Gov. Ned Lamont will travel to Washington Wednesday for a series of events,
including a meeting with U.S. Department of Transportation Secretary Elaine
Chao to discuss Connecticut’s infrastructure needs. The Democratic governor
will also attend a meeting hosted by the Organization for International
Investment that will be attended by international companies with a presence in
Connecticut. He meet with U.S. Rep. John Larson of Connecticut’s 1st District and
then will go to a reception at the Danish Ambassador’s residence. Early
Thursday, Lamont will attend two events hosted by the National Governors
Association: a Global Energy Solutions Summit and a meeting with national
education leaders to discuss minority teacher recruitment. A spokesman for the
governor said he expects Lamont will return to the state Thursday afternoon.
Mark Pazniokas
Like an NFL referee, Rep. Vincent J. Candelora, R-North Branford, is throwing a flag, saying that Democrats committed the legislative equivalent of having too many players on the field.
Candelora said Tuesday that Democrats placed one too many senators on the legislator’s Transportation Committee after assigning Sen. Derek Slap, D-West Hartford, to the panel after his recent victory in a special election. Legislative rules limit the panel to nine senators, and Slap made 10.
In Candelora’s view, that means that the committee’s approval last week of three bills authorizing the state Department of Transportation to pursue highway tolls are invalid. If they come before the House for a vote, Candelora said he will object.
“I will challenge them,” said Candelora, the deputy minority leader in the House.
Candelora made his complaint in a letter to the House Speaker Joe Aresimowicz, D-Berlin, and Senate President Pro Tem Martin M. Looney, D-New Haven. There were 10 senators on the committee last year, and no one objected.
“We don’t think there is an issue here,” Looney said.
The legislature operates under Mason’s Manual, which effectively says passage by the Senate or House trumps any procedural defect in a bill. Looney said any of the bills can properly come before either chamber.
The Transportation Committee’s deadline for acting on legislation was Monday. Candelora acknowledged that wouldn’t mean tolls were dead as an issue, even if the legislative leaders agreed with his view of the rules.
The Finance, Revenue and Bonding Committee has legislation that could be amended as enabling legislation on tolls, he said. That committee’s deadline is not until May 2.“There certainly is a vehicle out there,” he said.
The Connecticut General Assembly has joint committees of the House and Senate. Under the rules adopted this year, most committees can have a maximum membership of nine senators and 35 representatives.
The exceptions are the Judiciary Committee and the two money committees, Appropriations and Finance.
NTE Energy delivered on promises in North Carolina city
To the editor:
Eastern Connecticut Chamber of Commerce President and CEO Tony Sheridan is correct when he writes ("Killingly Energy Center a boon to clean energy, economic development") that the proposed Killingly Energy Center will have many benefits for the town of Killingly and Connecticut. I should know. I am the Mayor of Kings Mountain, North Carolina, where NTE Energy built and now operates Kings Mountain Energy Center.
The promise of hundreds of construction jobs, cleaner, more reliable energy and millions of dollars in new tax revenue, with no impacts on municipal services, sounded almost too good to be true. But it was true. NTE's Kings Mountain Energy Center began operation last summer and we have seen NTE meet every commitment and promise they made.
The job fair that NTE ran prior to plant construction resulted in hundreds of jobs locally.
The city of Kings Mountain and the state of North Carolina now have a more reliable and cleaner source of energy and is helping displace older, less efficient power generating facilities in the region. And the city of Kings Mountain has indeed seen a sizable, and very much needed, increase in property taxes from the facility helping to support our schools and public safety. And again, all of this has been done with no negative impact to our city's services.
In addition to the jobs created and the cleaner energy for the environment and the tax revenues, NTE has proven to be an outstanding community partner. Through NTE's substantial support for our local charities, their participation in scholarship programs for high school seniors, to their corporate support of local activities, NTE is one of Kings Mountain's premiere corporate citizens.
I can certainly understand how some might be skeptical, but please take my word. NTE's Killingly Energy Center can do for Killingly and Connecticut what Kings Mountain Energy Center has done for my community and the state of North Carolina.
Sincerely,
Scott Neisler Mayor, City of Kings Mountain City Hall 101 W Gold Street Kings Mountain, NC
Norwalk approves $1.5 million for redesign in Maritime Theater Replacement Project
Kelly Kultys
NORWALK — The Common Council on Tuesday unanimously approved spending $1.5 million of the state’s funding for redesign work for the Maritime Aquarium Functional Replacement Project.
The approval was one of the first for the city, which is now serving as the authority in charge of contracts for Maritime project-related work and services.
The agreement is with Beyer, Blinder and Belle Architects for the second phase of work to the theater and its additions. The redesign calls for reducing the theater addition footprint by about 1,000 square feet and shifting it to the east slightly to make room an existing sanitary pipe at the site.
It also calls for studying and analyzing certain areas such as “underground piping routes and connections to reduce costs as feasible,” a letter from the architects reads.
The restructured agreement, which the council approved in February, calls for a new budget for the replacement project capped at $40 million, according to a March letter from Alan Lo, the city’s building and facilities manager.
“With the restructuring of the relationship among the city, Connecticut (Department of Transportation) and the Maritime Aquarium, we are working together to evaluate the scope of the functional replacement project and to proceed with the redesign of the project,” Lo said.As a part of the Walk Bridge replacement, the current Maritime Aquarium IMAX Theater will be demolished to properly realign the railroad tracks, Lo said in a separate February letter to the Land Use and Building Management Committee.
The Common Council approved an agreement for reconstruction of the theater and other parts of the aquarium in May 2018. The agreement stated that the Connecticut Department of Transportation would pay the aquarium $34.5 million to replace the theater and lost exhibit space.
The aquarium’s initial replacement plan calls for building a two-story, 11,939-square-foot addition on the east of the existing main entrance. The space would house a 4D, 178-seat theater, entrance lobby, ticket area and other space. Four-dimensional technology allows theatergoers to feel wind and rain and sense smells.
The aquarium originally planned to build a two-story, 8,748-square-foot addition on the east side of the existing building to house the aquarium’s seals. It would replace the existing tent structure and exhibits along the Norwalk River. A one-story west entry hall with fish tank and 8,241-square-foot mezzanine area would be built along North Water Street
The original agreement allowed the Aquarium to take the lead on this project with a structure that sent funding for the project straight from the state to the Aquarium.However, when the project went out to bid in the fall of 2018, the responses “exceeded the project budget substantially,” Lo said.
“DOT requested the project to be temporarily put on hold in order to provide an opportunity to evaluate the project scope, design criteria, bid results, completeness of the bid package, effectiveness of the bid solicitation process and availability of redesign options to achieve significant cost savings,” Lo wrote.Because of this and the fact the state DOT determined it was “too complicated” to have all three parties — the state, the city and the aquarium — playing a role, the state asked to restructure the agreement, giving Norwalk full responsibility over holding and managing funds and responsibility all contracts necessary, Lo said.
“The Mayor and city staff agree that a restructuring is in the best interest of the project as the City has greater expertise and experience in completing large construction projects funded by the state,” Lo wrote. “The City will manage the project in close collaboration with the Aquarium and the State.”
Major hotel planned for New Haven’s Route 34
Mary E. O’Leary
NEW HAVEN — After years of trying to find a hotel operator who would locate on Route 34 on the development site where Continuum of Care has its headquarters, Mayor Toni Harp Monday said someone has come forward.
She said Choice Hotel, which represents such brands as Comfort Hotel , Sleep Inn, Clarion and Quality hotels, has indicated its interest to Yves Joseph, founding principal of RJ Development + Advisors LLC.
Joseph, whose partner is Jason Resnick, said he could not comment because the company has signed a confidentiality agreement with a hotel group, but the developer said “we are really, really excited about this.”
Joseph was a vice president for seven years with Centerplan when New Haven signed a land disposition agreement with that company for the development of the block on Route 34 across from Career High School.
A hotel would be the last piece for RJ Development + Advisors LLC as it looks to wrap up the project. In addition to Continuum of Care, there is a Rite Aid pharmacy and the Learning Center, a daycare facility. The child care facility took the place of a restaurant, which was in the original plan
Joseph said it is not unusual for a mixed-use project to be developed in stages. He has been marketing the site since 2014.“It will be special to get a hotel out of the ground,” Joseph commented.
A proposed garage and a medical/commerical building continues to be a potential for the site. Joseph said the garage remains a project for Robert Landino of Centerplan.City officials said multiple hoteliers ultimately decided not to come to the site because of a neutrality agreement that the operator would have to sign with Unite HERE, which wants to unionize the staff. Harp said apparently Choice Hotels has no problem with that.
Harp thought the potential new hotel would have from 100 to 130 rooms. Acting Economic Development Administrator Michael Piscetelli would only say, “we’re encouraged.”
New Haven has had a shortage of hotels, but several recently have been approved, with The Blake, a new boutique hotel on High and George streets, open for business.
The former Duncan Hotel on Chapel Street is being converted to the Graduate New Haven Hotel, and a Hilton Garden Hotel will be located on the corner of Orange and Elm streets. Another hotel continues to be part of plans for development of the former Coliseum site with Spinnaker Real Estate Partners taking the lead in that development.
While the Graduate New Haven renovations have been progressing, it stalled late last month when the Board of Zoning Appeals denied, without prejudice, a special exception on parking that is being blamed on union interests that were working on a neutrality agreement at that hotel. The company has since sued the BZA over the vote.
The former headquarters of Pirelli Tires on Long Wharf Drive, now owened by Ikea, has been approved for a hotel, as has a site on Elm street owned by developer David Kuperberg, both of which are moving slowly, according to Piscitelli.