Tuesday, October 30, 2018
10am (Please arrive early)MDC Parking Lot – 231 BRAINARD Road, Hartford (THE SAME LOCATION AS THE FEBRUARY PRESS CONFERENCE)
The American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) will be releasing their Connecticut Infrastructure Report Card on:
Roads, Bridges, Rail, Clean Water, and Waste Water.
This is our last opportunity to show support for infrastructure investments before election day.
Please join us as we make a strong showing that infrastructure investments mean jobs and a better Connecticut!Voters to decide if state should create ‘legal lockbox’ for transportation costs
When Connecticut voters head to the polls Nov. 6 they will decide the fate of two proposed amendments to the state Constitution.
And, according to some, they also will set the stage for whether Connecticut will begin a long-overdue rebuild of its aging transportation network.
One of the proposed amendments, which has gotten a hefty share of headlines over the past three years, involves creating a legal “lockbox” to safeguard the gasoline tax and other related revenues from being spent on non-transportation purposes.
The second, which has been relegated to a much lower profile, would reform — but not end —the longstanding practice of conveying surplus state property to municipalities and other entities in the waning hours of the annual legislative session.
Nearly a decade of diverting transportation funds
For years, the “lockbox” has been touted as the best defense against the tendencies of elected officials to redirect fuel tax revenues for non-transportation purposes.
The “lockbox” language effectively states that once a revenue source — such as Connecticut’s 25 cents-per-gallon retail gasoline tax — is dedicated to the budget’s Special Transportation Fund — it cannot be removed unless it is repealed entirely.
“This is an absolute priority if the state is going to move forward with any type of meaningful infrastructure rebuild,” said Don Shubert, president of the Connecticut Construction Industry Association and one of the founders of Move CT Forward — a coalition of construction businesses, trades and other transportation advocates.
“It’s not like the state is flush with money,” said former Lt. Gov. Michael Fedele, one of the leaders of Securing Connecticut’s Future, another coalition of business and labor groups backing the lockbox. “We’re looking at billion-dollar budget deficits and we don’t have a strategy to protect these transportation funds.”
And while some in political circles like to debate what does or does not constitute a “raid” of transportation funds, Shubert has no interest in parsing out rhetoric. “Transportation advocates have a long memory,” he said. “We know Connecticut is very good at not maximizing its ability to fund transportation.”
That was supposed to change in 2005 when then-Gov. M. Jodi Rell and the legislature launched an aggressive series of gasoline tax increases in 2005. They thought that modest consumer pain would be offset by a transformed transportation network.
As gas prices skyrocketed, tax revenues grew by more than double what was expected. Those tax increases became a cash cow for the state.
Meanwhile, transportation spending limped along, as non-transportation programs gobbled up fuel revenues in good economic times and bad.
After three summers’ worth of tax increases, the retail price of gasoline in Connecticut topped $4.30 per gallon by the spring of 2008. It would take the Great Recession to bring prices down dramatically.
But between 2005 and 2013, about $1.27 billion raised by the tax has been spent on non-transportation programs.
By the end of his first term in office, Gov. Dannel P. Malloy would wean the budget’s General Fund off fuel tax receipts.
Transportation rebuild bogs down
Then, in early 2015, Malloy asked lawmakers to launch a 30-year, $100 billion rebuild of Connecticut’s transportation infrastructure, warning that decades of neglect had left the state’s highways, bridges and rail lines overcrowded and badly in need of repair while creating an economic drag.
That initiative bogged down, however, as neither the governor nor lawmakers from either party would propose tolls — or any other major revenue-raiser — to pay for this initiative beyond the first few years.
Malloy instead formed the Transportation Finance Panel, a panel of experts who identified billions of dollars in revenue-raising options centered chiefly on establishing electronic tolling on Connecticut highways.
But he declined to support any of the recommendations until lawmakers endorsed a “lockbox” amendment.And while the transportation fund, on paper, is projected to run surpluses over the next four fiscal years, the administration says that’s based on the dangerous assumption that Connecticut will ignore dozens of necessary strategic projects, costing billions of dollars, in the coming years.
Some of the key projects on that list include:
- Replacing the elevated section of I-84 in Hartford, commonly known as the viaduct.
- Renovating the “Mixmaster” junction of I-84 and Route 8 in Waterbury.
- Widening Interstate 95 in southwestern Connecticut.
GOP: Lockbox can be picked
Republican lawmakers have been unanimous in their opposition to tolls. The GOP has countered that Connecticut must better prioritize its transportation program, and borrowing in general, to free up more dollars for infrastructure improvements. The governor and some of his fellow Democrats in the legislature counter this would barely provide enough resources for basic maintenance.
Some in the GOP also argue that the lockbox is nothing more than the first step toward electronic tolling.
“Democrats seem intent not on dedicating transportation revenue for transportation projects that will allow us to eventually improve our infrastructure and decrease taxes and fees, but, instead, to gradually garner popular support for tolls,” Rep. Richard Smith, R-New Fairfield, wrote in an Oct. 19 op-ed published in CT Viewpoints, the CT Mirror’s opinion website.
And House Minority Leader Themis Klarides, R-Derby, says the stakes are too high, and not just because transportation officials estimate tolls could collect $600 million to $800 million annually from motorists.
Klarides says the lockbox is flawed, and too easy for the legislature to crack open and raid.
What happens if lawmakers repeal an existing tax, such as the levy on wholesale fuel transactions, and replace it with a slightly modified version?
The current tax is calculated based on a percentage of the wholesale price. But the same $280 million that tax is projected to raise this fiscal year also could be generated using a formula based on pennies per gallon.
Could this be identified as a brand new tax, and some of the revenue assigned not to transportation, but to the General Fund?
And what if, rather than trying to shift tax dollars out of the transportation fund, legislators instead shift expenses into that portion of the budget? Could certain costs tied to non-transportation programs be billed to the Special Transportation Fund?
Klarides and other Republicans wanted a lockbox system that gave the Judicial Branch authority to review all fiscal workings. That was not included in the amendment.
“This is a way to pull the wool over the people of Connecticut’s eyes and to lull them into a false sense of security,” Klarides said. “We need to vote it down and start from scratch. Give the citizens of Connecticut a lockbox that works.”
Malloy: Transportation is key to economic competition
Former state Rep. Cameron Staples, who chaired the Transportation Finance Panel, said “there are always ways to imagine commitments in the future being changed. But what you have to look at today is a coalescing of support for a major infrastructure investment. … I think the politicians are going to be pretty hard-pressed to divert funds away from that.”
Republicans and Democrats have been saying they wanted this for years,” the governor added. “Republicans decried the failure to have this and so I’m proud to have been the governor who got it through the legislature.”
In addition, Malloy said, some don’t understand “how good this is. … One of the reasons we fell so far behind Massachusetts, New York and New Jersey in transportation is people in the legislature, Republicans and Democrats, and a Republican governor, were literally stealing transportation money.
“ … If you want to go back to the good-old bad days, go ahead.”
New limits proposed on state property transfers
The second proposed amendment on the Nov. 6 would prohibit the legislature from selling, conveying, or swapping state land or buildings without first holding a public hearing.
The legislature traditionally closes the regular session each spring by enacting an omnibus bill with dozens of property conveyances. In most cases the property is not sold, but transferred to a municipality.
But while that bill is raised in a committee, it typically is chock full of last-minute additions that never have been subjected to a hearing.
“Some of it is habit, but it is certainly a bad habit,” said Eric Hammerling, executive director of the Connecticut Forest and Park Association, whose group supports the ballot question.
The association expressed concerns this year when the longtime site of a farmers’ market in Hartford — about 34 acres between Interstates 84 and 91 and overseen by the Department of Agriculture — was transferred to the Capital Region Development Authority.
The CRDA is studying redevelopment options, but Hammerling says any future plans should have been established, and discussed, before the transfer.
“Because the public lands are owned by the public,” he added, “the public should have the ability to provide input.”
Derby is paving Wakelee Avenue Friday, from Franklin to Dwight streets
Jean Falbo-Sosnovich
ANSONIA — Starting Friday, paving will begin on another stretch of Wakelee Avenue, from Franklin to Dwight streets.That’s according to Mayor David Cassetti, who advised residents to park their cars on nearby side roads or at Nolan Field at night during the paving process.
Paving of this latest 900-foot stretch of Wakelee Avenue is expected to wrap up Nov. 2. Work is slated to take place from 7 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday through Friday.
“I’m particularly thrilled,” she said, noting during her first week on the job a few years back, Cassetti asked her if she could secure a grant for Wakelee Avenue.
O’Malley succeeded in getting state money, and said she couldn’t have done it without help from Rick Dunne, executive director of Naugatuck Valley Council of Governments, the state Department of Transportation and VHB Engineering.Cassetti thanked residents for their cooperation and told them to stay tuned for a grand opening.
Reconstruction of the historic Wakelee Avenue got underway last April. The $5.2 million project will give a much-needed facelift to the heavily traveled road that spans from Seymour to Derby. The project is being funded by $4.4 million in state bonding, along with an additional $441,000 in state contingency funds and $441,000 from the city.
J.Iapaluccio Construction of Brookfield is in charge of the project.
The project calls for straightening, milling and paving the slightly more than mile-long buckled, patched roadway which many residents have likened to a roller coaster ride. Cassetti previously told the registerthe entire surface is being dug up, and the asphalt covered turn-of-the century trolley tracks underneath removed and new drainage and catch basins installed.
All of the deteriorated sidewalks on both sides of the street will be demolished and a new base with cement will be installed. Corners will have granite curbs cut for handicapped access while, street lights will be installed every 75 feet.
What won’t be replaced, according to Cassetti, are the cement block horse ties or the Pork Hollow monument installed in 1901 in front of Klanko’s Market. The monument commemorates the actions of colonial soldiers and civilians who hid provisions, particularly pork, from an invading British Army in 1777.The entire project is expected to be complete by Dec. 1.
Wakelee Avenue is home to dozens of 1900-era multi-family homes and businesses.Route 9 improvement project in Middletown to begin construction in spring
Cassandra Day
MIDDLETOWN — The state is moving ahead with three portions of the project to remove traffic signals on Route 9 and make improvements to Main Street, as well as opening access to an isolated neighborhood in the North End that has been closed off for decades.
The overall price tag for the project is $70.75 million. Eighty percent of the costs would be borne by the federal government and 20 percent by the state.
The off-ramps at Exit 16 north onto Hartford Avenue and Exit 15 south onto Washington Street (St. John’s Square) would be eliminated, according to the proposal.
“We’re not moving forward without another public info meeting,” according to Connecticut Department of Transportation Project Engineer Erik Jarboe. That meeting is expected to take place some time in the spring,
“The large-scale project — the flyover or bridges or whatever we do to remove the signals — has its own hang-ups, but it seemed pretty clear everybody was on board,” he said.State engineers will be reimagining the project, trying to come up with some other possible options.
“We’re going to look at that all over again”, and bring it to the public,” Jarboe said. “Do we go with one of these two options we already came up with? Is there something else? So far, we’re not seeing anything else that we potentially could do, so we’re revisiting all that to determine what direction we want to go in.”
That would entail incorporating input from city officials, residents and commuters as well as the project’s needs.“We’re still in the scoping phase of all that,” he said.
Public concerns, which include safety issues, have factored into the project since its inception. The most recent available statistics, from Jan. 1, 2015, to Dec. 31, 2017, show there were 528 collisions, which caused 121 injuries, including a single fatality, on state roads within the project limits of all three projects, according to the DOT.
Jarboe said the DOT is constantly balancing the goals of the project between public comments and what residents did and didn’t like about the plan for each one of the concepts.
“We’re rehashing it all,” Jarboe said.The second phase is the creation of 18 bump-outs, or curb extensions, to ease pedestrian volume for those crossing Main Street downtown. The distance is 97 feet long, and signals allow a full 28 seconds for walkers to make their way across. In all, bump-outs are expected to reduce the pedestrian crossing distance to 55 feet.
Construction on that portion will begin in the spring.By late summer, improvements to St. Johns Square, which includes redoing the entire intersection, will begin. Included in that project will be a “short, dedicated right-turn lane” from Main Street south onto Route 66/Washington Street near Luce Restaurant. Presently, Main Street is two lanes and motorists often take right turns on red by driving over the parking stalls that line the west side of Main, officials said.That phase will be launched in late summer. Jarboe anticipates there will be a loss of a couple parking spots. “It’s a little bit further behind: We have some rights of way to acquire and things like that,” he said. As a direct result of the info sessions in the spring, the state has initiated another project to reopen the rail crossing at Portland Street in the North End, which has been fenced off for decades. That plan will have its own set of challenges, so the state will work with the rail company to make that happen, Jarboe said.Motorists would again have access to the Miller/Bridge neighborhood through Portland Street. Once complete, cars will have access to Main Street south and Route 66 east and the Arrigoni Bridge through St. Johns Square, as well as North Main Street via St. Johns Street, which runs under the Portland Bridge.Once that is complete, Miller Street will be closed off.
Now, access to the Miller and Bridge street area is only from Route 9 south, a very dangerous endeavor on this fast-moving highway yards away from an uncommon traffic light. Drivers are forced to take a right-hand turn into the neighborhood from the north. To exit, motorists turn right with southbound traffic. Over the years, there have been multiple of accidents there at Exit 16.One of the big concerns is school buses that carry children to and from the neighborhood.
“We’re all kind of scratching our heads here, saying, ‘Why is this not already done?’” Jarboe said.
For project information, visit ct.gov/dot.
Developer of downtown Meriden apartment complex still waiting for funding
Jeniece Roman
MERIDEN — The construction of 81 apartment units at 11 Crown St. remains on hold until funding for the project is finalized.
Laura Zaner, spokeswoman for the New Jersey-based developer Michaels Organization, said funding should be secured in the coming months.
“We are working towards a financial closing before construction will start,” Zaner said. “Once the funding is secured construction will immediately begin.”
The former Record-Journal building was demolished in 2017. The city paid $495,000 for the 109-year old building and property in May 2014, using a U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development Sustainable Communities Challenge grant.
The city utilized $1,725,000 in funding it received from the Department of Economic and Community Development to pay for cleanup and demolition.
Economic Development Director Juliet Burdelski said the city completed soil cleanup in April. Construction was also pushed back because a transformer needed to be removed.
“We realized an electric transformer was located behind the building and we planned to remove it,” Burdelski said.
Burdelski said the removal of the electric transformer proved to be more complicated than expected due to its large size.
“We’re back on track and should be moving back to the plan,” Burdelski said.
In May, Burdelski and others were optimistic work might begin over the summer.
N.Y. developer submits plan for 151-room hotel at Hale Mill in Norwich
Claire Bessette
Norwich — A New York developer has submitted plans to convert the granite and brick former Hale Mill in Yantic into a 151-room hotel with several amenities.
Mill Development LLC of Woodside, N.Y., which purchased the mill for $826,000 on June 1, submitted three sets of plans to the city Planning and Neighborhood Services Department for inland wetlands, site development and special permits needed for the project.
The plans call for converting the historical four-story, nearly 100,000-square-foot mill into a 151-room hotel with a swimming pool, fitness room, lounge with breakfast area, beauty salon and an 11,300-square-foot multipurpose venue.
The project needs approval first by the city’s Inland Wetlands, Watercourses and Conservation Commission, which may decide to schedule a public hearing on the application, City Planner Deanna Rhodes said. If the wetlands commission grants approval, the project would move to the Commission on the City Plan, which must schedule a public hearing on the requested special permit, because the 5-acre property near the Yantic River is in a floodplain. The project needs a site development plan by the planning commission.
Rhodes said the wetlands commission will review the project at its Dec. 6 meeting and the planning commission could hold a public hearing either at the Dec. 18 meeting or in January.
Gadi Ben Hamo, co-owner of Mill Development LLC, said the development group does not yet have a brand affiliation for the hotel, named “Hale Mill Hotel” on the plans. But Hamo said the group is considering some “well-known” names and is awaiting approval of the permits before deciding.
Hamo said the group was attracted to the property for several reasons, including its proximity to the New London ferries for visitors to the region from the Hamptons in Long Island, the location near the region’s two major casinos, the William W. Backus Hospital and other local attractions.
“And also, the building,” Hamo said. “It’s such a beautiful building.”
That project met with financial difficulties, with on and off construction over the years until construction stopped for good in 2007 amid a bitter partnership dispute and complex mortgage foreclosure action. The mill failed to sell at two auctions in 2011 and was purchased the next year by a Harlem-based developer for $209,000. Eggoman LLC sold the property to Hamo in June.
Hamo said Thursday his hotel plan cannot use much of the previous construction — which included framed hotel rooms with bathrooms partially fitted out in some areas of the building — saying the work is not suitable to the new plan.
Mayor Peter Nystrom said Thursday that city and Norwich Public Utilities officials met with the hotel developer and assisted with the group’s interest in purchasing the building. City officials met with the new owners and explained city utilities and city services.
Nystrom said NPU General Manager John Bilda “was instrumental in making that project go forward.”
NPU spokesman Chris Riley said the Yantic Mill area currently has NPU electricity, water and sewer services, and NPU officials are working with the developer to determine if natural gas makes sense for their project.
“As always, NPU is supportive of any reasonable project, big or small, that will add to the tax base of Norwich,” Riley said.
Newington PZC nixes affordable housing complex
Joe Cooper
Newington's Planning and Zoning Commission on Wednesday voted against a $32 million-plus affordable-housing development proposed near one of Newington's CTfastrak busway stations.
Town Planner Craig Minor said the zoning commission voted 4-2 against the development at 550 Cedar St. amid safety concerns.
A key part of the denial, Minor said, had to do with the need for a sidewalk to connect the three building, 108-unit apartment complex on land owned by Stop & Shop Supermarket to the CTfastrak bus station.
Massachusetts developer-landlord Dakota Partners Inc. offered to fund the sidewalk installation and pledged to work with the state Department of Transportation to mitigate safety concerns.
The sidewalk plan, however, was not feasible based on the steep topography of the land, Minor said.
The town planner said there is a lack of shoulder room to fit a sidewalk, making it "difficult if not impossible" to create enough space from traffic. Minor said the sidewalk would have also not complied with requirements under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA).
"The commission just felt it was unsafe," Minor said of sidewalk's uncertainty. "There was no way to guarantee there would be sidewalks from the CTfastrak station."
Residents during public comments aired concerns over an increase in traffic, but Minor said the commission agreed the traffic impact would have been minimal.
Dakota Partners, which also owns Hartford's Capitol Lofts and 179 Allyn St. apartment buildings, may appeal the decision as the town has less than 10 percent affordable housing, Minor said.
"I imagine they will appeal," he said. "They have put a lot of effort into the project at this point, it seems likely they will try to get it approved through the appeal process."
A spokeswoman for Dakota Partners on Thursday said the developer has not made a decision on whether to appeal Wednesday's decision.
Under the site application, Dakota Partners pitched a three-building complex at the long-vacant lot spanning over 7.7 acres. The complex, billed as Cedar Pointe, was aimed at low-income residents at the former site of automobile dealership Crest Motors.
If approved, the developer had planned to break ground in spring 2019 with an estimated completion in 12 to 14 months.
The proposal called for 81 two-bedroom units and 27- one-bedroom units and 152 parking spots.
Rents ranged from $410 to $1,046 for one bedroom and $486 to $1,240 for two-bedroom units.