Mary Biekert
East Lyme — As town officials step ever closer toward finalizing renovation plans for the new police building, the committee overseeing those plans selected a contractor Thursday night who said renovations could be completed by February 2021 for about $3 million.
The $3 million bid, which includes $743,000 to build out a sally port and holding cells, was submitted to the town last week by Noble Construction & Management of Centerbrook and was the lowest of nine bids for renovations in the 30,000-square-foot-building at 277 West Main St. Noble has completed projects for Yale University and Connecticut College, as well as the Region 18 school district, and was part of the town's elementary schools renovation project completed last fall and "performed very well," Town Building Committee Chairman Ray O'Connor said during Thursday's meeting, which was virtual.
The bid does not include $198,000 estimated to install an elevator cab, though town officials have the option to add that in. It also doesn't include other costs associated with the project, such as the $2.77 million spent to purchase the building last spring; up to $500,000 in information technology infrastructure; a $40,000 estimate to eventually hook up the building to public water; more than $100,000 in architect fees; a clerk of the works; contingency costs and other miscellaneous items, such as building permit fees.
Contracted architects Silver/Petrucelli + Associates, who have been working closely with town officials for months to complete renovation plans, estimated in February that the total cost of the project would fall somewhere around $6.6 million — $1.6 million more than the $5 million initially allotted to the project by the Board of Finance in early 2019.
“We are up somewhere over $6 million,” Public Safety Building Vision Committee Chairman Paul Dagle said during the meeting. “But we don’t know the final number tonight.”
The vision committee, which has been overseeing the planning, will pull together the costs of the remaining items to be included in the project and review final costs at a meeting next week before voting to move the project to the boards of selectmen and finance for final approval and to request additional appropriations.
The town has until the end of August to sign a contract with Noble, and may change elements within the project’s scope to further bring down costs before doing so, Dagle said.
“Right now, I don’t think our committee wants to cut (from the scope of work), but until we have everything down in front of them, I can’t speak for the committee,” he said by phone Friday. “We are satisfied with the scope of work we want to recommend. There is a strong sense of what we want to provide for the building, and I think there is support from both (the boards of selectmen and finance) that we don’t need to come in on the cheap for this. We want to have a professional, functional facility for our public safety organizations.”
When First Selectman Mark Nickerson first presented the idea to purchase and renovate the former Honeywell Building into a public safety facility, in Fall 2018, he expected it to cost $6 million based on estimates he and a task force obtained from experts before unveiling the plan.
The Board of Finance agreed in early 2019 to allot only $5 million, which voters later approved at referendum, to purchase and renovate the building with the idea that a sally port and holding cells — then estimated by Nickerson to cost $1 million — could possibly be held out to save money. Nickerson assured concerned taxpayers at an election debate last October that costs for the project still would come in on budget after architects presented a preliminary $5.8 million price estimate for renovations.
Architect William Silver later publicly described that $5.8 million figure as the first phase of a multiple-step process between architects and the vision committee.
Since then, the vision committee, which consists of selectmen, Board of Finance members, Police Commission members, police Chief Mike Finkelstein and residents, has worked to bring costs within budget while maintaining a quality building promised to taxpayers and police. Plans show the entirety of the project will be contained to the first floor of the building, leaving the second floor to possibly be utilized by other town departments in the future.
“I think we’ve tweaked the design several times along the way so the (future) occupants have agreed with it and the vision committee has agreed with it. The final design as presented by the architects is going to be a very good facility to meet the needs of East Lyme’s public safety organizations,” Dagle said by phone Friday. “I’m very thankful and appreciative of the work that the vision committee members and the town staff have gotten us to at this point.”
Pushing past another delay in New London schools’ construction project
The Day Editorial Board
Disappointments and delays continue for the New London public schools’ building project, an integral part of the plans to convert the district to the state’s first all-magnet-schools system.
The latest kick in the gut was the recent news that the bids to rebuild and expand the high school, which is desperately needed, came in $4.2 million over the $77 million budgeted. Add in other escalating costs, and the gap is more like $5 million, or 6.5% of budget.
Way back in 2014, voters approved $168 million for new school construction. Also planned is the reconstruction of the Bennie Dover Jackson Middle School, potentially to include the demolition of the adjacent Central Office and construction of new administration offices, adding $5 million or more to the project if the City Council approves.
For the bulk of the project the state is reimbursing 80% of the costs. So, the city is getting a good return on a relatively modest investment if, that is, it can manage to bring this to completion.
There have been multiple reasons for the delays. Debate with the state over how the learning pathways for the magnet schools would be organized added years. Also adding to the delay was the crushing disappointment that school officials and the Garde Arts Center could not agree how to use a $31 million state grant to utilize the Garde as a downtown arts-learning campus. Abandoning that project resulted in more planning.
The high school is to be rebuilt as new. Adding to the cost and challenge is that school would have to continue hosting classes as the work is done in phases. The total estimated cost is $108 million, which includes design, architectural and construction management expenses, as well as some already completed preliminary work.
The campus would continue to host the popular and successful Science and Technology High School of Southeastern Connecticut, which opened in 2006.
Students, be they the children of city residents or from surrounding towns attracted by the magnet programs, have three pathways to choose from as they move from kindergarten, to elementary, to middle and then high school — science, technology, engineering and math (STEM); arts; and international studies. Keeping out-of-district students in the system past the elementary grades has been a challenge. Having modern middle and high schools is critical to meeting that challenge.
Concerning the higher bids, the city can either chip away at elements of the project to try to get the budget within the scope of the bids, or it could rebid. While desperate construction companies, which likely stand to lose business due to a pandemic-caused recession, might be inclined to bid lower, there would be no guarantees and more time would be lost. Better, if possible, to try to bring the project costs down, and get shovels in the ground, with the potential that amenities could be added back in later.
Setting aside the frustration over delays, it is important to remember just how important this effort is to the city. Most of the elementary schools are new. As-new high and middle schools are in the offing. A successful magnet-school approach should begin to lift academic performance for all students. An improved school system would make the city more attractive to new families and elevate home values.
It is long past time to bring these plans to fruition.
State traffic down 50% on average during the pandemic
Kimberly Drelich
As more people stay at home during the pandemic, traffic volumes on state highways have dropped significantly to an average of 50%, and even lower in areas of southeastern Connecticut.
Fewer cars on the roads has led to a host of impacts for the state’s transportation system. Crews are able to work more efficiently on construction projects. But it also means fewer gas tax dollars for the Special Transportation Fund.
The state Department of Transportation also is reporting an uptick in speeding on highways and is urging drivers to maintain safe speeds.
Traffic lower starting in mid-March
DOT Spokesman Kevin Nursick said the department started to see a noticeable decrease in traffic starting March 13, with volumes continuing to drop and then holding steady at a 50% decrease on average.
An analysis by MS2, a software development and data management firm for transportation agencies, calculates "the daily traffic volume change as compared to the same day of week in the same month for the most recent year that data is available." State traffic was down about 38% on Saturday, April 25, 2020, compared to Saturday, April 27, 2019, and about 61% on Sunday, April 26, 2020, compared to April 28, 2019, according to MS2. On Monday, April 27, 2020, traffic dropped about 48% compared to Monday, April 29, 2019.
Nationally, traffic was down about 36% on Saturday, April 25, 2020; about 37% on Sunday, April 26; and about 32% on Monday, April 27, compared to last year.
A stretch of Interstate 95 in East Lyme and Route 2 in North Stonington, sites of two of the state’s 23 automated traffic counters, are seeing lower traffic volumes than the state average.
I-95 in East Lyme, which averaged 71,920 vehicles a day last year, had a traffic volume of 34,071 vehicles on Monday, April 20, and 24,576 vehicles on Sunday, April 19, according to DOT data.
East Lyme Police Chief Michael Finkelstein said there is a noticeable fluctuation in traffic volumes on roads in East Lyme. He said morning commutes are far less traveled, while volumes later in the day appear fairly normal.
Route 2 in North Stonington, which averaged 12,896 daily vehicles in 2019, saw 3,940 vehicles on Monday, April 20, and 3,501 vehicles on Sunday, April 19, the state data shows.
The overall lower volume on roads means a decline in revenue to the Special Transportation Fund.
During a news conference Friday, Gov. Ned Lamont said the Special Transportation Fund was projected to run out by July 1, 2021.
“We had hoped that given the gasoline fuel tax revenues, the Special Transportation Fund would at least stay solvent for another three or four years,” he said. “Right now, it looks like given the drastic cut in gasoline prices, the drastic cut in revenues coming into the Special Transportation Fund with our share of the gas tax, that Special Transportation Fund probably runs out — will eat up the reserve funds — by about July 1, of next year.”
Nursick said DOT is monitoring the impact of reduced gas tax dollars on its programs but has made no determinations yet.
Working more efficiently, monitoring supply chain
The reduced traffic volume also means DOT can expand the scope and duration of its work at a time when construction projects, from paving to bridge repairs, are popping up across the state after the April 1 start of construction season, Nursick said.
As a result of the massive drops in traffic, DOT has been able to work more efficiently by expanding lane closures and working for a longer time without impacting traffic, Nursick said. DOT typically avoids construction impacts during high-volume times, such as the morning and afternoon commutes.
“The opportunity is there, so we are going to use it to be as efficient and as productive as possible,” he said.
In the region, DOT is taking advantage of the lower traffic volumes as it works to replace the median guiderail on Interstate 395 in Montville and Norwich, a project scheduled to be completed in October.
But it’s too soon to say whether the increased productivity will mean this project and others will wrap up sooner, Nursick said.
If the pandemic causes any issues with the supply chain or workforce availability, that would affect DOT’s schedule.
“If there are interruptions with asphalt, if there are interruptions with structural steel, if there are interruptions with components that are fabricated off-site, out of state, for example, those are things that could impact jobs,” he said.
While DOT is monitoring the situation, he said, “As it stands right now, we don’t have any supply chain issues and not any noticeable workforce issues at this time.”
DOT has been in contact with contractors regarding best practices and steps to minimize the potential spread of the virus, including not having groups gather together for lunch, minimizing interpersonal proximity on sites, using masks and sanitizing equipment, he said.
DOT also is applying those same measures to its staff. Its maintenance staff is doing “split shifts” in which they work one week as usual and then spend a week remotely addressing training requirements, he said. A large percentage of the DOT’s other staff is telecommuting and still completing work on time, he said.
Speeding an issue
But with the lower traffic on the road, DOT also is seeing an uptick in speeding and is urging drivers to maintain a safe speed and be careful.
“We’ve seen substantial traffic volume reductions, but we have seen in our estimation a much higher percentage of reckless speeding drivers and that has become a real concern for us,” Nursick said. “It’s a safety concern for everybody on the roads, and it’s also a safety concern for our work crews out on the roads.”
Based on its analysis, the DOT has seen a doubling, or in some cases up to an eightfold increase, in the percentage of drivers traveling at or above 85 mph on highways. While crashes are down, there have been a disproportionately high number of “severe” crashes, he said.
And while safety is always a concern, Nursick said it's even more crucial now with more individuals and families out walking and biking during the pandemic. He said drivers need to be extra careful and look out, while pedestrians and cyclists also should follow safety tips, such as ensuring they are visible, he said.
Developer breaks ground on $50M Cromwell apartment community
Joe Cooper
Hamden developer has started construction on a $50-million apartment home community on a long-vacant property near Cromwell’s well-traveled Route 372.
Belfonti Companies LLC on Thursday said the 160-unit complex at the end of Country Squire Road will be constructed in multiple phases over a 22-month period. The market-rate “luxury” units are scheduled for occupancy beginning in the first half of 2021, the company said.
Property management firm Bozzuto Management has been selected to handle the initial lease-up of the housing community, officials say.
According to plans, the roughly 9-acre site, located at the highest point in the Cromwell area, will be highly amenitized with a 14,500-square-foot community center, an outdoor swimming pool and an outdoor lounge area equipped with grills and fire pits.
Michael Belfonti, the founder and chief executive of Belfonti Companies, said the project marks Cromwell’s first new multi-family housing development in several decades.
“This project will offer a different lifestyle than the existing apartments in Cromwell – a fully amenitized, professionally managed, Class A luxury apartment community,” he said.
Headquartered at One Hamden Center, Belfonti Companies manages approximately 3,000 apartment units and nearly one million square feet of office, retail and industrial park space.