CT Construction Digest Tuesday July 24, 2018

Strong transportation support is very important at the Bond Commission meeting tomorrow. The agenda is packed with transportation funding.  Additionally, there will be opposition to the $10 million for the study to provide accurate information on tolling.

Bond Commission Meeting

Legislative Office Building
300 Capitol Ave., Hartford
(there is plenty of parking this time of year)
Room 1E
10am
Wednesday, July 25, 2018

When it comes to the tolling:

• A study and accurate information on tolling in Connecticut is important
• Several legislators complained that there was a lack of information during the last legislative session
• All funding options should be on the table until Connecticut’s transportation funding shortfall is addressed
• Connecticut needs a long-term user-based funding stream to support its transportation needs
• Connecticut should be planning now for the future

Please bring as many members, employees, supervisors, leaders, apprentices, and other transportation supporters as possible.

Hundreds of Millions Awaiting Approval of Bond Commission

 by Christine Stuart 
The 10-member state Bond Commission is poised to approve $382.8 million in general obligation bonds and $535.3 million in special revenue bonds at a meeting Wednesday where the most controversial item is $10 million.
Gov. Dannel P. Malloy who isn’t seeking re-election wants the Department of Transportation to use $10 million to study the implementation of electronic tolls.
State Comptroller Kevin Lembo, a member of the Bond Commission, has said he won’t be voting in favor of the study, but it’s unclear how many other members, aside from the two Republican lawmakers, will be swayed to vote against the proposal.
The Democratic legislative leaders have embraced the proposal while Republicans have panned it calling it “frivolous” and unnecessary.
Wednesday’s Bond Commission agenda also includes $19.6 million for homeowners with crumbling foundations. And $8 million for Electric Boat and $3 million for KPMG LLP to assist with their expansion in Stamford. The company is expected to create up to 110 new jobs within four years of receiving the money.
“We look forward next year to moving into newly-renovated space that will have state-of-the-art technology and work space to allow our highly-skilled professionals to deliver a best-in-class experience for our Stamford-area clients,” Bob Garrett, KPMG managing partner for a region that includes New York City, Stamford, Long Island and northern New Jersey, said.
There’s also $11 million of undefined money under the Manufacturing Assistance Act for the Department of Economic and Community Development to use as it sees fit.

There’s $6.5 million to help charter schools with capital improvements and $750,000 to help a handful of state parks that experienced a lot of property damage when several tornadoes touched down in the state on May 15. The money will be used to help Sleeping Giant, Wharton Brook, Kettletown and Squantz Pond State Parks, the Naugatuck State Forest and sections of the Connecticut Blue Trail System. It is anticipated that up to 75 percent of costs incurred will be provided by the federal government pending approval of a federal disaster declaration.

There are also millions of dollars for housing projects in both New Haven and Hartford.
There’s $8 million o finance flood control and shoreline rehabilitation at East Shore Park and Long Wharf in New Haven. The improvements will increase the resiliency of these areas through improved stormwater management and will include the design and construction of new innovative living shorelines. There’s also $7.5 million to renovate the former Thomas Quirk Middle School in Hartford for used by the Police Athletic League as a Boys and Girls Club and for used by the Hartford Police Academy.
There’s also $10 million to provide a grant-in-aid or equity investment to Sheldon Oak to finance redevelopment of the three-story mixed use building at 696-714 Albany Avenue, along with the single story retail building at 690 Albany Avenue in Hartford. The mixed use building will be renovated into eight rental units, with four affordable units, over 3,500 square feet of retail space. The deteriorated, single-story building will be demolished to create parking and green space.

Ganim preaches party unity, Lamont campaign nonplussed

By: Mark Pazniokas
Bridgeport — On a waterfront crowded with stories of disappointment and promise, some dating back to his first tenure in city hall here in the 1990s, Mayor Joseph P. Ganim jumped on the back of a pickup truck Monday to accept the endorsement by four trade unions of a campaign that is testing the notion of whether Connecticut is ready to elect an ex-con as governor.
The truck was parked inside a cavernous shed where one boatyard used to overhaul ocean-going yachts and ferries, only to go bankrupt six years ago. But a new boatyard is coming, waterfront housing is under construction, and the possibility of a casino resort is just over the horizon. Ganim, wearing jeans and a dress shirt, promised good times are coming.
“I won’t let you down,” Ganim said.
Some of the union leaders with Ganim go back to the 1990s, when the mayor helped steer the city away from bankruptcy and presided over major public-private construction projects: an arena and minor-league ballpark on the other side of the harbor, and a revamped community college campus bankrolled by the state and backed by a supportive governor.
“For us in the trades, it’s about having a relationship,” said Craig Metz, the business manager of Local 478 of the Operating Engineers. “It’s about having a relationship that we know what we need to do for our members. We know where our responsibilities are in the community. We know what it takes… to advocate for construction opportunities.”
Nate Brown of the Operating Engineers said the presence of some of the labor men Monday was an expression of gratitude for the construction jobs they saw here once and hope to see again. But they are realistic on the question of whether Ganim, an able retail politician waging a class war against the party’s wealthy endorsed candidate, Ned Lamont of Greenwich, can win suburban votes.
“That’s a good question. It’s about what Joe Ganim represents to everyday people,” said Metz,, whose members operate the heavy machinery that tends to fall silent when municipalities and the state stop spending on highways, schools and other public works. “Certainly, he’s the most skilled and qualified guy in the race.”
The trades also are grateful to Gov. Dannel P. Malloy, who is leaving office as one of the most unpopular governors in the U.S., but only after pushing the state to spend on transportation projects like a New Britain-to-Hartford busway and a commuter rail line from Springfield to Hartford to New Haven.
About 850 of Local 478’s Operating Engineers were out of work in August eight years ago. Today, Brown said, there are fewer than 100.
For the trades, that is a grade that counts above all others. Endorsing Ganim on Monday were: the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local 488; the International Union of Operating Engineers Local 30, the International Union of Operating Engineers Local 478 and the United Association of Plumbers and Pipe fitters, Local 777. But the vast majority of labor, and delegates to the Democratic party’s state convention, have kept their distance from Ganim.
The state’s labor federation, the Connecticut AFL-CIO, and delegates to the Democratic convention have all but pleaded with Ganim to go away. Their reasoning is that Ganim might have surprised the state by returning to city hall in 2015, but would be a disaster in an open race for governor that is judged, under the best of circumstances, no better than a toss-up for Democrats.
In a five-way straw poll on April 6, the delegates to an AFL-CIO political convention ranked Ganim sixth, with just 6.6 percent of the vote. The option of “no one at this time” finished fifth with 9.5 percent.
In May, delegates to the Democratic convention denied him the 15 percent margin necessary to qualify for a primary against Lamont — an unthinkable rebuke for the mayor of Connecticut’s largest city if he was not burdened by a criminal record.
But Ganim is resilient. He asked for a second chance and qualified for the primary with a petition drive centered in Bridgeport, Hartford, New Haven and Waterbury.
Ganim, 58, was elected mayor in 1991, serving for not quite a dozen years in city hall before a federal jury convicted him in April 2003 on 16 counts related to what prosecutors described as a systematic, 5-year scheme to extort kickbacks from nearly anyone doing business with the city of Bridgeport.
He testified under oath that he was innocent. A jury didn’t believe him, and neither did the judge who sentenced him to prison for nine years. Ganim served seven, returning to Connecticut in 2010. The Supreme Court blocked him from resuming the practice of law, but voters of Bridgeport were more forgiving, returning him to city hall in 2015.
Ganim has tormented Lamont, who is self-funding his campaign, challenging him to voluntarily limit his spending on the primary and to make substantial disclosures about his wealth and income in the name of transparency. Lamont’s campaign manager, Marc Bradley, professed to be incredulous last week at Ganim trying to claim the high ground on an ethical issue.
“The differences in this race between Ned and Joe could not be more stark,” Bradley said. “The fact that we’re standing here today talking about  ethics and the irony of that could not be more incredible.” 
On Monday, Ganim tweaked Lamont for refusing to commit to supporting Ganim should he win the primary on Aug. 14. He also said Lamont seems uncertain on a proposal to seek a law authorizing the expansion of casino gambling to the waterfront where Ganim stood.
Lamont’s campaign said he is open to a casino as part of a larger resort.
“Ned supports an open competitive bidding process as a potential way to bring a casino that will create jobs and economic development in Bridgeport,” the campaign said. “He also wants to explore other economic development opportunities that might serve and meet the needs of Bridgeport residents. Ned would welcome a multi-million dollar investment from a developer that wished to make Bridgeport a resort and destination, providing entertainment venues, local jobs and opportunities to the people of Bridgeport and beyond.”
Ganim called his challenge of Lamont a “family fight” that should not divide the party once the returns come in Aug. 14.
“When this family fight is over at 8:05 on August 14, and the majority of Democrats come out to vote — grass roots come out — we need to be united as a party,” Ganim said.
Ganim said he was a grass-roots candidate, not someone backed by insiders and “party bosses.” He then glanced to his mentor, Mario Testa, an old-style party boss watching from the edge of the crowd and lightly said no disrespect was intended.
The jab was aimed at Lamont, not Testa.
My opponent, I guess, is saying he’s not sure if he loses this primary where he’s going to end up as far as support,” Ganim said. “That’s divisive. That’s bad for our party. Please help me send a message. We need him. We need every Democrat at 8:05 on August 14.”
Testa was asked how enthusiastically the city’s party would turn out for Lamont, should he win the primary as expected. Testa answered in five words: “We are very loyal Democrats.” 

South End developer proposes deal to revitalize neighborhood
By Barry Lytton

STAMFORD — Free money has the South End split as the neighborhood’s largest developer is offering $8.5 million to rehabilitate old historic homes and slow gentrification in a deal to avoid making city-mandated affordable units available in two new opulent waterfront towers.
Building and Land Technology’s proposal to give local nonprofit Housing Development Fund the cash for neighborhood initiatives, including no-interest home loans, prompted hours-long discussion at a Planning Board meeting this week.
The conversation, at times derisive with residents near tears, some infighting and an unorthodox move to allow public comment, ended with the board voting 3-2 in favor of a compromised buyout. The Zoning Board can take up the recommendation or vote against it.The Planning Board recommended for BLT to provide 16 of the about 44 required affordable units. A quarter-million of BLT’s money should fund a study of the South End’s affordable housing needs, and the remaining about $6 million should be held by the city until the study is finished, the board recommended. The study’s findings would then dictate the best course of action.The plan, as presented by BLT’s attorney William Hennessey, would stave off gentrification by making South End residents homeowners, who would rehabilitate historic homes that have long fell into disrepair. No interest loans will also be available to renovate homes.“We don’t often get an opportunity like this to think about who should mold an area as discrete and as deserving as the South End,” Hennessey said. “This will be part of the larger goal of stemming the tide of gentrification.”
Joan Carty, president of HDF, told planning the buyout through her agency could create more than 65 affordable units, compared to the 44 required inside the new 22-story towers coming up on Pacific Street.
But some South End residents, preservationists and planning board members were skeptical of the claim.
If BLT truly wanted to rehab the South End and kick-start homeownership, it could start with its historic multifamily homes on Henry Street, they said. The boarded-up homes have been vacant for years. In 2016, BLT tried to demolish the four on the corner of Henry and Garden streets, but were stymied by the state Historic Preservation Office.
Terry Adams, president of the South End’s Neighborhood Revitalization Zone, told planning board members that he would approve of the buyout if there was a real plan, to bring back the Henry Street properties, for example.
“There’s an appetite to do something, but there’s no plan,” Adams said. “The South End is hot now, everything that comes to the market investors come in and snatch it up quick.”
Hennessey argued the South End’s heat made it imperative to lock down the buyout, preserving what is left.NRZ member John Wooten agreed with Hennessey, and near tears explained why he thought the city needed to act to keep old homes with interest-free home loans to longtime South Enders.
“Don’t miss this opportunity because you’re going to regret it,” he said.
 Board Vice Chairman Jay Tepper said the money shouldn’t be considered a kind gesture. Excluding low-income housing boosts profits, and that is the motive, he said
“Let’s not kid ourselves,” Tepper said. “That’s the driving force.”Planning Board members conceded the city should take action to preserve South End homes, but disliked the trade-off. The buyout would create a waterfront property for “elites,” unlike all of BLT’s other buildings — each 10 percent affordable — now permeating the peninsula, they said.
“The South End is two south ends,” board Chairwoman Theresa Dell said. “It’s now called the Harbor Point South End and the South End. ... In every building that goes up, affordability should be in them.”

University of New Haven to build new science, tech center

By NHR Staff
WEST HAVEN — As it approaches its centennial in 2020, the University of New Haven will mark the milestone by constructing the Bergami Center for Science, Technology and Innovation. The new center will feature a 44,000-square-foot, three-story building that will house engineering and science labs, a 3D visualization technology suite, collaborative classrooms and space for the Communication, Film, and Media Studies Department.
An atrium within the building will serve as additional collaborative and interaction space.UNH also plans to renovate a 38,000-square-foot building adjacent to campus to serve as a research center. It will include space for advanced student studies, such as the Center for Analytics, as well as additional research labs and project space. To celebrate 100 years in existence, it decided to make significant upgrades to its science labs, as well as renovations to residence halls and athletic facilities
Other investments will include improvements to parking and transportation systems, landscaping and improved travel ways for cyclists and pedestrians.
“Our goal is to create a campus and a community for the decades to come and a physical environment that embodies the dreams and ambitions of our students,” University President Steven H. Kaplan said in a statement.
The University of New Haven, which has more than 7,000 students, was founded on the Yale campus in 1920 before eventually moving to West Haven.

Middletown leaders working to halt seawall sliding into Connecticut River

MIDDLETOWN — Officials are seeking help from local engineers, and state and federal authorities to help fix the rapidly growing and massive section of the retaining wall that is tumbling into the Connecticut River at Harbor Park.
The estimated 40-foot section of brownstone bulkhead that is falling, which perhaps dates back as far as the Civil War era, has grown significantly in the past 24 hours, city leaders said Monday afternoon as the river swelled to high tide. Another portion is leaning into the river at the northern area of the park known as Lions Landing.
A police officer on routine patrol at the park discovered the seawall had slid into the water last week and alerted city leaders, who met to discuss the worsening issue. They are operating on the assumption the big rainstorm July 17 exacerbated the problem.The damage is about 75 feet from where Route 9 passes along the river. Erosion isn’t expected to creep toward the highway at this point, officials said. There’s a lot of history down there. We don’t want to lose that,” Middletown Fire and Emergency Management Chief Robert Kronenberger said of the massive blocks of varying sizes that comprise the 10-foot-deep retaining wall.                        
The brownstone blocks, which most likely came from the Portland quarries, aren’t jutting out of the river because the water near the coastline there is deep — about 20 feet.
“The good thing is, we know where the brownstone is — on the bottom of the river. After hundreds of years of erosion, it finally gave way,” Kronenberger added.
The city has alerted the Army Corps of Engineers, state Department of Energy and Environmental Protection, Coast Guard and state Department of Transportation, and is taking estimates from several engineering firms to determine repair costs.
The Army Corps has jurisdictional responsibility over every navigable waterway in Connecticut, Deputy Director of Public Works Chris Holden said.
Presently, the damage is contained to Lions Landing, located north of the pedestrian tunnel. But the situation is in constant flux A cause has not been determined, Kronenberger said. In the meantime, metal fencing is in place, with orange webbing marking off the specific coastline affected. Already, public works crews have had to move back the safety barrier to prevent the curious from walking along that portion of the river.“We don’t really know, but it’s probably something that’s been brewing much longer than [the additional rain that fell over the weekend into Monday]. The wall’s been there [for hundreds of] years. We’ve seen plenty of rainstorms. Something else is going on,” Kronenberger said. CVLICK TITLE TO CONTINUE

Work begins to replace old gas lines along West Thames Street in Norwich

By Claire Bessette
Norwich – Norwich Public Utilities crews began a project Monday to replace nearly 2,000 feet of cast-iron natural gas piping with safer, modern piping along West Thames Street.
The work is being done between Dunham Street and Bushnell Place and should be completed by October.
As part of this project, NPU will replace old natural gas service lines to 24 residential customers.
“Investing in our infrastructure will make our natural gas system safer and more reliable for years to come,” NPU General Manager John Bilda said in a press release. “While we are committed to minimizing the inconvenience to the public as this important work moves forward, the safety of our employees and community will always be the first priority.”
Much of the cast-iron piping in this section of Norwich was installed in the 1920s. The work this summer will replace older pipe with polyethylene piping, which is more reliable, flexible and has a lifespan of more than 50 years, NPU officials said.
NPU crews will be working between 7 a.m. and 3:30 p.m. Monday through Friday each week. Flaggers will be in place to assist with traffic flow through the area.
NPU is reaching out to businesses along the construction route to minimize any impact on their operations.