The ambitious plan to transform an aging New London pier
into a hub for Connecticut’s offshore wind industry has long been besieged by
delays and ballooning costs.
When Gov. Ned Lamont’s administration announced in 2019 that
it had reached a harbor development agreement to redevelop the dilapidated
State Pier, the initial price tag was $93 million, and officials aimed to
complete it by March 2022.
Now, the project remains a year from completion, its
estimated cost has swelled by 250%, and it has drawn the attention of federal
investigators looking into spending projects overseen by Konstantinos
Diamantis, the former deputy secretary of the Office of Policy and Management,
who was fired by Lamont last year.
In October, the U.S. Attorney’s office in New Haven served a federal grand jury subpoena to the Lamont
administration, requesting all communication dating to Jan. 1, 2018, connected
to Diamantis’s involvement with school construction projects, hazardous
materials abatement projects and the
State Pier project.
The redevelopment of State Pier — which sits a few miles
upstream from the mouth of the Thames River — involves dredging the surrounding
riverbed and filling in the space between two existing piers to create a much
larger area with upgraded heavy-lift capacity.
The new pier will be used to construct and stage wind
turbines for Revolution Wind, Connecticut’s first offshore wind farm, as well
as South Fork Wind and Sunrise Wind. Backed by a joint venture of Eversource
and the Danish wind energy company Ørsted, the three projects will collectively
provide enough clean energy to power more than one million homes in
Connecticut, Rhode Island and New York.
For New London Mayor Michael Passero, the State Pier project
represents “the first real opportunity for this harbor and that pier to be
successful,” promising a slew of new jobs and economic stability for New
London’s next generation of residents.
But over the past few years, delays, rising costs and claims of impropriety at the Connecticut Port Authority have
tarnished the project’s shine.
In 2019, Diamantis was designated as the Lamont
administration’s “point person” for the project, heading a team composed of OPM
and Department of Administrative Services employees that “oversaw the
procurement and construction activities and awarding of contracts,” David
Kooris, chairman of the Connecticut Port Authority — a quasi-public agency that
oversees the state’s ports — said in a statement.
“The thinking at the time was, he’s probably the most
experienced in construction management in the administration, so adding the
pier duties to his other duties seemed to make sense,” state Sen. Paul Formica,
an East Lyme Republican, said of Diamantis. “But I guess there’s been some
question as to how he conducted business.”
During a February 2020 press
conference in which Lamont announced a final agreement on the harbor
development plan, he painted a vision of a “a world-class port for the next
hundred years” in New London. Referencing Diamantis, he said, “Now Kosta’s got
to deliver the goods.”
Diamantis assured the crowd that the project would be on
time and on budget.
“I’m very familiar with this particular project,” he said.
“It’s a $157 million dollar project. There are no overruns in this project.”
But the project estimates continued to grow, rising from an initial estimate of $93 million to $235.5 million. Meanwhile, delays in obtaining required permits pushed the project deadlines further back.
“We were all very concerned about what was going on because
we felt the oversight was not there and the costs were exploding,” state Sen.
Cathy Osten, a Sprague Democrat, said of the project. “It seemed like every six
months there was an increase in cost.”
Other issues abounded. At the start of the redevelopment
project, Passero said that he initially felt “betrayed” by agreements between
the Port Authority and other companies over the State Pier, which left New
London in the dark.
“That was at the height of when the Port Authority had been
operating in secret,” he said. “A lot of the trouble they’re in now stems from
the actions taken then. The city was one of the victims.”
Eventually, though, Passero secured
a host community agreement with Ørsted and Eversource, in which the
city will receive $750,000 per year over a seven-year period.
As far as the federal investigation into Diamantis, Passero said he does not expect it to stall the project, saying, “Nobody really knows what they’re fishing for.”
Kooris said that the Connecticut Port Authority had not been
contacted by, or received any requests for documents from, the U.S. Attorney’s
Office investigating Diamantis.
Yet the Connecticut Port Authority has also been under
increased scrutiny recently, following a report released from the State
Contracting Standards Board alleging that the Port Authority did not have the
authority to enter into a public-private partnership for the pier redevelopment
and has “no accountability or transparency measures in place” for its
procurement policy.
“We’re extremely disappointed in questionable dealings with
the Connecticut Port Authority and possibly some school projects,” state Rep.
Anthony Nolan, a New London Democrat, said, referencing school projects that
Diamantis was involved in overseeing.
Legislators representing the region said last week that as
the State Pier project develops, they are keeping a close eye on the
Connecticut Port Authority, in light of past issues.
“I am a proponent of offshore wind,” Formica said. “I am an opponent of the shenanigans going on at the Port Authority.”
Following the release of the report from the State
Contracting Standards Board, state Sen. Heather Somers, a Groton Republican,
blasted the Port Authority, questioning “why a quasi-public entity cannot
follow its own procedures” and noting that the organization has had
longstanding issues with transparency.
“This is more than just not following simple procedures,”
she said in a statement. “This is about a few individuals entrusted with
millions of taxpayers’ money, making crucial decisions which have long-term
impact on our region and entire state.”
Proponents of the project say that the redevelopment of
State Pier still holds great potential to bolster the Connecticut shoreline,
positioning it to be at the forefront of renewable energy ventures in the
Northeast. The only question is whether that vision can be executed.
“None of us are concerned about the mission of the project;
we believe in wind energy,” Osten said. “We want to make sure it’s done right
because it will impact a whole region.”
When the town of Tolland realized it had to build a new, $46 million elementary school three years
ago, Kostas Diamantis, then a politically-influential, top state official, took
control of the project.
Diamantis told the town who they were to hire as general
contractor and the consultant the town was to hire as its owner’s
representative on the project, according to four town officials closely
involved the project. If the town objected, Diamantis replied that it could
cost them millions in state financing, the officials said.
Superintendent of Schools Walter Willet said that Diamantis
“routinely emphasized there would be detrimental effects to the project if
Tolland were to chose contractors or consultants other than” those he chose.
When unanticipated expenses drove the cost of the Birch
Grove Primary School up 8 percent or more, Diamantis told the town not to
worry. Under an emergency declaration that exempted the project from bidding
and other customary contracting requirements, Diamantis arranged for the state
to pay the unanticipated costs, in addition to the financing his office was
providing for the overall project, project records show.
One of those unanticipated costs in Tolland was a jump from
$1 million to $9 million for the price of temporary, portable classrooms to be
used while the school was being built. When Tolland no longer needed the
portables, Diamantis pressed Danbury to buy or lease them for a school building
project there, according to an exchange of text messages between Diamantis and
a Danbury engineer.
When the Danbury engineer did not act on Diamantis’s
instructions and begin talks with D’Amato Construction, which provided the
portable classrooms to Tolland, Diamantis implied the state emergency
certification that would expedite the Danbury project might be at risk,
according to the text messages obtained by The Courant through a public records
request.
“Hello my friend,” Diamantis texted on April 28. “No more
emergency in Danbury, you guys are all good?? I drive people nuts on these
portables, etc. Then I don’t hear from you or anybody.”
Diamantis’s lawyer, Norm Pattis, said he had no immediate
comment.
“I need to know more,” Pattis said. “This certainly raises
questions. We are willing to answer them when he understand the complete
context.”
Tolland’s new Birch Grove school opened last year. Danbury’s
ambitious high school project on the site of the former Union Carbide
headquarters is still in planning. Both are now points on interest in an
expansive federal investigation that
appears from public records to be centered on Diamantis, who Gov. Ned
Lamont fired on Oct. 28, a week after his administration was served with a
federal grand jury subpoena that alerted it to the investigation.
As deputy secretary of the Office of Policy and Management,
Diamantis ran a budget office that distributed hundreds of millions of state
dollars on a variety of projects that included state-financed public school
construction and conversion of the State Pier in New London to a hub for
offshore wind energy development.
The federal subpoena demanded all records since 2018
“involving Konstantinos Diamantis, concerning: (1) the planning, bidding,
awarding, and implementation (including the construction process) of school
construction projects; (2) the planning, bidding, awarding and implementation
of hazardous materials abatement projects; and (3) the Connecticut State Pier
infrastructure improvements project.”
Correspondence associated with the subpoena indicates
federal investigators are interested in records that document state
decision-making and spending on dozens of pricey school projects, including
Tolland’s, that stretch from Fairfield County in the state’s southeast corner
to Windham County in the northeast.
Federal prosecutors have asked the state to search specifically for records pertaining to three contractors on the Tolland school: D’Amato Construction, JCJ Architecture in Hartford, and Construction Advocacy Professionals of Moosup, the owners representative known as CAP that Tolland was instructed to hire. The subpoena also asks the state for records about other construction-related businesses involved in school projects elsewhere in the state.
Attorney Craig Raabe, who represents Antonietta DiBenedetto
Roy, owner of Construction Advocacy Professionals, declined comment. JCJ
architects didn’t respond to messages seeking comment.
In Tolland, Willett said the town was forced to replace
Birch Grove School after an insurer determined the school foundation had been
poured with concrete that contained
pyrrhotite, a mineral that causes cement to erode and crumble. Willett
said he consulted with Diamantis, whose duties included director of the Office
of School Construction and Grants.
On Jan. 16, 2019, Willett asked the state to declare Birch
Grove an emergency project, which would waive the requirement for competitive
bidding. Two days later, Melody Currey, then commissioner of the Department of
Administrative Services, granted the request in a letter that concluded, “If
you have any questions, please call Kosta Diamantis, office of school
construction grants and review.”
Willet told The Courant on Thursday in a statement, “In
meetings with State officials, I was introduced to consultants for the State,
including D’Amato Construction, JCJ Architects, and Antoinette DiBenedetto from
Construction Advocacy Professionals (CAP). As the reimbursement rates were
established and Tolland had a successful referendum supporting the project, the
bidding process was waived by both the State and the Town.
“While Tolland had some input into the selection of JCJ, the architect, representatives of the Town and the Board felt they had no real choice as to CAP and D’Amato because Mr. Diamantis routinely emphasized there would be detrimental effects to the project if Tolland chose contractors or consultants other than CAP or D’Amato. For example, he stressed that if we did not use D’Amato or CAP it would be unlikely that the project would finish on time and there could be other related financial implications to the project,” Willet said.
Willett said the state agreed to finance the project by
reimbursing Tolland for 89% of the cost of the building and 100 percent of the
cost of the portable classrooms. When the price of the portables jumped $8
million, Diamantis agreed to pay it.
“To the extent that Tolland’s cost projection of $9,000,000
accurately reflects final eligible project costs, you can forecast a state
grant based on that figure,” Diamantis wrote Willett in a June 17, 2019,
letter.
It is difficult to determine just what caused the increase
in the portable classroom costs.
The state has not responded to a request more than three
weeks ago by The Courant for project records. Tolland records show D’Amato
leased the classrooms from WillScot, a Phoenix-based national supplier of
portable buildings. The town records also show that Tolland paid about $9.7
million for the classrooms — $8.937 million of that to D’Amato — and was
reimbursed the full amount by the state.
Tony D’Amato, who represented his firm on the Tolland project, said he obtained the classrooms from WillScott, but declined to discuss the job otherwise.
Beverly Bellody, who had supervised construction projects
for the town until Birch Grove, said the initial $1 million estimate may have
been faulty.
“I am not aware of how that number was determined, but I
suspected as with most early cost estimates perhaps not all the costs were
included,” she said. “For example, site costs, architect and other professional
fees, legal, insurance, FFE (furniture, fixtures and equipment), contractor’s
cost. The number may have just been for what others thought was a rental fee.”
Town Council member and state Rep. Tammy Nuccio, said she
believes the town was bullied into approving decisions by Diamantis on the
classrooms and other items and that may be responsible for confusion over some
project details.
Nuccio said: “It was, ‘Do what we want or you are not going
to have emergency status. Do what we want or you are not going to have funding.
Do what we want or you are going to go over and you are going to have to pay
that amount.’ Kosta said, point blank, ‘I own this project. He said
specifically, at 89 percent, ‘I own this project.’ He was very adamant about
that.”
The text messages obtained from Danbury show that Diamantis was offering the Tolland portable classrooms in April. After being chided for failing to move quickly on Diamantis’s advice to contact D’Amato Construction about the Tolland classrooms, the Danbury engineer explained that the city was studying a variety of construction options and was unsure what classrooms, if any, the city would need.
“I have to vet it out,” the engineer said. “I’ll know more
by mid week next week and I will reach out to you.”
Diamantis replied, “While the contractor on the modules
obviously needs to be arranged, I would suggest you make a call to the
contractor who has the modules that can make it happen for you so that at least
he knows what’s going on and can prepare in the event that you pull the
trigger. Coordinating is key so that’s my advice to you is give them a call. I
gave you his number.”
Danbury decided against using the classrooms and two city
officials said, at that point, state approval of the project stalled.
Olson Drive Redevelopment A Step Closer To Reality In Ansonia
JEAN FALBO-SOSNOVICH
ANSONIA — A Bridgeport developer’s goal of building a $15.5 million
indoor/outdoor sports complex on Olson Drive moved forward Tuesday.
The Board of Aldermen, during its meeting Tuesday (Feb. 7), unanimously
authorized Mayor David Cassetti and his staff to “negotiate, draft,
finalize and execute” a contract to sell vacant land on Olson Drive to the
Primrose Companies for $510,000.
According to the resolution passed Tuesday, the city will
offer a yet-to-be determined tax break on the property. The details of
that agreement will come back to the Aldermen for approval.
One of the terms in a resolution the Alderman approved asks Guedes to work
with the city to offer “facility space, financial discounts, or
a combination of both,” to Ansonia residents.
John Guedes, president & CEO of the
Primrose Companies, said Wednesday he is working to seal the deal.
The Olson Drive property previously housed an 11-building complex of 160 government-subsidized
housing named Riverside Apartments, which the city demolished in 2016. The
complex was outdated and had fallen into disrepair. It is owned by the Ansonia
Housing Authority.
The Cassetti administration is working with the Ansonia
Housing Authority to acquire the land for $510,000.
“The city contemplates purchasing the property from AHA just
prior to selling it to Primrose,” Ansonia Corporation Counsel John Marini said.
“$510,000 is both the purchase and sale price.”
The city will pay the housing authority in phases, starting
first with a $300,000 payment. Primrose will pay the city the full $510,000 when
it closes its real estate contract with the city.
The Cassetti administration also worked to have the
department of Housing and Urban Development to remove a deed restriction
from the land.
The vacant, fenced-in property is currently generating no taxes, but with
a private development, city officials predict the project will generate
six-figures in annual tax revenue.
Guedes wants to build a 39,000-square foot indoor soccer facility and
a FIFA regulation-sized outdoor soccer field, as well as
a second, 49,000-square-foot, multi-sports facility/and/or NCAA indoor
skating rink. Guedes said he has lined up Ole Soccer, based in Fairfield, to
occupy the soccer training space. He said Ole Soccer currently has 24 soccer
teams from across Connecticut that train at the Fairfield facility. According
to a letter of intent that Guedes accepted from Ole Soccer, both the
facility and outdoor soccer field will be used “for soccer team sporting
events, training and entertainment.”
Guedes said he’s also negotiating with a few different sports providers to
take up shop in the larger building. He is confident the facility will be
a major boon not only to Ansonia but the entire Naugatuck Valley.
“This is going to be a facility that currently doesn’t exist in the
Valley,” Guedes said. “It will be a fantastic addition to the
Ansonia downtown, and the Valley, in general, and will bring a lot of good
people in and help the local business economy.”
While nearby Shelton’s Sports Center on River Road serves as a major
source of recreation for the area, Guedes said that facility is primarily “retail,”
whereas the Ansonia facility will be focused on sports training.
“Ansonia is a sports town, it’s a city that was built up around
sports, so this (Guedes’ proposal) is a natural fit,” said Economic
Development Director Sheila O’Malley.
Guedes said he has architects and engineers in place working on a site
plan, which he’ll submit to the Ansonia Planning and Zoning Commission.
Guedes said he’s hoping to get the facility up and running by spring 2023.
Work Set To Begin At Former Coliseum Site
MAYA MCFADDEN
With the long-delayed redevelopment of the former Coliseum
tentatively set to begin this coming spring, the developer clued local
contractors about how to seek a piece of the work.
The Norwalk-based developer, Spinnaker Real Estate Partners,
announced the plan to finally get started building Thursday evening at
a virtual outreach meeting for small contractors.
The project’s redesign
plans were approved more than a year ago.
The project, called “Square 10,” encompasses the
blocks bounded by George, State, MLK, and Orange, where the New Haven
Coliseum once stood.
Spinnaker is beginning its bid process for local contractors
interested in civil/site work, ground improvements, and cast-in-place
concrete disciplines.
At the virtual meeting Thursday night, Spinnaker Assistant
Project Manager Kevin Paucar walked a group of 15 participants
through the project’s new document control system, known as IngeniousIO. The
system will allow contractors to review the project’s workforce requirements,
project description, and insurance requirements documents for phase one and
submit a request for proposal (RFP).
Bidding is scheduled to remain open until Feb. 24.
“We’re looking for detail on the proposal,” said Spinnaker
Vice President of Construction Barry White.
Interested contractors looking to get a personalize
invite to the IngeniousIO system should email Kevin Paucar
at Kevin@spinrep.com or Craig Pinney at Craig@spinrep.com.
Phase one of the project calls for construction of
a mixed-use five story residential building that will include amenities
and retail space on the ground level. The second floor will include apartments
and additional amenity space.
The building will house 200 apartments, 16,000 square
feet of retail space, and a gym, elevated courtyard, enclose garage,
and pool.
The work is slated in early April and continue for 23 months.
Attendees at the Thursday meeting included Miller Rebar LLC, Tri Con
Construction, C J Fucci Construction Inc, and New Haven Regional
Contractors Alliance.
Contractors were encouraged to “submit the proposals
after you’ve reviewed all the documents and understand that you can meet the
goals of the documents,” White said.
RFPs can be submitted for contractors looking to offer
installation and/or materials. Once bids close, the team plans to “marry
vendors” looking to offer materials or labor, White said.
Another outreach meeting for small contractors will be
hosted once bids open for proposals of buildings interior work,
White said.
New Haven school project frustrates preservationists
NEW HAVEN — The old Sacred Heart Church convent and rectory
are gone, demolished as part of St. Martin de Porres Academy’s
plan to give its students a safer area to play basketball and more room for
people to park.
The academy, an independent Roman Catholic institution, has
gained a sterling reputation in its 17 years on Columbus Avenue for a
tuition-free, extended-day education for fifth- through eighth-graders,
rigorous academics, social support of its alumni through college and a strong
connection to the Trowbridge Square neighborhood.
The plan to raze the convent and rectory, while maintaining
the 127-year-old school and the 171-year-old church, which the Archdiocese of
Hartford closed
in 2009, was supported by Alder Carmen Rodriguez, D-6, the Hill South
Community Management Team, the since-disbanded Trowbridge Renaissance and
residents of the neighborhood.
The New Haven Preservation
Trust, however, while supporting St. Martin de Porres’ desire to keep
basketball players from having to share their court with a parking lot, took the
position that the same goal could have been accomplished while retaining a
developer to restore the convent and lease it to a nonprofit organization that
might have provided income to the school.
Susan Godshall, a preservation trust board member, sees the
project as an example of how there is no formal role for considering historic
preservation in the approval process for new projects.
“The buildings were in pretty progressed, deteriorated
state,” said Allison Rivera, president of St. Martin de Porres Academy, which
bought the block from the archdiocese in 2017 for $900,000. “Our parking lot
doubled as our basketball court. It’s a focal point for youth in the
community.” “This is going to allow for us to have a designated basketball
court … where the rectory stood,” behind the church at Portsea and Liberty
streets. She said said more parking space was needed to keep cars from parking
on the streets. The convent site will provide that space.
On the back of the block, lining Portsea Street, “the whole
area is going to be a big field. That’s where we’re putting the green space”
that eventually will serve as a field for soccer, lacrosse and field hockey.
The church, the interior of which was damaged when it was
closed and the religious items taken out, will be preserved, Rivera said, with
the hope of someday raising money “so eventually we can have a multiuse space”
for performances, a chapel and a gym. “We have four basketball teams, no gym
space,” Rivera said.
With three years left on a 20-year lease, “we always dreamed
that we’d be at this place,” Rivera said. “We spent a lot of time strategically
looking at what a master plan would be for this. The timing was right.”
Reaching out to the community
Angela Hatley grew up a block-and-a-half from St. Martin de
Porres and said she supports the school’s plan. “That’s still my community,”
Hatley said. It’s where her mother still lives. “I actually am very impressed
with St. Martin. They communicate regularly with the community. They left those
basketball courts up” when the city closed parks to avoid people congregating
during the pandemic.
Rivera “reached out to the community. What do you think we
should do?” Hatley said. “They’ve had to park in the children’s playground. I
know those buildings have been empty for umpteen number of years. All I can see
is the beneficial aspects of what’s going in their place. … I get it that
people are upset and want to preserve things, but the community got together
and we discussed this. It didn’t happen in a vacuum.”
Rivera said the local preservationists are “very
well-meaning folk who we resonate with, wanting to preserve the amazing history
of the neighborhood. Unfortunately, it wasn’t viable for us as a school that
fundraises our entire operating budget of $1.8 million” and charges no tuition.
She said the State Historic Preservation Office chose not to object to the
plan.
Trowbridge Square Historic District
While the convent and rectory were not on the National
Register of Historic Places, they were contributing structures to the Trowbridge Square Historic
District.
Such districts are “rare and valuable,” Godshall said.
“Trowbridge Square is especially important because it was built in the 1840s
and ’50s as working-class neighborhoods, not elitist fancy mansions. The
church, the convent, the school and the rectory were the main social strong
points of that community.”
To Godshall, the convent, which was situated between the
church and school, “was one of three buildings that held down the streetscape
of Columbus Avenue and gave it a very sophisticated urban look.”
Plans set before trust heard
Godshall said when the project came up on the City Plan
Commission’s agenda in August 2019, “that was really the first time that the
New Haven Preservation Trust had become aware of it.”
“Even then the academy had done a lot of work in the
community, built up support and they had the City Plan Commission approval,”
she said.
“For those children to have a full-size basketball court is
a wonderful thing,” Godshall said. “The trust has always believed there were
alternative layouts that could have done that and kept at least one of the
buildings.” The academy could have leased the convent to a developer, who would
have rehabilitated it, found a tenant, such as a nonprofit organization and
provided income to the school.
“From a preservation point of view, it was a great loss, but
it was an uphill fight from the beginning, because their goal, better
recreational facilities for the students, is a great goal,” Godshall said.
“The development community really took a look at things,”
Rivera said. “It was never an ideal plan. Quite frankly, the people in the Hill
don’t want any more nonprofits in their neighborhood either.”
Buildings had a negative effect
Leslie Radcliffe lives in the neighborhood and also is
chairwoman of the City Plan Commission. She said the nonprofits that come into
the neighborhood tend to be those serving the homeless or drug-addicted. The
empty buildings drew squatters and illicit activity, she said.
“The people in the community aren’t dumb,” Radcliffe said.
“We know the value of the future. We’re looking toward the future of our
children. Just because someone believes something is beautiful and valuable
doesn’t always translate into the needs of the future.”
The underlying problem is twofold, Godshall said. “All the
Preservation Trust has is the power of persuasion,” she said. And there is no
provision for bringing in the trust when a plan is proposed that involves a
historic site.
The Sacred Heart convent isn’t the only historic building
scheduled for demolition that the trust is trying to save after plans have been
approved. Yale New Haven Hospital plans to demolish two neighboring houses,
including an 1880 Queen Anne Victorian house at 131 Sherman Ave. that is
eligible for the National Register, Godshall said.
Built by Rufus G. Russell and known as the Pierce N. Welch
house, “it’s going to be demolished as part of the driveway” of the $838
million neuroscience center that is going to take up much of the St. Raphael
campus’ block,” Godshall said. “It’s not actually on the National Register.
It’s eligible for it; it has a number. ... The convent declined the listing.”
The Hospital of St. Raphael was served by the Sisters of
Charity, who occupied the house before Yale New Haven bought the hospital.
According to the State Historic Preservation Office, it’s listed on the State
Register of Historic Places and New Haven Historic Resources Inventory and is
in excellent condition.
Godshall said the house could be moved but it would need
money to move it, a site and an owner. She said a nonprofit agency is
interested but the hospital has only offered the money it would have cost to
demolish it.
The trust has suggested rerouting the driveway around the
house or moving the house to the corner of Sherman and George streets. Another
site is a parking lot next to the Plymouth Medical Building at 175 Sherman Ave.
Vincent Petrini, senior vice president for public affairs
for Yale New Haven Health, said access to underground parking runs along
Sherman Avenue, “so keeping it on that site would be impossible. The area also
will be a staging area for construction. He said the house wouldn’t fit on the
corner and the 175 Sherman lot is where patients park going to the medical
building.
“There’s some considerable debate about the historic nature
of those houses,” Petrini said. “I know there were some concerns with whether
it would be stable enough to survive any type of move.”
Manwhile, time is running out. The neuroscience building’s
construction, delayed by the COVID-19 pandemic is nearing. “Summer would be
ideal,” Petrini said.
“This is a case where if we had known ahead of time, I mean
a year ahead of time ... we could have said, ‘hey, could you orient the
driveway toward George Street instead of Sherman?’” Godshall said. The trust
did make the suggestions, “but they had no reason to revise their very, very
extensive and complicated plans that covered the entire development on the
whole block and they already had City Plan approval.”
There needs to be more notice and a chance to intervene
before a project gets to City Plan, Godshall said. “It had already gone too far
before the public became aware of it,” she said of the neuroscience center.
“The City Plan Commission puts out an agenda a week ahead of
time,” she said. “You can relate the addresses on that agenda … to see if those
addresses are in historic districts.” The plans for the agenda come out just a
day before the commission meets, too late for the trust to have much input, she
said.
“We’ve actually proposed a change to the zoning ordinance
that would have given notice, but that didn’t go anywhere,” Godshall said.
Another way to intervene is in the 90-day holding period
when someone takes out a demolition permit. Usually that is done before City
Plan approves of the site plans, but St. Martin de Porres didn’t apply for a
demolition permit until long after its plan was approved, Godshall said.
The city has a Historic District Commission, but it only has
authority over the three local historic districts: Wooster Square, Quinnipiac
River and City Point, not over state or national districts.
“We had hoped to work with City Plan staff this winter on
coming up with a way to provide advance notice and/or to incorporate historic
merit as part of the site plan review. It’s not there,” Godshall said.
Mayor Justin Elicker named Laura Brown on Feb. 4 as new City
Plan director, replacing Aïcha Woods. Brown starts Feb. 28.
“If you drive around the Dwight neighborhood, it’s
striking,” Godshall said. “All around Sherman, an awful lot of houses on Norton
and Elm are lovely.”
The house at 131 Sherman “has become very important to the
trust because it would be another in a now alarming sequence of demolitions of
some pretty valuable properties,” she said.
‘A better process’ possible
“There could be a better process,” Radcliffe said of St.
Martin de Porres’ plans. “All the parties involved would have to be on the same
line. I do understand the historic trust’s focus and their priorities … and
what their mission is. That doesn’t always line up with the vision and the
focus of the city of New Haven.”
Radcliffe added, “Would giving the historic trust more
notice of what the intentions were for those buildings, would that have been a
good thing? It would have been good for the historic trust. They could have
presented some alternatives to the school and the school would say yes or no.”
Godshall said it’s difficult for the preservation trust
because “we have no stake or role. We’re not the owner. We’re not an oversight
agency. We have no negotiating position.”
When the trust sees a historic building is at risk,
“sometimes there’s an opening to talk to the owner and they say, ‘we’ll get
back to you,’ and then usually they don’t.”
Officials explore ideas for North Stonington Road Bridge in Old Mystic
Officials are exploring ideas for the North Stonington
Road Bridge in Old Mystic, which has been out for more than a decade.
In their annual budgets over the years, Groton and
Stonington have considered funding the replacement of the bridge, which is
located in both towns, but their plans were never in line, local officials
said.
The Old Mystic Fire Department has long raised concerns that
the closure of the small bridge creates a safety hazard.
The bridge was found to be in poor condition following a
500-year storm in March 2010, Groton Town Manager John Burt said. A safety
check after the storm and subsequent inspection revealed several issues,
according to a document from the Town of Groton. Groton and Stonington
agreed to fund repairs to the bridge, but the repairs were stopped when it was
discovered that the bridge deck would need to be replaced.
The cost to replace the bridge is estimated at $1.24
million, Burt said. A grant will cover about half of the cost, with the towns
of Groton and Stonington needing to pick up the rest. Groton is responsible for
about 58% of the towns' share, though Groton and Stonington could enter
into an agreement to change the cost-sharing formula if they
wish, according to a town document.
This past Tuesday, Groton invited Stonington First
Selectwoman Danielle Chesebrough and Stonington Board of Finance member Lynn
Young and Old Mystic Fire Chief Kenneth Richards
Jr. to the Groton Town Council Committee of the Whole meeting.
The Groton Town Council met about a year ago with Stonington
to discuss the possibility of funding the bridge in this year's budget but
that didn't work out, so the council wanted to re-engage in time for the
upcoming budget process for next fiscal year, Burt said.
Chesebrough said there is no money in Stonington’s proposed
2022-23 Capital Improvement Plan budget to replace the bridge. She said the
town is doing an assessment of its bridges to see what projects need to be done
and that will be presented to the Board of Finance after budget season.
While several Groton Town councilors vocally expressed
support for addressing the bridge at Tuesday's meeting, Chesebrough
explained that Stonington has a lot of bridges facing the end of
their useful life, as well as other infrastructure challenges. She
said Stonington will have a better understanding of the needs once
the assessment is completed.
She said Stonington has collaborated with Groton on a
project to address a lack of hydrant access on the Groton side of the bridge.
The $30,000 project calls for placing a pipe over Whitford Brook, which will
allow for one side to be hooked up to a fire hydrant in Mystic and for a fire
apparatus to hook up to it on the Groton side, Burt said. Stonington completed
the design and Groton is providing the labor to construct the pipe,
which is expected to be completed by the end of the month.
Chesebrough said Stonington is trying to be a good
neighbor, such as by collaborating on that project, but raised a
fiduciary duty question regarding Stonington taxpayers paying for a bridge for
Groton residents.
During the meeting, Groton Town Councilor Melinda Cassiere
read aloud part of a February 2020
letter from the fire department's lawyer that said: "The
continued delay in the replacement of this bridge perpetuates a potentially
life-threatening hazard to citizens of the Town of Groton." The bridge
closure creates longer response times, the intersection of Main Street and
Route 27 is a "major traffic hazard" for the emergency vehicles, and
the closest fire hydrant is blocked by the bridge being closed.
Old Mystic Fire Department's Station 1 is located on North
Stonington Road, near the bridge. When the bridge was open, emergency vehicles
from Station 1 used to take the bridge to go into Groton, but they
now make a turn at Route 27 and Main Street by the Old Mystic Country
Store.
The Old Mystic Fire Department responded to 1,315 calls for
service last year, Richards said. Of those calls, 460 were in the town of
Groton, and for about 80% of them the engine had to make the turn at the
general store.
The department has had several "very close calls"
at that intersection, Richards said. Vehicles coming from the Groton side
— though not everybody — have a tendency to run the stop sign, he said. When
vehicles are parked at the general store, the engine can't see drivers coming
down that way, he added.
He said there were numerous times in the last year that the
intersection was so bad, the engine driver went down Route 27 and then took
Interstate 95 to the Groton side.
Young suggested other solutions, such as installing a
traffic light, and Chesebrough said she would follow up with the Stonington
Board of Police Commissioners and the state Department of Transportation.
Groton Town Councilor Portia Bordelon suggested creating a
working group — including local officials, the fire chief, community
members and perhaps a representative of the general store — to keep
the dialogue going and report ideas back to both Stonington and Groton
governments.
Burt said Groton also is looking at what federal
funding possibilities might exist, while state legislators are looking for
state grant opportunities.
As far as the next steps, Burt told The Day that
he will have to decide what to do for his budget recommendation to the
council.
Other than that, he said, at this point the town will wait
for Stonington to complete the review of its bridges in the next few
months, to see whether Stonington officials have any interest in
partnering at that time.
$250M redevelopment vision emerges for Hartford's Parkville neighborhood
Hartford is preparing an ambitious $250 million
redevelopment of the commercial core of its Parkville Neighborhood.
The plan centers on a $50 million application for state
development dollars, which would be leveraged with $200 million from other
sources, including possibly from the city, private investment and
elsewhere.
Broadly, the plan would boost residential development, job
training and new manufacturing development. Many of the finer points of the
plan are not being released yet by officials, or are still under development.
But some recently announced projects would find support,
particularly those of developer Carlos Mouta, a Parkville native. These
include:
· A $72.8 million transformation of an industrial
building at 237-245 Hamilton St., into 189 apartments and 80,000 square feet of
commercial space.
· A $4.6 million expansion of the Parkville Market
· A 57-apartment development at 17 Bartholomew Ave. Capital
Community College is interested in bringing an advanced manufacturing or
training center to the “Parkville Arts and Innovation District,” City Economic
Development Director Erin Howard told members of the City Council’s Planning,
Economic Development & Housing Committee during a Feb. 2 meeting.
The effort will also target redevelopment of a 33-acre
property south of Bartholomew Avenue that the city acquired last summer, Howard
said.
“It is also significantly contaminated but at the same time
it offers an amazing opportunity for growth in the Parkville community,” Howard
said.
The initial project area is bounded by Park Street, Hamilton
Street and Bartholomew Avenue, said Elizabeth “Liz” Torres, a member of Vita
Nuova, a consultant hired to help with the application.
On Monday, the full council will be asked to endorse the $50
million application to the Department of Economic and Community Development.
That grant requires a four-to-one match, meaning the city must find $200
million in other sources of investment in the Parkville Arts and Innovation
District, Torres said.
Organizers have identified “five or six” shovel-ready
projects in the target area, Torres said.
Combined, these will result in 246 units of new housing and
333,000 square feet of commercial space, Torres said. Plans include a workforce
development hub and “innovation center,” where international companies can
introduce the latest technology to smaller companies in their manufacturing
supply chain, Torres said.
Bristol, West Hartford among 10 munis sharing $24M in federal transportation funds
Michael Puffer
The Connecticut Department of Transportation has awarded $24
million in federal funds to 10 Connecticut communities for projects ranging
from updating antiquated and outdated traffic signals to improving traffic flow
and purchasing charging stations.
Part of the goal of the federal funds, which were announced
by Gov. Ned Lamont Thursday, is to lessen vehicle exhaust emissions in certain
communities.
Of the funding, $3.37 million went to the town of Bristol to
improve traffic operations and pedestrian crossings in the downtown area.
Other funding went to:
Ansonia: $427,600 for non-automobile transportation and EV
charging in the town’s transit-oriented development train station enhancement
initiative
Bridgeport: $4 million to improve traffic flow, reduce
delay, and alleviate congestion along the Park Avenue corridor
Canton: $40,000 to install half-a-dozen dual EV charging
stations
Danbury: $1.25 million to provide signal coordination to
improve traffic flow, lessen congestion and delays along State Routes 39 and 53
Greenwich: $4 million to install adaptive signal control
technology to adjust signal timing on Route 1 in town
Hamden: $3.8 million to update substandard and outdated
traffic signal equipment
Norwalk: $3.4 million to upgrade outdated traffic signals,
and extend the adaptive traffic control system, among other initiatives
Stamford: $3.4 million to upgrade old signal equipment at
six intersections that are within the existing city signal systems
West Hartford: $20,952 to support the purchase of the town’s
first EV vehicles and charging station at the Town Hall
The money was part of the federal Highway Administration’s
Congestion Mitigation and Air Quality Improvement Program.
Preston to resume review of controversial RV park Tuesday
Preston — Town agencies this week will resume their
review of a controversial luxury RV park on 65 acres of land owned by the
Mashantucket Pequot Tribe at the junction of Routes 2 and 164 and abutting
Avery Pond.
Maryland-based Blue Water Development Corp. has proposed the
RV park and campground under the name Blue Camp CT LLC, on three parcels to be
leased from the Mashantuckets. The plan includes about 300 camping spots, a
welcome center, three bathhouses, a swimming pool, splashpad, playground,
volleyball, tennis, squash and bocce areas, a floating dock and an elevated
boardwalk at Avery Pond. The developer has called the site ideal for the
proposed RV park.
The facility would be called Bluewater Recreational
Campground Resort at Avery Pond. Todd Burbage, CEO of Blue Water, said the
company learned of the property when Mashantuckets advertised nationally for a
resort campground developer for the site.
Burbage told The Day on Friday that the property has several
features that make it ideal for a luxury RV park, both for the development
and nearby residents. Having the entrance on Route 2 would mean the town
would not have RVs driving along narrow side roads. Access to municipal water
and sewer lines is another asset, he said.
Burbage also argued that the engineered systems to collect
stormwater runoff would improve water conditions in the pond, compared to
the decades of farm activity on the property.
“It’s completely founded that farm runoff is much more
responsible for degradation to pond water, with pesticides and herbicides,”
Burbage said. “That’s been a parcel of farmland that has been farmed for
generations.”
He added that the seasonal resort would be closed for nearly
half a year with no planned activities.
The proposal has been sharply criticized by residents living
on several streets near Avery Pond, including two Lynn Drive residents who have
filed for intervenor status in the town’s review process, submitting their own
reports and testimony.
The Inland Wetlands and Watercourses Commission will hold its
third night of public hearings on the project at its 7:30 p.m. meeting
Tuesday at Preston Plains Middle School before beginning its deliberations on
the wetlands permits needed for the project. The Planning and Zoning Commission
will begin its public hearing on the broader special exception permit the
project needs at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday, Feb. 23 at Preston Plains Middle School.
Burbage said he will attend Tuesday’s wetlands hearing,
along with project wetlands experts to respond to concerns of residents.
At the previous wetlands hearings in December and January,
the commission heard a lengthy presentation by project attorney Harry Heller
and project engineers and architects. At the January session, most
residents who addressed the commission opposed the project.
Residents Susan and Timothy Hotchkiss of 20 Lynn Drive and
Jennifer Hollstein of 12 Lynn Drive have hired attorney Richard Cody and
filed petitions to become intervenors in the inland wetlands application.
The two residents submitted written reports to challenge the
voluminous technical documents the Blue Water Development team has filed with
the application. Much of the expressed opposition at the wetlands hearing
centered on the proposed use of Avery Pond as part of the luxury facility. Plans
call for a 118-foot-long, T-shaped floating dock in Avery Pond and a
12-foot-wide golf cart boardwalk across wetlands to reach an area reserved for
safari tents at the pond shore.
At the Jan. 18 hearing, Heller said plans were revised to
address some concerns of the town’s wetlands expert. Most roadways and parking
lots would be switched to gravel to allow rainwater penetration, reducing the
size of stormwater collection systems needed. The boardwalk footings would be
installed using an excavator with a 75-foot reach, perched on a ridge outside
the wetlands.
During the public hearing, much of the opposition centered
on proposed activities in and near the pond, especially anticipated heavy use
by kayakers, which they said would destroy the area as a favored fishing spot.
Residents fear the kayaks would damage lily pads and fish habitat and scare
fish in the shallow pond.
Burbage on Friday said Blue Water is “flexible” to possible
downscaling of the project, including directing patrons to use the existing
public boat launch instead of building a new dock. He said most Blue Water
campgrounds are located on waterfronts, hence the name, and patrons would be
invited to use the pond for passive recreation and fishing, as all state
residents are encouraged to do.
“It’s a public pond that has a public boat launch that the
state encourages for recreation,” Burbage said. “If Todd Burbage wants to go up
there and fish on that pond, he can get a fishing license, and he can go do it.
It’s not their private pond.”
Much of the property is situated in the Resort Commercial
zone, where campgrounds are allowed by a special exception permit. The PZC will
have the authority to review the plans for factors such as compatibility with
the neighborhood, lighting and traffic impacts.
Blue Water’s special exception permit application described
the project as “compatible with the purpose of the Resort Commercial Zoning
District.” The application cites the project's low-profile buildings,
retention of existing vegetation along the Avery Pond shore and buffers between
the project and nearby residential neighborhoods.
“Down lighting is proposed throughout the site and building
design incorporates classic New England architectural features,” the
application stated. “Due to the lack of verticality in the project, it is a
most appropriate type of resort commercial development at the periphery of a
residential zone.”
More affordable housing proposed for Pawcatuck
Stonington — A four-story, 100-unit apartment complex
that contains 30 percent affordable units but does not meet many local
zoning regulations is being proposed for Route 1 in Pawcatuck.
The proposed project, called The Glennon, would be
located on the large grassy area in front of the existing 160-unit Bookside
Village subsidized apartment complex and close to three
other new affordable developments with a total of 126 units and
a 76-unit senior housing development.
Over the past year, some Pawcatuck residents have
criticized plans for more affordable housing in the village
and convinced voters to reject a tax break for an 82-unit
affordable apartment complex proposed for the former Campbell
Grain site on Coggswell Street. That vote likely derailed the
project, which town officials said was important for
the revitalization of downtown Pawcatuck.
Brookside Associates Limited Partnership has filed an
application for a special-use permit for the project, and the Planning and
Zoning Commission will now set a public hearing on the application.
The application states the project's design and layout
attempts to provide a high-quality residential product in a new
energy-efficient development to meet the community need for expanded, inclusive
housing.
The 84,600-square-foot building, which would be more than 48
feet high to the middle of the roof, would be located on a
2.4-acre parcel of land that borders Route 1 just east of the high
school and across from Dunkin'. There would be 33 studio units, 43
one-bedroom apartments and 24 two-bedroom units along with 146 parking
spots. The application also states that a traffic study
shows the project would have no adverse impact on the nearby
intersection or on overall traffic congestion and safety.
The application states that 70% of the units would
be leased at market rate, 15% would be leased to people who earn 80%
or less of the area's average median income of $92,700 and another 15%
would be leased to those who earn 60% of the median income. That mix would
stay in effect for 40 years. The town is subject to the state's
affordable housing law because just 5.75% of its housing stock,
according to the application, is dedicated as affordable. The state requires
municipalities to have 10% of affordable housing stock to be
exempt from the law.
Under the law, proposed residential projects that contain an
affordable component do not have to comply with local zoning
regulations. A municipality can only reject a project if
it can show a denial is needed to protect the
health, safety or welfare of the community and those concerns outweigh the
need for affordable housing. It also has to show that the
health, saferty or welfare of the community cannot be
protected by reasonable changes to the
development.
According to its application, many aspects of the plans
for The Glendon do not meet local zoning
regulations. Non-age-restricted attached housing is not allowed
in the general commercial zone where the site is located unless it is
part of a mixed-use development, which it is not. The project's density and
number of units exceeds that which is allowed. It also does not
conform with building setbacks, parking
and landscaping requirements as well as other bulk and
dimensional standards.