridges that are in such poor condition as to be considered structurally deficient is decreasing, the average age of America's bridges keeps going up and many of the nation's bridges are approaching the end of their design life. The most recent estimate puts the nation's backlog of bridge rehabilitation needs at $123 billion.”
The essential takeaway from the summary is that there are lots of old bridges across this land and many millions of vehicles passing over these bridges on a normal traffic day. Though the number of deficient bridges is decreasing each year, the average age of the bridges is rising and common sense tells us the structures won't stand forever. Many billions of dollars must be invested to completely rehabilitate them.
This is all unsettling, if something less than horrific, and reasonable people are grateful for the issuance of the ASCE reports. However, the organization's description of the problem comes a cropper in its reliance upon the term “structurally deficient.” The phrase infers rickety structures on the verge of collapse. In fact, the ASCE defines the term as “a bridge that requires significant maintenance, rehabilitation or replacement” and goes on to say: “Structurally deficient bridges are not unsafe, but could become so and need to be closed without substantial improvements.”
Washer acknowledges that being deficient doesn't mean a bridge is going to fall down.
“The term 'structurally deficient' does cover a pretty big area, but it means a bridge needs to be maintained to remain serviceable. For example, if you can't drive across a bridge at normal speed in normal traffic because potholes and patches slow the flow of traffic, that bridge can be described as structurally deficient.”
Unsafe Structures
He was asked how many functioning bridges in the country are actually “unsafe.” Not many, he suggested.
“Unsafe bridges get closed. When a bridge is unsafe, it is closed. That does not happen often. More often, a load [maximum weight] posting will be put on the bridge, which means the bridge in question is safe for all vehicles meeting the posted load.”
Such postings mostly occur on rural bridges on secondary roads. Federal highway rules regulate such postings and state departments of transportation monitor the condition of posted bridges.
Bridges generally are inspected every two years by qualified inspectors who hew closely to federal guidelines. Suspect bridges are inspected annually. Washer says state and federal highway authorities are serious about assessing bridges and “pretty cautious” about safety issues. On the other hand, until a closely watched bridge shows real evidence of being unreliable, it is kept open.
In his federal career, Washer was involved in bridge inspection and inspection technology. At the university, his technical focuses are on materials science, structural engineering, and “nondestructive evaluation.” The latter refers to a “host of technologies” that are utilized to determine the true condition of these structures.
Ultrasonic and other technical tools detect defects in welds and materials, hidden stresses and failures, and any other deteriorated components of a bridge. An example is a fully automated data-collection device that robotically and comprehensively assesses bridge decks. It was developed by the Federal Highway Administration and Rutgers University.
The ASCE report sets the average age of a U.S. bridge at 43 years. As a benchmark for concern, the report cites bridges that are a half-century old. Why 50 years? Because, the report writers say, “most of the country's bridges were designed for a lifespan of 50 years.”
According to Washer, that 50-year standard is mostly a rule of thumb.
“I don't know that there is any science around that number. Bridges aren't built for a thousand years, nor for 10 years. There is not really an equation that suggests a bridge's useful life runs out at 50. Because a bridge is 51 years old doesn't mean it is about to fall down. Theoretically it could stand forever.”
Corrosion Is the Enemy
Highway structures are as vulnerable to the passage of time as any other manmade structure. Given enough years and seasons, natural elements deconstruct about everything. The gradual chemical erosion of metallic components, a process called corrosion, is usually what weakens the integrity of a bridge.
“When you have damage to a bridge structure, 98 percent of the time it is because of corrosion,” said the Missouri university professor.
Northern states that frequently apply snow-melt compounds to roadways and bridges are more apt to experience corroded bridges than are southern states. By the same token, states that hug a coast and experience sweltering summers will see more corrosion in bridges than will arid states.
“A bridge's lifespan is time dependent plus is subject to its environment and how much chloride [de-icing solution] it experiences,” he said.
Various protective measures have been engineered into modern structures to mitigate the impact of corrosion. An epoxy coating is applied to rebar imbedded in concrete beams and pillars to at least slow the erosion process. More impermeable concrete has been developed to stop water and chlorides from penetrating and a sealer membrane is placed between bridge decks and the top driving course of roadway pavement.
Washer describes a design-stage preventive measure. CLICK TITLE TO CONTINUE
I-84 in Waterbury to close four nights next week for construction
WATERBURY – Interstate 84 will close overnight twice in each direction next week while steel is removed from the Scott Road bridge overpass.
The bridge is being rebuilt as part of the I-84 widening project. Traffic currently runs on a newly constructed side of the bridge; the old side is being demolished and will be rebuilt.
On Monday and Tuesday, I-84 westbound will be shut down at Exit 25 starting at 11 p.m. and until 5 a.m. the following day. During that time, traffic will be detoured off the highway at the Exit 25 off-ramp and will continue straight onto Plank Road and reenter the highway via the westbound on-ramp.
Then, on Wednesday and Thursday, I-84 eastbound will be closed at Exit 25, starting at 11 p.m. and lasting until 5 a.m. the following day. During that time, traffic will be detoured off the highway at Exit 25.
The new Exit 25 eastbound off-ramp will open temporarily to funnel traffic off the highway. At the end of the ramp, traffic will continue straight onto Reidville Drive and reenter I-84 via the on-ramp at Scott Road.
When the closure ends at 5 a.m., traffic will continue to access Exit 25 eastbound through the Exit 23 detour.
The nighttime closures will be in addition to regular nightly lane closures within the I-84 construction area.
In case of inclement weather, the work schedule will be pushed forward a day.
Also, if steel removal is completed over I-84 westbound in one night instead of two, eastbound steel removal will begin a day earlier, starting Tuesday night.
