CT Construction Digest Thursday April 28, 2022

Newington approves 225-unit apartment complex

Richard Chumney

NEWINGTON — A Pittsburgh-based construction company has been given approval to build a 225-unit apartment complex on the southern edge of town.

Despite opposition from some residents, the Newington Town Plan and Zoning Commission voted earlier this month to approve a proposal to construct five four-story residential buildings on a 26-acre site at the corner of Culver and Deming streets.

Alan Bongiovanni, an engineer working on the project, said the apartments will be marketed as luxury units to young professionals and residents not interested in traditional single-family housing.

“We believe this is going to be the standard to which all other apartments are going to be measured in the town of Newington,” Bongiovanni said.

The brick buildings will be evenly split between one-bedroom and two-bedroom units, according to documents submitted to the town. Each residence will feature a balcony, washer and dryer appliances, a walk-in closet, and a bathroom in every bedroom. The one-bedroom units are expected to rent for more than $1,500 a month.

The A.R. Building Company, which owns and manages more than 9,000 units of housing across the country, proposed the development at 258 Deming St., and 35, 67 and 69 Culver St.

William Sweeney, an attorney representing the developers, said the company will also manage the property and staff the on-site leasing office when construction wraps up.

“A.R. doesn’t flip their projects, they hold them in their portfolio,” Sweeney said. “They’ll own this project tomorrow, a year from now and ten years from now. When they enter a community, they are a part of that community for the long term.”

Site plans show the complex will also include a pool and a one-story clubhouse. Geoff Campbell, an architect who designed the buildings, said the clubhouse will feature a fireplace, lounge, fitness room, mail center and office space.

“It's a place where people can come together and meet their neighbors,” he said.

Much of the property, which was once home to a farm, will remain undeveloped land and accessible to residents. In addition to a stream, the site features a pair of ponds.

“Our proposal is to preserve all of those natural areas and all of those environmentally sensitive areas,” Bongiovanni, the project’s engineer, said.

Once completed, the property will be accessible from two entrances on Culver Street. The complex’s parking lot will feature more than 370 spaces, up to 40 percent of which will feature charging stations for electric vehicles.

At a public hearing last month, several residents who live near Culver street expressed opposition to the scale and location of the project. One resident warned the new buildings would change the character of the neighborhood and another argued the units would increase traffic.

Sweeney successfully argued state law and local regulations give the property owners the right to develop the apartment buildings. He said construction is expected to begin on the complex sometime later this year.

Final Preston zoning hearing on RV park tops four hours; no vote yet

Claire Bessette

Preston — The final marathon public hearing on a controversial proposed RV park and campground stretched past midnight Tuesday into early Wednesday morning, when the Planning and Zoning Commission closed public comment and tabled action to its May 24 regular meeting.

Maryland-based Blue Water Development Corp. has proposed the seasonal RV park and campground resort, under the name Blue Camp CT LLC, on 65 acres of land owned by the Mashantucket Pequot Tribal Nation at the junction of routes 2 and 164 and abutting Avery Pond. The three parcels are at 451, 455 and 495 Route 2, much of the land in the town’s resort commercial zone and part in a residential zone.

Campground resorts are allowed by special exception permit in both zones under town zoning regulations. The proposed RV park and campground would be open from April 1 through Oct. 31 each year. No guest RVs will be allowed on the property during the off-season, and though 27 rental RVs owned by Blue Camp would remain on the property year-round, they would not be rented out during the off-season.

Blue Water has downsized the project from the original proposed 304 campsites to 280 campsites, eliminated a proposed T-shaped dock in Avery Pond, a boardwalk and tent sites along the pond, and reduced the number of bathhouses from three to two. All roadways and parking areas will be gravel-based, except at the main entrance and welcome center area.

About 30 people attended the 4½-hour public hearing Tuesday night, the third and longest PZC hearing session on the project, held in the Preston Plains Middle School cafeteria. Attendees laughed when, shortly before 11 p.m., the battery on the wireless public microphone died. The hearing continued using one of the commissioners’ mics.

Residents of Avery Pond neighborhoods have vehemently opposed the project throughout the PZC and Inland Wetlands and Watercourses Commission public hearings that started in December. Speakers continued to oppose the project Tuesday, citing anticipated traffic problems on Route 2, light, noise, environmental concerns and saying the project is too big, too dense and unfit for the quiet surrounding neighborhoods.

A petition, with more than 400 signatures of people who oppose the project, was submitted to the commission prior to Tuesday’s hearing.

The wetlands commission had approved wetlands permits for the project in a 3-2 vote April 19.

Project attorney Harry Heller asserted the surrounding neighborhoods will be “fully buffered” from the project. But he added it would be unrealistic to say they would not hear “sounds” from the development.

Heller disputed claims the project is too large for the 4,000-population town. Blue Camp would have 280 campsites. The longstanding Strawberry Park campground in town has 450 sites, Heller said.

Heller said there were nine fire calls and 14 police calls to Strawberry Park and Hidden Acres campgrounds in 2021, just over 1% of overall calls in town and 0.7% of police calls, not including motor vehicle calls. He said the project would become the second- or third-highest taxpaying entity in town.

“The cost for public services for what will be a major tax contributor in the community, will be minimal,” Heller said.

Commission member Denise Beale expressed concern about traffic flow on Route 2 and the potential for vehicles to be backed up along Route 2 waiting to turn left into the campground.

Blue Camp plans to convert a 12-foot-wide center median on Route 2 into a left-turn lane. Blue Water Project Manager Emily Demarco said vehicles would not be backed up at the entrance for check-in.

“I represent to you that this is good development,” Heller said. “This is going to be a benefit to the town of Preston. It is going to enhance your tax base. It is going to create both construction jobs when the project is being constructed, as well as operational opportunities for employment.”

Residents disputed many of Heller’s points Tuesday. Route 164 resident Connie Moshier said the buffer planned to shield Lynn Drive, which runs along the western shore of Avery Pond, would not help her property. She said she would have full view of the campers, will hear the noise, see the lights and experience the construction disruption.

“There’s some semblance of peace in our backyards,” Moshier said. “That will be all gone.”

Cooktown Road resident Steve Ballirano envisioned the RVs parked side by side in rows like a large trailer park. “This is outdoor sprawl,” he said.

Ballirano submitted copies of news articles about other towns denying RV park campgrounds because they disrupt the community, and he urged Preston to reject the plan.

Resident Margaret Gibson said Preston will have new tax revenue with the pending redevelopment of the former Norwich Hospital property by Mohegan Gaming & Entertainment, the Uncasville-based corporation that owns the Mohegan Tribe's gaming enterprises, including Mohegan Sun. She said denying Blue Camp would not signal that Preston is unfriendly to business.

Gibson quoted a comment from wetlands commission Chairman John Moulson, who said he was not in favor but voted to approve it because it met regulations. Gibson said that standard should not be enough. She thanked fellow residents for objections that led to significant downsizing but she still urged the commission to reject the project.

Heller later objected to Gibson's stance, saying the town created its land use regulations to be fair to all property owners in town, and the Mashantucket Pequot Tribal Nation owns the Route 2 property and has the right to develop it according to town zoning regulations.

Resident John Waggoner read criteria in the town's special exception zoning regulations and argued the proposed campground would not be compatible with neighborhoods, would cause traffic problems, hurt property values and harm the environment.

“Please put the concerns of hundreds of citizens that signed the petition against Blue Camp’s project,” Waggoner said, “and all the taxpaying citizens that signed a petition against Blue Camp’s project and all the taxpaying citizens that will have their quiet neighborhoods, quality of life and property values detrimentally affected by Blue Camp’s campground.”

Attorney Michael Carey, who represents Lynn Drive residents Susan Hotchkiss and Jennifer Hollstein, who have filed for intervenor status in the planning and wetlands processes, praised residents for their research into technical, environmental, traffic and development issues. Carey said he had not seen this level of residents’ involvement in his many years of representing clients in zoning matters.

Inflation, interest rate hikes delay $50M Hartford housing complex redevelopment

Michael Puffer

Aredevelopment of the Martin Luther King apartments in Hartford’s Sheldon Charter Oak neighborhood has been stymied after organizers learned inflation and higher interest rates have increased the project’s costs by about $8 million. 

“We thought we had it sourced, but interest rates went up and construction costs went up,” said Capital Region Development Authority Executive Director Michael Freimuth of the now $58 million project. “We got hit on both ends and it opened up a hole.”

Freimuth said CRDA has not yet settled on the size of the loan it will grant the project. The quasi-public agency is one of several funding sources for the effort to transform a worn collection of 64 affordable apartments into a modern development of 155 units – 40% of which will be market rate.

Community development agency Sheldon Oak Central owns the complex on Van Block Avenue. Emily Wolfe, the organization’s executive director, said maintenance and repair costs have reached a point where it makes more sense to rebuild than rehab the property.

“They were kind of at the end of their lifespan,” Wolfe said of the brick buildings built in a zigzag pattern. “We were faced with a choice between spending millions renovating outdated and not very attractive structures versus doing something that would really contribute to neighborhood revitalization.”

Wolfe said the project is the last piece of a revitalization of the Sheldon Oak neighborhood, located just southeast of downtown Hartford.  

Sheldon Oak Central partnered with Simsbury-based affordable housing developer Vesta Corp. on the project. Vesta could fund the pre-development and design costs, Wolfe said.

Wolfe said the project had assembled funding from state grants, a CRDA loan, private lenders, the Connecticut Housing Finance Authority and potentially city rental subsidies. She anticipated finalizing the redevelopment deal in April.

“We have been working with a construction company that let us know costs were going to increase,” Wolfe said. “The estimate was $50 million up until a couple months ago.”

Wolfe said her agency and partners are hunting for additional funding, including potentially an increase in state assistance. Organizers are also looking to lower engineering costs.

Wolfe characterizes the funding gap as “a little bump in the road.” She still hopes to close the gulf in time to begin this year demolition of the existing buildings and site remediation, which would cost about $4 million.

“We are really pulling every lever we can,” Wolfe said. “We really want to get this closed by maybe the end of the third quarter.” 

Connecticut utility regulators end state’s natural gas expansion plan launched in 2013, citing rising costs, push for zero emissions

Stephen Singer

Connecticut’s utility regulators on Wednesday ended a nine-year state program that sought to expand the use of natural gas as an alternative to home heating oil.

Several reasons were cited by the three Public Utilities Regulatory Authority commissioners who voted to pull the plug on the program: Gas prices are soaring, wiping out cost advantages over oil heat and policies favoring natural gas no longer advance the state’s climate and energy goals that now tilt to offshore wind.

In a draft decision in March, regulators said subsidies to the utilities are costly and the program, launched in 2013 by then-Gov. Dannel P. Malloy and backed by the General Assembly, failed to meet its numerical goals hooking up natural gas to homes and businesses.

“At the time it was a great idea,” said Commissioner John W. Betkoski III. “When we do these things, they’re eventually supposed to phase out and when we continue them it’s always on the backs of ratepayers.”

Marissa Gillett, chairwoman of PURA, said Eversource Energy and United Illuminating Co. may exercise their right to challenge the decision in court.

“I would look forward to having closer scrutiny on how the program did not deliver on its promises to ratepayers,” she said.

Spokeswoman Tricia Modifica said Eversource recognizes that energy policy has changed since the system expansion plan was established and is “looking at ways to ensure a seamless and equitable transition” for its customers.

She said 38,189 residents and businesses in its service territory have switched to natural gas since 2013. Overall, Eversource serves 249,000 natural gas customers in 74 communities in Connecticut.

A spokesman for UI did not immediately respond to an email seeking comment.

Home heating oil businesses, many of which are family-run companies, unsuccessfully fought the state’s efforts to broaden natural gas connections. Christian Herb, president of the Connecticut Energy Marketers Association, a trade group, said ending the program confirms that the state Department of Energy and Environmental Protection was wrong.

“Unfortunately, thousands of consumers were fleeced by the state’s promise of a ‘clean, cheaper and more reliable’ energy source, only to find out nearly a decade later that natural gas was dirty, more expensive and unreliable,” Herb said.

The Department of Energy and Environmental Protection posted a notice of proceeding Jan. 6 for an updated Comprehensive Energy Strategy required every four years. The agency will consider climate, equity, affordability and economic development.

Shannon Laun of the Conservation Law Foundation, an environmental group, said PURA’s decision is a “huge step toward getting polluting, dirty fossil fuels out of our homes.”

However, she said regulators should end the incentive-based program immediately instead of allowing gas companies to sign up certain customers who have a fully executed contract for gas service within 90 days.

Malloy’s Comprehensive Energy Strategy relied on incentives and financing options and targeted marketing campaigns to pay for natural gas conversions. It also established a rate mechanism for gas companies to recover investments.

The proposal recommended changes in energy efficiency, electricity supply, industrial energy requirements, transportation and natural gas. Malloy promoted his natural gas expansion plan to spur economic development, business growth and lower costs in response to persistent complaints from homeowners and businesses about high energy prices.

The program fell short, PURA said. Gas line expansion projects were driving up costs, with gas ratepayers paying about $64 million additionally, regulators said.

Gas ratepayers also were footing the bill for significant subsidies to offset revenue shortfalls and capital costs, PURA said. Since the start of the “system expansion plan” as it’s known, Yankee Gas, which is operated by Eversource, and Connecticut Natural Gas and the Southern Connecticut Gas Co. that are operated by UI’s parent company Avangrid, benefited from about $92 million in credits, PURA said.

The stated purpose of the plan is to expand utilities’ customer base and increase demand on the distribution system, regulators said.

“Although the growth rate of new customers has declined for all three (utilities), the average cost to connect new services has increased significantly since the inception of the system expansion plan,” PURA said.

The system expansion plan’s aim was to convert 280,000 Connecticut residents to gas in 10 years. With less than two years remaining, the utilities have met 32% of the goal, regulators said.

CT Construction Digest Wednesday April 27, 2022

Developer pitches Stamford high-rise to replace industrial South End lot: ‘The area is changing’

Verónica Del Valle

STAMFORD — A real estate developer wants to turn the dregs of the South End’s industrial past into the area’s latest high-rise at 441 Canal St.

“We think of it as a site that is a gateway to the South End,” the developer’s attorney William Hennessey told the Zoning Board Monday.

Heyman Properties proposed 401 apartments in all, with 429 corresponding parking spaces. On the ground floor, 441 Canal will feature over 7,000 square feet of ground-floor retail space. Hennessey said the hope is to attract a small eatery, something convenient for residents “while at the same being attractive to the public.”

A few blocks north, other buildings have executed similar efforts. Luxury apartment building Urby houses the coffee shop Roost, and attached to the Ferguson Library is Winfield Street Coffee. Both spots serve beer and wine on top of the typical cafe fares, and Hennessey described a similar vision for the perspective building.

The parcel fronts Dock Street to the north, John Street to the west and Canal Street to the east. It sits half a mile away from the Stamford Transportation Center, putting it within the bounds of Stamford’s transit-oriented development district.

While the proposal is for one structure on four consolidated lots, the building presents itself as two. In the mockups, the tower starts out stout and shrouded by trees. A public plaza sits on one side. After the eighth floor, it splits into two sections — each 18 stories high.

The “highly stylized” retail space, as Hennessey described it, and the proposed public plaza in front are both functions of the location. Because it is within walking distance of the train station and in such a visible place, making the streetscape as appealing as possible became a priority, Hennessey said.

The South End’s main streets all coverage at the proposed development site, Hennessey explained, which he said underscored the developer’s “responsibility on the site to do something that is a little bit different.” He also doubled down on 441 Canal as a “gateway” parcel for the community.

Gateways are nothing new for the neighborhood. The word became synonymous with development in the South End more than 10 years ago, when developer Building and Land Technology sought approvals to build the long-debated Gateway site, now the Stamford home for Charter Communications.

Negative impact or ‘much-needed improvement’?

Though Heyman Properties sees prime real estate, manufacturers have traditionally defined this area — like much of the South End. The site was once used as a lumber yard. Steel-framed buildings housed a bank, plus an antique gallery and homewares store in more recent years. Nearby, industrial uses persist.

“A few hundred feet down Canal Street is the junkyard and transfer station and asphalt plant, and across the canal is the city’s sewage treatment plant,” pointed out South End activist Sue Halpern during the public comment session Monday. Halpern argued that the nearby uses posed threats to future residents. The environmental remediation necessary to build on the 441 Canal site, she said, would negatively impact the air quality for current ones.

But where Halpern saw the dangers of industry, other South Enders saw an opportunity to clean it up.

City Rep. Terry Adams, D-3, called the proposal “a much-needed improvement” over the antique sellers that crowded the block before and could facilitate a pedestrian connection between Downtown and his constituency. And though fellow South End activist Sheila Barney expressed concerns over the overall state of development in the neighborhood, she agreed that the Canal project could bring forth a new era for the community.

“The area is changing,” Barney said. She noted that industrial companies like trash hauler B&S Carting had left the neighborhood as development encroached. Maybe more residential construction in places like 441 Canal could bring about a cleaner South End, she said.

If approved, Hennessey said he expects construction to take around 30 months, pushing the completion date at a minimum into late 2024.

The Zoning Board will discuss the proposal for 441 Canal St. and the corresponding zoning map proposed by the developer again at its May 9 meeting.

Norwalk plans $600K sidewalk project near three schools

Abigail Brone

NORWALK — Two schools along Highland Avenue are set to receive sidewalk makeovers before the fall.

Last month, the city released a Request for Proposals for a company to complete the curbing and sidewalks along Highland Avenue, in front of three of the city’s public schools.

With the bidding period closed Monday, the city received three bids on the project, Transportation, Parking and Mobility Department Director Jim Travers said.

The project is estimated to cost between $600,000 and $650,000, as part of the federal Safe Routes to School transportation program, Travers said.

“This has been a priority for the administration and department for some time. For several years, we proportionally requested capital funding and each year the department requested $225,000 for Safe Routes to School,” Travers said. “We look for these funds to look at improved sidewalks to schools, other infrastructure investments, whether that be flashing signs, better crossings.”

For three years, the $225,000 appropriated for Safe Routes to School was saved to be used on the Highland Avenue sidewalk project, Travers said.

Safe Routes to School is a program run by the U.S. Department of Transportation that encourages infrastructure changes that make it easier for students to walk to and from school each day, increasing childhood health and decreasing environmental impact, according to the U.S. DOT.

With the Bike/Walk Commission, Travers and his department viewed Highland Avenue as a priority for repaving.

Along 1 mile of Highland Avenue, there is Brookside Elementary School, Brien McMahon High School and Roton Middle School. The sidewalks connecting the three schools will be repaved.

The new sidewalks will run from the intersection of Meredith Court and Highland Avenue to the intersection of Charcoal Road and Highland Avenue, ending shortly before Roton Middle School, according to the RFP.

The sidewalk in front of Roton was not included in the project as new sidewalk was installed on that strip a few years ago, Travers said.

“So, it’ll be one continuous stretch of new sidewalk. More importantly for Highland, it’s connecting three schools on the street,” Travers said.

The curbing and sidewalk work will be conducted between June 20 and Aug. 19, in time for the start of the 2022-23 school year, according to the RFP.

The city will ensure an entrance to each school will be available during the construction, Travers said.

“We have been in contact with all three schools to let them know. We are coordinating the day when school is out,” Travers said. “If we do sidewalks through schools, we will do half at a time to never block access into school. We will work with every property owner and schools for anything. We don’t want this to be massively disruptive, but we really believe the benefit will be worth it.”

The new sidewalk and curb designs will include updated accessibility ramps and pavement signage preventing drivers from blocking ramps and crosswalks, Travers said.

Bike lanes along the avenue will be widened as well, making for safer sidewalks as distance is added between drivers and the sidewalk, Travers said.

The project was in the works for a while before Travers and his team completed the design and brought the project to fruition, city spokesperson Michelle Woods Matthews said.

Winsted Town Manager presents road plan to zoning commission

Emily M. Olson

WINSTED — Town Manager Josh Kelly presented an 8-24 application to the Planning & Zoning Commission Monday, bringing the town’s $15.3 million road improvement project one step closer to starting later this year.

The commission unanimously approved Kelly’s 8-24 application, which is part of the process to apply for loans and a requirement for municipal projects.

Kelly and Public Works Director Jim Rollins first presented the road improvement plan in January. The plan at that time also included an additional $3 million to be borrowed for drainage improvements around Highland Lake and a new ladder truck for the Winsted Fire Department.

Since then, after receiving borrowing advice from the town’s bond counsel, Kelly changed the plan to bond the road projects and presented a new one that includes Winsted’s $6 million Hinsdale School renovation project, which the town begins repaying this year.

The total $24.7 million bonding proposal was approved by the Board of Selectmen April 18 and is going to a town meeting and referendum in May.

“We need an 8-24 review done by your board tonight, and have it sent back to the Board of Selectmen,” Kelly said. “If you don’t approve it tonight, we’ll have to reschedule our town meeting (on May 24) and referendum.”

“We’ll have a full panel of individuals who know these projects, to discuss them at the town meeting. That will adjourn to a referendum,” Kelly said. “Hopefully the referendum will be part of the town budget (vote) on May 28. But if you think you need more time, we’ll have to reschedule.”

Kelly reminded the commission that the road improvement project was first brought to the selectmen in December, but that former town manager Robert Geiger had talked about it for at least four years. Kelly began his role as town manager last August, after Geiger retired.

“Our first presentation was about investment in our roads, and on average, Winsted has invested under $800,000 annually in road work. If we continue with our current approach, it will take a very long time,” Kelly said. “But if we borrow, we can get a lot more done.”

Rollins also reviewed the list of roads to be repaired, which have been devided into five separate projects.

The areas to be included in the road improvement plan are western Winsted, including Hannafin and Upland roads and Hubbard and Marshal streets. In the Main Street corridor area, they include Case Avenue, the Case Avenue bridge, Elm and Spring streets.

For Highland Lake, the roads in need of repair include West Wakefield Blvd., Lake Street and the Taylor Brook bridge. Winchester Center’s roads included are the Mad River bridge, Grantville, Newfield, South and Wahnee Roads. In eastern Winsted, the roads listed are Holabird, Moore and Oakdale avenues, and Whiting Street. Kelly said the list totals 9.47 miles, or 12 percent of Winsted’s roads.

“We had to start with a roadway’s condition, safety conditions, its liability to the town, and what specific problems it has, like drainage failure,” Rollins said. “We don’t want to use capital project money for this kind of work. It’s too much for our operating budget.”

Norwich school renovation project options being considered

Claire Bessette

Norwich — A plan to overhaul the city’s schools — with three existing elementary schools being considered for renovation and expansion, along with a possible fourth, new school — is starting to come into focus.

The School Building Committee earlier this month narrowed its focus on two possible options for elementary schools, which were presented to residents at a public forum Tuesday. One would renovate and expand the John B. Stanton Elementary, Moriarty Environmental Sciences Magnet and Uncas Elementary schools, each to house about 700 students in preschool through fifth grade. A second option would keep those three schools and build one new elementary school, with all four housing about 550 students each.

The Veterans Memorial and Thomas W. Mahan elementary schools would be closed. Administrative offices would be moved to the historical Samuel Huntington School, and the Wequonnoc School in Taftville could be retained as a virtual learning center but would need major renovations to meet federal accessibility standards for people with disabilities.

As the committee was prepared to vote at its April 19 meeting to direct architectural firm Drummey Rosane Anderson Inc., or DRA Architects, to focus on the two possible scenarios, members decided to delay the vote until Tuesday’s public forum to hear residents’ input. The committee also looked at keeping all seven existing elementary school buildings with about 300 students each.

About 15 people attended Tuesday’s forum and workshop — most of them building committee and City Council members, along with some school staff and parents.

James Barrett, principal of DRA, said the team toured all schools last summer, assessed their condition, renovation needs and feasibility of keeping those buildings. He said the group is collecting all that information and is beginning to form the plan. Within the next two months, the firm will finalize its recommendations and lay out options for the School Building Committee.

DRA’s evaluation of population age groups in Norwich showed enrollment is expected to remain stable for the next 10 years. High levels of enrollment in past decades have left the city with more building capacity than students, Barrett said.

Poster boards lined the Kelly Middle School community room for Tuesday’s forum, one with photos and information for each of the district’s 14 buildings and others with city demographic information, enrollment and responses to surveys of students and teachers.

In evaluating the buildings, the group studied exterior condition, access, traffic flow and parking, while with interiors, DRA officials evaluated mechanics, classroom size, layout, cafeteria space and technology.

During the workshop portion of Tuesday’s forum, participants were asked their own assessments of the school building needs.

Parent Mary Pollard said she is familiar with almost all city school buildings, and “getting kids in and out of the schools” can be a nightmare, especially at Moriarty and Wequonnoc schools. Pollard said she loves how the Wequonnoc School is so tied to the Taftville neighborhood, with many walkers and parents and students walking to school events together. But she said it’s dangerous with so many children crossing busy Providence Street.

Parent Jessica Quay said the building committee should not forget the outdated and rundown playgrounds at all schools that need upgrades.

Alderman Derell Wilson said districtwide, compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act is critical in all school buildings, especially those with upper floors.

The committee hopes to present a proposed plan to overhaul the city’s schools to the City Council for approval and be ready in time to place a referendum question on the ballot for the Nov. 8 election. But committee members said Tuesday the group likely will not be ready in time to meet that goal.

Brownfields draw more attention as industrial development options dwindle

Michael Puffer

olluted by more than a century of metal manufacturing, the 17.4-acre former Anamet manufacturing campus near the center of Waterbury has sat abandoned and decaying for nearly two decades, visited mostly by homeless individuals, drug users and vandals.

The city of Waterbury and state have poured more than $5 million into cleaning and preparing the property for reuse, much of it going into demolition of crumbling buildings. An additional $4 million in state brownfield grants has been earmarked for continued cleanup.

The city issued a request for proposals April 11, seeking a user or developer to buy or lease the property. Waterbury Mayor Neil O’Leary said he believes the state’s hot industrial market, coupled with tight statewide inventory, will draw more investor interest to brownfield sites like Anamet.

“We think there is a significant amount of interest on that piece [of land],” even though it has a long way to go before it can be redeveloped, O’Leary said.

Industrial real estate brokers and others say they are seeing a greater willingness from developers to look at brownfield properties, but they remain a challenge.

“Developers — and end users to a degree — but developers specifically are taking a harder look at these types of properties,” said Kyle Roberts, first vice president of brokerage firm CBRE.

Roberts said CBRE is currently floating potential brownfield redevelopments to Scannell Properties, the Indiana-based industrial builder and investor that has been one of the most active logistics space developers around Greater Hartford.

The shrinking number of industrial development sites left throughout the Northeast is further exacerbated by the growing reluctance of some communities to allow further warehouse development, Roberts noted.

But brownfield remediation costs are so high, they typically must be borne by someone other than the developer or end user to make a project feasible, Roberts said. That hasn’t changed.

Urban opportunities

At Waterbury’s Anamet site, the city will leave standing a single, 220,000-square-foot industrial building with 40-foot-high ceilings. Local taxpayers invested $2.7 million repairing the roof to preserve the building for reuse.

The city is seeking a developer, even as it continues the remaining cleanup, to speed up the redevelopment timeline, said Thomas Hyde, interim director of the Waterbury Development Corp. and CEO of the Naugatuck Valley Development Corp.

Several would-be users and developers have toured the site, including a couple that flew in to see it, Hyde said.

Developer interest grew, he added, after Amazon recently announced plans to locate nearby a massive regional distribution center on a roughly 150-acre site straddling the Waterbury and Naugatuck town line. Located at the crossroads of Interstates 84 and Route 8, Waterbury is closer to the Port of New York and New Jersey than northern Connecticut towns that have been the focus of logistics development in recent years.

Much of that Greater Hartford activity has been spurred by the availability of affordable, flat agricultural land that has no past industrial pollution.

With officials and residents in some Greater Hartford towns now contemplate stronger restrictions on logistics projects, O’Leary said he believes developers might look for alternatives in places like Waterbury.

Waterbury and other Connecticut cities have long struggled with the specters of their manufacturing pasts; large properties otherwise ripe with industrial potential often sit idle for years, or even decades, due to the costs of clearing pollution. The state has responded with significant cleanup subsidies, but the cost uncertainties continue to serve as a disincentive to brownfield investment, experts said.

Cleanup costs

Frank H. Hird, vice president of O,R&L Commercial in Rocky Hill, said the hot industrial market has “absolutely” spurred more interest in environmentally-challenged sites.

“I can’t give you a percentage, but it is absolutely increasing,” Hird said.

Cities generally allow denser development, a higher building-to-land coverage ratio and greater access to sewer and water service than suburban sites, Hird noted.

Hird said he recently had a single buyer lay claim to two large industrial properties, leaving him with little inventory left to offer.

Art Ross, senior managing director of the industrial practice group for Newmark, agreed tight industrial inventory is bound to increase interest in brownfield sites.

Ross said he recently narrowly missed a brownfield redevelopment deal in Connecticut. He said the transaction faltered when the past owner and prospective buyer couldn’t agree on how to divide roughly $10 million in known cleanup costs. The developer was willing to take on future unknown liabilities, Ross noted.

Ross said Connecticut’s Transfer Act, which requires property sellers to confirm that there have been no prior hazardous waste spills on-site, remains a powerful disincentive to reuse sites with pollution histories. However, Connecticut policymakers have set into motion a process to ease those environmental restrictions.

Alexandra Daum, deputy commissioner of the Connecticut Department of Economic and Community Development (DECD), noted state lawmakers and the administration have authorized spending $50 million on brownfield grants over the next two fiscal years.

“That is representative of how committed we are — both DECD and the administration in general — to brownfields remediation as a tool of economic development,” Daum said.

Past cleanups have resulted in an array of uses, Daum said. Industrial uses are “a great option” because the cleanup standards are lighter than other types of development, she said. State economic development authorities haven’t been deluged with additional interest in brownfield redevelopments, but builders are more willing to consider these sites, she said.

“Previously it was: ‘I want a clean site, I want perfect highway access, I want a huge site, utilities perfectly connected – everything,’ ” Daum said. “That’s still the first call people make, … but I think we are seeing a bit more flexibility and open-mindedness about considering sites that aren’t perfect.”

Brownfields still have challenges and limitations, especially in terms of project complexity, time and cost, Daum acknowledged. The state’s brownfield programs offer cleanup subsidies of up to $4 million, but each funding round is limited to $2 million grants.

That means developers or municipalities need to apply through at least two different grant funding rounds to get the maximum award. It also takes time, and great expense, to identify areas of pollution, get cleanup plans approved and then certify it has been done correctly.

“If you have a tenant that needs to be in [a location] in six months, a brownfield is probably not the right site,” Daum said. “But there are a lot of enterprising, risk-taking investors out there who might want to clean up a site knowing there will be a use for that tenant they are confident will exist three years from now.”

CT Construction Digest Monday April 25, 2022

After years-long delay, Windsor’s Great Pond Village development eyes biotech research center, data center, major industrial tenants, more housing

Michael Puffer

Windsor’s Great Pond Village mixed-use development experienced more than a decade of delays and many plan changes before its first phase debuted in 2019, with the opening of the 230-unit Preserve at Great Pond luxury apartments complex.

Now, additional development on the 653-acre site is accelerating, with construction set to begin this June on a 750,000-square-foot distribution center; fill-up/retail plaza; and $15 million in road and infrastructure work.

Several other projects are lining up, including a data center, age-restricted residential community, 185 units of additional housing and a research and development facility for an international biotech company, according to Adam Winstanley, a principal for Massachusetts-based Winstanley Enterprises, which is Great Pond’s master developer.

“Things are accelerating right now, and it will super-accelerate once all the road infrastructure is in, because it is a lot of land and people don’t really understand what’s really happening here,” Winstanley said.

About 60% of developable land at Great Pond is already either purchased, under contract or deep into negotiation for sale, Adam Winstanley said.

Selling points

Winstanley was chosen in 2008 by ABB Combustion Engineering as a partner in development of the company’s site along Day Hill Road and now is co-owner of the property. ABB spent about $150 million cleaning the site, which had once served as a testing facility for nuclear propulsion as well as a center of nuclear fuel production for submarines.

The state Department of Energy and Environmental Protection last November signed off on cleanup of what had been the most heavily-polluted sections of the property, Adam Winstanley said. That allows build-out of Great Pond’s northern portions, including a 93-acre site where Massachusetts-based NorthPoint Development will build the planned distribution center.

Just south of the NorthPoint building site is a 40-acre parcel open to light manufacturing or a data center under Great Pond’s master plan. Winstanley said his company is in talks with a Fortune 500 company interested in building a data center there, but that no agreements have been signed.

That would be the second potential data center for Great Pond Village.

Last November, Verizon paid $3.4 million for a nearly 30-acre property within Great Pond, where it plans to build a data center, according to Windsor development staff and Winstanley representatives.

Verizon declined to discuss its plans for the property.

Linda Costanzo, senior vice president and asset manager for Winstanley, said completion of the Preserve at Great Pond apartments spurred further interest in the overall site, as has a growing scarcity of alternative development sites in the region and state. (The Preserve at Great Pond apartments, which had recently been more than 90% occupied, sold last summer for $63 million to a New Jersey-based real estate investment firm.)

“Like everything in life it’s timing and I think the timing is right — where the market is, the Preserve being completed, a limited supply in and around the market,” Costanzo said.

A 40-acre parcel along Day Hill Road is under purchase contract for a new biotech research and manufacturing center, according to Adam Winstanley.

The new fueling station — on an 8.6-acre site — will include a convenience store, electric vehicle charging stations, ice-cream shop, car wash and, potentially, a brewery, Costanzo said.

Another 34-acre site is under contract to a developer with plans for a 55-and-older residential community, Winstanley said.

Separately, Winstanley plans to use 30 acres building a mix of 185 “starter” houses, duplexes and townhomes featuring a “thick” package of amenities. More than half of that $100 million development will be single-family houses, he said.

One of Great Pond’s big selling points is its inclusion of numerous natural amenities, including miles of trails winding through woods, past Great Pond and the Farmington River. There are plans for a pondside park and perhaps even a bird-watching tower.

Winstanley worked with the town to create a special zoning district for Great Pond Village that leaves about half the site as open space. The plan details what types of development are allowed in different areas, right down to design elements such as types of siding that can be used.

The district allows town planning staff rather than government boards to sign off on project proposals, meaning a significantly shorter permitting process.

In addition, up to half of property taxes generated by new development within Great Pond Village will be used to pay for new roads, utilities, sidewalks and other infrastructure within the site.

“The town of Windsor is extremely forward-thinking to create basically a site with its own taxing district,” Winstanley said. “I’m not aware of anything else in Connecticut that has been quite like this.”

Evolving plans

Plans for development within Great Pond Village have changed considerably over the long run-up to construction. Winstanley said market shifts prompted a big reduction in residential density and the addition of industrial space.

In 2008, the master plan called for 4,010 residential units, 85,000 square feet of retail space and 768,000 square feet of office space in addition to research and development and community spaces and a hotel.

Now, the plan’s main components include 865 housing units, 970,000 square feet of flex industrial space and 750,000 square feet of warehouse space. There will also be much smaller footprints for food and beverage, commercial, retail, car wash, convenience store and clubhouse spaces.

Adam Winstanley said his company has spent $7.5 million fostering Great Pond through planning and permitting over 14 years.

“This kind of development is not for the faint of heart,” Winstanley said. “This is a long journey. It’s extremely capital intensive and time intensive.”

Why the Connecticut construction boom is costly for homebuyers, tenants and developers

Don Stacom

Since Newport Realty prepared to build a 55-and-over community of detached condos in northern Plainville, the materials budget has skyrocketed.

“Just since last October, garage doors are up 100 percent, front doors 100 percent, sheetrock up 30 percent, exterior trim 70 percent,” Newport partner Mark Lovley said.

In South Windsor, T&M Building Co. Inc. is just completing 155 townhouses, duplexes and detached homes; during the course of construction, lumber prices added an average of $18,000 to each one, said President Greg Ugalde.

And even though Bristol’s Carrier Construction Co. has been a major homebuilder in the region for decades, this year it’s struggling to get some types of vinyl siding and plywood that usually are abundant. In a sharp reversal of the usual pattern in construction, Carrier now starts jobs by buying long ahead of when products will be needed.

“Before we even start digging for the foundation, we have sign-offs from our customers on all the exterior selections and all materials are ordered months in advance,” Construction Manager Ryan Carrier said.

Contractors and developers across Connecticut agree their industry is going through a time like none other in memory. Demand for new housing is intense at all ends of the market, while labor costs are soaring and construction materials are often scarce and sometimes staggeringly expensive.

The same pressures are hitting commercial contractors building highway bridges, shopping plazas, banks and schools, part of a nationwide pattern that appeared during the pandemic.

Supply chain disruptions abruptly make some once-common building materials almost impossible to find. In many fields, production backlogs drive up the prices further, sometimes driven by COVID-related plant shutdowns overseas.

The end result is that new homebuyers and new businesses shouldn’t be too optimistic about their delivery schedule or final purchase price, and almost certainly need to be flexible about selection of anything from floor tiles to windows to appliances.

“The pivotal word now is ‘pivot’,” said Avner Krohn, a prominent developer with major apartment projects under way in Bloomfield, New Britain and elsewhere.

“Every day is a new challenge. And if you think you can be locked into one kind of kitchen finish, well those days are gone,” Krohn said. “It’s about availability of product, and across the board. When delays are incurred because of that, there’s additional expense.”

Carrier summed it up this way: ”Decisions need to be made a little sooner, and the customer may have to wait a little longer.”

Jonathan Vosburgh, whose Roswell Development LLC recently completed 32 houses in Granby, is braced for plenty of fast, deadline decisions if he pursues his new plan for 34 three-bedroom houses in Canton.

“Price and availability are so volatile right now you never know what’s going to happen the next day. The only way to manage is to be flexible and make sure your clients are flexible, too,” Vosburgh said.

More than a dozen developers who talked with The Courant in recent weeks agreed that their designers, cost estimators and subcontractors are all scrambling to deal with three distinct, sharp pressures: Material prices are wildly volatile, shortages appear — and vanish — with no predictability, and labor costs are spiraling.

Those factors hit just as a massive building wave hit the state: Virtually every community in central Connecticut has one or more mid-size to large apartment building in the planning phases or under construction.

Once-sleepy Berlin is suddenly a competitive market for developers. Structural steel is going up in predictable places, such as affluent West Hartford, but also in middle-of-the-road suburbs like Southington, Bloomfield and Newington, as well as cities like Bristol and New Britain.

“We finally broke out of the slump that we’d been in for so many years. But we’re really not ready on the supply side — in Connecticut, we’ve fallen behind the housing demand,” said Ugalde, a past chairman of the National Association of Home Builders.

So even as materials — from exotic chemicals and coatings to ordinary drywall — became scarce at various points during the past two years, more builders have been chasing them.

“There are people hoarding materials. When they can get something (scarce), a sub or contractor will buy as much as they can,” Krohn said.

This spring, many are wishing they’d stocked up on some specialty electrical products.

“I just heard from a lender about someone with 150 completed units, but they can’t get what they needed for electrical. They’re sitting with a fully completed project, paying interest on debt,” Krohn said.

Like Krohn, Lovley and his partner, Tony Valenti, are seasoned builders with established credentials but are facing fresh challenges this year.

The first phase of their Steele Center mixed-use development alongside Berlin’s Amtrak station is awaiting an electrical panel that’s deeply back-ordered.

“We ordered in early February, they just told us we won’t see it until June 30. We have this building almost 100 percent done but without power,” Lovley said. “We don’t have electric meters — our purchase order was Dec. 28, we still don’t have them yet.”

Krohn, who is finishing 111 apartments in Bloomfield and starting the foundation for 107 in downtown New Britain, has seen similar surprises in project after project

“For each of our teams, it’s a full-time job sourcing subcontractors and material — materials have been the number one biggest issue,” he said. “On heating, ventilating and air conditioning, were seeing an increase in cost for the same unit size of 40 percent between labor and materials. And with availability, we’re constantly scrambling.”

For homebuyers and future tenants, that means new expense.

“Year over year, our materials increases are around 20 percent. That’s incredible, right?” Ugalde said. “So on the cost of a $300,000 build, you’re adding $60,000. That’s tough for buyers and for contractors.”

Commercial construction faces many of the same pressures.

“You don’t know when you’ll get materials or what it will cost. There’s a chemical for cement that went from $2,000 per container to $20,000. Imagine what that does to your prices,” said Donald Shubert, president of the Connecticut Construction Industries Association.

“All these things are coming at once. Contractors are risk averse, we’re all about certainty in pricing. We like certainty,” Shubert said.

But contractors bidding on large commercial or infrastructure jobs now face a very unfamiliar market. Road-repaving bids, for instance, took into account volatility in liquid asphalt prices, but banked on stability in other costs.

“Now it’s everything. If you have a two-year contract and you bid at a 3 percent labor increase, now the numbers are much higher. Look at the pressure that puts on your company,” Shubert said.

Pay rates for skilled equipment operators, engineers, tradesmen and iron workers have shot up in the past year, and companies that were sidelining crews in the spring of 2020 are now hustling to fully staff their projects.

Connecticut construction employment dipped at the start of the pandemic, but reached 62,700 last month, a 5.4% increase since February of 2020. About two-thirds of the country has had a rise in construction jobs, and Kenneth Simonson chief economist for the Associated General Contractors of America, doesn’t anticipate any imminent change.

“We’re seeing nationwide strong demand for multifamily housing — and the expectation for very strong (industrial) growth once the federal infrastructure money filters through state and local agencies,” Simonson said. “On the whole I’m pretty optimistic about the demand for construction going forward.”

Shelton developer bringing 55+ housing to city

Brian Gioiele

SHELTON — Ben Perry has stumbled onto what he believes will be a profitable addition to his development portfolio.

The local developer, owner of S&G of Shelton, is in the process of constructing phase one of The Crossroads, a 55 and older active adult community, the first such development built in the city since the 1970s, according to the nearly lifelong Shelton resident.

“I thought there was a need for this in this area, and it has been quite a success already,” Perry said as he walked through one of the 12 units located at 96 Long Hill Cross Road. “Many people are looking to downsize. Many are looking for a second or a third home.

“I have people moving here from other states. They have homes in other places but have family close, so they are coming here,” Perry added.

But Perry, who has spent most of his life in the building business and has owned Shelton-based Connecticut Waste Transfer, was not planning on this type of development in the initial planning process. He simply wanted to develop condos on the property.

It was during the Planning and Zoning application process that he began to see the benefit of this type of project — and in the end he sees this has the niche he was looking for.

“This is working out very well,” said Perry, who already has eight of the 12 units in phase one sold and deposits in place for a handful of the 18 units to be built in phase two, which will not begin until next year.

“P&Z talked to me about this, and I’m fine with it,” Perry said. “The people are buying, and they are pleasure to deal with.”

S&G of Shelton originally filed a proposal in 2018 to develop this 5.57-acre site — which sits between Bridgeport Avenue and Route 8, essentially behind the Crown Point Center retail area and near a large recycling facility — that was denied by the commission. Perry then appealed the ruling in court.

The appeal was ultimately settled before the pandemic, with Perry agreeing to make 10 percent of the units (three total) affordable under the state statute 8-30g — which governs qualifying affordable units under state law. All units are deed restricted to individuals 55 and older.

“This was one of the tools we used to get the project moving forward,” Perry said about the inclusion of the affordable units. “There really is not a big difference in price point between affordable and regular sales. I needed this to get this project moving, and I was happy to include it.”

The Crossroads offers five-room townhouses that are about 1,600 square feet with one-level living, Perry said. The units have open floor plans, with a large kitchen, full bath, master bedroom and washer-dryer on the first floor for convenience, Perry said, adding the second floor is loft style with a second bathroom.

There are one or two garage units available. The final approved proposal calls for 88 spaces on site after the entire project is complete.

“Shelton is a hot spot right now,” Perry said, adding that the low taxes and location near access to major cities like Bridgeport, New Haven and Hartford are a key drawing point. “Availability of services, quality of living, central location. Shelton has become its own hub. You have everything here.”

This is the latest development for Perry, who began his career as a youth working alongside his father on contracting jobs in lower Fairfield County.

“I have been in the construction industry my whole life,” said Perry, who grew up in Shelton, graduating from Shelton High before volunteering his time and even running for political office in the city. “I owned (Connecticut Waste Transfer) for 13 years, then moved on, and now I’m developing and building again.”

Perry’s company has completed housing developments in Seymour as well as Perry Hill Estates, some 20 units, in Shelton as well as a handful of single home builds in the area.

But these adult communities may be his development of choice in the future.

“There is a definite need, and I feel S&G of Shelton can answer that need,” Perry added. “This is going to be a big part of our work going forward, I think.”

Aquarion warns of traffic delays in Greenwich as work begins to replace water mains on three roads

Annelise Hanshaw

GREENWICH - Motorists should expect traffic delays and possible detours from 7 p.m. to 5 a.m. beginning Monday on three local roads while workers replace water mains.

Aquarion Water Co. expects construction to be complete by the end of July on all three projects.

Crews will replace 930 feet of water main on Woodland Drive and 2,700 feet of water main on Keofferam Road and Nawthorne Road. Aquarion said the work will improve water quality, reduce leaks and cut down on water-main-break-induced service interruptions.

“We greatly appreciate residents’ patience during this project,” Aquarion’s manager of utility programs Justin Xenelis said in a statment. “We will work closely with our customers, contractors, and town officials to coordinate the work and minimize any disruptions.”

Final paving will then be scheduled in coordination with the Town of Greenwich.

An Everbridge notification system will inform customers about work times. To sign up for this free service, go to aquarionwater.com/alerts.

Justin Farrell is available to answer project-related questions at 203-362-3048. Aquarion Customer Service services water or service issues at 1-800-732-9678.

Greenwich’s plan to build a new Central Middle School moves to next step on ‘very aggressive timeline’

Ken Borsuk

GREENWICH — The town took a major step toward building a new Central Middle School, but the clock is already ticking on the high-priority project.

The Board of Selectmen unanimously approved creating a building committee to lead the constriction project. Now the race is on to appoint, interview and approve the committee’s members before the Representative Town Meeting goes into its summer recess.

“We want to stay on a very aggressive timeline,” Superintendent of Schools Toni Jones told the selectmen at their meeting Friday. “We don’t want to lose the summer without getting the building committee together.”

The committee members are nominated by the Board of Selectmen and approved by the RTM. Potential members are usually suggested by the Selectmen’s Nominations Advisory Committee and then interviewed by the selectmen.

Establishing a building committee is standard procedure for major town capital projects, especially new schools. The committee, made up of volunteers, oversees the construction process and coordinates among the town, the architects and the construction firm. For the Central project, the committee will also oversee creation of the plans for the new school.

Selectwoman Lauren Rabin, the board’s liaison to the nominations advisory committee, agreed that the town must move quickly.

“We would need to source and interview to get on June (RTM) call,” Rabin said of the nominations. “Our deadline would be May 20. We have to operate rather quickly.”

First Selectman Fred Camillo said the board has already received “some good resumes” and said one “really good one” was on the way. He said the board would start considering possible members next week.

Anyone who wants to serve should step forward and “do so quickly,” Selectwoman Janet Stone-McGuigan said.

To apply, Rabin said candidates should visit www.greenwichct.gov/719/Selectmens-Nominations-Advisory-Committe and fill out the forms.

Camillo said he also wanted to add liaisons to the committee who would not have voting power but could speak for key groups, with representatives from the neighborhood around Central Middle School, Greenwich’s community of people with disabilities and the town Energy Management Advisory Committee.

“I want them to be at the table when we’re doing these things,” Camillo said. “They wouldn’t be voting members, but they’d be at the table to try and help. … I think this could be a template going forward for all building committees.”

Jones agreed, saying, “It’s going to be an enormous project that’s so important for the community.”

The Board of Estimate and Taxation last Tuesday approved $2.5 million in architecture and engineering funds in the proposed 2022-23 municipal budget. That money would be used to begin drawing up plans for the new school.

The RTM will hold the final vote on the budget on May 9, and it is expected to support the project.

Building a new school became a top priority after the town was forced to close Central for several weeks in February due to structural concerns. The school reopened to students and staff after emergency repairs were made. Additional work will be done over the summer to shore up the building until the replacement is finished.

Under the Board of Education’s timeline, plans for the new school would be drawn up this coming fiscal year, leading to a budget request for construction money the next fiscal year and a completed new school by January 2026.

Preliminary estimates put the price tag for a new Central Middle School at $67.5 million.

To keep to the district’s aggressive schedule, the selectmen said they will have to act quickly.

“We have our work cut out for us starting next week,” Camillo said.

Lamont promises next year years would see 'most important investments in infrastructure since Ike' at Southington event

BRIAN M. JOHNSON

SOUTHINGTON – Gov. Ned Lamont promised that the next five years would see “the most important investments in infrastructure since Ike” at the annual meeting of the Connecticut Association of Street and Highway Officers (CASHO) Friday.

At the meeting, which was held at the Aqua Turf Club, Andrew Tierney, president of CASHO’s Board of Directors and Hebron town manager, introduced Lamont as a “longtime supporter of CASHO.”

“I want to thank you for how we got through covid,” he said. “We were the top state in America for how it was handled.”

Lamont then discussed his plans for state infrastructure improvements.

Over the next five years, Lamont said, he plans to utilize federal funding to invest $1 billion a year in infrastructure improvements in Connecticut. He promised to work to get Connecticut to the front of the line for funding.

“We don’t have to look far in Connecticut to find 100-year-old roads and bridges,” he said.

Lamont also said he hopes to see Amtrak run 30 to 40 minutes faster with “dramatic improvements” to rail service.

The governor said there are more people than ever using Connecticut roads, more even than pre-covid numbers.

“We got through covid better than most states,” he said. “New York, New Jersey and Connecticut were hit hard during the first few months but we kept our construction open. We were the first state in New England to get our schools open, which I think made it easier for people to get back to work. I hope that it also made a difference for the kids. We also kept our parks, beaches and golf courses open. Being able to use these outdoor spaces was cheaper than a therapist and it made an enormous difference for a lot of people.”

As a result of these decisions, Lamont said, the state’s population is now increasing by 40,000 people a year.

“For years you heard about people fleeing the state but now things are moving in the other direction,” he said.

Lamont also said, for the first time in his life, there are more jobs available than people to fill them. He said that between this, and the availability of federal funds, it would be a shame if he did not make use of these circumstances to get infrastructure improvements done.

“This is a once in a lifetime opportunity to rehabilitate our roads and bridges,” he said. “I am asking people to talk to their nieces and nephews and tell them to get into construction and engineering.”

Lamont joked that he wished he could put forth an executive order that “no one younger than me could retire in the next five years” since there is such a need in the workforce.

As the state works its way through the legislative session, Lamont said, the state is looking at a surplus, some of which he said will be set aside “for a rainy day.”

“We have to budget for not just this year but next year and years to come,” he said. “We have to get out of this cycle of feast and famine, boom and bust, and steady things out. I come from the business world so I know how important that stability is for the taxpayers in our state.”

The state budget, he said, has been balanced for the last three years. The state is also eliminating the property tax and the 401K/pension tax as well as providing a $5,000 tax credit each year to businesses that forgive the student debt of their workers.

Lamont concluded his speech by saying that rebuilding the state’s infrastructure would not be possible without the support of organizations like CASHO.

“Just let me know what I can do to help,” he said.

CT Construction Digest Friday April 22, 2022

2 Stamford Reps. wanted to stop all BLT projects temporarily. The city law department had an answer for that.

Verónica Del Valle

STAMFORD — As the engineering investigation into Stamford’s biggest developer pushes forward, efforts from city Representatives to force a stop on the company’s construction projects didn’t survive the night.

Public Safety Committee Chair Jeff Stella, D-9, and board President Jeff Curtis, D-14, at a Board of Representatives meeting Wednesday floated the possibility of suspending all projects spearheaded by dominant Stamford developer Building and Land Technology until engineers complete their investigation into the partial collapse at one of its high rises.

The city’s attorney said that kind of regulation wasn’t possible.

“In terms of a legal mechanism for this to happen, I'm not aware of one,” Law Department head Doug Dalena told the board Wednesday.

Part of a fifth-floor outdoor terrace at Allure — a 23-story waterfront high-rise that opened in 2019 — caved in to the parking garage in February. Engineers hired by the city concluded that missing structural supports within one of the garage’s concrete slabs caused the concrete to fall. The city has yet to complete its investigation into Allure and, after extending its reach, other Harbor Point properties.

Despite the ongoing investigations from independent engineers, Stella in particular pushed to have something more done.

“It makes me a little fearful that the same people ... might be building something now and still putting Stamford at risk,” he said.

Rep. Bobby Pavia, D-17, a teacher with Stamford Public Schools, agreed, drawing a parallel to his own profession.

“If I'm under investigation, I'm not allowed to teach — no matter what I'm being accused of — until the investigation is cleared,” he said.

BLT is actively building two developments in the South End — Opus and the yet-unnamed Parcel 6. Between the two structures, the developer has 360 units pending. And the company’s footprint in the neighborhood is poised to grow still more.

After winning a years-long battle through Connecticut’s court system, the developer will build 714 apartments across two buildings on the former B&S Carting site.

Yet, despite any concerns city Representatives may have moving forward, their options are slim, according to Stamford’s chief lawyer. The board cannot outright ban a business from legally operating and putting in place a moratorium for a single developer could trigger “emergency” legal action by that developer to challenge the city’s actions, Dalena said.

City representatives have flirted before with a building moratorium. Former Rep. Carl Franzetti, a District 14 Republican, in 2017 proposed a citywide moratorium on building permits for multifamily development.

The Law Department's special counsel James Minor shot down the ordinance. Minor argued that the ordinance sought to govern zoning regulations, something that only the Zoning Board can do.

However, the zoning board has "the power to impose a moratorium that is limited in scope and time," according to Minor.

Even a “temporary stop order for one or two months” like Stella suggested, comes with legal limitations, according to Dalena. If the developer challenged a potential action from the Board of Representatives in court, the board would have to prove that stopping BLT construction was the best option.

Dalena said that courts would likely ask two questions: “Was such a broad and sweeping measure justified based on what you know and the concerns you had?” and “What other options did you have available to address that concern?”

Given the city’s ongoing investigation into the infrastructure at Allure and other structures built by BLT, Dalena argued that other actions underway are sufficiently thorough.

Going to court is something the city should avoid, Rep. Mary Fedeli, R-17, argued.

“I think we should wait for the full investigation to be had,” she said. If the city sees the need to stop BLT’s construction projects after the findings are released, then action would be more appropriate.

“I just don't want to jump the gun and make the city liable in any way to get sued on the other side of it,” she said.

Despite the skepticism from some board members, BLT spokesperson Rob Blanchard said in a statement that the company “continues to work closely with the city on both their inspection of Allure and any further inspections they require.”

“Both the third-party engineers hired by the city and by BLT have agreed on the cause of the issue at Allure, believe it is isolated, and have found no other issues in the building,” he wrote. “Attorney Dalena indicated that the city plans to ‘go the extra mile’ and inspect some of our other buildings and we are working closely with the city to facilitate this.”

Winsted selectmen take first step to repair roads, fix lake drainage

Emily M. Olson

WINSTED — Voters will soon be asked to approve an ambitious spending proposal that will launch road repair projects, repair drainage around Highland Lake, provide a new ladder truck for the fire department and begin payments on Hinsdale School’s renovation.

Town Manager Josh Kelly and Public Works Director Jim Rollins first presented the road repair proposal in December 2021, targeting five areas of Winsted with roadways in dire need of resurfacing and other repair work. Kelly added a plan to repair drainage around Highland Lake, and to buy a new ladder truck, for total of $18.3 million.

During Monday’s Board of Selectmen’s meeting, Winsted’s bond attorney, Glenn Rybacki, explained that because Winsted is about to begin repaying for the $6 million Hinsdale renovation, it made sense to combine that debt into the bonding proposal, bringing the total bonding amount to $24.700 million.

Rybacki brought a complete proposal with four resolutions as a way to consolidate the process of approving the road repair project, primarily.

“The Board of Selectmen can vote to approve this bond resolution (for $24.700 million) and set the town meeting and referendum dates,” Rybacki said. “What this resolution does is appropriates the money for bonding, giving you the authority to spend the money.”

The approval vote also began the process of applying for the money, he said.

“I’m here to help put these authorizations together ... when you’re ready, I do all the paperwork (that) validates the borrowing and makes sure it complies with federal tax rules,” Rybacki said. “If you get any grants for these projects, it reduces the (amount of the) bonds, so you don’t double up.”

Money will come to Winsted as the projects progress, the bond attorney said.

“Borrowing mirrors cash flow need, so if you’re spending a certain amount across a four-year period, the federal government doesn’t want you to borrow it all and sit on it for three years. That’ll just cost you more money,” he said. “I protect you in that regard. If you approve this tonight, it sets the town meeting and the referendum date.”

Selectwoman Candy Perez asked if the board absolutely had to vote Monday night. “We’re seeing these numbers for the first time tonight; we could meet Thursday to decide. Or do we have to do it now?”

Rybacki said, “By setting everything tonight, we get it on the calendar, but you can always pull back.”

The tax rate impact hasn’t yet been determined and wasn’t discussed at the meeting. It’s likely that when the proposal goes to the town meeting, those questions could be answered.

Rentschler redevelopment: Builder predicts 2,000 jobs, $4 million in new taxes for East Hartford

Don Stacom

With a major municipal review completed, East Hartford officials are hoping to see construction begin on the redevelopment of Rentschler Field as soon as this fall.

Raytheon Technologies last year agreed to sell the old airfield to National Development, which this month won city approval of its master plan to build on the 300 acres.

“I’m told concrete could begin to be poured in October,” Mayor Michael Walsh said Wednesday. “National Development is a known developer to Raytheon and has been pleased with its experience with East Hartford.”

Developers predict the project will bring hundreds of construction jobs for more than a year, and ultimately up to 2,000 permanent jobs at a massive logistics center and accompanying high-tech research and development buildings.

The planning and zoning commission this month unanimously approved National Development’s plan to create two mega-warehouses of more than 1 million square feet each on the former airfield.

National Development isn’t publicly naming the two prospective tenants it’s negotiating with, but said they are well-known industry leaders drawn partly by the site’s proximity to I-84 and I-91.

“Access to a regional highway network is exceptional. Being able to get on and off the highway without going through neighborhoods is the gold standard,” Ed Marsteiner, manager partner of National Development, told city planners.

The two warehouse buildings will take up a combined 2.5 million square feet of space, and the property will have also have two 100,000-square-foot buildings for research and development, he said.

“The (Greater Hartford) workforce is also a huge benefit. It’s hard to find talented employees today, and there are going to be 1,800 to 2,000 jobs created out of the projects here,” he said.

Construction of the warehouses will take about a year and a half, and each one will require 300 to 400 construction workers, Marsteiner said. When it’s fully built out, the project will generate about $4 million a year in new taxes, he estimated.

Marsteiner said National Development’s Forge Park in Franklin, Massachusetts, has much of what the company envisions for Rentschler.

“It’s a very well-located site near a regional highway network. We developed a mix of R & D and technology buildings and logistics buildings,” he said.

National Development describes Forge Park as a mixed-use project with 2.75 million square feet of commercial space, a retail center, a child care center, a hotel, a commuter rail station and residential development.

New housing on the heavily industrial East Hartford site doesn’t work because of the expense of environmental remediation, according to the company. And large-scale retail development isn’t financially feasible now, even though the roughly 200,000-square-foot Cabela’s currently on the Rentschler site will remain, Marsteiner said.

“Cabela’s is doing well there. In the foreseeable future there’s no goal of moving them along,” he said. “But retail was really struggling pre-Covid, and Covid accelerated shopping at home — which further hurt the bricks and mortar retail stuff.”

The region is saturated with warehouse clubs and home improvement stores, and there’s little market for new office space because of the uptick in people working at home, he said. That leaves other commercial development as the best use of the sprawling Rentschler property, he said.

“The warehouse distribution side has really taken off,” he said.

The new buildings would cover about 20% of the 300 acres, with large tracts of wetlands used to shield them from the surrounding neighborhood.

“This site is incredibly well buffered from existing businesses and residents. The buildings will be a quarter to a half a mile away from the nearest businesses and residences — that’s unheard of,” he said.

National Development emphasized that all traffic will reach the property from East Hartford Boulevard, with no access from Brewer or Main streets.

The planning and zoning commission voted 7-0 to approve the master plan. National Development still needs to get wetlands approval as well as an OK for a detailed site plan.

Touching the Surface — Federal Highway, Bridge Funds Steadily Increase Due to IIJA

LUCY PERRY

Funding for America's surface transportation needs has increased markedly over the past two years — that's due in large part to the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA).

In 2021, approximately $53 billion in highway formula funds were made available to states. The DOT FY 2023 budget includes $68.9 billion for the Federal Highway program, representing a $19.8 billion increase from the 2021 enacted level.

"The investments in the president's budget make traveling safer, easier, cleaner and more affordable for the American people," Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg said of the funds.

"From roads, tunnels and bridges, to airport and port improvements, electric vehicle chargers, safe bike lanes and more, we are building a first-rate transportation system for all Americans."

The transportation research non-profit TRIP logged several key facts about the benefits of funding the U.S. surface transportation system:

Investments in surface transportation boost the nation's economy in the short-term by creating jobs and in the long-term enhance economic competitiveness, stimulate sustained job growth, improve access and mobility, improve traffic safety, reduce travel delays and improve road and bridge conditions.

Roads and highways allow the nation's motorists to travel 2.9 trillion miles annually and move a significant portion of the $18.7 trillion worth of commodities shipped around the country each year.

Vehicle travel in the United States dropped by 40 percent in April 2020 due to the pandemic, but by November 2021 rebounded to 3 percent above November 2019 levels.

The design, construction and maintenance of transportation infrastructure in the United States supports approximately 4 million full-time jobs across all sectors of the nation's economy.

Approximately 62.9 million full-time jobs in key industries like tourism, retail sales, agriculture and manufacturing are completely dependent on the transportation network.

The IIJA, signed into law last November, will provide $407 billion in funds for highway, bridge and transit investments in the United States over the next five years, including a 39 percent funding increase in FY 2022.

IIJA investment in the nation's roads and transit system will add an additional $82 billion in GDP per year over the next five years.

"The increased economic activity due to the IIJA will benefit U.S. residents – increasing disposable income by an average of $232 per household," according to TRIP researchers.

Recap of 2021

ARTBA reports that in 2021, states leveraged $31.4 billion in federal funds for federally supported projects.

Included were those projects covered by formula funds, discretionary grants, COVID relief funds and supplemental appropriations for years 2018 to 2021.

Basing formulas on real-world outcomes, states also obligated funds toward eligible projects already under way.

Beyond those figures, some $14 billion in more than 5,000 projects approved using future federal funds, were not included in the total.

According to the road builders association, federal investment over the past decade has accounted for more than 50 percent of state highway and bridge capital outlays.

Of those outlays, nearly half were for repair or reconstruction of highways. Existing roadway capacity was added through an additional 20 percent of funds in the form of new lane or major widening jobs.

"This investment has supported the repair and reconstruction of structures on the National Highway System [NHS], which includes the Interstate Highway System and the major roads that connect U.S. airports, ports, rail and truck terminals, pipeline terminals, and intermodal facilities," reports ARTBA.

Just 6 percent of funds were invested in new roads or bridges, stated ARTBA.

"One of the most attractive benefits of major public investments in transportation infrastructure is they foster immediate economic growth and create tangible capital assets that are long-lived," said ARTBA Chief Economist Alison Premo Black. "In addition to creating jobs and generating tax revenues throughout the economy during the construction cycle, infrastructure improvements also foster economic growth and efficiency over many years beyond the initial investment."

FHWA maintains that for every $1 billion in highway and bridge infrastructure investment at least 13,000 jobs throughout the U.S. economy are supported.

This includes work in retail, manufacturing, transportation and warehousing, food services and other industries.

Missouri, with more than 1,000 projects, lead the way in highway and bridge improvements for 2021. Michigan at 903; Ohio at 796; Indiana, 731; and Tennessee, 663, followed close behind.

ARTBA's Federal Highway Investment Benefits by State dashboard data show how each state deployed federal funds. It also tracks the top projects to receive federal support.

"We expect to see even more projects in the coming year as states work to obligate the record increase in FY 2022 federal funding available through the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act that was approved by Congress earlier this month," said Premo Black.

The five largest projects were earmarked by federal, state, local and private funds, including $3.8 billion in Georgia for the SR 400 North Sprints Marta Station to McFarland Road Express Lane; $899 million in Arizona for the I-17 Split; $715 million in Texas to construct new roadway lanes on IH 35E, and $524 million to Louisiana for Phase 2 of the LA 1: Leeville to Golden Meadow project.

State transportation departments have until Sept. 30 to obligate the highway funding, according to ARTBA. Bridge formula funds can be spent over five years.

Status Report for 2022

The $52.5 billion earmarked for FY 2022 is an increase of more than 20 percent over 2021 for federal highway apportionments.

Distributed annual by FHWA for the Federal-aid Highway Program, the funds are based on a statutory formula contained in the IIJA.

"We are committed to delivering on the promise of the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, and putting people to work modernizing our infrastructure and making it safer, more sustainable, and more efficient," said Buttigieg.

Through IIJA's implementation, the Department of Transportation and FHWA believe the apportionments, additional Highway Infrastructure Program monies, and grants will address critical safety and performance needs of America's roads, bridges and highways.

"Today's funding will help reduce the backlog of major repairs for highways and bridges and increase the number of communities that have strategies to reduce traffic deaths and serious injuries," according to a DOT announcement.

Additional funding to be announced in 2022 will contribute to:

fixing up to 10 of the most economically significant bridges and more than 15,000 smaller bridges across the country;

reconnecting as many as 20 communities by removing portions of interstates and redesigning rural main streets; and

spurring the creation of a nationwide network of 500,000 electronic vehicle chargers by 2030.

"Providing states with information on their apportioned funds today is an important first step in using the resources provided in the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law to make transportation systems across the country safer and more resilient," said Stephanie Pollack, deputy federal highway administrator. "We look forward to working with transportation agencies and the communities they serve to use these resources to build a better America."

DOT explained that Federal-aid Highway Program funds are authorized periodically by Congress in multi-year laws "to assist the states in providing for construction, reconstruction, and improvement of highways and bridges on eligible Federal-aid routes and for other special purpose programs and projects."

The IIJA establishes or continues FHWA programs and authorizes funding for those programs from the Highway Trust Fund.

FHWA is distributing funds through the apportionment process, using a statutory formula to determine the amount available to each state.

The agency also issued obligation limitation, allowing states to commit part of their apportioned funding, for the period through Feb.18, 2022, when the current Continuing Resolution for Federal Fiscal Year 2022 appropriations ended.

"Obligation limitation represents the ability of a state or other entity to enter into a project using Federal funds, with the federal government making a binding promise to pay or reimburse the state or other entity for the Federal share of the project's eligible costs," according to the DOT.

Wish List for 2023

In late March, the Biden administration submitted to Congress its FY 2023 proposed budget. Including $27 billion in guaranteed IIJA advanced appropriations, the DOT reports its total budget will be $142 billion.

The department noted that FY 2023 will be the second year of the implementation of the IIJA, which "provides a once in a generation opportunity to modernize our transportation infrastructure and build the foundation the American people need to compete and win in the 21st Century."

The president's budget makes critical investments in the American people that will help lay a stronger foundation for shared growth and prosperity for generations to come, stated the department.

Advance safety on highways is an aim of the Biden administration, which has earmarked funds accordingly. Some $3 billion is set aside for FHWA's Highway Safety Improvement Program, which seeks to reduce the number of lives lost on our nation's highways, bridges, and roads.

The DOT budget also supports transportation projects designed to lower commute times, improve safety, reduce freight bottlenecks, connect communities and reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

Those investments include $4 billion for the National Infrastructure Investments grant program to support transportation projects with significant benefits across multiple modes. This figure is $3 billion above the 2021 enacted level.

The budget also earmarks $1.64 billion for the Infrastructure for Rebuilding America grant program, which has a focus on reducing freight and highway bottlenecks. CEG