Seymour sues paving company to stop asphalt millings
SEYMOUR — Town officials are suing a paving company and two property owners for allegedly failing to take adequate measures to stop asphalt millings from entering wetlands and harming the environment.
The town and Inland Wetlands Commission recently filed the action in Superior Court in Milford against P & S Paving Inc., and John and Anna Fanotto of North Street, who own the property at 459 North Main St.
The town alleges regulated activity has been occurring on the North Main Street property since approximately June 2016.“P & S has been dumping piles of dirt, rock, and asphalt on the property and has been grinding asphalt with machinery, causing sediment, dust, and debris to shoot up into and spread throughout the air,” the complaint states
It claims the business has been moving materials near a wetlands and watercourse area.
In September 2017, two neighbors, Louis Gondolfo Jr. and Kim Bromley of North Main Street, complained in a letter to the commission about work at the site and asked for an investigation.“They dump piles of dirt, rock and asphalt and of late have also begun crushing asphalt on this site,” Gondolfo and Bromley wrote. “The dust and debris that they create is hazardous to the environment, including the water that is right up against this lot.... They are pushing the piles to the end of the lot near the water and it has to be falling and/or seeping into the water there.”
The town’s complaint alleges there aren’t any permanent erosion controls on the property.
“This condition fails to stop asphalt millings on the property and the resulting water runoff from entering the adjacent watercourse,” the complaint states.
According to the complaint, the town formally requested to inspect the property in September 2017, but the Fanottos refused.“The plaintiffs maintain a legitimate government interest in conducting an inspection of the property to ensure that it contains adequate erosion controls for the regulated activity,” the complaint states.
The complaint alleges violations of Seymour’s wetlands and zoning regulations and claims the defendants’ actions “create a continuing danger to the general public.”
The town is seeking an injunction to allow an inspection by a Seymour Inland Wetlands enforcement official and a town engineer. It asks the court to order that all regulated activity cease until the inspection is done. A court hearing is scheduled for Oct. 18.
Attorney Matthew Ciarleglio of the Bridgeport-based Cohen and Wolf is representing the town and wetlands officials. Ciarleglio declined to comment beyond what is outlined in court documents, citing pending litigation.
Attorney Dominick Thomas Jr. of Cohen & Thomas in Derby, who represents P & S Paving, said his client wants to work with the town to resolve the issue.“There is no damage and no proof of any damage to the wetlands,” Thomas said. “Hopefully, this can be resolved before a hearing. This lawsuit is a wetlands issue, and you can see the wetlands are in good condition.”
John Fanotto, a professional engineer and land surveyor, also denied any problems at the site, which is in an industrial zone. While the Fanottos own the site, P & S Paving is a tenant.
In a May 21, 2018, letter to the commission, John Fanotto indicated there has been no activity within the wetlands, and all stockpile areas have been protected with new silt fencing. According to Fanotto, an outlet culvert has been cleared of debris and is draining the site.
Fanotto said he is willing to cooperate with the town and has suggested two individuals to do an inspection, including James Galligan, a Seymour town engineer, or Fred D’Amico, city engineer with Ansonia.“Although I have no obligation, I will allow this inspection only under these conditions,” Fanotto wrote. “No other parties are to enter the site at any time.”
Reached by telephone this week, Fanotto said the town hasn’t responded to this suggestion.
“It is a very stable site,” Fanotto said. “There are no wetlands even being impacted. They are wasting everyone’s time and taxpayers’ money.”
Fanotto said the property is visible from Route 8 and North Main Street.
“It is not hidden in the woods. This is a fishing expedition — they are looking for a problem,” Fanotto said. “They are trying to impose new regulations on the property, but regulations are frozen at the point of application.”
According to Fanotto, his family has owned the property for over 100 years, and it has been used to stockpile material for over 70 years. The state of Connecticut used it during the construction of Route 8. The town of Seymour approached the family in 1975 to use the land for disposing tree stumps, leaves, and excavation material, documents show. The family also has allowed the land to be used for school bus and event parking, Fanotto said. CLICK TITLE TO CONTINUE
Projects for New Haven’s downtown entertainment district vary
NEW HAVEN — The competing projects to fill a large venue in the city’s downtown entertainment district represent solid, existing businesses looking to expand, but the similarities end there.
The New Haven Parking Authority wants to lease the estimated 10,000- to 11,000-square-foot former club space adjacent to the Crown Street garage to an organization that will draw the largest number of new patrons downtown with a positive spillover for the hospitality, retail and restaurant sectors.
A consortium that includes Long Wharf Theatre, the Shubert Theatre and Albertus Magnus College would split the space into a 200-seat theater on the main floor, with a 90-seat cabaret-style venue on the lower level. The current cocktail area at the shuttered club would be used for classrooms and a rehearsal area tied to the main productions, as well as enhancement of Albertus’s theater progr
The other bidder is the nonprofit New Haven Center for the Performing Arts that runs the College Street Music Hall across the street.
Keith Mahler, president of Premier Facilities LLC, the manager for NHCPA, said its plan is a smaller version of the current 2,000-seat music and comedy center at 238 College St., which opened in 2015. He referred to the new venture as District Ballroom.In addition to the different direction, the consortium is estimating a more expensive renovation and is looking for several financial waivers that Premier does not seek.
The authority, which only recently took ownership of the space following a long court battle with the last tenant, has a number of things it wants to accomplish.
The first is to enhance the city’s reputation as an arts and entertainment destination with more patrons making the trip here.
Joseph Rini, the authority’s attorney pointed out, after the bids were opened on Aug. 23, that its main job is to provide parking for the businesses downtown and to generate enough income to support its large operation. The use of this property is a revenue generator for the parking authority, in addition to a great opportunity to fill the last major arts space in the district.
The authority, after ranking the intrinsic value of the plans, will look at such things as requests for special tax treatment or rent reductions as a negative factor, when it weighs the pros and cons.
Rini made that general reference on Aug. 23 before the authority had looked at either of the submissions. The proposed terms and new uses for the site, which wraps the corner at 223 College St. and 215 and 239 Crown St., are very different.
Each of them voluntarily released the details of their proposals after submitting them to the Parking Authority in August. There were only two bidders even though some 50 people visited the site in an open house hosted by the authority.“We can’t go below a certain minimum,” Rini remarked when the bid submissions were announced.
One of those minimums is $6 per square foot. The other consideration is how much parking revenue is going to be generated by the proposed uses and how many people will be attracted to the new offerings.Despite the emphasis on certain financial terms set by the authority, the consortium’s plan requested that the $60,000 signing fee be waved as well as the requested PILOT (payment in lieu of taxes.) The PILOT would be based on the assessed value of the property as of June 1 of each year and calculated at the tax rate set by the alders. The consortium also requested that the rent be waived for the first five years of the lease, given the financial investment it will have to make. Rent payment would then be $6 per square foot in years 6 through 10 of the lease, according to its plan.
Premiere Facilities is not looking to waive five years of rent payments, nor is it taking issue with the $60,000 signing fee. Both bidders said they would have to gut the current structure. The consortium estimated it would have to invest $5.7 million to renovate and bring the 10,000-square-foot space up to code. District Ballroom estimated its construction costs at $2 million, almost two-thirds less
The theaters and Albertus said their project would bring 51,000 new patrons to downtown with attendance up to 56,464 by the third year. Premiere estimated it would serve 2,500 ticket-holders weekly for more than 100,000 visits over a year. CLICK TITLE TO CONTINUE
With construction jobs booming, extra hands scarce
They show up most every day, hard hats in hand, and put in a full day riveting together the buildings sprouting across southwestern Connecticut, whether new homes in Greenwich, huge structures like the SoNo Collection mall taking shape in Norwalk, or renovations at schools and other buildings across the region.
These days they are getting harder to find — with implications for the costs and timelines of projects that would not be built without their work.
In an Associated General Contractors survey with Autodesk of more than 165 Northeast builders published recently of contractors looking to hire hourly tradesmen for construction jobs, 86 percent said they had difficulties filling those jobs.
Only one in 10 Northeast builders had no jobs to fill, according to the AGC survey, highlighting the difficulties facing contractors and their clients as private-sector employment in Connecticut and the nation continues to climb even as foundations are poured for new projects.
In southwestern Connecticut where a slow-growing employment market has become the new norm, builders were a notable outlier, adding 1,400 jobs in the past year — an 11 percent hiring clip that was among the 21 fastest rates in the nation, according to AGC.
Higher prices with ‘a full belly’The effect of worker shortages is cascading into projects, according to AGC. Nearly half of U.S. general contractors told the association it is taking them longer to complete projects. About a quarter say they are baking longer timelines into their bids for future work in anticipation of problems securing qualified tradespeople.
“Remember that (when) the construction industry in Connecticut was struggling with an aging workforce problem before the downturn, that situation was exacerbated when the industry had to scale back on its training programs for years because (the state) did not want to train people for unemployment,” said Don Shubert, head of the Connecticut Construction Industries Association. “Now the industry is faced with a five- or six-year skills gap. The good news is that we have very well-established, privately funded apprenticeship training programs that can be easily ramped up to meet demand if work stabilizes again.” Mark De Pecol ran a construction company before creating Senior Living Development, which has offices in Norwalk and Westport. SLD got senior communities designed and approved before selling the turnkey projects to other developers to build and run.
“It’s all cyclical,” De Pecol told Hearst Connecticut Media. “The labor market tightens up and (labor) prices go up. Contractors who have a full belly quote higher prices. Things turn, and they get hungry again.”
A mechanism for foreign-born workersStill, AGC found that wages have been slower to follow, with 62 percent of construction firms nationally reporting they had increased their base pay for craftsmen as a result of hiring difficulties. Only one in four added benefits or incentive pay such as bonuses to lure workers.
AGC sees immigration as one answer to the problem, saying the U.S. government should issue more visas to people with construction skills. And it would double funding for workforce development.
“The broken immigration system is a prime area to look to address the worker shortage with an estimated 10 million unauthorized individuals in the United States without the ability to lawfully work for employers,” AGC said in a late August study of how to improve the number of qualified tradespeople. “The lack of a legal visa program for construction workers and a recent tightening of legal immigration will worsen worker shortages if not addressed comprehensively. True reform must include a mechanism for construction industry employers to hire the temporary foreign-born workers they need when American workers are unavailable and economic demand merits.”
Cheshire celebrates opening of new linear trail section
CHESHIRE — Children who grew up learning to bike on the fledgling Farmington Heritage Canal Trail decades ago can now ride 34 uninterrupted miles with the unveiling of the completed 0.8 mile gap on Sunday.
“I used to play down there, so it’s incredible to see this developing,” said Jeffrey Guimond, who grew up near the trail in Cheshire. He is also one of the three co-owners of Ball and Socket Arts, a developing arts center adjacent to the West Main Street trail crossing.
“It really is going to create a pedestrian centric entertainment and cultural district,” he said. “I think it will bring more awareness to the neighborhood.”
Cheshire was one of the first towns to build part of the trail in 1993 with the section from South Brooksvale Road to Cornwall Ave. It now stretches from New Haven to Westfield, Mass., with only one gap in Plainville, which is currently awaiting funding.
"It became such an attraction that people from all over the region were drawn here and all over the state because many communities wanted to emulate what happened here," said former Town Manager Michael Milone, who added he’s been on the trail with his wife at least five days a week since retiring earlier this year. ““Our biggest hope is it will be a major economic development catalyst. The whole idea was to bring people down here.”
The project was stalled for years after a nearby business filed a lawsuit against the town to block construction. The alignment of the path was subsequently changed, which required building a concrete walkway over wetlands. The West Main Street crossing also features parking and bathrooms on Railroad Avenue.
Sunday’s ceremony also saw the dedication of a memorial garden in memory of Michaela Petit, who was killed in a Cheshire home invasion in 2007.
“It’s hard to put into words what it means. It gives a lot of joy to our family,” said Hanna Petit Chapman, Michaela’s aunt. “It will be a nice place to reflect.”
"This is what transforms the state of Connecticut,” said Department of Transportation Commissioner James Redeker, who led the effort to secure state funding for much of the trail. “It provides affordable transportation via biking and walking, while improving health and the vibrancy of communities along the way.”
According to Redeker, every dollar spent on trails returns $10 in commercial development and raised property values along its pathway, making the $4 million project a strong investment.
“I do think that trails are a really critical asset for our communities,” he said.
Project Manager Scott Bushee called his work on the trail “the most exciting project” he’s done during his time at the Department of Transportation.
“It’s very rewarding...it affects so many people’s lives,” he said.
Interest groups tangle over fracking waste ban ordinances
Matt Pilon
The Connecticut Conference of Municipalities (CCM) and a nonprofit called Food & Water Watch have come out swinging in recent weeks, accusing each other of promoting local fracking-waste bans that will be harmful in different ways.
While Connecticut lacks extractable natural gas deposits, the concern is that fracking — which involves drilling into rock with pressurized water to extract oil or gas — in other regions of the country could lead to waste products being used, dumped or treated in waste facilities here.
In short, CCM says Food & Water Watch's policy language goes too far in what it bans, which could cause problems for local road and infrastructure projects. Food & Water Watch counters that CCM doesn't go far enough, increasing the risk of fracking waste contamination that could include elevated levels of radium.
Food & Water Watch, which pushed for New York's fracking ban in 2014 and also advocates against corporate control of food and water, appears to be in the lead. It says 49 Connecticut municipalities have passed ordinances it favors. Meanwhile, CCM released its own model ordinance Aug. 23, saying it's concerned that local governments are being pressured to pass regulations they may realize later are "overly expansive."
"If municipalities are going to enact ordinances, they should be mindful of economic development implications," said Joe DeLong, CCM's executive director.
Local and state
The flurry of local activity comes as the Department of Energy and Environmental Protection (DEEP) missed a July 1 deadline set by the legislature to issue regulations regarding the storage and disposal of fracking waste. There's been a moratorium on fracking waste since 2014, which will remain in effect until DEEP issues the regulations, but Food & Water Watch argues that certain potential toxins are permitted under the current regulatory scheme. The group also worries there may be loopholes in whatever rules DEEP puts forth.
CCM has urged DEEP and the legislature to regulate fracking waste statewide, rather than leave it to 169 cities and towns. But the lobbyist for municipalities says DEEP's delay and Food & Water Watch's advocacy spurred it to act.
One key difference between the ordinances is how broadly they define waste.
CCM's ordinance prohibits the collection, receipt, storage, treatment, transfer or disposal of any waste from fracking, but allows the use of oil and gas products for road or driveway resurfacing and manufacturing processes, as long as they are approved for use by DEEP.
Food & Water Watch promotes a wider ban. For example, an ordinance passed last year in Meriden states the following: "The application of natural gas waste or oil waste, whether or not such waste has received beneficial use determination or other approval for use by DEEP or any other regulatory body, on any road or real property located within the city for any purpose is prohibited."
That goes beyond the current state moratorium, according to Food & Water Watch, and could ban materials such as drilling muds, brine mix and other wastes that result from non-fracking oil and gas drilling.
CCM, which consulted with the construction industry and local leaders on its ordinance, says some towns are unable to obtain a qualified bidder for road projects because contractors are unable to guarantee their materials are free of banned substances.
It says the ordinances have "paralyzed many [municipalities] from performing any infrastructure improvements or road projects, effectively chilling the economic development environment for many communities."
Food & Water Watch says that's a "dubious" claim lacking evidence.
"Towns that have passed such strict ordinances banning fracking waste have not experienced the adverse consequences," Food & Water Watch said.
Food & Water Watch says its ordinance language is similar to what's been passed in many areas of New York, and noted that some local boards that have approved the ordinance are CCM members.
" … If towns adopt [CCM's] ordinance, they could leave themselves open to public health problems and costly remediation," said Jen Siskin, Food & Water Watch's local coordinator.
CRDA Explores Scaled-Back Renovation For Hartford's XL Center Arena
With legislative support for a $250 million makeover of the XL Center a non-starter, the quasi-state agency that oversees the aging arena is exploring a downsized version that would eliminate the biggest expense: adding a second concourse.
The Capital Region Development Authority has asked SCI Architects of New York and Stafford Sports, a sports and entertainment consulting firm in New Jersey, to develop options for a makeover that could cost between $75 million and $100 million.
SCI and Stafford partnered on developing the $250 million plan that was backed by CRDA’s board in late 2016. But the vision did not muster enough support in the state legislature, as lawmakers wrestled with a spiraling budget deficit.
Gov. Dannel P. Malloy, a long-time supporter of a full-blown renovation, attempted in the last legislative session to secure $100 million for the XL but the push went nowhere.
Michael W. Freimuth, CRDA’s executive director, said Friday the scaled-down version would have a similar goal as the grander vision: make the money-losing arena profitable.
Further investment would make the 43-year-old arena more competitive; add more concessions, restaurants and bars; and save money on what it takes the run the venue because aging mechanical systems could be replaced.
Without the addition of a second concourse to the upper level, Freimuth said a scaled-back renovation would likely split the arena into two halves. The lower half would be converted into premium seating — loge seating, bunker suites and other arrangements — reflecting the trend in modern arena placing the best seats closest to the action. The XL Center suites are now at the top of the arena.
Premium seating could have its own amenities and restrooms thereby eliminating much of the need to walk into the concourse during events, cutting down on congestion, Freimuth said.
More premium seating would be more profitable because, in theory, those patrons would spend more for customized food and beverage services. The scaled-back plan could result in a design with fewer seats. The upper half of the arena would remain general admission, but to further cut down on congestion, the concourse would be pushed out into the existing atrium outside the existing entrance off Trumbull Street.
“We take pressure off the concourse in a different way by putting amenities, entertainment and [food and beverage] options into the atrium area,” Freimuth said during a meeting of the committee of CRDA’s board of directors that oversees venues such as the XL Center.
As with the premium seating, shorter wait lines would likely make concession in general admission more profitable.
SCI and Stafford also are talking to the University of Connecticut — a major tenant with its basketball and hockey programs — about the potential for positioning the arena as a “college building” rather than a “professional team” building.
“It doesn’t foreclose options of going bigger later, but it does offer us another way of going and perhaps saving the construction budget,” Freimuth said.
The move to downsize the renovation comes as CRDA is negotiating with a potential buyer for the XL Center, Oak Street Real Estate Capital, a Chicago private equity firm. The legislature ordered that a sale be explored in 2017.
After Friday’s meeting, Freimuth said the scaled-back approach could work either with Oak Street — should a deal be reached — or on its own.
Even if an acceptable scaled-back plan emerges, there are still significant obstacles to any renovation.
The state legislature must still approve the funding. There is a significant divide between lawmakers who say it is time to stop borrowing to invest in the aging arena and those who say the XL Center is key to the city’s revitalization.
On top of that, CRDA must negotiate the purchase of the atrium and the surrounding retail space from owner Northland Investment Corp. So far, those efforts have been unsuccessful.
A push this summer by CRDA to possibly acquire the space — running from the driveway to the Hartford 21 apartment tower north to Church Street — by eminent domain touched off a nasty public spat between CRDA and Northland Chief Executive Larry Gottesdiener. CRDA has backed off, at least for now.
Spending on big-ticket improvements for the arena has ramped up in recent years. In 2014, the legislature approved $35 million to spruce up a drab interior, adding new seating, upgrading fire systems so interior doors could be removed and creating a bar facing the arena.
The idea was to extend the life of the arena until a long-term plan was developed. Meanwhile, another $3.5 million was spent on ice-making system for the arena’s rink and other improvements.
In 2017, the legislature backed another $40 million to purchase the Trumbull Block and make improvements that would make the arena attractive to a purchaser.
“We take pressure off the concourse in a different way by putting amenities, entertainment and [food and beverage] options into the atrium area,” Freimuth said during a meeting of the committee of CRDA’s board of directors that oversees venues such as the XL Center.
As with the premium seating, shorter wait lines would likely make concession in general admission more profitable.
SCI and Stafford also are talking to the University of Connecticut — a major tenant with its basketball and hockey programs — about the potential for positioning the arena as a “college building” rather than a “professional team” building.
“It doesn’t foreclose options of going bigger later, but it does offer us another way of going and perhaps saving the construction budget,” Freimuth said.
The move to downsize the renovation comes as CRDA is negotiating with a potential buyer for the XL Center, Oak Street Real Estate Capital, a Chicago private equity firm. The legislature ordered that a sale be explored in 2017.
After Friday’s meeting, Freimuth said the scaled-back approach could work either with Oak Street — should a deal be reached — or on its own.
Even if an acceptable scaled-back plan emerges, there are still significant obstacles to any renovation.
The state legislature must still approve the funding. There is a significant divide between lawmakers who say it is time to stop borrowing to invest in the aging arena and those who say the XL Center is key to the city’s revitalization.
On top of that, CRDA must negotiate the purchase of the atrium and the surrounding retail space from owner Northland Investment Corp. So far, those efforts have been unsuccessful.
A push this summer by CRDA to possibly acquire the space — running from the driveway to the Hartford 21 apartment tower north to Church Street — by eminent domain touched off a nasty public spat between CRDA and Northland Chief Executive Larry Gottesdiener. CRDA has backed off, at least for now.
Spending on big-ticket improvements for the arena has ramped up in recent years. In 2014, the legislature approved $35 million to spruce up a drab interior, adding new seating, upgrading fire systems so interior doors could be removed and creating a bar facing the arena.
The idea was to extend the life of the arena until a long-term plan was developed. Meanwhile, another $3.5 million was spent on ice-making system for the arena’s rink and other improvements.
In 2017, the legislature backed another $40 million to purchase the Trumbull Block and make improvements that would make the arena attractive to a purchaser.