Killingly power plant owners win a round after court decision
Jan Ellen Spiegel
Just as those who have opposed the construction of a natural gas power plant in Killingly were tasting victory, a court has taken it away.
The federal district appeals court in Washington, D.C., late Friday temporarily halted a decision made last month that had taken the proposed Killingly power plant out of consideration for future power sources in New England.
The action has thrown a bit of a monkey wrench into the annual auction for determining those power sources. The auction is today. The operator of the New England grid, ISO-New England, which runs the auction, said in a statement on Sunday that it had considered delaying it but instead would make two calculations at its conclusion — one with Killingly and one without.
The ISO went on to say: “The ISO intends to keep these results confidential until there is greater certainty about Killingly’s status. This will protect the commercially-sensitive information that might otherwise be revealed as part of the auction finalization process.”
On Nov. 4, the ISO asked permission from Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to remove Killingly — a proposed 650-megawatt facility that had been approved as part of the mix through several previous auctions — from the February auction because the plant owners NTE had missed required deadlines that would ensure its development.
The ISO specifically asked for a decision in time to avoid complications with today’s auction.
On Jan. 3, FERC approved the ISO’s request, saying: “Based on a review of the record, including the confidential information provided by ISO-NE and NTE, we find that the relevant condition for termination … has been met.”
NTE disagreed, saying at the time: “We are very disappointed and do not agree with FERC’s decision. The Killingly Energy Center is important for grid reliability, and we will continue to work to be the bridge for the region’s carbon-free future.”
NTE took the matter to court, which resulted in the Friday ruling. It’s unclear how long the stay will remain in place and when the next court actions will occur. NTE and state officials have not responded to requests for comment.
“Though neither Connecticut nor ISO-NE want it, NTE is hell-bent on forcing their unwanted, unneeded dirty power plant on us,” Samantha Dynowski, the director of Sierra Club Connecticut, which has spearheaded opposition to Killingly, said in a statement. “It is more evident than ever that the governor, the Department of Energy and Environmental Protection and our state legislators must move quickly to put policies in place that protect us.”
Most of Killingly’s permits are in place, and state officials have repeatedly said they have no power to simply reject it because it may not be needed or it does not meet the state’s climate change goals of a carbon-free electric grid by 2040.
New London moves to start demolition on Crystal Avenue high-rises
Greg Smith
New London — The City Council has authorized borrowing $700,000 to cover a funding gap that had delayed the completion of demolition of the Thames River Apartments complex on Crystal Avenue.
The council authorized Mayor Michael Passero to sign off on an amended contract with Stamford Wrecking Co. as an emergency measure on Monday, “to address an urgent public need to preserve public health and safety by commencing demolition of the buildings immediately.”
The move clears the path for demolition of the three nine-story buildings to start this week. City officials are expected to gather at the site at 10:30 a.m. Wednesday for a ceremonial start to that demolition.
Bryn Terlizzi, senior project manager for Stamford Wrecking Co., said in a statement that the completion date is scheduled for May 31. Preparation work around the foundations of the buildings will be done first before any significant portions of the buildings will be demolished.
The first phase of the demolition, which included removal of much of the hazardous materials such as asbestos tiles, was completed in October. The work had stalled, however, with ballooning costs of both transportation and hazardous waste disposal.
Felix Reyes, director of the city’s Office of Development and Planning, said the market changed and along with rising costs it was becoming more difficult to find an approved site for debris disposal. “When landfills reach capacity, prices go up. We were caught in something uncontrollable,” he said.
Demolition costs increased by $581,090, with additional third-party monitoring costs totaling $127,000.
When the controlled demolition does commence, it will be done incrementally and selectively, since the buildings still contain hazardous materials such as lead paint and PCBs. Portions of the building, such as stairwells with lead paint, will be separated from other materials. Some of the material is being shipped to a waste site in New Hampshire.
The state had covered all of the $3.7 million initial cost estimate for the demolition and cleanup of the site. The council on Monday agreed to include the needed $700,000 in the city’s annual borrowing package associated with the 2022 Capital Improvement Plan. The Capital Improvement Plan in which the demolition was included totals $2.67 million and includes various infrastructure projects.
Councilor John Satti initially expressed displeasure with the move but ultimately voted in favor. “When the Thames River Apartments matter started many years ago, we were assured there’s more than enough money to complete the project and the money to demolish would in fact be covered,” he said. “To date, we are now seeing $700,000 in costs overruns.”
City officials hope the demolition puts to rest an era in the city that some officials refer to as a policy that served to warehouse the poor.
Thames River Apartments is a former federally subsidized 124-unit complex for low-income families. It was managed by the New London Housing Authority and consistently the target of complaints about substandard living conditions and crime.
A long-pending, class-action lawsuit filed by attorney Robert Reardon on behalf of residents of Thames River Apartments led to a court-stipulated agreement in 2014 that mandated better homes for tenants. That goal was accomplished in 2018, when a concerted effort was made by the housing authority and city to vacate and condemn the buildings. The city bought the property once residents were aided in a move out with federal housing vouchers.
The 12-acre property is expected to be marketed for commercial or industrial use.
Passero said he had planned to bring the demolition funding request to the council at a later date. He accelerated his plan after a fire in one of the buildings last week heightened public safety concerns. A squatter was found inside one of the boarded-up structures during the fire.
Fire Chief Thomas Curcio said vacant buildings cause a risk to residents and firefighters alike, especially when there is a need to search the building to check for squatters. “With any structure fire, there is always the possibility of someone remaining inside the building,” he said. “In a smoke-filled atmosphere, holes in floors and open elevator shafts pose a great danger to our firefighters. In this case, the elevator shafts were open in these buildings.”
Councilor James Burke said Monday that “it’s an unfortunate situation we’re here. It’s not normal for us to earmark $700,000 for a project we thought was fully paid.”
But, Burke continued, the urgency in continuing the demolition provides for better safety of both community members and first responders.
Developer proposes 100 apartments to replace strip shopping center on Windsor’s town Green
A developer is proposing a 100-unit apartment complex with first-floor retail on the site of the Windsor Center Plaza in the heart of Windsor’s village center.
Greg Vaca wants to replace the aging strip center at the intersections of Route 75 and 159 with three apartment buildings, a $25 million project he said that is far better suited to modern lifestyles.
The first stage would be a three-story building fronting along Route 75 with 40 apartments and a ground-level cafe with outdoor dining.
If all goes to plan, Vaca hopes to break ground in the summer and be ready to screen prospective clients by the spring of 2023.
Vaca, president of Grava Properties, said replacing the strip plaza from the car-centric culture of 50 years ago makes sense in an era when young workers and older, downsizing homeowners are interested in attractive urban centers.
The roughly 3-acre property is just a couple of blocks from Windsor’s railroad station, which is served by Amtrak and the Hartford Line commuter route.
“What’s the type of housing stock that Connecticut is missing? Apartments. We demolished all the apartments — now we’re building them back up,” he said.
Vaca said Tuesday that convenient Hartford Line access will play a key role in attracting the market he envisions. The units in the first two phases will be one-bedrooms or one-bedrooms with dens, largely targeted to young singles and couples as well as empty-nesters.
When Vaca outlined his proposal for the town council last month, Economic Development Director Patrick McMahon noted that Windsor’s 2014 transit-oriented development plan for the village specifically recommended that property for redevelopment as apartments. That plan, written four years before the Hartford Line debuted in 2018, advised that Windsor’s village needed an infusion of several hundred apartments.
“A hallmark of a successful town center, the new housing will appeal to younger generations and ‘empty nesters,’ complementing the family-oriented houses of nearby neighborhoods,” the plan said.
“The new residents will become important patrons for shops, stores, restaurants and transit,” it added.
The council has endorsed Vaca’s bid for $2.5 million in state aid through a competitive transit-oriented development grant program.
The current plaza has three primary sections: The former Arthur’s Drugs in the center, with retail wings to the east and west.
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If he gets town approval, Vaca would construct the first building along Route 75 and use its ground floor as new locations for the current commercial tenants. He anticipates 40 apartments in that phase, all one-bedrooms or one-bedrooms with dens.
The second stage would raze the plaza’s west wing and replace it with another three-story complex of one-bedroom units. The third phase — probably seven or eight years from now — would replace the east wing with one- and two-bedroom apartments.
The plaza’s central building, now a real estate office, was formerly an Arthur’s Drugs outlet and before than an A&P supermarket. Vaca wants to remodel it into a 10,000-square-foot amenity center with a large gym, modern work share space and other features.
“Young people are looking to work from home and they’re going to want a nice gym with Peleton bikes, a cafe, a work-share space.
“If people are going to have 700-square-foot one-bedrooms and work from home, it won’t necessarily be them working from their bedroom or living room,” he said.
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“They could work from a beautiful amenity center where they’re with other people. When you want, after work you walk to the restaurant or a bar, or you walk up to your apartment to get something,” he said.
“People don’t necessarily want to be in a office — that’s clear from what’s happening now with the work-from-home trends — but they don’t necessarily want to be in their living room or in a single place,” he said. “They don’t want to be tethered to one spot.”
About 80% of the apartments would be leased at market rate, Vaca said. The other 20% would be “workforce housing” priced for people earning 80% of the region’s median income.