Connecticut awarded $65 million to replace 113-year-old bridge in Old Lyme
Taylor Hartz
Connecticut has been awarded $65 million in federal funding to begin the replacement of the 113-year-old Connecticut River Bridge that carries trains over the river between Old Lyme and Old Saybrook.
The bridge, built in 1907, carries at least 56 trains every day, bringing Amtrak passengers from Virginia to Boston, moving commuters on the Shore Line East service and giving passage to freight trains headed to Worcester and Providence.
The funding will kick-start the replacement, which is meant to streamline travel and reduce delays for rail and maritime traffic, U.S. Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., and Rep. Joe Courtney, D-2nd District, announced Tuesday morning at the DEEP Marine Headquarters in Old Lyme.
Blumenthal and Courtney said the bridge, though historic, is subject to breakdowns that slow both rail traffic and boat traffic. When there are rail delays on the bridge, Blumenthal said, "traffic is paralyzed up and down the East Coast."
The senator noted that the Amtrak's Northeast Corridor is the busiest in the nation and the trains that run along the century-old bridge are a pivotal mode of transportation to southeastern Connecticut.
"There is tremendous potential for increasing the flow of rail traffic here if we have reliable speedy crossing of this river, which right now is simply not happening," Blumenthal said.
"It's time to move on to a new structure," Courtney said. He called the project a "really exciting development for the state of Connecticut and also for the crusade and cause of really improving and upgrading ground transportation."
The new bridge, which will be located just south of the current bridge, will be higher — 24 feet instead of 18 — allowing for larger boats to pass under. It will have the same two-track configuration and will allow trains to pass over at 60 mph, rather than the current 45 mph speed limit.
The funding will cover the first phase of replacing the bridge. The $65 million awarded is part of a $144 million grant from the Federal-State Partnership for State of Good Repair Grant Program, which also will allow for the replacement of the Walk Bridge in Norwalk.
Blumenthal said the funding is "great news but it's only a down payment." According to the grant proposal, the entire project is estimated to cost $432,470,000.
The grant proposal included a $40.45 million contribution and $14.46 million commitment from the state Department of Transportation.
Keith Brothers, business manager for the CT Laborers' District Council, said Tuesday that projects like this create hundreds of jobs.
Courtney called the project a "job multiplier" and Blumenthal said there would be a huge return on investment, not only with more jobs but with more economic growth and support for small businesses.
The bridge is the oldest of its kind between New Haven and Boston. At the time it was built, Courtney said, it was "a wonder of the world." Before its construction, he said, trains had to stop on the Old Saybrook side, moving passengers and freight to barges to get across the river.
"It's really done great service over the years," he said of the bridge, "but as you can see it's definitely showing its age and the need to repair and fix the bridge has reached a point where it really is time for the Amtrak system and the federal government to step in."
"As much as we love it, and we do love it, 113 years is a long time for a bridge to exist," Blumenthal said.
The environmental assessment for the new bridge has been completed and the design for the replacement is almost finished, Blumenthal said. Construction is expected to begin in 2024 and be completed by 2030.
North Branford aims to end lake flooding; says Tilcon to help
Meghan Friedmann NORTH BRANFORD — With permit applications yet to come, there’s still a ways to go.
But the town has taken a step toward addressing a longstanding issue: the flooding at Cedar Lake.
The Town Council recently approved a motion that appoints the town as an applicant for permits related to work at the lake’s outlet, Town Planner Carey Duques said in an email.
Restricted flow near the outlet has been a factor in reported overflow issues at Cedar Lake, also called Cedar Pond, which receives large amounts of stormwater from the developed area to its north as well as permitted runoff that Tilcon pumps out of its nearby quarry.
“Cedar Lake has recently been experiencing a higher than normal water level due to the outlet being blocked with vegetation and debris,” a memorandum attached to a recent meeting agenda says. “This has had an adverse impact upon properties surrounding the lake.”
Tilcon has agreed to help the town improve the outlet from the lake, according to the memorandum, which is attributed to Duques and Town Engineer Kurt Weiss.
Chris Costello, Tilcon’s environmental compliance technician, did not return a request for comment.
The company “expressed a willingness to help by providing engineering documents related to the local wetlands permits and other potential permits ... They also expressed a willingness to perform the construction related activities, most likely through a third-party vendor,” the memorandum says.
The document also indicates that Tilcon suggested the town act as the applicant for the project — a move the Town Council approved.
The lake’s flooding has been an ongoing issue, with residents sharing concerns about signs of overflow late last year at a town Inland Wetlands & Watercourses Agency meeting. Tilcon helped clear a culvert of debris in 2018, which improved flow from the lake but still didn’t bring it to where it needed to be, Duques has said.
Plans to address issues at the lake’s outlet were still being finalized, Duques said Monday. She said she would share more information once the town has determined the scope of the work.
The council’s vote was unanimous, according to footage of the meeting available on Totoket TV’s Facebook page.
Shelton P&Z opposes plan to build 206 apartments
Brian Gioiele SHELTON — Losing light industrial space and increasing traffic concerns have Planning and Zoning commissioners opposed to construction of 206 residential units at 1 Parrot Drive.
The commission unanimously agreed last week to have zoning consultant Anthony Panico prepare a resolution, denying Shelton Parrot Associates’ request for a Planned Development District at the Parrot Drive location — present home to structures suited for light industrial.
The resolution will be presented at a future commission meeting, when commissioners will formally vote on the proposal.
Commission Chairwoman Virginia Harger said the site is “the wrong place” for this proposed development.
Harger cited the potential traffic congestion that would be caused by adding this many apartments so close to Fountain Square, which sits at the corner of Bridgeport Avenue and Parrot Drive. She also said she did not want to “short-change” Shelton by removing what could be a perfect site for light industrial business opportunities.
"Shelton should be thinking strategically about our plan for development and future land uses that help the city and its residents,” commissioner Jimmy Tickey said in voicing his opposition.
“Other towns such as Trumbull, Stratford, North Haven, Middletown have led the way to develop their light industrial land with distribution centers, which have only become more in-demand during COVID-19,” Tickey added. “We should not rush to develop 200 apartments on Bridgeport Avenue when we can move forward on a development that creates jobs and better suits Shelton.”
Tickey said anyone who says there is no need for light industrial is “not paying attention to the current economic trends, highlighted by the COVID-19 pandemic.”
Shelton Parrot Associates had sought to add 206 apartments to 1 Parrot Drive, an 8-acre property that now hosts a 101,500-square-foot industrial building and adjacent parking lot.
According to the application, the proposed residential development, called Elevate at Shelton, would sit in the existing parking area and a portion of the industrial building after about 51,000 square feet — about a third of the building — would be demolished.
Plans call for two residential buildings to be built in the space. The new development would consist of 47,100 square feet of existing industrial space, 206 new residential apartments and 411 total parking spaces.
The development could be performed in phases, according to the application, and the property divided into separate parcels “provided reciprocal easements for access and utilities and maintenance agreements for the entire parcel are in place.”
The proposed site is off Parrot Drive northwest of Bridgeport Avenue.
In place of the demolished industrial space, two multilevel residential buildings would be built with footprints of approximately 26,500 and 34,000 square feet, respectively. The two buildings would each contain four levels above grade.
Parking spaces would be placed on existing and new surface parking and new below-grade parking beneath each of the proposed residential buildings would be added. The surface spaces would be shared between the residential and industrial land uses.
Stonington Economic Development Commission supports proposed hotel in downtown Mystic
Joe Wojtas Mystic — The Stonington Economic Development Commission voted unanimously Tuesday to endorse plans to build a six-room, three-story hotel with a rooftop pool on the site of the former Broadway Auto service station.
The commission now will send its recommendation that the special use permit for the project be approved to the Stonington Planning and Zoning Commission, which has scheduled a virtual public hearing on the project for Nov. 4.
EDC members on Tuesday complimented the design of the hotel done by local architect Mark Comeau as well as its close proximity to the Mystic train station, downtown and Mystic Seaport.
On Tuesday night, the EDC first heard from project engineer Sergio Cherenzia, who outlined the plans for the hotel that is being developed by G Development LLC of Waterford. According to Cherenzia, G Development, whose principals are Candice and Fotis Georgiadis, also currently are constructing an office building in front of the Naik Family Branch of the Ocean Community YMCA and renovating the former Windjammer liquor building at 44 Williams Ave. (Route 1).
G Development originally had planned to construct a three-story restaurant with a rooftop deck on the Broadway Auto site but scrapped those plans after learning that zoning regulations would not allow the off-site parking that was needed. The Board of Police Commissioners also expressed concerns about parking and traffic. All the parking for the proposed hotel would be accommodated on the property.
Architectural drawings show a ground floor with parking spots, a second and third floor with three guest rooms each and a rooftop deck that contains an open-air pool and hot tub. There would also be landscaping to improve the appearance of the streetscape.
Plans call for tearing down the garage, which is located on a 0.18-acre site at 32 Broadway. Records show G Development purchased the property for $375,000 last year.
Cherenzia told the EDC that G Development would invest $1.5 million to $2 million to develop the hotel.
The EDC also asked that Cherenzia provide information about the number of construction and permanent jobs expected to be created by the project, as well as an estimate of its economic impact, so that data can be included in the letter to the Planning and Zoning Commission.
Don Stacom Two new supermarkets opened in the Farmington Valley this fall, and a third one is expected in the spring.
The newest grocery store in the region is the nearly 50,000-square-foot Big Y that opened last week in Simsbury.
Just a few weeks before that, the Aldi chain launched its new location in Canton just across Route 44 from the Shops at Farmington Valley.
And contractors are erecting a 44,000-square-foot Whole Foods store farther east on Route 44 in Avon, part of a significant commercial development in that town.
Despite upheaval caused by the coronavirus, both Aldi and Big Y continue planning to expand their markets in the United States this year. Unlike struggling restaurant and retail businesses, supermarket chains nationally have generally been building sales in 2020. A recent study by the Acosta research firm says 55% of shoppers are eating at home more often during the pandemic. That reverses a years-long trend where restaurants — including drive-throughs — were selling a steadily larger share of the country’s meals.
None of the three chains is citing the pandemic as a reason for their expansions in Connecticut, however, and plans for the Big Y and Whole Foods projects were in place well before COVID-19 struck.
Aldi USA announced long-term plans three years ago to add 800 of its discount grocery stores by 2022, which would bring its total in the United States to 2,500. The Canton location is its 27th in Connecticut.
Big Y was planning its Simsbury store more than eight years ago, but held off starting development until late 2019. The location on Hopmeadow Street is next to the International Skating Center in the northern end of town.
Because of the pandemic, there will be no grand opening event, the chain said. Instead, the Simsbury location will have virtual tours as well as in-store contests through early November.
The Springfield, Mass.-based chain has hired 110 part- and full-time employees for the store, which is its 71st.
Shoppers in the Avon area will have to wait a bit longer for the new Whole Foods under construction on Route 44 near town hall. The shell of the building is largely complete, but Planning and Community Development Director Hiram Peck III said there’s still work ahead.
“They have a lot to do inside, and there’s a lot of roadwork. I think the developer is probably going to be ready in the spring," Peck said.
The Whole Foods location is part of Phase 1 of Avon’s village center development project.
“This will be the anchor store, but there are five buildings going up at the same time,” Peck said. “That includes two behind the supermarket and two across the street. The plan is for all to have small retailers.”
Kenneth Gosselin The city took ownership of vacant, overgrown properties just north of Dunkin' Donuts Park Monday as part of a property auction for unpaid taxes, envisioning redevelopment at a crucial gateway that would further link downtown and the city’s neighborhoods to the north.
The seven properties, at the intersection of Main Street and Albany Avenue and just beyond the $200 million Downtown North project, are in an area that was crossed daily by hundreds of commuters prior to the pandemic but where redevelopment has long proven elusive.
“This area represents the eastern gateway to Albany Avenue and for far too long, these properties have sat uncared for, unkempt,” Hartford Mayor Luke Bronin said Monday. “The opportunity to think in a strategic way about what these parcels can be is a significant opportunity for the city.”
Bronin said the properties, clustered beneath the historic Keney Memorial Clock Tower, would benefit from overall planning and the parcels should be looked at “holistically.” There is the potential for an even stronger connection between downtown and city neighborhoods in this area, he said.
The owners of the seven properties on Main and Ely streets and Albany Avenue owed a combined $532,000 in unpaid taxes. The city took title Monday following a tax deed sale that began Saturday.
The city did not pay for the parcels it took title to because taxes were owed. No other bidder went above the amount of taxes that were due for the properties where the city assumed ownership.
The properties were among 50 across the city that owed more than $6 million in unpaid taxes.
The city also picked other vacant properties around the city, but the full list of who acquired which properties in the auction was not immediately available late Monday.
At the intersection of Main Street and Albany Avenue, the properties now give the city control of nearly all the properties surrounding the intersection.
The city already owned the corner of Ann Uccello and Main streets. The property includes the building that once housed the Arrowhead Cafe, and could be part of apartments over storefront retail space on that corner.
“After Downtown North, it only makes sense to keep developing because that will stabilize the historical Clay-Arsenal community that has been neglected for more than 30 years, in my opinion,” said Fernando Betancourt, executive director of the San Juan Center, a Latino nonprofit headquartered nearby.
The first phase of apartments, storefronts and a parking garage started construction earlier this month, with an official groundbreaking two weeks ago.
Betancourt and others say it will be critical to respond to the rental needs of the surrounding area, building both market-rate and affordable housing, the latter filling the needs of low- and moderate-income households.
Neighborhood groups say development at the intersection must not stop there but continue to push deeper into the neighborhoods.
They also point to the potential catalyst of the renovation of historic, but rundown “Flat Iron” building across from the city property on Ann Uccello Street. Downtown’s largest landlord, Shelbourne Global Solutions LLC, purchased the building earlier this year and is now working on redevelopment plans.
For a property to land on a tax deed sale list, taxes must have gone unpaid for at least three years. A tax deed auction differs from a tax lien sale because ownership is transferred to the highest bidder.
In a tax lien sale, the lien is sold, giving the buyer the right to seek foreclosure and possession of the property in court.