One in Three Projects at State Pier Hit Obstacles, Testing Budget and Timeline
Brendan Crowley
NEW LONDON – Boulders disrupting pile driving for the
redevelopment of the New London State Pier could add costs and complicate the
schedule of the project, officials said at a Connecticut Port Authority meeting
on Tuesday.
Port Authority interim Executive Director Ulysses B. Hammond
said that three of nine stages of construction at the State Pier have run into
difficulties and run behind schedule in the last month – construction of the
south wall of the pier, its toe wall, and the heavy lift platform that will
allow for it to be used for offshore wind staging.
Hammond said the contractor Kiewit reported that higher than
anticipated rock elevations and obstructions have negatively impacted pile
driving progress on the pier, which needs to be substantially completed by
March 2023 in order for Eversource and Ørsted to use it for construction of
their joint offshore wind project, South Fork Wind.
“I remain optimistic that, under the leadership of our
contract administrators, Kiewit, and the entire project team, that the
work-around solutions will restore the required productivity rates to enable
completion of the remaining east berth portion of the State Pier in early
Spring 2023,” Hammond said.
Despite the issues, Hammond said the target is still
“substantial completion of the project” before Feb. 28, 2023, and final
completion by June 2023.
Marlin Peterson, construction manager for the project from
AECOM, said that dense material and large boulders were obstructing the pile
driving. In July and August, two additional drill rigs and a driving pile were
brought to the site to improve productivity and meet the scheduled completion
date, Peterson said.
“What we hope to do over the next several weeks, is get
existing pile driving data so that we can inform you at the next meeting with a
revised completion date, not only for the balance of the areas that are moving
well, but also for the State Pier complex,” Peterson said.
Already delayed by a lengthy permitting
and appeals process, the cost of the project has ballooned to an
estimated $250
million in an attempt to keep the deadline for South Fork. $255.5
million is currently available for the project, a figure that includes a
contingency.
Asked what it would cost to resolve these construction
issues, Peterson said he is working with the contractor to figure that out with
the additional equipment on site, and that one possible solution is extending
additional work days.
“Once we can confirm that the productivity numbers can be
achieved, we can work through the cost of that and come back to the board for
your review and approval,” Peterson said.
Dozens of Willington residents slam proposal for ‘gargantuan Godzilla’ warehouse off I-84
As about 350 people listened online and in person, a long
procession of Willington residents on Tuesday night told town officials that
the proposed TradeCenter 84 project is far too big and completely unwelcome.
“I love my little one-horse town. I don’t want it to
change,” Hancock Road homeowner David Gemme told the planning and zoning
commission. “I did not move into this town to be the truck haven of New
England.”
“We can’t let this go to the next stage,” Benson Chan of Laurel
Drive said. “We have to say no now. I haven’t met anybody who wants this.”
None of the roughly 30 speakers supported Hillwood
Development Co.’s proposal to build a 1.5-million-square-foot warehouse just
off Exit 70 of I-84.
After three hours of hearing from opponents, the commission
continued its public hearing until Sept. 6 because it still had a list of more
people waiting to speak.
The audience at the Hall Memorial School gym was
standing-room only, with the bleachers crowded with residents. More than 100
other people followed the discussion online.
One after another, residents told the commission that a
six-story mega-warehouse doesn’t belong in a sleep suburb of fewer than 6,000
people. One called it “a gargantuan Godzilla.”
Some cited financial reasons and others emphasized the
character of the town or environmental concerns; regardless, the crowd
applauded after each speaker.
“Property values can only be negatively impacted by a
project of this magnitude. It’s going to be a drain on services, the quality of
life is going to be diminished,” Donald Parizek of Trask Road said.
Parizek cited Secaucus and other heavily industrialized
sections of northern New Jersey as a warning, saying “It’s not a pleasant site.
The traffic, the noise, the trash — it all adds up.”
The TradeCenter84 plan has led opponents to start an online
petition calling for commissioners to reject the developer’s bid for a zone
change. As of Wednesday, the petition — tinyurl.com/ycxxuacc —
had gotten 1,170 signatures.
Texas-based Hillwood is eyeing 160 acres of woodlands just
behind River Road for a massive warehouse with more than 220 loading bays along
with parking spaces for 700 tractor trailers and 500 workers.
The company said it would bring hundreds of jobs and a net
gain of about $2.7 million a year in tax revenue for the town. Additionally,
the operation would spur more economic development in that section of town,
according to Hillwood’s representatives.
But opponents argued those reasons aren’t good enough.
“The tax argument is bogus. This would lower property values
in Willington and surrounding towns,” said Penny Dionne of Fisher Hill Road.
“This proposal is a threat to everything Willington represents. Protect our Willington:
Once it’s destroyed it will be gone forever.”
Ed Taiman of Lisa Lane drew some of the loudest applause of
the evening when he said he would rather face higher taxes than see such a
massive operation start in town.
“Yes a couple of million dollars a year is nice. We’d all
like to see that. But I’d rather pay it than have this project,” Taiman said.
“History has shown that when you increase tax revenue they find a way to spend
it.”
Taiman also said the parks and recreation commission is
against the project because it has worked for years to build the town’s
recreational center nearby on River Road.
“We stand united in our opposition,” he said. “We urge you
not to approve this facility.”
Kathy Demers said the conservation commission is concerned
about water runoff, soil erosion and new demand for water by the warehouse.
“We strongly recommend the applicant consider scaling back
the height and size of the building and parking areas.”
NEW HAVEN — In an at-times tumultuous meeting, the Tweed New
Haven Airport Authority approved a new 43-year lease and management agreement
with a subsidiary of its longtime contract operator, Goldman Sachs-owned
Avports LLC, on Wednesday, opening the door for a $100 million airport
expansion.
The meeting took place with East Haven Mayor Joe Carfora
speaking forcefully against the lease and expansion and all four East
Haven-appointed members voting no. A number of airport neighbors and other
residents showed up at the airport despite the fact that the meeting was held
virtually via Zoom and also spoke against expansion after being admitted into
the Zoom meeting.
The vote came after the East Haven appointees failed in an
attempt to table the lease — and most other actions at the meeting — on the
basis that airport officials didn’t give them enough time to review 660 pages
of material sent to them Sunday.
“When the Authority and Avports first announced this
historic partnership last year, we had one goal: give the people of southern
Connecticut the airport they want and deserve,” said Tweed Authority Executive
Director Sean Scanlon in a release issued immediately after the vote. “Today’s
vote is yet another positive step in that direction.
“An improved Tweed will provide the air service that
southern Connecticut has asked for, and it will spur continued economic
development and job growth along the way,” said Scanlon, who is expected to
leave his position if he is elected state treasurer in November. “We have more
steps ahead and will continue working with all our local partners as this
successful project proceeds.”
“While you would say that this has been rushed, I would say
that what we’re talking about today is the same thing we stood up and talked
about in May of 2021,” Scanlon said at the meeting, addressing concerns raised
by both airport neighbors and East Haven members of the authority board.
“Nothing in this is definite,” he said, pointing out that
“we’re still doing an environmental assessment ... If anything is found not to
be environmentally sound, it won’t happen,” Scanlon said. “ Tonight is just
moving the process forward. It is not the final vote on the project.”
Authority Chairman John Picard, former mayor of West Haven,
said at the end of meeting, “We volunteer and we really do what we feel is best
... for the region and for all of us, and we’re going to continue to do what we
feel is best.”
Picard, who at the end of the meeting was unanimously
reelected as chairman, said in the release, “Our focus in expanding the airport
is to offer people more choices and more destinations, while remaining
convenient and an economic driver for our local communities. We’ve been
grateful for our long-term partnership with Avports and will continue to provide
top-notch air travel experiences and services for our community.”
Avports CEO Jorge Roberts said, “We are excited to enter
into this new agreement with Tweed and our partners in local government. This
lease agreement provides a first-of-its-kind flexibility to airport
municipalities. We recognize our responsibility to ensure a sustainable airport
and to expand upon Avports’ track record as a leader in environmental, social,
and governance principles. The future is very bright at HVN.”
The authority, through the long-term sublease and
development agreement, will cede control of certain portions of the airport to
The New HVN LLC, a new corporation that is a subsidiary of Avports LLC.
Avports, owned by a subsidiary of Goldman Sachs, has managed
Tweed for the past 23 years. As part of the agreement, it will invest money in
airport operation and expansion, eliminating $1.8 million in annual city and
state subsidies.
The plans calls for a broader partnership under which
Avports will invest about $100 million to extend the usable length of Tweed’s
runway from 5,600 feet to 6,635 feet by paving currently grassy runway safety
area.
They also call for Avports to build a new
74,000-square-foot, carbon-neutral terminal with four to six departure gates on
the East Haven side of the airport, with a new entrance to be constructed off
Proto Drive in East Haven.
Avports also would be fully responsible for Tweed’s
operating expenses, eliminating the need for subsidies.
The lease and development agreement lays out what The New HVN
LLC would spend on community benefits, including $1.5 million on traffic
management — split between New Haven and East Haven — $1.5 million on noise
mitigation, expanding it to include full blocks when part of a block qualifies,
$1.75 million as an “unassigned” community benefit for smaller issues in either
New Haven or East Haven, and $250,000 for general aviation noise abatement.
The reactions of the New Haven and East Haven mayors could
not have been more different.
“Today’s announcement is one more important step forward
toward ensuring long-term stability at Tweed Airport that will grow our local
economy, provide high-quality travel options for residents, good-paying jobs
for families and address critical noise, traffic, safety and financial concerns
as well,” said New Haven Mayor Justin Elicker.
“I am thankful for the partnership and commitments made by
the Tweed Board of Directors and Avports, and today’s lease approval is a
meaningful milestone toward responsible growth and a long-term partnership at
Tweed-New Haven Airport,” Elicker said.
Carfora told the authority, “I want it to be clear to my
constituents: I am against the expansion of this airport to the East Haven
side. I have asked consistently for a shared burden — and our requests have
been uniformly denied. This agreement is being rushed, meetings and engagement
were limited leading up to this vote using COVID-19 and remote meetings in
order to limit transparency.
“The facts about how it is before you today are astounding,”
Carfora said. “We were denied access to it last week by Mr. Scanlon. It was
relayed to us Sunday, not enough time for any of our board members to fully
digest and seek interpretation on what is contained in this document or its
impact on the town. Having said that, it does not take an expert to see that
there is not shared burden.
“East Haven takes it on the chin while we will inherit all
the traffic, transient population, parking headaches, ecological strip-mining,
noise, pollution and burden on our already taxed public safety departments that
will come with this project, while at the same time giving New Haven most of
the economic benefit, serving at the behest of Yale and Goldman Sachs,” Carfora
said.
“I have said all along that I wanted to be a good neighbor,”
he said. “It is simply not possible given the way this lease is being handled.
Our town has signed nothing. We have agreed to nothing. We have hired
specialized counsel, and federal aviation counsel. All avenues will be taken to
protect our community.
“East Haven is not afraid of a street fight; we never have
been,” Carfora said, “but it is clear that Mr. Picard, Mr. Scanlon, Mayor
Elicker have partnered with Yale, AvPorts, and Goldman Sachs to create a plan
that not only hurts the quality of life in East Haven, but also the quality of
life for an entire section of the city of New Haven.”
He also revealed that “prior to this meeting, the Town of
East Haven sent Mr. Scanlon, Mr. Picard” and other officials “a litigation hold
letter to preserve any and all communications regarding this matter, and most
importantly everything leading up to it.”
In addition to the lease and development agreement, the
authority passed resolutions to approve an amended and restated lease between
the city and the authority, accept a federal Small Community Air Service
Development Program grant, create a new Advisory Committee made up largely of
former board members, amend the authority’s bylaws, approve an amendment to the
agreement with Avports and publish rules, regulations and minimum standards for
the airport.
East Haven authority members Ken Dagliere, Linda Hennessey,
Town Council member Ray Pompano and Kevin Coyle, led by Dagliere, tried
unsuccessfully to table all of those resolutions, saying in each case they did
not have enough time to read and digest them. Each vote failed and each
subsequent motion to approve a resolution passed by a 9-4 vote.
The authority also unanimously elected Guilford First
Selectman Matt Hoey to serve as vice chairman, former New Haven city official
Serena Neal-Sanjurjo to serve as treasurer and East Haven appointee and former
Town Council member Hennessey to serve as secretary.
About 20 members of the public spoke prior to the votes,
with all but about four of them speaking against expansion and/or what they
felt was the authority “rushing” to approve the lease and development
agreement.
“I’m appalled that some of these members are on here today,”
said East Haven resident and frequent Tweed critic Lorena Venegas, referring to
several board members whose terms have expired but have yet to be replaced. She
said the agreement and expansion are premature because “you cannot doing
anything with ... Avports without having an entrance and egress from East
Haven.”
“I am just appalled at the behavior of the board, Tweed and
the town of New Haven, the way they treat the residents,” said East Haven
resident Jean Edwards-Chieppo. “It’s as if they do not matter, they do not
exist.”
“It is appalling! Find your conscience. It’s absolutely
diabolical,” Chieppo said. “This is not a joke. It’s our lives.”
Garrett Sheehan, president of the Greater New Haven Chamber
of Commerce, spoke in favor of the lease agreement, saying it would continue
the controlled growth” taking place at Tweed.
Barbara Malmberg of East Haven, a project manager for REX
Development in New Haven, said she bought her home near the airport because she
wanted easy access to flights. “REX Development supports the responsible growth
of the region” and “this is an opportunity to make that happen, big-time,” she
said.
Lisa Bassani, of New Haven’s Morris Cove section, said of
Tweed neighbors, “We feel disregarded. We feel unheard ... We live here. We
live in the community. It’s a residential neighborhood. We have a K-8 school
here. We have a church here ... We have not been heard.”
City to match funds for Naugatuck River Greenway Trail
PAUL HUGHES
Waterbury Mayor Neil M. O’Leary says the city is moving
quickly to authorize $5 million in local matching funds required under a
recently approved $23.1 federal infrastructure grant.
O’Leary said the funding request will be on the Board of
Aldermen’s agenda for its Sept. 8 meeting during a remote news conference with
U.S. Rep. Jahana Hayes, D-5th District, and U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete
Buttigieg.
The $28.1 million in federal and local funding will be used
to continue construction of the Naugatuck River Greenway Trail, create a
riverfront park on Jackson Street, make improvements to West Main Street and
build charging stations for electric vehicles at the city train station.
Buttigieg said Waterbury faced some stiff competition
because the U.S. Department of Transportation received nearly 1,000 funding
requests for this round of $2.2 billion in federal funding for local
transportation projects.
“We got about $13 billion worth of applications for just
over $2 billion in funding,” he said.
Buttigieg said the $23.1 million request from Waterbury was
among the 166 applications for Rebuilding American Infrastructure with
Sustainability and Equity grants that were approved.
The Transportation Department also approved funding for a
second project in the 5th Congressional District. The Capitol Region Council of
Governments was awarded a $16.3 million grant to help close the last gap in the
84-mile Farmington Canal Heritage Trail from New Haven to Northampton, Mass.
This $30 million project also will connect the multiuse trail to the CTfastrak
trail in New Britain.
“This investment is unprecedented and really amazing,” Hayes
said, noting she lobbied U.S. transportation officials in April to back the two
projects.
Only one other Connecticut project received a RAISE grant.
Stamford was awarded $2.1 million for planning traffic and pedestrian safety
improvements along a 1.1-mile stretch of West Main Street.
“These are really some of the very strongest applications
that came in,” Buttigieg said.
Waterbury will use some of its $23.1 million federal grant
to construct the next 2.3 miles of the Naugatuck River Greenway Trail. O’Leary
told Buttigieg construction of the first phase of the trail from the Naugatuck
border to Eagle and South Main streets is expected to be completed next month.
“It is amazing how that has connected this community in so
many different ways,” the mayor said, “and, by the way, before it was even near
finished it was impossible to keep people away from there. They were so
excited.”
O’Leary said the first section has linked the challenged
South End neighborhood with downtown Waterbury.
“This has just been amazing,” he said. “To be able to secure
this RAISE grant will just keep the momentum going on a project that we have
been working on for the past 10 years.”