Torrington career fair focusing on school project
Lance Reynolds
TORRINGTON – A career fair at Torrington High School on June
26 will provide city residents and students an opportunity to learn more about
jobs connected to the $159.5 million Torrington Middle/High School project.
The fair also will allow the city school district and
Greater Hartford-New Britain Building Trades Council their first opportunity to
actively recruit residents who may be interested in helping construct the grade
7-12 school they approved last November. It will take place inside the THS
gymnasium from 9 a.m. to noon and feature boilermakers, carpenters,
ironworkers, sprinkler fitters and more.
Last week, the City Council voted 3-2 to enter a 10-year
project labor agreement with the Building Trades Council, a union that
represents about 30,000 construction workers statewide.
Project and union officials highlighted the PLA outside THS
on Wednesday, a day after school officials announced the project’s state
reimbursement rate has increased from 62% to 85%. That increases the state’s
cost to about $135.6 million and lowers the city’s share to $23.9 million.
A PLA goal is for the Building Trades Council to recruit 48
to 60 THS students per year for its apprenticeship programs through 2031.
There will be four separate apprenticeship programs per
year, with 12 to 15 students enrolled, said district Business Director Ed Arum,
who serves as co-chairman of the building committee.
“Even if we only have 48 students, that’s 480 students at
the end of 10 years who will be working a union job that brings money to
Torrington,” Arum said. “The students, who will be adults in 10 years, will be
residents, hopefully buying houses, and their children will be going to the new
school.”
The Building Trades Council will continue to host career
fairs each spring, starting next year through 2031.
They will be open to all city students, including those who
attend Oliver Wolcott Technical High School, said Joe Toner, executive director
of the council. THS students, though, will receive priority for the
apprenticeships, he noted.
The apprenticeships align with the district’s
college-and-career pathway program, which exposes high school students to the
local business scene via hands-on learning experiences. Union officials will
collaborate with administrators involved in the hi-tech manufacturing pathway,
Toner said.
Superintendent Susan Lubomski called the apprenticeships a
“dream come true” because they will help keep interested alumni in the city.
“We don’t want our students leaving, trying to go and find
jobs somewhere else,” she said. “They can be right here, revitalizing the
community. That’s what all of this is about.”
A preapprenticeship program will give lower-income residents
three to four months of work experience in the city before they’re enrolled in
apprenticeships, Toner said. That program also will allow residents
opportunities to gain safety and lift certifications, he said.
A key goal is for area residents to make up about 55% of hired
construction workers, including 30% from Litchfield County and 25% from
Torrington, Toner said. More than 200 city families are affiliated with the
Building Trades Council.
If that goal is met, the city could get back $9.6 million,
Toner said.
Once the estimated 284,295-square-foot school is built,
residents and students who become union members will get to work on other
Building Trades projects statewide, Toner said.
School construction is scheduled to start in May 2022 and
end before the 2024-25 school year begins.
“We made a commitment to the town for 10 years,” Toner said.
“We are going to fulfill the commitment, and we are going to turn Torrington
back to its roots – a blue-collar, union town.”
Milford schools eye $84 million in improvements, and 'hefty price tags coming up,' official says
Saul Flores
MILFORD — The city’s public schools are considering spending
up to $84.7 million on capital improvements over the next five years, according
to the school system’s 2022-26 Capital Improvement Plan.
The plan does not have any money attached to it, and is
typically used as a planning aid to anticipate the school system’s needs over
the next five years, said Chief Operations Officer James Richetelli at the
board’s meeting this week.
“The plan aids the board and aids the city in planning for
projects in the future, especially regarding the finances,” said Richetelli.
“The dollar amounts are not exact estimates because these are big projects many
of them, and they require the assistance of professional consultants to develop
precise estimates.”
The schools are required by the city charter to create
five-year capital improvement plans , and the state also reviews the plan for
projects for which they city and school leaders anticipate applying for state
reimbursement.
At the top of the list is the partial roof replacement at
Joseph A. Foran High School, estimated to cost $3.5 million and listed for the
2021-22 fiscal year.
Another priority project is the expansion and renovation of
Live Oaks Elementary School, anticipated for the 2023-24 school year at an
estimated cost of $15 million.
Renovation of Harborside Middle School is on the list for
2024-25 at an estimated $23 million.
Richetelli said the planned improvements to Harborside would
give it parity in facilities with the city’s other middle schools.
“The project will bring Harborside up to the (level of the)
additions, renovations and upgrades that we’ve done first at East Shore and
West Shore,” said Richetelli.
“At Harborside, there will be dedicated art and music areas
as well as a bolstered science lab, similar to the projects we’ve done at East
Shore and West Shore,” he said.
Aside from the larger renovation projects, Richetelli
detailed system-wide efforts to improve the HVAC, ventilation, boilers and masonry,
estimated at $1 million.
“All of our schools are or will be reaching the life
expectancy of their mechanical systems like HVAC, ventilation and boilers,”
said Richetelli. “We need to keep up with what some would consider the bones of
the school.”’
Among the other, less intensive projects that are
anticipated for the short-term include traffic and safety improvements at
Orchard Hills Elementary, estimated at $1.8 million.
Richetelli said more parents drove students to school rather
than sending them on the bus, creating traffic issues.
Another 2021-22 project included on the list is the creation
of a dedicated space for the Child Learning Center Program space at Jonathan
Law High School, estimated at $1 million. Richetelli said there is a program at
the high school, but there is not a dedicated space for it and dedicating a
space could create a new career path and provide additional daycare and pre-K
for Milford families.
The final new improvement project proposed for the 2021-22
year is athletic facility improvements and upgrades at Law and Foran high
schools. The schools have already spent about $4 million on the athletic fields
at the two schools, but Richetelli said that wasn’t enough to be where they
need to be with the athletic facilities.
“The tracks at Foran and Law are in real need of being
replaced,” said Richetelli. “At Foran, there are probably two lanes that we
would close off in a track meet because we don’t believe those two lanes are
safe for runners.
“There are many other needs for the athletic facilities, and
I remind the board that all of these facilities are used by the general
community at large,” he said.
School board President Susan Glennon asked whether there is
an average amount of money annually spent on the schools and if some
high-priority projects might not get funded.
Richetelli said that was a concern.
“Yes, that is our fear. We have some hefty price tags coming
up, so there’s going to be some big asks already,” he said.
Glennon followed up by asking if it were possible that not
all the capital improvement projects listed for 2021-22 would be funded.
Richetelli confirmed it was possible.
“These smaller things add up this year,” he said.
Following the discussion the board unanimously approved the
Capital Improvement Plan for 2022-26, with an amendment earmarking $2 million
for central air conditioning in 2021-22 and 2025-26.
Hamden has 2 deteriorating bridges. Here's what the town plans to do about it.
Meghan Friedmann
HAMDEN — A bridge that crosses Belden Creek via Woodin
Street suffers from “significant cracking” and has a reduced weight capacity,
according to a town memo.
Another span, on Willow Street over Willow Brook, is rated
as “poor” in a state inspection report and is limited to one-way traffic.
But with the help of a state grant, the town is seeking to
resolve both issues by replacing the first bridge and decommissioning the
second.
The state Department of Transportation on June 1
conditionally approved a grant that would fund half the estimated cost of the
two projects. If approved by the town’s Legislative Council, the town would put
up the rest of the money, about $286,500 to replace the Woodin Street bridge
and $172,999 to decommission the Willow Street structure.
Ongoing issue
The Willow Street bridge has been a concern since 2002 and
the Woodin Street bridge has had known issues since before 2011, according to
memos from Town Engineer Mark Austin, who said funds for bridge repair projects
are limited, both in terms of town resources and available grant money.
Hamden has been tackling problem bridges in order of
priority, starting with projects on Skiff Street, Davis Street, Brooksvale
Avenue, Johnson
Road and Hillfield Road, according to Austin.
He said the Woodin Street and Willow Street projects should
be next.
Because they both are operating at reduced capacity, neither
structure currently presents a threat to public safety, Austin said.
DOT spokesman Kevin Nursick confirmed in an email that the
Willow Street bridge does not pose a safety threat.
Because the Woodin Street bridge is town-owned and the state
does not typically inspect it, he deferred questions about its safety to the
municipality.
Hamden also owns the Willow Street structure, but the state
conducts regular inspections because it is part of the National Bridge
Inventory, according to Nursick, who shared a 2020 inspection report giving the
bridge’s superstructure a rating of three on a scale of zero to nine.
The lowest-rated component of the bridge — in this case, the
superstructure — determines its overall rating, according to Nursick, who said
three is considered a “poor” rating.
Zero is the worst rating and indicates a bridge should be
closed, he said.
The 39-page inspection report singles out concrete T-beams
on the bridge’s underside as a primary concern.
“The overall deterioration of the fascia (external) concrete
T-beams is the issue,” Nursick wrote in his email. “They have extensive
spalling of the concrete with exposed rusted reinforcement.”
Austin likened “spalling” to the erosion of concrete.
“A spall is where the concrete kind of flakes off,” he said.
The town plans to decommission the bridge due to a “very
limited traffic volume,” per Austin’s memo. He said traffic would be redirected
to nearby side streets, with a wooded area starting north of the bridge and
ending at the opposite side closed to vehicles.
“We hope, in the future, to use it as a walking path, but
not under this current grant,” Austin said.
The Woodin Street bridge has its own challenges.
Though the state does not regularly inspect it, the DOT did
complete a screening report in 2016 noting efflorescence at the site.
Nursick’s email defined efflorescence as “the leaching of
salts from the concrete” and indicated that small amounts are normal.
“Efflorescence that continues and becomes more extensive
over time is indicative of problems, which may include excessive water
intrusion and possible contamination from deicing materials,” he continued.
“These issues can result in the breakdown of the concrete material and
corrosion of the reinforcement material (metal rebar).”
Austin put it another way: it’s as if the concrete is
eroding from the inside. A white dust appears, indicating water intrusion, he
said.
Though the problem is “in the early stages, it’s coming to
the point where we need to work on it,” he said.
A 2015 weight rating report caused the town to limit the
Woodin Street bridge’s capacity, per Austin’s memo.
“The load that it was originally designed for has been
lessened,” he said. “In other words it’s not as strong as it used to be.”
Orders to accept the state bridge grants and fund the
remaining project balance passed the Legislative Council’s finance committee
this week. Austin said the cost had been included in the capital request for
the coming fiscal year.
The orders still require approval from the full Legislative
Council.
If all goes as planned, Austin expects construction to take
place in 2023, he said.
Rob Ryser
DANBURY — Rezoning the Danbury Fair mall to allow housing,
and targeting downtown parking lots to encourage shops and restaurants are “big
ideas” leaders should consider in the city’s new master plan, a consultant
urged this week.
“Maybe the mall is able to continue as it is, but the trends
we are seeing nationally would suggest that they need to adapt in some way …
and we need to be sure zoning is supportive of whatever may occur at that
property in the future to keep it active and viable,” said Francisco Gomes, a
consultant working with Danbury leaders to develop a zoning plan for the next
10 years. “If you look at an aerial (photo), there is a decent amount of
surface parking downtown — (t)hat is always a very obvious place to look for
new housing and new retail and new restaurant space.”
The consultant’s recommendations came during a 90-minute
Zoom discussion about updating
Danbury’s zoning to encourage economic growth, and to preserve the
city’s open space and suburban character. An overdue public engagement campaign
for the master plan is set for September — one month after leaders are
scheduled to compete the research phase and begin to draft new land use rules.
“We are the seventh largest city in Connecticut, but you go
into Tarrywile Park or (Candlewood) Lake and you can’t believe you’re in an
urban environment,” said Sharon Calitro, Danbury’s planning director and a key
member of the group overseeing the master plan update.
Calitro stressed the balance between progress and
conservation had to be struck in the city’s historic Main Street district, in
the heart of the downtown corridor.
“We have been careful to craft our regulations about a
height restrictions, so we don’t overpower our historic district, which is on
the National Register of Historic Places,” Calitro said. “We have to protect
the historical integrity in the district and also incentivize people to have
that density downtown.”
One way to encourage more economic development downtown is
to make it easy for developers to convert parking lots into shops, restaurants,
and apartments.
“[T]o leverage that opportunity, you have to address the
parking needs with something other than surface parking,” Gomes said. “You have
one (parking garage) on Main Street and the other one near the ice rink and the
train station. The question is, where does the downtown stand with its parking
needs?”
The city, which highlighted the parking lot opportunity in a
recently completed transit-oriented development study, is courting
developers to invest in a municipal parking lot on Liberty Street.
City Hall believes the lot is ideal for a multi-story building with shops on
the ground floor.
One element Danbury can’t control in its master plan is
downtown landowners’ visions, a city leader said during the discussion.
“I just wish some of the downtown landowners had a little
more vision, a little more imagination — to look at a building or to look at an
area and say, ‘What can we do here to bring the whole area together, to make it
flow better?’” said Arnold Finaldi, chairman of the city Planning Commission
and a member of the master plan review group. “I just hope there is some of
that downtown, because I think downtown will benefit from it.”
On Danbury’s booming west side, owners of the Danbury Fair
mall have not signaled to the city plans to follow Milford’s Connecticut Post
Mall, which has proposed to reinvent
itself with 500 apartments and 450,000 square feet of commercial and
office space.
Last week, a senior property manager for Danbury Fair said
the mall was attracting
new businesses to fill vacancies left by the COVID-19 crisis.
Danbury’s consultant said the city should be preparing for a
scenario like the Connecticut Post Mall.
“Some malls are beginning to redevelop to incorporate
housing on the site and I think this will be one of the big ideas we are likely
to address,” Gomes said. He added leaders needed to “figure out if there is
anything the city should be doing to support the future of this site.”
Whole Foods looks to open new store in South Windsor
Luther Turmelle
Upscale grocer Whole Foods is hoping to expand its presence
east of the Connecticut River.
The Texas-based retailer, which is subsidiary of e-commerce
giant Amazon, is eyeing a spot in the Evergreen Walk lifestyle center in South
Windsor. Whole Foods received a preliminary approval on June 8 for its plan to
building a 50,000 square foot store along the western edge of the lifestyle
center.
If the retailer’s site plan is approved later this year,
Whole Foods would move into space formerly occupied by Highland Park Market,
which closed in June 2010.
The Whole Foods would also take space currently occupied by
an Old Navy store and Sakura Gardens, which is a Japanese restaurant, according
to Michael Maniscalco, South Windsor’s Town Manager. Those two businesses would
relocate to other parts of Evergreen Walk.
“Having a grocery store will help the other retailers
there,” Maniscalco said Thursday. “The idea of having that consistently
returning customer base is very beneficial.”
Although Whole Foods has eight locations in Connecticut, only
one — the retailer’s store in Glastonbury — is located east of the Connecticut
River to serve Hartford’s eastern suburbs. The retailer is scheduled to open
its ninth location in Avon this fall.
If Whole Foods gets the approvals it needs to open in Evergreen
Walk, it will have plenty of competition. South Windsor has a Stop & Shop,
an Aldi and a Geisler’s Supermarket, and there is a Trader Joe’s in Manchester
less than a mile from where Whole Foods wants to build.
“There’s over 100,000 people in the regional trade area and
the way people shop today is a lot different than the way they used to,”
Maniscalco said. “People don’t do all of their grocery shopping at one store.”
The town manager said he views Whole Foods’ plans for a
store at Evergreen Walk as part of a renaissance at the lifestyle center, which
opened in 2004. Maniscalco said Greenwich-based Charter Realty &
Development took over management of the property about a year ago.
“They were really aggressive: They came in and laid out the
types of challenges that Evergreen Walk is facing and what they could do to
address that,” he said. “Evergreen Walk is a high class retail establishment
that used to be filled with a lot of great retailers.”
Nearly a third of the gross leaseable area in Evergreen Walk
is currently vacant, according to Charter Realty & Development’s web page.
But Burt Flickinger, managing director of New York City based Strategic
Resource Group, said the arrival of Whole Foods at the lifestyle center will
really revitalize it.
“A whole bunch of other retailers are going to want to
locate there,” Flickinger said. “Whole Foods has some of highest retail sales
per square foot in the industry. They typically produce $970 per square foot
and the numbers at South Windsor could be even higher.”
Developers target downtown New Haven for 92 new apartments in historic building
Mary E. Oleary
NEW HAVEN — A tanking commercial office market is not
theoretical for these developers.
They bet big that converting a large portion of an iconic
early 20th century building on the Green to apartments is the right investment.
Jacob and Josef Feldman of MOD Equities, which bought the
8-story building at 129 Church St. six years ago for $6.9 million, are
proposing an adaptive reuse of the 1912 structure.
The brothers would keep a retail presence on the ground
level and about nine commercial spaces on the first two floors, with 92
apartments on the third through ninth floors in a transit-oriented development.
Jacob Feldman said it has been a struggle to bring in more
office users over the years, but they “took a big hit” during the pandemic when
most of the month-to-month small law and professional tenants worked remotely.
Keeping it all commercial is not sustainable.
“We had to come up with a solution quick. This is an
historic building — it can’t sit empty or bad things start to happen,” Jacob
Feldman said.
MOD Equities planned to make its presentation to the City
Plan Commission Wednesday night but pitched its plans to a receptive Downtown
Wooster Square Community Management Team.
Jacob Feldman said they will upgrade the mechanical systems
as part of the renovation to set it up for the next 50 to 100 years.
The conversion will increase the residential presence along
Church Street, which already has apartments at the Eli, the Union, 900 Chapel
Residence Court and CenterPointe.
The plans are to keep the historic elements with almost no
changes to the exterior of the building, which is located next to the federal
courthouse on Church Street between Chapel and Elm streets. They will use
historic tax credits to cover part of the investment.
The new tenants would be able to walk to downtown amenities,
as well as the New Haven State Street Station and the Wooster Square
neighborhood, the owners said.
The plans call for 12 residential units on the third floor;
13 on each of the fourth through seventh floors; and 14 on the eighth and ninth
floors. The apartments will be a mix of studio, one-bedroom and two-bedroom
units.
According to the proposal submitted to the city, there is a
rooftop on the third floor, not visible from the street, where the owners plan
to create some 3,334 square feet of open space. The amenities would include a
fitness center, game room, community room and lounge.
Jacob Feldman said they would incorporate the original
doors, terrazzo floors and brass elements in the renovated building. There will
be a residential entrance and a separate commercial entrance.
Forty-six parking spaces are required in connection with the
development, but with the provision for at least 12 indoor bicycle spaces, the
required number drops to 42. The company is in negotiations with the New Haven
Parking Authority to lease those spaces.
Jacob Feldman did not think the current Brazilian restaurant
on the first floor is likely to reopen; it is the third restaurant the space
housed since they bought the building.
He told the management team that their business model, which
is to invest in older buildings, is always to be competitive with the hundreds
of new apartments currently under construction only blocks away in Wooster
Square.
“We always try to be a much better value,” he said. Feldman
said lumber prices are going down, “so that is a good thing.”
Smart reuse?
While converting to residential uses was not part of their
original thinking when they bought 129 Church St., Feldman said they had to
adjust “and figure out the next best thing to do.”
Community management team Chairman Ian Dunn said it looks
like a “smart re-use and doing it in a way that honors the character of the
building.”
A big concern of the management team was employment of
residents by the contractor, as well as including affordable units in the mix.
In response to a question from Elsie Chapman about the
hiring of minority contractors, Jacob Feldman said often they get a list from
the city for their contractor to work off of.
“We always try to use minorities when possible and in this
particular situation where it is still in the pre-construction phase, we really
haven’t priced out contractors ... but when we do get to that stage, that is
definitely first and foremost,” Josef Feldman said.
Jacob Feldman said they always try to have rents that are 20
percent to 30 percent less expensive than developers working on new
construction where there are more amenities. “It is more of a boutique-style
building,” he said, where they have to build smart to keep the rents lower.
Lana Melonakos-Harrison said it looked like a “really good
project,” but she would like to see a certain percentage set aside as
affordable.
Jacob Feldman said moving forward when they purchase new
buildings, they are excited about the proposal for inclusionary zoning that New
Haven is considering that has incentives to make those affordable units
attractive.
Presently, Jacob Feldman said “we are not in this really
powerful place right now. ... We are in sort of savior mode now; trying to move
as fast as we can as every month” is difficult.
Josef Feldman said he knows affordability is important to
New Haven and “we really did try to exhaust all our options and the more we
went back to it, it really didn’t pencil out.” He noted the value of
inclusionary zoning in the near future.
Dunn said generally the city wants to encourage the smaller
developers to build and hold onto their properties in the city, as they look to
upgrade zoning rules.
“We don’t want to cater to the big, nameless real estate
investment trusts that are just designed to make money for shareholders. But we
do want to want to cater to people who are looking to build out our city and
build out infrastructure in our city that will exist for a long time,” Dunn
said.
Jacob Feldman said he was contacted by the city’s consultant
on the zoning changes and “I was encouraged and excited. ... It has to be a
public-private sort of partnership.”
He said “ultimately, a guy like me, my hands are tied ... If
the bank doesn’t give me any money, we can’t do any projects.”
The proposed incentives tied to inclusionary zoning
hopefully bridge the gap to allow for affordable units, he said.
Josef Feldman said they are not “fly-by-night developers
only interested in flipping a property.”
He said they started 10 years ago buying a single-family
house. “We really started our business organically from the trunk of our car.
... It has been a long fun ride. ... We are here for the long run,” he said.
Anstress Farwell, who heads the New Haven Urban Design
League and has been a longtime tenant in the building, said the new plans “are
very sound and that comes from someone who will be displaced from her beloved
fourth-floor office with the view of the courthouse and the lions that spit
water out in thunderstorms. It is a very special space.”
Farwell suggested some units could be designed for
handicapped tenants — one per floor. “It is an important value to keep in
mind,” Farwell said.
Jacob Feldman said they hope to break ground in six to eight
months.
He said they are continuing to work on finishing renovations
to 575 Whitney Ave., which involves converting the former Church of the
Redeemer to apartments.
Also, scaffolding soon will be going up at 105 Court St. at
the intersection of State Street. That plan calls for renovating office space
at the English Building to 39 apartments — a project that had been delayed
during the pandemic, but which the brothers hope to complete by 2022.
Canton board rejects Route 44 development plan
Tom Condon
The wooded traprock ridge that greets westbound motorists
entering Canton is saved, for the moment.
The town’s Planning & Zoning Commission on
Wednesday rejected an application by developer Mark Greenberg to
blast and excavate part of the ridge line to build a 20-dispenser gas station,
electric vehicle showroom and convenience store.
“We’re very happy with the decision and really appreciative
of the commissioner for all the thought and time that they put into this
lengthy application,” said Jane Latus, who heads Canton Advocates for
Responsible Expansion, a local land-use group that opposed the project.
The commission determined that the ridge line on Route 44
was a scenic and cultural asset for the town as well as a state resource, and
that the removal of 120,000 cubic yards of rock was inconsistent with the
town’s plan of conservation and development.
The controversial proposal, aired at a series of public
hearings over the last several months, drew hundreds of opponents and only a
handful of supporters and offered a window into specific aspects of land use
and regulation in the state. Many said the project would ruin the scenic
entrance to the town and was out of scale with other structures along the road.
They also raised the possibility that blasting could induce pollution from a
nearby state Superfund site to migrate and pollute area wells, or could cause
area wells to lose capacity. Experts disagreed on whether this would happen.
Greenberg, who insisted that his proposal was “perfectly
safe,” said Thursday that he plans to file a new application to develop the
site.
He said that while it was premature to describe his new
concept in detail, he said it would be a “less intensive use” and “less
invasive” of the traprock ridge. “I will try to preserve the rock face to the
best of my ability,” he said.
He had said earlier in the week that he planned to appeal if
his application was denied. He said Thursday he would hold off on that decision
until he reads the final record.
Danté Bartolomeo to succeed Kurt Westby at CT Department of Labor
Mark Pazniokas
Kurt Westby is retiring by the end of the month as the state
commissioner of labor and will be succeeded by his deputy, former state Sen.
Danté Bartolomeo of Meriden, Gov. Ned Lamont said Thursday.
The Department of Labor’s ancient computer system was
overwhelmed a year ago when Lamont imposed strict limits on commercial and
social activity due to COVID-19, sparking an immediate and record spike of
nearly 600,000 unemployment applications.
“He led a team that got $8.5 billion in unemployment benefits
disbursed across six programs – some of which were established only weeks
prior. He has my utmost respect, and I wish him the very best in his
well-deserved retirement,” Lamont said.
Westby, a former union leader, is a holdover from the
administration of Gov. Dannel P. Malloy. Westby joined the DOL as a deputy
commissioner in 2016, then became commissioner in 2018. He was reappointed by
Lamont upon taking office in 2019.
Bartolomeo has been an especially visible deputy, making her
succession expected. Her nomination must be confirmed by the General Assembly.
“I thank Danté for agreeing to step into this leadership
position,” Lamont said. “Since day one she has been committed to the
department’s mission and programs. I have no doubt that she can quickly
transition into her new role as commissioner.”
Groton overlooks oral school developer’s history of bribing public officials
David Collins
When Groton Town Manager John Burt was asked in April about
reports implicating the developer proposing one of the most massive projects in
the town's history — a mixed-use commercial project with 700 to 850
housing units — in a 2004 New York City bribery scandal, the town's chief
executive officer said, incredibly, he was unconcerned.
"We looked into it. I had a long discussion with (him.)
He answered all the questions I had satisfactorily," the town manager told
The Day.
Developer Jeffrey Respler, in his
own interview with The Day at that time, denied the accusations, said
they were untrue and claimed his lawyer had advised him to take the plea deal
offered to stop the investigation and move on with his business.
But in a court hearing in 2004, Respler made detailed
admissions under oath to a series of crimes, including bribing public officials
with cash, that should give any municipality dealing with him reason to pause,
or at least investigate beyond the "long discussion" with the
developer that town manager Burt said put him at ease.
It is striking that Groton officials would shrug off the
troubling criminal history of public malfeasance of a developer who would have
such an enormous impact on the town. But what is even more alarming to me is
that he was selected in the first place by both the town and the state
Department of Economic and Community Development as the preferred developer of
the abandoned, state-owned Mystic Oral School property.
Town manager Burt said in a memo early last year that there
would be a shovel in the ground in 2021, but so far not a single application
for the project has been filed.
The state actually signed in 2019 a purchase and sales
contract allowing Respler to buy the property, with its existing buildings and
some 40 acres of land, for $1. And while the contract begins with a description
of the large project the developer is planning, it makes no demands of him
whatsoever to do any of the development once the $1 purchase is complete.
Certainly no one in the town or the state DECD, in vetting
the person they were going to give 40 acres of land in Mystic to, did the
simple Google search which apparently led a lawyer hired by neighbors of the
property to the New York City bribery scandal.
Worse, it's hard to imagine they even checked out his work
as a Connecticut developer, since one of the three housing developments he
cited in his resume, an almost 11-year-old, 69-house project in East Windsor,
is practically stalled, with only 14 units constructed. Respler had to get the
town to renew the project permits last summer because they were expiring at the
end of 10 years.
There is nothing in the credentials Respler presented to the
state and town to indicate he has ever done anything on the scale of what he is
proposing for Mystic or that he has ever built any of the kinds of mixed-use
development he has suggested, including a micro hotel, offices, a market,
recreation center and commercial space.
After spending some time learning about Respler and what he
is proposing for Groton, including significant but still undefined tax
incentives, I have a lot of questions. But town manager Burt refused to speak
with me for most of the week, saying he would only respond to written questions
submitted by email. I didn't take the town manager up on his offer to submit
questions in writing because I knew I would have too many follow-up questions
and it wouldn't be a fulsome way to discuss such important issues, without the
conversation of an interview. I tried for three days, but he wouldn't take
my calls.
Burt wrote Thursday morning to say he would try to arrange a
phone conference with planning officials when their schedules allow. I told him
I was on a deadline and he wrote back to say his staff would not be available
until next week.
I was also refused access to the files pertaining to the
project at the town's planning office. Reviewing public files is something I
have routinely done at planning offices in municipalities throughout eastern
Connecticut during my many decades as a reporter. It was startling to be denied
them.
The town has put some documents relating to the project
online. But that is very different than the kind of material, correspondence,
notes and memos that are included in files that municipalities routinely
make available to the public, either reporters or interested neighbors.
I find it especially troubling that Groton has tried to put
a clamp on public documents pertaining to a project being proposed by someone
who admitted before a judge, in his words, to giving a New York City official
"a benefit in the form of United States currency for the purpose of
influencing (his) opinion, judgement, action, decision or exercise of
discretion as a public official."
Indeed, the four charges to which Respler pleaded guilty in
that court session included not just one but two incidents of bribery, with
bribes totaling $40,000, as well as crimes in which Respler paid someone to
falsely use his plumbing license on official documents and filed false
statements with the city that said he was paying workers appropriate wages.
Respler also admitted that he sold a property in Long Island
City to a plumber's union for $1.9 million — $400,000 above its market
value — after agreeing to give a kickback of $10,000 to the business
manager of the union.
The plea agreement included Respler making significant
restitution, including $360,000 to the plumber's union for the fraudulent
building sale and $300,000 to a trust to reimburse workers' lost wages. He also
forfeited $75,000 to the state of New York. The $10,000 in bribes related to
three contracts worth $7.2 million that Respler's plumbing company had with the
city to install water meters.
The investigation, which netted three other arrests,
including city officials who took the bribes, was done by the City of New York
Department of Investigation and the prosecutions were supervised by the
attorney in charge of the New York State Attorney General's Organized Crime
Task Force.
When I spoke to Respler on Tuesday, I asked him why he
told The Day in April that he had nothing to do with paying bribes, didn't
promise a kickback in the sale of a building and never improperly paid his
employees, despite an elaborate admission to those crimes he made in court. I
read some of his testimony to him.
"No comment," was all he said, after a long period
of silence on the line.
I wonder what he told Burt in their "long
discussion," after which Burt told The Day: "I have all the faith in
Respler Homes and Mr. Respler."
I found another answer by Respler to something I raised in
our conversation to be strange.
I asked him why he lists himself on his LinkedIn profile as
the CEO for 13 years of a company called Advanced Construction Technologies,
since principals of that California business, with 29 employees, told me they
have never heard of him. Respler's LinkedIn profile uses the company's distinct
logo.
Respler said the company in his profile is defunct, one he
started many years ago but never used, at a time when he intended to go into
the geothermal and solar business. He said he hasn't tended his LinkedIn profile
for a while and could not explain why his listing shows a company and its logo
that he has no association with. Of course, if his own company with that name
is defunct and was never used, one wonders why he would list it at all.
In his proposal to the state to develop the oral school
property, Respler lists his primary developer credentials as three housing
projects in Connecticut, including the unfinished one in East Windsor, as well
as a 154-unit project in Berlin and another with 92 units in Beacon Falls. I
visited all three. The small project in Beacon Falls appears largely finished
and much of the Berlin development is built with homes occupied and site work
underway on the makings of a new phase.
The lack of progress on the project in East Windsor is very
evident, where the one section of completed road drifts off into an unfinished
cul-de-sac, with weeds growing around the installed sewer lines. Other sections
of road for the nearly 11-year-old development are not cleared.
East Windsor files on the Respler project, which planning
officials made promptly available when I asked, show the records of
the extension of permits the developer had to request because they were
expiring.
Some residents in the dozen or so homes whom I spoke with
said they are frustrated with the slow progress and some of them complained
about the developer not being responsive to problems with the completed houses
brought to his attention.
Respler told me more of the East Windsor development is not
finished because the houses are custom and he only builds them as they are
sold. He said he has addressed problems from homeowners while the houses were
still under warranty, but some people have come to him with complaints long
after their houses were finished and sold.
When I asked about his lack of experience building the kind
of development he has proposed in Mystic, with a market, restaurant, hotel and
office space, he said once you've built a house, you can build other things.
The purchase and sales contract for the oral school and 40
acres of the site was overseen and signed Nov. 7, 2019, by state Economic and
Community Development Deputy Commissioner David Kooris, who has since left
state government but remains chairman of the Connecticut Port Authority board
and has managed the state's remake of State Pier in New London.
The contract with Respler sets out a $1 sale of the property
but makes no demands of the developer that he do anything specific with it. It
refers only generally to plans he has for the property. There are a series of
contingencies pertaining to permits for the proposed development, contingencies
the contract allows Respler to waive.
DECD attorney Chris Kurker-Stewart told me, when I asked,
that it is possible that Respler could waive the contingencies meant
to protect him and ask for a closing on the $1 purchase, without being
required to do anything he has promised.
But the lawyer told me in a follow-up email that the
contract is "premised" on the proposed plans by Respler and that it
is unlikely he would seek to simply buy the property for $1.
"The scenario you posit would pose a significant risk
to Respler, as he would be reneging on everything proposed and supplied to the
town and state thus far," Kurker-Stewart wrote. "Additionally, any
single-family development would still require town approval, unless he were to
build only one or two homes, which would presumably negate any financial
justification."
I wish I could buy 40 acres in a desirable part of Mystic
for only $1 and worry only about how many houses I could build in compliance
with 2-acre zoning.
A contract without any substantial conditions is only one of
the state's gifts to Respler. It also has leased the property to him
for $1 for the period before the closing, up to three and a half years, and has
assigned him the annual income, now $66,224 and rising at 3% a year, from
the cellphone companies that maintain a tower on the property.
The developer is supposed to spend the money to secure the
property and keep out vandals, but there is no provision for the state to
recover any of the cellphone tower rent not spent. The town signed a subsequent
agreement with Respler, ensuring that he won't have to pay property taxes to
the town as a result of the lease.
The town signed a development agreement with Respler in
February 2020 that included a series of anticipated milestones. It appears few
of them, as laid out in a memo from town manager Burt from the month before,
have been achieved 16 months later. The agreement also strangely pledges the
town's assistance in helping the developer deal with federal and state
authorities.
Burt said in his memo that planning, design, engineering,
regulatory and legal approvals would all be obtained in 2020 and there would be
a "shovel in the ground" in 2021. No approvals have been
obtained and in fact there has yet to be a single application.
The Town Council has supported the town's coddling of
Respler, with all nine councilors signing
an op-ed that ran in The Day March 1 celebrating what the councilors
said are "so many positive facets" of the project. And yet
neighbors in that part of town seem united in their opposition, given the
protest signs that appear on most lawns in the area.
Councilor Lian Obrey complained in a council meeting this
month about angry and rude emails she has received from residents about her
support for the project.
It seems to me that Obrey and her fellow councilors should
listen more to their constituents and less to the developer's cheerleaders on
the town payroll.
This is the opinion of David Collins.
Groton’s Project Oceanology receives $950,000 from offshore wind partners
Greg Smith
Groton — Offshore wind partners Ørsted and
Eversource continued to make good on promises of local partnerships Thursday,
with an award of $950,000 to Groton-based Project Oceanology.
The money is aimed at enhancing and expanding the marine
science nonprofit’s STEM-based programming for kindergarten through 12th
grade, with a focus on climate change, sustainability, energy generation
and offshore wind.
Thursday’s announcement was made at Project Oceanology’s
waterfront headquarters at the University of Connecticut’s Avery Point campus,
with one of its two research vessels within view of the gathering of local and
state officials.
Project Oceanology Executive Director Jim McCauley said the
focus will be on serving economically disadvantaged and underserved
communities, something the organization already does by targeting Alliance
Districts — low-performing, high-needs schools — such as New London,
Groton and Norwich for its programs.
The funds will be distributed over four years starting this
fall and are to be initially used to develop and design programs at nine
southeastern Connecticut schools: three elementary, three middle and three high
schools. More schools, which have not yet been identified, will be added each
year for a total of 18.
Project Oceanology is expected to additionally provide
teachers with professional development sessions to help develop fundraising
capabilities and help sustain the programs for the long term.
“Our commitment to Revolution Wind is we’re going to build
over four years and reach out to the Alliance school districts and try to
recruit those schools and teachers to bring their classes to the programs,” he
said. “Over the four years we’re going to reach thousands of students in
Southeastern Connecticut.”
Revolution Wind is the offshore wind project planned for
construction off the coast of Rhode Island that will provide 304 megawatts to
Connecticut and 400 Megawatts to Rhode Island. State Pier in New London will be
used for staging and preassembly of wind turbines for the project.
David Ortiz, Ørsted’s head of market affairs for New
England, said the $235.5 million State Pier modernization project is projected
to create 460 local construction jobs while providing a boost to the local
economy. He said there will be more than 100 more wind-related jobs for
longshoremen, preassembly technicians, crane operators, electricians, welders
and quality inspectors.
“All of this activity together is going to really benefit
southeastern Connecticut,” he said.
Ørsted and Eversource already have announced
partnerships with Groton-based ThayerMahan, Waterford-based Sea Services North
America and last week announced a $1.25
million grant to Mystic Aquarium to support internships, youth
programs, animal rescue work and an ocean wind energy exhibit.
“As we continue our work to grow the offshore wind industry
in Connecticut, we are eager to work closely with local communities and
partners to support educational and workforce development initiatives,” Michael
Ausere, vice president of business development at Eversource Energy, said in a
statement. “Project Oceanology’s collaborative, experiential learning approach
was a perfect fit for us, and we look forward to expanding access to this
unique program for local students.”
State Sen. Heather Somers said she was pleased Ørsted
and Eversource followed through on promises to be good community partners and
recalled a visit from a representative from Ørsted predecessor Deepwater
Wind in 2018.
“We explained to him all the great things Project O does and
is able to provide, especially for children who have never experienced the
water, who don’t know anything about marine life. They have an opportunity
through their school systems to visit and get a taste of it,” she said.
For more information on Project Oceanology, visit www.oceanology.org.
CT sets energy storage goal of 1,000MW by 2030
Zachary Vasile
Connecticut has officially set a goal of developing 1,000
megawatts of energy storage assets by 2030.
SB 952, signed into law by Gov. Ned Lamont on Wednesday,
gives the state Department of Energy and Environmental Protection broad
authority to encourage the development of energy storage technology, including
the power to issue requests for proposals and select new projects, provided
they are cost effective. The act also instructs regulators to begin a
proceeding to develop and implement energy storage programs connected to the
electric distribution system.
Included in the law are interim targets of 300MW by Dec. 21,
2024 and 650MW by Dec. 31, 2027.
Energy storage capability is seen as key to increasing
reliability, as storage units, such
as batteries, can funnel power to homes and businesses if connection to the
grid is lost or compromised by an event like a storm. The technology could also
play a role in encouraging the adoption of renewable energy forms by saving up
electricity generated from solar panels and turbines and redeploying it when
the Sun is not shining and the wind is not blowing.
Lamont has set a goal of making Connecticut’s power
resources 100% carbon-free by 2040, which will likely make the state
increasingly reliant on solar and offshore wind generation as fossil fuels are
gradually abandoned.
Filling the Labor Pool — Post-Pandemic, Construction Industry Wants Workers to Jump in
Lucy Perry
Emerging from the coronavirus pandemic, contactors are
struggling to fill crews. Construction employment dropped by 20,000 from April
to May, the third decline in the previous four months. That's further
challenged the industry, which for years has faced a stagnant labor pool.
President Joe Biden is pushing two major bills to boost both
infrastructure and the supply chain, but some in the industry believe these
programs may increase workforce burdens.
In a labor report, the Associated General Contractors (AGC)
noted that BLS statistics put worker numbers at 225,000 below the pre-pandemic
peak of February 2020.
Nonresidential construction employment shrank by 21,800 in
May and was 260,000 below the February 2020 level, reported AGC chief economist
Ken Simonson.
"A total of 642,000 former construction workers were
unemployed in May, a sharp decline from May 2020 but the second-highest May
level since 2014," he wrote.
The industry's unemployment rate in May was 6.7 percent,
compared to 12.7 percent in May 2020.
For total construction, hourly earnings in April averaged
$32.59, 8 percent more than the average for the nonfarm private sector.
But over the past two years this premium shrank by 2.2
percentage points from 10.2 percent in April 2019.
This implies that "the financial attractiveness of
construction may be diminishing as other sectors that are expanding faster
raise pay to attract more workers," said Simonson.
The premium diminished the most for employees of heavy and
civil engineering construction firms (minus 4.5 points, from 16 percent above
the private-sector average in April 2019 to 11.5 percent in April 2021).
Citing BLS data, the AGC reported there were 357,000 job
openings in construction, seasonally adjusted, at the end of April.
Hires in April totaled 335,000 or 4.5 of the employment
total for the month. "Apart from the pandemic-depressed 3.1 percent rate
in 2020, the rate was the lowest for April in the 21-year history of the
series," said Simonson.
The job openings rate (4.6 percent) was the second-highest
total for any month since the series began in December 2000, he added.
Recruiting Headaches
Recruiting construction workers can be more expensive than
keeping them on the job.
"Many young employees know little about the industry,"
said Blair Chenault, CEO of construction software provider Flashtract.
In a blog on his company's website, Chenault wrote that
long-term workers have been the backbone of the industry.
"As these workers reach retirement age in droves,
younger workers aren't stepping in to fill the available positions."
Younger workers believe the construction industry is unstable, he said.
Another big reason: The encouragement to seek higher
education equals discouragement from manual jobs like construction.
Plus, construction comes with safety hazards that make
proper training a vital part of the industry, he wrote.
"Training long-term employees is well worth the cost
and time, but new employees can be unpredictable," said Chenault.
"Losing trained employees is expensive and leaves fellow workers carrying
an extra burden on the job site."
Presidential Pains
The White House's plan to alleviate supply-chain disruptions
could create other burdens.
While boosting labor numbers and training, the proposal
would increase the cost of doing construction business, believes the AGC.
Association officials want the Biden administration to
address rising materials costs and growing labor shortages.
Stephen E. Sandherr, the association's CEO, said Biden's
supply-chain program "would limit the ability of workers and employers to
fill needed construction positions."
He believes that imposing mandated hiring percentages,
inflexible labor agreements and artificially high pay rates will cut the number
of firms and workers available for infrastructure and other construction
programs.
"The construction industry is experiencing widespread
and growing problems with the cost and supply of materials," said
Sandherr. "These challenges will make it more costly and difficult to
achieve the administration's goals for infrastructure, renewable energy and
affordable housing."
Solutions to Stay Afloat
Baywork, a San Francisco area coalition of water agencies,
has created apprenticeship programs to get students that experience while
they're in school, reported Hechinger.
"Utility managers believe this approach will solve some
staffing problems."
Some agencies in the area have agreed to hold community
college classes at their plants. It cuts down on students' commute times and
provides practical experience.
Oakland's Dublin San Ramon Services District is offering
plant tours and job fairs to boost interest in water jobs.
"We have to market these jobs and make sure high-school
kids who are smart consider it," said Levi Fuller, district wastewater
operations superintendent.
Gender and diversity, as well, plague construction sectors.
Brookings found that more than 82 percent of power plant workers are white.
And, 82 percent of infrastructure workers are men.
"A more diverse workforce would help fill jobs, but it
will take broader steps to complete the slew of infrastructure projects
proposed by the administration," wrote Hechinger.
A "few relatively easy fixes" the article lists
include allowing Pell grants to pay for short-term college vocational programs.
Recruiting Tips
Chenault of Flashtract warns that all industries will vie
for the attention of transitioning job seekers.
Companies in the construction industry will need new
techniques for recruiting and retaining. Here are his tips:
Expand recruitment tactics and meet potential employees
where their job search exists.
"As people return to the job market, they may not even
consider construction without prompting," he wrote. "Job seekers
comparing industries will be eager to learn about income opportunities, as well
as benefits and advancement opportunities."
Improve conditions for current employees, the window into
what the work experience is like within a construction company.
"Now is the time to reduce cumbersome job tasks and
eliminate slow payment issues that have been known to plague the
industry," said Chenault.
Create open streams of communication with employees to
ensure you're doing everything you can to make your employees feel connected
and appreciated.
"Happy employees serve as brand ambassadors to job
seekers around them, he wrote.
Recognize difficulties for employees returning to the job
market who may be working through a tough time financially as they emerge from
the pandemic.
"Employers will face a different situation when it
comes to reaching payment agreements for new employees," said Chenault.
"Take time to reexamine your company budget to allocate funds to
attracting and retaining long-term employees to the company." CEG