Sherwood Island in line to get new $541k bridge
Katerina Koerting
WESTPORT — The state is expected to approve a little more
that $2.5 million for improvements at state parks, including spending more than
$500,000 to replace a bridge at Sherwood Island.
“Sherwood Island is a treasure, connecting Fairfield County
residents with the beauty of the Long Island Sound,” state Sen. Will Haskell,
D-Westport, said in a statement. “As the oldest state park in Connecticut, it’s
critical that we invest in the park's maintenance and preserve it for the next
generation of birders, bikers, hikers and beach goers.”
The bridge is currently listed in critical condition based
on recent inspections from the state Department of Transportation and the state
Department of Energy and Environmental Protection, said Will Healey, a DEEP
spokesman.
It was built in 1958 and carries Sherwood Island Lane over
Mill Creek.
Under the project, which is expected to cost the state more
than $541,000, a new one-lane bridge will be placed where the existing bridge
stands. It will have a new, prefabricated, galvanized steel superstructure with
concrete abutments protected by permanent sheet pile enclosures, according to a
news release.
The bond package, which covers minor capital improvements at
state parks and wildlife management areas, is set for a vote Friday by the Bond
Commission.
Construction is expected to start in June and last six
months. No closures will be needed to complete the work, Healey said.
Rob Ryser
DANBURY - Comedian John Oliver was mistaken if he thought
all he was getting was a run-of-the-mill sewer plant when he agreed in October
to lend
his name to the facility for a laugh and a donation to local
charities.
The city has broken ground on the nation’s first grease-to-diesel conversion
facility at the John Oliver Memorial Sewer Plant — a project that promises not
only a remedy for the plague of sewer grease that has terrorized Oliver’s
native England with airliner-size fatbergs,
but a revenue source for Danbury in the form of biodiesel sales.
“We’re so damn excited about this,” said Antonio Iadarola,
the city engineer and its director of public works. “It’s one of the most
fascinating projects I have ever worked on or will ever work on in my life.”
Iadarola is referring to the city’s partnership with a
research professor from University of Connecticut to harvest
sewer grease from the waste stream and produce hundreds of thousands
of gallons of biodiesel and heating fuel — enough to run Danbury’s truck fleet
for a year, and have 90,000 gallons left over to sell.
Construction of the $5.5 million grease-to-diesel conversion
facility is part of a larger $100 million wastewater treatment plant upgrade
that began last year.
In July, the city expects to receive a prefabricated
5,000-square-foot building that will house the technology to convert one of
life’s most disgusting waste products into liquid gold. In doing so, Danburyis
poised to become the first city in the nation to produce its own fuel from the
frying pan fat that gets dumped down the drain.
Danbury’s partners are REA Resource Recovery Systems and Richard Parnas,
professor emeritus in UConn’s Department of Chemical and Biomolecular
Engineering, whose patented reactor mixes refined brown grease with methanol to
produce the biodiesel.
Production could begin late this year.
It’s the biggest news to hit this eight-acre sewer plant on
Newtown Road since October, when the trash-talking host of “Last Week Tonight
with John Oliver” ended months of profane fun with then-Mayor Mark Boughton
and visited
Danbury to mark the renaming of the wastewater treatment facility.
At the time, Boughton said renaming the sewer plant after
Oliver was the perfect fit “Because it’s full of [expletive], just like you,
John.”
Oliver not only agreed but insisted on making $55,000
in donations to the Connecticut Food Bank, ALS Connecticut and a
Donors Choose fund for Danbury teachers.
Meanwhile, the city will try to leverage its high-profile
treatment plant to compete for federal money. The city’s grease-to-fuel
partners will submit a research paper to vie for a federal grant that would pay
for photovoltaic technology strong enough to run the biodiesel plant on solar
energy.
Earlier this month, the City Council backed the application
to the federal Advanced Research
Projects Agency-Energy. If the city is successful, the grant could lead to
a larger award for a solar power system capable of meeting the electrical needs
of the entire John Oliver Sewer Plant.
“It would take our treatment plant completely off the grid,”
Iadarola said. “It’s exciting because we’re talking about green energy and
figuring out how to deal with the deficiency in generating energy that we know
is coming, it’s just a matter of when.”
Construction project in Bristol to expand Eversource's natural gas distribution system
Justin Muszynski
BRISTOL -- Eversource will soon be undertaking a construction project in Bristol over the next several months.
City officials said the energy company will be “expanding its natural gas distribution
system” in the area of Redstone Hill and Rogers Road.
The project will begin Monday and is slated to be complete around Aug. 9, the mayor’s office said in a statement.
Work will be performed by NPL Construction and generally be done on weekdays, from 7 a.m. until 4:30 p.m. It will also occasionally take place on Saturdays as well. The work will also be dependent on weather conditions.
“There may be minor traffic delays during construction, however roads will remain open for
mail delivery, emergency vehicles, and local traffic at all times,” Mayor Ellen Zoppo-
Sassu said in a statement. “Temporary ‘No Parking’ signs will be posted as needed during construction.”
City officials have directed any questions or concerns about the project to Eversource Gas
Construction Supervisor Chris Tralli, who can be reached at 860-302-6024, or Jesse Arsenault, NPL Construction superintendent, who can be reached at 203-673-8508.
Middletown pays $2.6M for riverfront properties; housing, mixed-use development eyed
Marr Pilon
iddletown’s long-held desire to open up a significant section of its waterfront to new development has taken another step forward with the $2.6 million purchase of nine acres of underutilized industrial land along the Connecticut River.
The common council voted unanimously on Monday to approve the acquisition of four properties from Martin Smith of Waterhouse Development.
Smith had won approval in 2016 to redevelop the largest of the four parcels, 225 River Road, which is home to the former Jackson Corrugated Container Corp. property, into a condominium community. However, the project never materialized.
Joseph Samolis, the city’s director of planning, conservation and development, said Thursday the city intends to hold the newly acquired parcels for future development.
It will likely be another 12 to 18 months before further plans are hatched, as the city is close to hiring a consultant to produce a conceptual vision for the broader southern riverfront area known as South Cove, bordered by Silver Street to the south, Eastern Drive to the east, Union Street to the west.
“These parcels specifically are some of the only sites outside of the floodplain immediately adjacent to the river, which makes it really ideal for future development,” Samolis told councilors.
That means housing and mixed-use are both potential options for the parcels, he said.
Middletown’s redevelopment efforts for the area around River Road have progressed over the past two years thanks to the rerouting of city sewage from an aging pumping station along the riverbank to a new facility in neighboring Cromwell, as well as city voters’ approval last November of a $55 million borrowing for various infrastructure projects, $5 million of which was reserved for riverfront land acquisitions.
Roughly $2.4 million of those acquisition funds now remain and Samolis said the city is looking to spend more of it soon. One possibility is a smaller parcel located just to the west of the Corrugated Container property at the corner of River Road and Walnut, he said.
Samolis is aiming to have a purchase proposal for that in front of the common council in May. He said that once the master plan is in place the city will tackle zoning changes, ultimately hoping to leverage zoning updates and the city-owned properties to entice a master developer for a significant portion of the riverfront area.
Don Stacom
After more than two decades of debate, abandoned plans and
false starts, Simsbury is on the verge of deciding whether 288 acres of former
tobacco fields will be set aside as open space and athletic fields.
More than 1,000 residents signed petitions to force a May 4
referendum in a brief, hastily organized campaign that includes accusations
that the finance board was refusing to let taxpayers vote the deal up or down.
If voters approve on May 4, Simsbury will put about $2.2
million toward a $6 million purchase of the land, part of a farm where Martin
Luther King Jr. worked in his youth.
Griffin Industrial Realty, the owner, had fought for years
for permission to create a massive subdivision with an affordable housing
component, but never went ahead with the project. Instead, Griffin changed
course and last year negotiated to sell to the Trust for Public Land in a
complex $6 million deal that includes a patchwork of state agriculture,
historic and open space preservation grants along with the town money.
Simsbury leaders this month got into an uncommonly harsh
dispute over whether to go forward, ending with a fast-paced petition drive
last weekend to meet a Monday deadline. With backing from the Simsbury Land
Trust, the Simsbury Grange and the board of selectmen, volunteers fanned out to
popular stores and restaurants to get signatures.
“We needed at least 953 signatures and we received more than
1,800!,” First Selectman Eric Wellman proclaimed afterward on Facebook.
“Reasonable people can disagree on whether the town should acquire this parcel,
but I am so pleased that our residents will have the opportunity to vote.”
Earlier in the month, the finance board took up the idea in
its annual budget review and decided not to include it. Some finance board
members warned there are already too many public works and education projects
in the pipeline now, and funding Meadowood would postpone them.
When selectmen convened the next night, some were furious.
The finance board’s move implied voters are “too stupid” to
make the decision,” Selectman Sean Askham said.
“I don’t recall a time when the board of finance not only
refused to send on a signature project from the board of selectmen, but refused
to even go on the record. That move is usually a cowardice move because folks
are looking to avoid being accountable for a decision,” Askham said.
“They made a choice to take away the right of the citizens
to vote,” Selectman Mike Paine.
If the referendum passes and the sale goes through, the
Trust for Public Land, a California-based nonprofit, would get title to the
property — with restrictions. The state would get an easement for recreational
access for 138 acres, including connectivity to the McLean Game Refuge and new
walking trails. Another 117 acres, including the former tobacco sheds on
Hoskins Road, would be reserved as farmland, and 24 would be set aside for
future town athletic fields.
A little more than 4 acres, including the three historic
barns that face Firetown Road, would be used for historic preservation and a
Martin Luther King Jr. interpretive display, according to the Trust for Public
Land.
The Trust for Public Land has raised more than $400,000
toward surveys, research and other expenses connected with the transfer.
It’s unclear how Griffin would proceed if the deal falls
through. The company went to court more than a decade ago to get zoning
approval for 296 homes on the site, including 88 intended for affordable
housing. But the land required extensive environmental remediation because of
fertilizer chemicals, and Griffin never moved forward with the housing project
after it was approved.
Simsbury is among the affluent Connecticut suburbs that
affordable housing advocates have targeted for new development. But Desegregate
CT, a prime force in that effort, takes no position on individual projects, and
said Thursday it had no comment on Meadowood.
Simsbury Grange President Susan Masino said preserving the
land is the goal.
“I 100% support affordable housing, and there are many ways
that can be done. But a critical network of open space is also essential. This
land is not the right place for multiple reasons,” she said.
She noted that the 88 proposed affordable housing units were
expected to run $280,000 each.
“That is more money than 33% of the housing in Simsbury, so
that is not helping people who really need housing,” she said. “Most important,
there is no guarantee what will be built. Multiple experts have said affordable
housing is highly unlikely in the end because it is not the most profitable
option.”
On March 31, President Biden outlined a proposal for a $2.25
trillion "American Jobs Plan," a sweeping stimulus package designed
to rebuild the nation's infrastructure, reduce greenhouse gas emissions and
"promote affordable access to opportunity."
The plan includes more than $115 billion for roads and
bridges, along with spending $85 billion for transit services and $80 billion
on intercity rail.
Many details remain to be worked out through negotiations
and debates in Congress, but here is a quick look at what that kind of money
could buy for Massachusetts:
Safe Street Program Prioritized by Highway Funds
The White House said that it will use the funding to
prioritize basic repair of existing roads and bridges, and that any road
improvements will be focused on "safety, resilience and all users in
mind."
In Massachusetts, highway monies are often
"flexed" to finance trails and complete streets projects. The Boston
Region Metropolitan Planning Organization, which disburses funds for most large
transportation projects in the greater metro area, is currently updating its
five-year budget, and several projects that are unlikely to make the cut in
this year's round of funding could be well-positioned to see construction if
new federal funds become available, according to StreetBlogs Mass.
Among those projects that could get a new life due to the
Biden plan include:
The building of the first phase of the Belmont Community
Path from Belmont Center to Alewife Station,
A 2-mi. extension of the Marblehead Rail Trail through
Swampscott,
A reconstruction of Washington Street in Brookline that
would also include new sidewalks and protected bike lanes from Brookline
Village to Beacon Street,
Another rebuilding effort in Lynn along Western Avenue north
of the Lynn Common, which could lead to additional bus-priority infrastructure
for the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority's (MBTA) 424, 434, and 450
buses.
Biden's proposal also would set aside $20 billion in highway
funds "to improve road safety for all users, including increases to
existing safety programs and a new Safe Streets for All program to fund state
and local ‘vision zero' plans," according to a White House fact sheet.
There also is the possibility of a new $20 billion program
that would reconnect those U.S. neighborhoods that suffered destruction from
20th-century highway projects. Locally, StreetBlogs Mass noted that has the
potential to boost large projects like the proposed demolition of the obsolete
McGrath Highway in Somerville, or the still-to-be-drafted design for Morrissey
Boulevard on the Dorchester waterfront.
New England Could Get New Amtrak Services
Biden's proposal includes $80 billion "to address
Amtrak's repair backlog, modernize the high-traffic Northeast Corridor (and)
improve existing corridors and connect new city pairs."
Shortly after the White House released its proposal, Amtrak
issued a fact sheet and accompanying map outlining new routes and services that
it could implement along the entire Northeast Corridor from Boston to
Washington. In addition, the Downeaster line to Maine, the Hartford Line
between Springfield and New Haven, Conn., and the Vermonter line north of
Springfield also could receive "enhancements."
The Amtrak map included the much-studied East-West route,
which, under the company's proposal, would be extended from Pittsfield to
Albany, N.Y., as well as a new service to New Hampshire, and an extension of
Vermonter service to Montreal. The latter idea has long been in the planning
stages but is contingent on the construction of a new U.S.-Canada border
checkpoint inside Montreal's train station.
Ben Heckscher, a co-founder of Trains in the Valley, an
organization of Pioneer Valley rail advocates, told StreetBlogs Mass that
running trains all the way to Albany, a metropolitan area of 1.2 million
people, could add significant benefits to the proposed east-west rail service
between Boston, Springfield and Pittsfield.
"At some level, the wild card here is still [the Massachusetts
Department of Transportation]," he said. "They've never been very
excited, from our perspective, about getting east-west rail implemented."
Transit Funds Could Boost Rail Electrification
Biden's bill also would allocate $80 billion "to
modernize existing transit and help agencies expand their systems to meet rider
demand," according to the White House's info sheet.
That would represent a major increase in federal investment
– more than 40 times what the federal government budgeted last year to help
transit agencies finance their expansions.
As far as providing the funds for the electrification of
transit rail lines, much of Biden's proposed $174 billion in spending for
electric vehicles will go toward electric car subsidies. However, a sizable
chunk of the White House's proposed electric vehicle funding also would go to
transit agencies to help electrify public vehicles.
Electrifying the commuter rail network could have profound
effects on transit ridership and transportation emissions in New England,
according to the MBTA's formal analysis of capital improvements to the commuter
rail system, noted StreetBlogs Mass.