MOVE CT
FORWARD PRAISES ACCELERATION OF CAR SALES TAX REVENUE FOR INFRASTRUCTURE
IMPROVEMENTS
HARTFORD – Members of Move CT
Forward, a coalition of organizations committed to bringing public attention to
and resolving Connecticut’s infrastructure crisis, praised the acceleration of
car sales tax revenue in next year’s state budget for transportation
infrastructure improvements.“We appreciate the work and effort that was done in the Connecticut General Assembly to make this solution a reality,” said Don Shubert, President of the Connecticut Construction Industries Association. “This legislative action will help get transportation improvement projects back up and running, immediately. This is a great and sorely needed first step.”
“Connecticut simply could not go on like this. We needed a solution to the current funding shortfall and this was done with an existing tax. This action by our legislators means we can get back to work on making our roads and bridges safer for the people of Connecticut,” said Craig Metz, Business Manager of I.U.O.E. Local 478. “Putting car sales tax funding into infrastructure improvements is a practical and smart decision,” said Keith Brothers, Business Manager of the CT Laborers’ District Council. “These funds will provide the kind of improvements and safety enhancements that Connecticut’s infrastructure needs.”
Move CT Forward consists of the Connecticut Construction Industries Association, I.U.O.E. Local 478 and the Connecticut Laborers’ District Council.
Connecticut’s infrastructure is crumbling and the Special Transportation Fund (STF) was running dry. $4.3 billion in transportation projects were scheduled to be suspended. According to the national transportation research group TRIP, the Reason Foundation, and the America Society of Civil Engineers, Connecticut roads are among the worst in the country.[i] TRIP found that 57% of Connecticut roads are in “poor condition and 33% of bridges are structurally deficient or functionally obsolete. The TRIP report also notes that the abysmal condition of the state’s infrastructure costs motorists $864 a year in needed vehicle repairs.[ii]
Additionally, this deteriorating infrastructure has a detrimental impact on the overall quality of life in the state. Residents spend over 45 hours per year stuck in traffic, valuable time that they could be spending with family and friends. Moreover, as a corridor state, our local economy is reliant on a strong transportation system.
For more information on Move CT Forward and need to fix the state’s crumbling infrastructure, log on to MoveCTForward.com, like us on Facebook (Facebook.com/MoveCTForward) and follow us on Twitter (@MoveCTForward).
New I-84 WB Alignment Opens Sunday Night, May 13
Beginning Sunday night, May 13, at 9:30 PM, I-84 Westbound (WB) traffic will shift to the south, into the new I-84 WB alignment, from west of Scott Road Bridge, to the new I-84 Bridge over the Mad River’s western crossing. Westbound I-84 traffic will travel under the new Harpers Ferry Road Bridge, adjacent to the new alignment of Eastbound (EB) I-84.
This traffic shift will enable the contractor to complete demolition of three bridges, and continue construction of Plank Road East, Harpers Ferry Road, and the new WB 25 on-ramp.
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Bridgeport’s Downtown West ready for next step
Leaders at the local nonprofit are looking toward a summertime groundbreaking on their West Liberty Commons apartments at 273-301 West Ave. after securing $5 million in funding for the project, most of which will come from state bonding.
“We’re extremely proud of the work that we are doing in the communities that we are serving,” said BNT CEO Elizabeth Torres. “We said a long time ago that our work has shifted from just building affordable housing to building communities, and so what you’re seeing now with projects coming on line one after another is the hard work of the preplanning that we did a few years ago.”
The three-story, 18-unit project, not far from the Westgate development further up West Avenue that opened last year, will bring a mix of one- to three-bedroom units to the area. The townhouse-style complex will feature a mix of affordable and market-rate housing.
West Liberty Commons is expected to be completed by February following an eight-month construction.
“We knew especially in the Downtown West neighborhood that we wanted to bring back this area, and we identified the sites, acquired them, secured the funding and timed it such that one project gets completed every year,” Torres said.
West Liberty Commons will join the five-story Westgate Apartments complex at 515 West Ave. Along with its 48 mixed-income and veteran-reserved apartments at a formerly vacant space behind Walgreens, Westgate will also feature a pair of small businesses at ground level.
“The more people you have living in a community, the more disposable income these families can bring to this neighborhood to spend and support the small businesses that we are creating,” Torres said. “We are creating a hub of retail activity in the Downtown West neighborhood.”
BNT is opening Thrifty at 505, where customers can purchase used clothing, jewelry and more at a discounted rate. Also in Westgate will be the Operation Suds laundromat.
Across the street from Westgate, BNT is remodeling a corner building with three apartments and a small commercial space at 609 Fairfield Ave. The space, formerly a bodega, will become Due West Market Cafe and be owned and operated by the nonprofit.
Torres said the business will sell healthy food options and coffee. It will also feature a catering component.
“The expectation is that these three businesses will feed off of each other and will help spark the retail activity in the neighborhood and in the area,” Torres said, adding that the businesses are an expansion of BNT’s social enterprise initiatives that aim to assist aspiring business owners.
“We want this to be a training ground for entrepreneurs and/or people who want to start their own businesses, that they can come here, get the training, get the exposure that they need, and go on and start their own businesses and use this as a launching pad for the next phase of their careers,” she added.
Barring any setbacks, Torres said BNT would be unveiling the new businesses in and near the Westgate complex by the end of July.
BNT is under negotiations for a third neighborhood development at 601-611 State St. Plans for the project, diagonally across the street from its headquarters, include 55 apartments and 12,000 square feet of commercial space. CLICK TITLE TO CONTINUE
Fairfield officials, students break ground on $18.5M Holland Hill project
FAIRFIELD — It wasn’t just town officials getting the honor of tossing dirt at the groundbreaking of Holland Hill Elementary School on Thursday morning.
Twelve students, two per grade chosen by school officials, donning small hardhats and size-appropriate red shovels, dug into a large pile of dirt where a decades-old playground once stood to mark the start of an $18.5 million renovation and expansion of the school.
“This time next year, you guys will be cool,” said Superintendent of School Toni Jones to several hundred students, parents, teachers and construction workers gathered for the event.
Jones said on a recent hot day, the air conditioning shut down at the school district’s central offices and it made her think of the students at Holland Hill. “I was thinking of Holland Hill, I really was,” Jones said. First Selectman Mike Tetreau, who attended Holland Hill as a child, pointed to where he played ball on the playground and a couple of his classrooms that could be seen from the podium set up at the rear of the school.
“I’m pretty sure if there was air conditioning when I was in school, I would have gotten better grades,” Tetreau said.
The project calls for the addition of five classrooms, along with a general music room, new lockers for fourth- and fifth-graders, special education resource rooms, an expanded kitchen area, and a new performance platform/instrumental music classroom space.
The central office area will be expanded to allow for controlled visitor access and a nursing office. All bathrooms will be made ADA compliant, all existing lockers will be replaced and a new gym floor installed.
Outside, the southwest parking area will be reconfigured and parking increased to 89 spaces, plus 12 parent drop-off/pickup spaces. A security access driveway will be built along the southeast side of the building, and play areas renovated with new equipment. CLICCK TITLE TO CONTINUE
Towns, cities to get more state aid next year
Local towns and cities will see more money than expected from the state next year.
The bipartisan state budget passed by the legislature late Wednesday restores funding to municipalities and calls for $70.5 million in increased state aid to towns and cities next year than in the current fiscal year, according to a statement from Sen. Paul Formica, R-East Lyme, co-chairman of the Appropriations Committee.
The spending plan approved Wednesday also calls for no new taxes and "fully funds" Education Cost Sharing grants for next year, the Special Transportation Fund, and the Renters' Rebate program, among other provisions, according to Formica.
In closing remarks late Wednesday, Gov. Dannel P. Malloy said he will fully review the budget in the coming days, but applauded the legislators' work.
Local officials, who were also reviewing the budget on Thursday, welcomed the news, with some saying they still need to determine how exactly the additional revenue would impact their communities, as they work toward approving their own 2018-19 budgets.
"The process this year is a welcome relief when compared to the uncertainty in last year's process," said Groton Town Manager John Burt.
Burt said the budget results in an additional $38,315 for the Town of Groton. Groton Public Schools will especially benefit, with an increase in the Educational Cost Sharing of $141,949 and an increase of Adult Education of $2,571, he said.
"I'm glad that they did pass a state budget, of course, and I'm glad that they did it in a timely manner and they didn't decimate the municipal revenues," including ECS, said Old Lyme First Selectwoman Bonnie Reemsnyder.
Old Lyme's Education Cost Sharing grant has been shrinking over the past few years and the governor had recommended cutting Old Lyme's grant entirely for next year. The budget passed by the legislature means the town will receive $241,512 in educational funding next year. The town did not plan for any educational funding in its spending plan for next year, which will go before voters at a town meeting on May 21.
"It just means hopefully we'll have a little bit of a surplus," she said.
Mayor Ron McDaniel said the approved state budget injects an added $1.5 million in ECS funding for Montville. He initially budgeted $11.1 million but according to the Connecticut Conference of Municipalities the town will receive $12.6 million.
McDaniel said it remains to be seen how the added funding could impact the school budget, which remains under review by the town’s Finance Committee before the Town Council takes a final vote on the budget May 23.
By delaying required expenses such as liability insurance and workers’ compensation until 2018-19, the Board of Education in December trimmed its 2017-18 budget by about $1 million due to midyear state cuts. The Finance Committee has asked the school board to provide a detailed breakdown of the delayed expenditures at a meeting at the high school Monday at 4 p.m.
McDaniel said he wished the state had included added funding in the Pequot-Mohegan Grant for host communities. Based on the adopted budget, Montville will receive a $6,300 reduction compared to this year.
The new state budget means mixed results for taxpayers in Norwich, and especially helps property owners in the central city paid fire district. Overall, Norwich expects to receive $93,251 in additional general fund municipal aid, mostly through increases in payment in lieu of taxes for state owned property, hospitals and colleges and a small, $7,944 increase in the municipal stabilization grant. CLICK TITLE TO CONTINUE
Ground broken on new Cheshire medical center
CHESHIRE – Ground was broken on the construction of the new Hartford HealthCare medical building on South Main Street that town officials say will give the area a boost.
The more than 50,000 square foot building is under construction at 266 and 292 South Main St., the site of the former 7-11 and the long shuttered Cheshire Cinema.
“They are on their way,” Gerald Sitko, town economic development coordinator said.
Field Superintendent John Hiatt of Casle Corporation of Avon said it will take a few weeks to excavate the foundation, after which workers will lay concrete.
In January, developer and designer David Sessions said construction could take more than a year. Hiatt said they are still working on the interior design and that will determine the timetable.
“It depends on what the client is going to put in there, but it’ll definitely take more than a year,” Hiatt said.
“Each part has a huge amount on content to it,” he said. Once completed, Hartford HealthCare will lease the entire building, Hiatt said.
“That facility is taking a property that has been vacant for years and putting it to good use,” Sitko said “The site is visible and in an high profile area and there will be jobs associated with the building.”
Sitko suspects the project will produce additional tax revenue associated with the building. The building alone costs about $15 million, Sitko said, but the town’s assessor will determine what the exact amount will be.
“It will be expensive,”Sitko said.
The project required acquisition of the 7-11 convenience store adjacent to the site. That property will be used as a parking lot.
Some residents were disappointed with the 7-11 closing, taking to social media to express their frustration.
Sitko said he understands how residents feel, but “those types of stores are from another era.” He’s not aware of relocation plans for the store, he said.
During Planning and Zoning commissioner’s deliberations in November, Town Planner William Voelker said the main office building will house half of an underground parking garage. The other half will be an imaging center for MRIs and X-rays, he said.
In January Sessions said the facility will offer primary care, along with the full compliment of physicians from Hartford HealthCare, which has two other locations in town.
Sessions at the time also said his company has had a long-standing relationship with Hartford HealthCare and that partnership has produced facilities in Southington, Farmington, Avon and several other towns. “This will be good for the town,” Sitko said.