Meriden housing authority board authorizes $129M in bonds for projects
Mary Ellen Godin
MERIDEN— City officials are seeking more information
following a June 27 vote by the Meriden Housing Authority Board of
Commissioners to allow the authority to issue up to $129 million in bonds for
two construction projects.
The housing authority board voted 3-2 to issue bonds on
behalf of the Maynard Road Corp. to develop 100 apartment units, a black box
theater and commercial space for no more than $75 million. The MHA board also
approved by a 3-2 margin a resolution to issue up to $54 million in
bonds for the Yale Acres Community Center project. The center will house a
swimming pool, a warming center greenhouse and a power generation facility on
site for community use.
The resolutions allow Executive Director Robert Cappelletti
to sell the bonds to raise funding for the projects. The bonds are special
obligation of the MHA payable only from the revenues and assets of that entity.
They are not the obligation of the city or state or other political
subdivision. The authority’s use of reasonable efforts to sell the bonds
does not constitute a commitment to provide financing for the projects,
according to the resolution.
Former City Manager Lawrence Kendzior, who now sits on the
MHA Board of Commissioners. voted against both resolutions, as did
commission member Carlos Ruiz, who questioned the late addition of the
resolutions to the June 27 meeting agenda. Commission Chairman Neil Ivers,
and members Scott Griffith and Nancy Rosado voted to approve.
Cappelletti would not comment on the board’s vote
and Ivers, Kendzior and Ruiz could not be reached for comment. The MHA and
the Maynard Road Corporation, which shares the same board of commissioners,
does not provide video replay of their recorded virtual meetings and their
minutes were unavailable Monday.
Kendzior had previously opposed efforts to involve the
MHA in financing the West Main Street project calling it “reckless.”
Agency leaders have sought multiple avenues to finance the mixed-use
development, including housing and historical tax credits that were not successful.
The proposal was also packaged as a federal Opportunity Zone project for
investors seeking to divest of capital gains taxes.
A spokeswoman for the New England region of the
U. S. Department of Housing and Urban Development was looking into the bond
issuance and meeting notice and had no comment as of Monday afternoon.
City Councilor Bruce Fontanella, the council’s liaison
to the MHA, said he had heard the board was going to vote on the bonding
resolutions and called the votes controversial.
“The fact that there were a couple of people who voted
against it will raise questions for the council,” Fontanella said. “I would
have to do more investigation into what is being bonded and bring it to the
City Council.”
Phase I of the Yale Acres moderate income housing project is
complete and management has been turned over to Maynard Road Corp. The MHA and
Maynard Road have been actively trying to secure property in the area for Phase
II and improved access.
The housing authority and Maynard Road also secured private
property for the West Main Street mixed-use project.
The 143 W. Main St. project has been discussed for several
years and City Councilor Michael Rohde said he knew the MHA and Maynard Road
were trying to secure finanacing.
Rohde, chairman of the council’s Economic Development
Housing and Zoning Committee, said he is generally supportive of the West Main
project because the corner is in need of improvement, he said. But he
respects Kendzior’s fiscal warnings.
“They are pretty independent,” Rohde said about the MHA.
Current City Manager Timothy Coon said he is also aware of
the two basic proposals but said there hasn’t been much recent discussions
about them. He was unaware of the issuance of bonds, he said.
“MHA has not approached the city to partner on these
two projects,” Coon stated in an email. “ As for support of the project, I
would yield to (City) Council on the decision to support or not. Larry
Kendzior’s opinion as a former City Manager and a lifelong resident does carry
weight.”
The city has partnered with the MHA in the past on several
housing projects, including 24 Colony St., and the MHA oversees the Section 8
voucher program at 11 Crown St., a mixed-income housing development built
on land formerly owned by the city, which purchased the property from the
Record-Journal.
The housing authority also worked closely with the city to
relocate tenants displaced from the Mills Memorial Apartments and in a
land swap that allowed for the extension of the Meriden Green.
Mayor Kevin Scarpati said he was not aware of the vote on
143 W. Main St. and needed more details before commenting on specifics.
“We know the project was never off the table after first
proposing the concept many years ago,” Scarpati said via text
message. “However, I have been very open regarding my concern for more
affordable and low-income housing within the downtown area. I’ll need to review
the project and proposal before I speak to specifics.”
Few public comments on proposed $381 millon Norwich school construction project
Norwich — Fewer than a dozen residents attended a public presentation Monday when architects presented plans for a $381 million proposal to build four new elementary schools and completely renovate one middle school.
The plan likely will be put to voters in a referendum in
November.
After an estimated 67% state reimbursement, city taxpayers’
share of the $381 million project would be $149 million. Taxpayers’
portion would be substantially less than the estimated $225 million “do
nothing” option for just repairs and maintenance to the seven aging
elementary schools, an unrenovated Teachers’ Memorial Global Studies Middle
School and central office building.
Following a presentation by representatives from the
architectural firm Drummey Rosane Anderson Inc., or DRA, several residents
asked questions and voiced concerns about the project.
Resident Beryl Fishbone said she was concerned about
building four new schools at the same time, meaning they all would age at the
same time, needing new roofs, windows and heating systems at the same time.
DRA officials said a phasing plan would be used to build the
schools, and future capital projects could be grouped together for potential
savings.
The proposal calls for building new elementary schools, each
housing about 525 students, on the grounds of the Moriarty Environmental
Sciences Magnet School, the John B. Stanton School and Uncas School and
property where the Greeneville School once stood. Teachers’ Memorial would
undergo a complete $99 million renovation to put it on par with the recently
renovated Kelly STEAM Magnet Middle School.
School central offices and adult education would move into
the vacated Samuel Huntington School. Wequonnoc School in Taftville would
become a virtual learning center. The Thomas Mahan, Veterans’ Memorial, Bishop
Early Learning Center and central offices in the former John Mason School all
would be closed.
Resident Carol Erickson objected to losing the historic 1928
Huntington School as an elementary school. A former Huntington teacher, she called
it a great school setting. School Building Committee Chairman Mark Bettencourt
said the old building on a small property cannot meet modern educational
standards.
Why June’s upbeat jobs report isn’t necessarily positive for construction
Nonresidential construction added 16,500 jobs in June, according to the Bureau
of Labor Statistics, a surge that offset 4,100 jobs lost in the residential
sector.
The June gains helped push the industry’s overall
unemployment rate even lower, to 3.7%. That’s the lowest rate for June in the
data series’ 23-year history, according to Ken Simonson, chief economist for
the Associated General Contractors of America.
The job gains coincided with a 13-cent bump in hourly wages
during the month, to $34.68, outpacing the 10-cent rise in wages for all
industries. Over the last year, construction pay has also risen faster than in
the general workforce, While additional jobs are usually viewed as a sign of
industry strength, construction economists found reasons for concern.
“This does nothing, however, to dim the risk of recession,”
said Associated Builders and Contractors Chief Economist Anirban Basu in
a release about the numbers. “Employment tends to be a lagging indicator,”
he said, meaning the gains are backward looking, and don’t portend future
expansion.
Instead, he argued that the solid employment performance
would make it more likely that the Federal Reserve will continue to raise
interest rates. The Fed has already undertaken three increases to raise a key
borrowing rate by a total of 1.5 percentage points since the beginning of the
year, with more hikes likely ahead.
Basu said higher borrowing costs, in conjunction with
inflated materials prices and rapidly rising worker compensation, give project
owners more incentive to postpone or cancel projects, and cuts
into contractors’ profitability.
“These factors have already begun to whittle away at
contractor profit margins,” Basu said.
AGC’s Simonson said the report gave contractors other
reasons for worry. Namely, with more workers already added to payrolls, there
are even fewer people looking for work in the sector than before.
Simonson’s
analysis of the numbers pointed to the year-over-year plunge in
construction pros who are looking for work. In June 2021, for instance, the
unemployment rate for job seekers with construction employment was 7.5%, more
than double the current rate.
In the 12 months since then, the number of construction
workers looking for jobs fell by 345,000, or 47%.
That suggests there are few experienced job seekers left in
the field for companies to fill the 466,000 construction jobs that were still
open at the end of May. That’s the largest number of unfilled jobs in the
sector for May since 2000, when the data series first appeared.
“With industry unemployment at a record low for June and
openings at an all-time high for May, it is clear contractors can’t fill all
the positions they would like to,” Simonson said in a statement.