Mary E. O’Leary
NEW HAVEN — A half-hour before the public presentation of the updated Union Station garage design, a PowerPoint file showed up in city officials’ email.
The revision, which includes 240 spaces for bicycles, is largely the same project in that it does not include active uses on the first level or an eventual connection to Long Wharf Drive, but it does incorporate pop-up retail out front and in a courtyard .
The bike spaces, the biggest change, will be relocated inside the existing garage and double the availability of storage for cyclists.
Acting City Plan Executive Director Michael Piscitelli said the city has not yet received the full semi-final plan fron the state Department of Transportation.
“When that is received, we will review and offer any comments on the design, cost estimate and bike/ped access. As a general point, the city appreciates the efforts made to improve the architecture, largely based on comments from the community and Herb Newman, who designed the first garage and did the station renovation plan. PARK New Haven is coordinating the station renovations and retail program with DOT and that is moving along well,” Piscitelli wrote in an email
A big obstacle for a time was the state’s desire to take over management of the station from the New Haven Parking Authority, which has co-managed it with the state for decades.
New Haven has argued the authority has been a good steward of the facility, starting with actions to save it from the wrecking ball in 1972 when New Haven and others were able to obtain federal funds to undertake extensive renovations and reopen it in 1985.The state last year agreed to continue the current relatioship with the authority for another three years, after which it wants to turn over management to a private contractor.
The design and a proposed public hearing next month would wrap up the issue for the out-going Malloy administration.
“I’m sure the current administration wants to move forward on their plan to take over Union Station to build that second garage. I think it will require further discussion with the new administration so they can understand better our position,” Mayor Toni Harp said Wednesday of meeting with Governor-elect Ned Lamont.
The design was the first thing on the agenda for the Commuter Rail Council meeting Tuesday night at Union Station.
Mark Rolfe, chief engineer for the state DOT, said the plan essentially is the same one they have been discussing with New Haven for years.
It proposes a seven-level parking garage on the surface parking lot that now provides room for 260 vehicles. The new garage would be connected to the existing garage with a pedestrian lobby area, as well as a drive connection.There will be 1,015 spaces in the new garage, for a net gain of 688 parking spaces, given that some spaces will be lost on the first level, as well as all of those on the surface lot.
Jeff Parker, project manager for CHA Consulting, said there is a proposal to connect the garage directly to the train platforms, which would be a future project that is not now funded.
The cost of the garage alone is estimated at $60 million and is covered by state bond funds. CLICK HERE TO CONTINUE
Torrington’s plan to extend sewer lines detailed at hearing
Leslie Hutchison
TORRINGTON — The planned extension of sewer lines on Homestead Road and Kimball Lane can’t come too soon, residents at a public hearing told the Water Pollution Control Authority this week.
“The septic tanks are at the end of their life,” said Stephen Ahschula, whose property is one of about 20 in the neighborhood slated to receive public sewer service. “Many are retired and it would be difficult for them to be able to install new septic system
The extension of service was approved after residents petitioned the city last fall to “revisit the installation of sanitary sewers in this area due to potentially failing septic systems.”
According to minutes from the September 2017 meeting, resident Steven Roy told the authority members that the septic systems are from the 1950s and 1960s.
The minutes state that Roy said “16 out of 18 residents of the neighborhood signed a petition saying they would like the City to install this sewer line.”
The residents’ request prompted the city to approve a capital improvement program in December 2017 of $400,000 from the sanitary sewer capital fund.The septic systems are very old. You can smell the ones that have failed,” said resident Joseph Ramirez during Tuesday’s hearing. Robert Cusati of Homestead Road said, “I believe that each residence will have an assessment for the sewer (service) of $1,500.”
He wondered if a new home were built on the street if that resident would also pay an assessment.
“If the subdivision has new homes, (owners) could be assessed,” said Ray Drew, the Water Pollution Control Authority administrator.
Drew said residents who have already paid the new sewer service fee could see a reimbursement from a new homeowner, which would provide equal assessments for all customers.
Steven Cerutto, vice president of the Torrington Water Co. , said he supports the extension of the sewer system. “We’re for it, it would simplify,” the company’s operations,” he said.
A timeline for construction of the sewer extension wasn’t available from city officials.
Bill would OK use of federal money for museum prep work
Julia Bergman
The U.S. Senate on Wednesday advanced a Coast Guard authorization bill that would allow federal money to be used to pay for design and engineering of the National Coast Guard Museum planned for downtown New London.
The bill, which authorizes $20.7 billion in funding for the Coast Guard over two years, initially passed the House in May but got tied up in the Senate due to a fight over discharge regulations for ships in the Great Lakes. With the Senate's approval, it will now go back to the House for a final vote, then to the president, if approved by the House as expected.
It opens the door for the Coast Guard to pay for design and engineering work to ready the museum for construction, but still prohibits the service from spending money on the actual construction.
"It's another congressional endorsement of the project, which I think has a powerful ripple effect as far as potential donors around the country who may have questions about whether this is a project that has the support of Congress," said U.S. Rep. Joe Courtney, D-2nd District.
Courtney and U.S. Sens. Richard Blumenthal and Chris Murphy, both D-Conn., successfully advocated several years ago to change a law to allow the Coast Guard to help pay for interior aspects of the museum, such as displays and exhibits.
The bill approved Wednesday would expand even further the scope of what the Coast Guard can pay for, Courtney said.
Blumenthal tried unsuccessfully to get rid of all limitations on Coast Guard funding for the museum. Congress giving the Coast Guard the green light to spend money on design and engineering would be a "major breakthrough," he said.
He said a priority next year will be securing another round of federal funding for the museum. He did not specify an amount, but said at least $5 million, likely more.
Asked whether his colleagues are satisfied with the pace of private donations, Blumenthal said "private money will be much easier to raise when the federal commitment is unequivocal and clear."
To date, the National Coast Guard Museum Association, the fundraising arm for the museum, has raised $38 million for the estimated $100 million project. Of that, $5 million was from the federal government, $20 million from the state and $13 million from private donations.
Wes Pulver, a retired Coast Guard captain who is executive director of the museum association, said the hope is to get $30 million in total from the federal government.
The Coast Guard ultimately has the say in how it wants to devote its resources, and could decide not to spend money on design and engineering of the museum, even if given approval. Top brass in the Coast Guard repeatedly have talked about being strapped for resources and the need to modernize the service's fleet.
This year's authorization bill includes a 13.7 percent increase in funding from the last two-year authorization bill, according to Blumenthal's office.
The Coast Guard is reviewing an environmental assessment of the museum site on the downtown New London waterfront in a 100-year flood zone to determine the environmental impacts of the project. If the Coast Guard determines there's no significant impact, the project can proceed. Otherwise, it will direct museum organizers to work out any issues.
Environmental assessments were performed in 2002, 2008 and 2014, which concluded in a finding of no significant impact.
Preconstruction work, including site testing, started over the summer. Construction tentatively is scheduled to begin in 2021.
Travelers' Bessette: XL Center key to Hartford's future
Greg Bordonaro
The XL Center is crucial to Hartford's future, and city and state policymakers must come up with a plan to make sure the building isn't mothballed.
That was the message Andy Bessette, executive vice president and chief administrative officer of The Travelers Cos. and a board member of the Capital Region Development Authority, delivered to a Hartford audience Wednesday morning at Hartford Business Journal's first annual Community Excellence and Nonprofit Awards.
"The XL Center is an asset for this region, it's critically important," Bessette said. "Right now CRDA is doing a lot of good work ... and it's so important that [the XL Center] not only stays what it is today, but gets better and bigger. … It's a strong asset. We have to make sure it survives."
Bessette's comments came during a panel discussion about the three major Hartford insurers' pledge to donate $50 million to the city of Hartford over the next five years, to help stabilize the city's finances.
Bessestte, along with Mayor Luke Bronin and executives from The Hartford and Aetna -- David Robinson, The Hartford's executive vice president and general counsel and Floyd Green, Aetna's vice president and head of the community activation and local marketing team -- talked about the momentum the city of Hartford has had in recent years with a wave of state-subsidized development, including new apartments, Dunkin' Donuts Park, a pro soccer stadium, a new Stanley Black & Decker tech center, UConn's new campus and the rise of an insuretech incubator, among other initiatives.
Bessette said all of those efforts are improving employers' ability to recruit talent downtown and making the city a more dynamic place, but much work remains, including lowering the city's high mill rate (74.29 mills).
But he stressed the importance of a strong and vibrant XL Center, which has been a political hot potato for years. The aging entertainment venue, which has lost business over the years to an increasingly competitive environment, is in need of significant repairs, and attempts to secure $250 million from the state legislature for a major overhaul have been rebuffed so far.
One alternative under review would scrap plans for the $250 million rebuild, to one in which the upper and lower seating "bowls'' are reconfigured to modern standards, a move CRDA officials have said could cut the price tag in half, to $125 million.
The XL Center funding request, however, will now fall into the lap of Gov.-elect Ned Lamont, who told the Hartford Business Journal in October the arena should be overhauled by private investors, with state oversight, rather than the state investing hundreds of millions of taxpayer dollars in the venue.
CRDA did put up XL Center for sale earlier this year and received one bid from a private developer, but it's not clear if a deal will come to fruition.
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During the panel discussion, Bronin also praised the city's momentum in recent years and acknowledged the increased engagement among the city's major employers. CLICK HERE TO CONTINUE