Room 2E at the Legislative Office
Building
FOR THE PRESS
CONFERENCE TODAY!
Please
join us for a press conference as TRIP releases a new report on “Preserving
Connecticut’s Bridges – The condition and funding needs of CT’s aging bridge
system”.Date: TODAY!!! Thursday, September 20, 2018
Time: 9:30AM (Please arrive early)
Location: Legislative Office Building, 300 Capitol Avenue, Hartford
BRIDGEPORT — A construction company faces penalties of more than $140,000 after being cited for exposing employees to hazards at a work site in Bridgeport.
The U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration citedL.L.E. Construction LLC, a company based in South Carolina, for “exposing employees to fall and other hazards” at a Bridgeport site.
With the citation comes $146,554 in proposed penalties.
“OSHA inspectors observed employees installing shingles and a skylight without fall protection,” the Department of Labor said Wednesday.
“L.L.E. Construction and its owner disagrees with the violations as cited. Having said that, we will work together with representatives from OSHA to resolve these issues favorably,” said. Frank J. Riccio II, a Bridgeport-based attorney representing the company for this matter.
The company’s citation was for failing to provide its employees with fall protection, failing to train employees to recognize fall hazards, failure to properly anchor fall protection equipment, failure to provide eye protection and failure to have regular inspections of the work site, materials and equipment.
The Department of Labor said the citation also alleges that the company let employees work with damaged ladders, exposing them to falls from the ladders.
This isn’t the first time the company has been cited for some of these issues.“OSHA cited the company for fall and eye protection hazards in 2010, 2012 and 2013,” the Department of Labor said.
L.L.E Construction has 15 business days to comply, request a conference with OSHA’s area director or contest the findings before the Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission after receiving the citations and proposed penalties.
Employers are responsible for providing workers with safe and healthful workplaces under the Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970. OSHA role is to enforce standards and provide training, education and assistance as needed. More about OSHA can be found at https://www.osha.gov.
Bond Commission agenda includes three projects in Meriden, one in Plainville
The State Bond Commission will vote Thursday to fund $3 million to redesign a convoluted traffic triangle at the intersections of interstates 691 and 91 and Route 15 in Meriden.
The redesign costs are included in an agenda totaling $497.4 million in general obligation bonding for state infrastructure, economic development, social services and transportation projects. The commission, chaired by Gov. Dannel P. Malloy, is expected to authorize the release of funding for several large economic development projects in Hartford, as well as local projects impacting Meriden.
The commission will vote to allocate $3.5 million to assist with the next phase of the Harbor Brook flood control project in Meriden.
“I was very excited to see that on the agenda,” said Meriden City Planner Robert Seale. “This will help continue that flood work that needs to get done.”
The project consists of deepening and widening the channel between Coe Avenue and Cooper Street, construction of a sanitary sewer bridge behind Leslie Drive and construction of the adjacent portion of the Meriden Linear Trail
The award doesn’t cover the Cooper Street bridge work and city officials are in line for another $3 million to complete it.
The bridge work is necessary to redevelop property at 116 Cook Ave. because the brook runs through the rear of the parcel, Seale said.
The commission will also vote to award the Women and Families Center Inc. $3.5 million to build 12 units of supportive housing for homeless youth on Colony Street. The total cost is estimated at $4.3 million.
The proposal won city approval last year, Seale said, and involves razing the existing Women and Families Annex building at 183 Colony St. The apartments will be housed in a three-story building on the half-acre lot.
"It will be, in this area, the only project of its kind," Women and Families Center CEO Robyn Bage said last year. "There's a gap in services for this population — youth who are homeless or who engage in the very dangerous practice of couch surfing — who don't really have all the tools and strategies that they need to be self-sufficient."
Earlier this year, the state received $6.6 million in a federal grant to help with efforts to end youth homelessness by 2020. Connecticut was one of 10 communities in the U.S. chosen by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development from more than 130 applications.
Two years ago, the state approved spending $1 million to study and engineer solutions to the confounding triangle on the state’s highways. The recommendation for the Meriden highway was part of a $24 million first round of funding for Let’s Go CT!, a transportation infrastructure initiative introduced by Gov. Dannel P. Malloy and approved by the legislature in 2015.
The Meriden project is estimated to cost $88 million and was chosen because of “very high traffic volume at a very complex interchange,” DOT spokesman Judd Everhart said in 2015.
Plans call for work to the northbound and southbound sides of I-91 between exits 15 and 20 and an additional lane in each direction to allow for better traffic flow for vehicles getting on and off Route 15.
The agenda also includes $3.8 million for improvements to the Farmington Canal Heritage Trail in Plainville.
Malloy Looking To Borrow Hundreds Of Millions In Public Funds For Pet Projects Before Leaving Office
In the waning months of Gov. Dannel P. Malloy’s final term, the Democratic leader is trying to shore up public funds for an array of pet projects.
The State Bond Commission will meet Thursday to weigh subsidies for dozens of initiatives, including the first leg of a massive redevelopment effort north of Hartford’s downtown. Amid uncertainty about the next governor’s priorities, money for the project — and others — is on the fast track.
The city of Hartford has yet to sign a contract with would-be Downtown North developer Randy Salvatore, and the Capital Region Development Authority, the agency administering state funds for the project, has not approved the plans.
Hartford and CRDA leaders say the money would only be released once approvals are in place and financing for the deal closes.Hartford could certainly score big at the bond commission meeting, but the group will consider funding for a bevy of projects statewide. That includes $200 million for new school construction projects and $217,597 for a playground and splash pad at DeGale Field in New Haven.
Typically, once an item appears on the agenda, it is likely to pass because Malloy has secured behind-the-scenes support. Significant opposition is rare. In July, the commission voted 6-3 with one abstention to approve a controversial toll study for Connecticut highways.
Here are the highlights, by the numbers, of the funding that is being weighed by the bond commission.
Hartford Bonanza
Malloy, early in his first term, emerged as an ardent supporter of development in the capital city. Thursday’s bond commission agenda demonstrates that, with $49 million set aside for CRDA efforts in Hartford.
There is $16 million for a parking garage near the Bushnell Center for the Performing Arts, the first step toward redeveloping a sea of parking lots in the area. The commission will consider funding for three projects just north of downtown: $8.5 million for a loan to build a grocery store; $12 million for a loan to help build 200 apartments behind the Red Lion Hotel, the first phase of Downtown North; and $4 million to create a loan fund to renovate a block of historic buildings near Dunkin’ Donuts Park.
CRDA also would administer an $8.6 million loan to Spinnaker Real Estate Partners of Norwalk to develop apartments on the long desolate corner of Park and Main streets. The intersection is considered a southern gateway to downtown.
Beyond CRDA, there are other morsels for Hartford. They include $5 million to replace sidewalks, plant trees and support traffic calming measures across the city; $1 million for improvements to a track and field lighting at Hartford Public High School; $509,000 for upgraded traffic signal systems; and $3 million for improvements at The Bushnell.
Riverfront Improvements
Malloy is also making a last-minute push for upgrades to the picturesque riverfront in Hartford and East Hartford. The Riverwalk, a series of connected trails in parks along the Connecticut River, would be extended with the help of a $1 million subsidy from the bond commission.
The paved and lighted walkway runs for about two miles on the Hartford side of the river, from the Charter Oak Bridge to Riverside Park and the boathouse. The wider project to extend the path would take it two miles north, past the landfill parallel to I-91 and through to the edge of Windsor Meadows State Park. The bond commission funds would cover a portion of that extension, and allow organizers to begin work on a cove that is planned along the riverfront, where patrons could rent kayaks and canoes.
The commission is also weighing a $2.3 million contribution to the town of East Hartford, which would pay for improvements to a boat ramp and fishing pier at Great River Park, as well as the renovation of the Bulkeley Bridge overlook and stairs leading to the Founders Bridge — all part of the town’s riverfront area.
Brownfield Cleanup
The governor, long a champion of brownfield remediation, is seeking another round of funding for the effort. The bond commission will consider $10 million in grants and loans for additional cleanups across Connecticut.
The state Department of Economic and Community Development will sort out which sites take priority. Funds will be awarded to eligible applicants for the remediation of contaminated areas with the aim of bringing them back to productive use. In Hartford, officials are in talks with a California company to transform three properties along Homestead Avenue into a hydroponic farming facility. The parcels were once a brownfield site that was cleaned up with the help of state funds.
Connecticut Innovations
The bond commission will consider $50.8 million for CTNext, a division of the state’s lead investment arm, Connecticut Innovations. Among the programs run by the initiative is the Hartford InsurTech Hub, which boosted the growth of 10 new technology startups. Each of those companies developed next-generation insurance products, like cybersecurity for smart homes and automated water systems that prevent leaks and floods in apartment buildings. At least three of the startups were planning permanent moves to Hartford. Slew of Municipal Projects
Malloy has requested tens of millions from the bond commission for a string of projects in Connecticut towns. The money would cover everything from a $10 million effort to renovate the historic Odd Fellows Hall in Waterbury to a $100,000 subsidy for improvements to handball courts in Manchester.
A $3.5 million allocation for the next phase of the Harbor Brook Flood Control Project in Meriden, $575,000 for upgrades to little league fields in New Haven, and $217,000 to construct a playground and splash pad at DeGale Field in the city are also in the mix.
Committee backs $7.6 million plan to convert Litchfield courthouse into town hall
LITCHFIELD – A $7.6 million plan to convert the former Litchfield County courthouse into a town hall is being recommended to the Board of Selectmen by the town hall review committee.
The recommendation came during the committee’s meeting on Wednesday. Selectmen could begin discussing the recommendation on Oct. 2. By the end of the month, the selectmen would determine if the proposal for the former courthouse should be presented to voters in a referendum in December.
Committee members voting in favor of the recommendation were Chairman Jeffrey Zullo, a selectman, Richard Quay, Jason Travelstead and James Hilby. Lisa Losee, the town clerk, cast the lone vote against the measure.
It was Quay who made the motion to move the recommendation to the selectmen.
“At $7.6 million, we could make it into a perfectly adequate town hall, and we would save the building from other uses that might not be acceptable to the town,” Quay said.
The vote came after the committee was presented with refined estimates of the cost of converting the old courthouse and building a new town hall on the lot behind Town Hall.
The markup reflects the increase in design, construction and associated costs over the next year, since work on the former courthouse wouldn’t begin until late 2019 if the project were to be approved by voters.
Estimates on the cost of building a new town hall were $9.2 million by JLC Pre-Construction Services and $8.5 million by Burlington Construction. The estimates also include a 4 percent markup.
The refined estimates for both projects were higher than the preliminary estimates the committee received earlier in the month. Zullo said he believed the refined estimates were numbers the committee could rely on as it debated the two projects.
“A cost of $9.2 million is beyond the realm of the town, and $7.6 million, while high, would give the town a beautiful building that would once again be the icon of Litchfield,” Zullo said.
Travelstead, although he voted in support of the recommendation, said neither project is economically feasible for Litchfield.
“I don’t think either serves the town,” he said before the vote. “I hate to come to that conclusion, but I feel there are other things that could be considered regarding a town hall project moving forward.”
Losee again expressed concern about the layout of the town clerk’s office in the plan for the former courthouse. The location of the office’s vault, she said, is a problem.
“I’m not comfortable moving forward if we’re not sure this can be done properly,” Losee said. “I’m not convinced this is the best option for the town as far as efficiency and needs.”
Ann Combs, an alternate member of the committee who did not vote on the recommendation, said the proposal for the old courthouse is fraught with space problems for several town offices.
“From the standpoint of functionality, space and a positive working environment for employees, I can’t see this working,” Combs said.
The old courthouse is owned by the Greater Litchfield Preservation Trust, which wants to give the building to the town for use as a town hall. The trust’s president, Perley H. Grimes Jr., told the committee he believes the building can be converted for less than $7.6 million.