Redesign of downtown Naugatuck excites developers
ANDREAS YILMA
NAUGATUCK — Pennrose Regional Vice President Charlie Adams
said the real estate development company’s “sweet spot” is working with a
municipality on a shared vision and the transit-oriented development (TOD)
project to transform downtown Naugatuck is one of them.
Back on July 21, the Board of Mayor and Burgesses chose
Pennrose, a real estate development company with its headquarters in
Philadelphia, and the Cloud Company, a Hartford-based firm, to develop 7.75
acres at the corner of Maple Street and Old Firehouse Road, also known as
Parcel B.
Pennrose’s regional office in Boston would be working with
the borough for the project.
The project will connect the existing downtown area to the
TOD project on Parcel B. Parcel B adjoins the Waterbury Branch Line adjacent to
the location of the new train platform to be relocated by the state Department
of Transportation. The state DOT has allotted funding for the relocation of the
Naugatuck train station from Water Street near The Station Restaurant to Parcel
B. This also comes after improvements and expansion of service to the Waterbury
branch line of the Metro-North Railroad have taken place.
Naugatuck Economic Development Corp. President Ronald
Pugliese said he and many other people in the borough are excited for the
project. Parcel B has been vacant for at least three decades, he added.
“Parcel B will change a piece of the unused property to a
beautiful, beautiful transit-oriented development,” Pugliese said.
The NEDC is a quasi-public agency that oversees economic development
efforts in the borough.
Another feature in the redesign will include the addition of
retail and commercial buildings.
According to Adams, the buildings will have ground floor
retail and units for renting.
Developers would also maintain Water Street as one means of
entering and exiting the site. The road already partially runs parallel to the
Waterbury Branch Line along Parcel B. Parking would still be included but it
wouldn’t be the sole focus, Adams said.
“The idea is not to emphasis cars or parking,” Adams said.
“It’s really to emphasize the buildings.”
Adams said one of the things developers tried is to not have
the buildings be “cookie cutter” but to really form the buildings in ways that
pull people into the site. The site will have over two acres be designated for
open space. Buildings will be setback 10 to 20 feet from the sidewalk to create
space and a courtyard in between buildings, he added.
“One of the things we really focused on with our landscape
architect is wellness,” Adams said. “Really making it a place where there could
be active recreation, some social recreation and passive recreation as well.”
Adams said the first thing developers tried to do is think
about how they could make this a gateway into the community while thinking about
some of the historic elements from an architectural perspective.
Plans and designs for Parcel B are still being worked out as
the Land Use department hasn’t received any formal site plan applications for
Parcel B.
“Naugatuck is doing very well in economic opportunities,”
Pugliese said.
State DOT to ‘reassess’ controversial Route 82 roundabouts
Claire Bessette
Norwich ― The state Department of Transportation will pull
back a widely criticized plan to reconstruct a 1.3-mile stretch of Route
82-West Main Street with six roundabouts, a median divider and single traffic
lanes in each direction.
A statement by the DOT Friday said the agency remains “fully
committed to moving forward with the safety improvements project on Route 82 in
Norwich,” but will “reassess the project design” based on input from the public
during a June 23 presentation.
“CTDOT values community input and believes the safety and
travel benefits intended through this project can be achieved while addressing
the feedback that will allow us to have a viable project,” the DOT said in the
statement.
State Sen Cathy Osten, D-Sprague, whose district includes
Norwich, issued a news release Friday “welcoming” a decision by DOT to
reevaluate the controversial plan.”
She cited several meetings she and state Rep. Kevin Ryan, D-Montville
— who also represents Norwich — have held with DOT project officials to discuss
the project and concerns.
“Representative Ryan and I have been working with the DOT
for months now on this project, because we always believed, based on our
discussions with local residents, that it was far too broad,” Osten said in a
news release. “So, we're thrilled that the DOT is now re-evaluating it.”
"Norwich City Council members asked Senator Osten and I
to do what we could to communicate the concerns of the council and city
residents to the DOT,” Ryan said in the news release, “And we did that. Now the
project is being re-evaluated. That's a big win for Norwich and for local
businesses."
The $45 million, two-phase project received broad criticism
locally, with “No 6 Roundabouts” signs joining election campaign signs in front
of city homes and businesses.
The $20 million first phase from Asylum to Dunham streets,
with three planned roundabouts and the acquisition of five commercial
properties, was slated to start construction in 2025.
Collaborative effort
Norwich City Council Democrats took credit for the move
Friday morning, saying it came after several meetings led by Osten and Ryan,
with the four-member majority Democratic council caucus, Democratic Council President
Pro Tempore Joseph DeLucia said Friday.
“This exemplifies the impact that collaborative political
leaders can have when they offer reasonable input and bring more than
complaints and threats to the table,” DeLucia wrote in a text message to The
Day. “Our caucus also would like to thank the DOT and the engineers on this
project for their willingness to hear our concerns and work with us to find
reasonable solutions that everyone can live with and that make the road safer.”
But Republican Mayor Peter Nystrom said he had been
discussing the issue with Osten “for months” and had called the DOT
commissioner’s office to express the city’s objections to the proposal.
“She told them that the plan was too heavy-handed,” Nystrom
said. “The outcome, the six roundabouts, the businesses lost, the way the
project would have gone forward, was just too much.”
Nystrom said he’ll ask whoever is elected to the state
legislature in November to seek an economic impact study by the state to
accompany any proposed revision to the Route 82 plan.
Nystrom said DeLucia’s statement issued Friday morning was
“absolutely devoid of reality,” and credited Osten for the DOT’s pause in the
project.
The project became political in September, when the DOT
project team required a city resolution agreeing to accept maintenance control
of the future sidewalks, roundabout centers and striping of the proposed
5-foot-wide proposed bicycle lanes.
A second resolution asked the city to accept the conversion
of the short, dead-end Crane Avenue from a private to a public street.
On Sept. 6, the council passed the two resolutions with 4-3
votes, with the four Democrats in favor and Republican Mayor Peter Nystrom and
two Republicans opposed.
The day after the Sept. 6 vote, Nystrom and Republican
Alderwoman Stacy Gould and Alderman Grant Neuendorf sent a letter to Democratic
Alderman Swaranjt Singh Khalsa saying his vote in favor gave “the appearance of
impropriety,” since the project would have called for the state to acquire one
gas station on West Main Street. Khalsa owns Norwichtown Shell, about 4.2 miles
away from the site on the opposite end of town.
Khalsa asked for an advisory opinion from the Norwich Ethics
Commission, which voted 4-0 on Oct. 19 that Khalsa’s vote was not a conflict of
interest, since the City Council resolutions did not involve property
acquisition of the gas station.
The commission included a caveat that in the future, all
city officials should recuse themselves in any votes that directly call for
acquiring of property that could include a competing business to any business
in which they have financial interest.
Brookfield delays opening of new elementary school due to supply chain issues
BROOKFIELD — Supply chain issues will delay students and
teachers' move into the town's new elementary school.
Officials announced the postponement this past week, saying
they will not know for weeks when the new Candlewood Lake Elementary School
will be ready.
In August, Superintendent John Barille had laid
out a plan for students at Huckleberry and Center elementary schools
to move into the new 139,000
square-foot facility, built to accommodate more than 1,000 students and 200
staff at a cost of $78.1 million.
Projecting the school would be finished “come late November,
December,” Barille said Huckleberry students and staff in grades two, three,
and four would then move in to the building Jan. 3, with Center students and
staff starting at the new building at the start of the next academic year.
Speaking at the Brookfield Board of Education meeting
Wednesday, Paul Checco, the chair of the Municipal Building Committee, said the
project was "moving along," but the school would not be ready for
students by the new year.
“We have asked the construction manager for a list of
deliverables for that date, and in looking at that, and with some material
delays…we would be moving the kids out of a school into something that is
lesser finished," Checco said.
The driving factor behind the material delays come as a
result of Armstrong Flooring, a major U.S. flooring manufacturer based in
Lancaster, Pennsylvania, filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection earlier
this year.
With Armstrong going under, the school district moved to
another manufacturer, but Checco explained the loss of supplier has created a
“ripple effect” in the market as other manufacturers experience increased
demand — making it difficult to predict when the flooring could be ready for
instillation.
“Sheet rock is up, place is being painted, ceiling tile is
going in, but without a finished floor it still looks largely unfinished,” he
said.
Board of Education Chair Bob Belden said a review of a
four-page checklist of items to be completed prior to the school move-in date
is made up mostly by flooring related activities.
“It’s not just the Armstrong flooring, it’s all the types of
flooring, it’s the terrazzo tile, or the carpet tiles, the vinyl flooring, the
gym flooring — it’s just flooring, flooring, flooring — but it’s significant,”
Belden said.
The second biggest item, he added, is landscaping, which
means courtyards and playgrounds would not be ready because of the work not
being possible in the winter months.
Belden added that Checco pitched the idea of moving students
into the school, “with a polished concrete floor, now think ‘Costco’ and our
reaction was ‘no way,’” Belden added. “We want everyone to feel really good
when they move into this school.”
Belden said a new move-in date has not yet been set because
of the uncertainty over when the flooring supply might arrive, adding that he
asked the project’s construction manager, Danbury based O&G Industries, “to
please, get us firm move-in dates and firm commitments so we can make some decisions.”
The school will ultimately accommodate all pre-kindergarten
through fifth grade students in Brookfield — including fifth grade students and
staff at Whisconier Elementary School, who currently learn in portable
classrooms.
“We are in this awkward position right now saying it’s not
going to be Jan. 3 because that’s not the right environment to put our kids
into but we don’t know what date we can tell people,” he said. “And we need to
get the Huckleberry kids moved into that school because if we don’t get that
done earlier enough, we won’t get the rest of the kids in by September (2023).”
“It’s a deep breath moment,” Belden added.
'We cannot disappoint' the kids
It is not the first time that supply issues have delayed the
school project. In November of last year, officials announced three-to-four-month
delays in the delivery of essential roofing materials.
“In true construction form, nothing ever goes right
according to plan,” Checco said, referencing the previous completion push back.
“At the end of the day, no one is going to remember if its
four months later, or six months later than you wanted it to me, they will
remember if it’s wrong,” he added.
Superintendent John Barille noted this year's “entire
district calendar” had been built around the original school move-in date but
said there would be no plans to change to the winter vacation dates.
The superintendent turned to Checco, “looking for one
assurance.”
“There is a group we cannot disappoint, I can be
disappointed all day long, but my job is to solve problems, the fourth graders
— I hear what I think is really good news in terms of even though there is a
delay we are still going to move in this academic year — the current fourth
graders must be fifth graders next year at Candlewood Lake.”
Checco noted parallel plans to take down the modular classrooms
at Whisconier were still on track, “the fourth graders that are in Huckleberry,
just like the second and third graders, will be going into the new school.”
The superintendent added he would provide an update to the
school community “sometime in the next few weeks” with new move-in date.
Repair work starts on Trumbull mall parking garage closed since February
TRUMBULL — Work has finally started to repair damage done to
the Westfield Trumbull mall parking deck more than 10 months ago that closed
portions of the upper and lower levels.
On Tuesday, Trumbull building official Robert Dunn said that
he had spoken with a contractor that morning who had plans and a permit
application to install "a temporary shoring system for the Westfield Mall
Red Garage."
The upper deck and part of the lower deck of the Red Garage,
near the mall's Target store, have been closed since mid-February, when
a chunk of concrete fell through the deck, creating a large pothole.
Dunn said, once the temporary shoring system is in place, it should enable
"the closed sections of parking under the garage to reopen."
On Thursday, Westfield officials issued a statement that the
garage could at least partially reopen within weeks.
"Westfield Trumbull management confirms that work has
started in the Red Garage that will allow additional parking spaces on the
lower level of the garage to be reopened," the statement read. "We
hope to complete this in advance of the holiday season."
A mall spokesperson clarified that work began on the parking
garage Thursday.
The chunk of concrete originally fell through the upper deck
on Feb. 13. At that time, a security guard said that roughly 50 cars were
parked in the area affected by the damage and the cars’ owners were asked to
move. A mall spokesperson later said that no one was hurt in the incident and
no cars were damaged.
Earlier this year, town residents and town officials
alike expressed
frustration at how long it was taking for there to be progress on
fixing the garage.
In August — about six months after the original incident
— First Selectman Vicki Tesoro issued a statement saying that, though she
was empathetic that repairs of this scope take time "customers have been
inconvenienced for months and the problem does not reflect well on our mall.”
Around that same time, the mall began offering alternative
parking areas to Target customers to help make up for the lost parking.
The fact that work has begun to make at least some of that
parking available again is positive, said Trumbull Economic and Community
Development Director Rina Bakalar.
"It’s a step in the right direction," she said.
"I think it will help out holiday shoppers, and Target shoppers
specifically, but we would like to see a more long-term comprehensive
solution."
Former Winsted school eyed for manufacturing, housing
WINSTED — A former school could become the site of
affordable housing in town, or a manufacturing facility along with some
housing, depending on how selectmen decide what's best for the site.
The Board of Selectmen has received two proposals for the
now-shuttered Batcheller Elementary School. Both involve housing, and one
includes a food kitchen on the 32-acre site.
Batcheller closed permanently in June. The 201 Pratt St.
property includes the old school building and a wooded area behind it. The
building was used as a temporary shelter this summer for more than 150 cats
that were rescued from a home in Winsted. But town officials want to sell the
property, so that it can earn tax revenue.
Town Manager Josh Kelly said both proposals would
include affordable housing. One proposal, however, also would include food
manufacturing; George Noujaim, owner of Noujaim's Bistro on Main Street,
recently opened a wholesale food kitchen next door to the restaurant.
"It would be an extension of my food kitchen operation,"
Noujaim said. "I don't want to elaborate any more on it — it's too
early."
The proposal would also include housing for employees and
low-income families. Noujaim is offering $25,000. The property would go back on
the town's tax rolls, Kelly said.
The Northwest Senior Housing Corporation's proposal is for
up to 32 units of affordable housing on the property. The agency, which owns
and operates Winsted's Susan Perry Senior Housing, is offering $300,000 as a
payment in lieu of taxes for the property.
Kelly said the proposal also includes a recreational plan
for the wooded area behind the school, with help from the Winchester Land
Trust.
Larry Hannafin, president of the housing corporation, said
there are 12 families on a waiting list for the Susan B. Perry apartments,
located near the old Winsted Health Center. "It's a beautiful facility,
and we've got 20 units there," Hannafin said. "It's been full since
we opened in 2012. There's such a critical need for affordable homes up here in
this area. More housing at Batcheller would help meet those needs."
The challenges for each proposal involve zoning: Batcheller
is in the middle of Winsted's single-family zone. Any application with the
Planning & Zoning Commission would require a special permit.
"We have this parcel in the middle of the town's
single-family zone; some uses aren't allowed or require special permits, such
as apartments," Kelly said. "Light manufacturing is not allowed, but
there are regulations that can be changed to allow it. The affordable housing
proposal needs a special permit. So from a zoning perspective, challenges face
each proposal."
If Winsted were to accept Noujaim's proposal and it was
approved by land use boards, the town would continue to receive annual
property taxes, as opposed to a payment in lieu of taxes from the housing
group. However, the town's recently
adopted Affordable Housing Plan notes the growing need for housing.
At the suggestion of Selectwoman Candy Perez, the board has
scheduled a meeting at the school at 11 a.m. Nov. 5, and intends to invite the
two groups as well as any neighbors who are interested. "We can see what
people are thinking about these two ideas," Perez said.
She also said the board could try to get more proposals
before making a decision. "These aren't bids," she said. "We
don't have to take either one."
Selectmen also are sharing the proposals with the Planning
& Zoning Commission. "If you have an interest in Noujaim's proposal,
we should ask the PZC if they think it's possible," Perez said.
"Otherwise, there's no point in having an additional conversation."
Building committee proceeds with smaller Southington library plan, makes cuts
Christian Metzger
SOUTHINGTON — The library building committee is
moving forward with a smaller 24,000-square-foot plan and discussed
further cuts to the design for the new building during a meeting the
architects.
Members of the committee were given a comprehensive cost
breakdown of the project, and voted to determine what they wanted to keep from
the revised library proposal and what could be cut out.
The committee is aiming to shave off as many dollars as
possible for the new library building after the cost of the project exceeded
the funding they were allocated in last November’s referendum.
The revised schematic of the building was first presented to
committee members during a special meeting late last month by the architects at
Whiting-Turner Co. The final cost estimate was $18.67 million, higher than the
$17 million in spending voters approved for the project last
November.
The community room and the outside hardscape areas will
likely be going through the most significant alterations. One of the selling
points of the community space in the new library plan was a fully retractable glass
wall that would open up onto a wide outdoor hardscape area where people could
enjoy the outdoors in the summer months when hosting large function events. The
cost of the door was priced at $440,000.
That feature will no longer be incorporated into the plan,
with the committee pursuing alternative, more cost-effective options.
One of the major design goals of the architects when
drafting the initial plan, to bring the outside inside, with extensive
integration between programming and outside hardscape areas along with an open
patio on the second floor and wide bays of windows to let in natural light.
With the cost restraints, however, much of that original vision may be dialed
back.
While members of the committee still wish to have access to
the outside, they debated whether a similar effect could be achieved with
several doors, sliding sections, or using TV screens instead. Similarly, the
hardscape area by the community room, the children’s reading area, and for the
sign at the corner of the property will either be scaled back or removed.
“The problem with an open door is that it’s not really
bringing the outside inside, I think that’s a big part of the design feature,”
Committee Chairman Jim Morelli said, expressing his disappointment with the
removal of what he saw as crucial features of the library’s design.
“We gave up a lot of ideas to save money. So it's all been
about cheap it out, cheap it out, cheap it out. I feel like we're trying to
dumb down this whole library. This to me was a feature that I thought we were
going to try and retain.”
Currently the committee is pursuing alternative sources of
funding for these features, such as fundraising, so that they might still be
brought into the design in another form. The scope of their implementation is
uncertain until the committee’s next meeting on Nov. 2nd.
“It's really a dollar issue,” Vice Chairman Paul Champagne
said, remarking on the downscaling of the building’s exterior features.
Other discussed alterations that were considered for removal
was at least one of the skylights on the second floor, all but the front-facing
end caps on the bookshelves, and the pavers from the second floor exterior
seating area.
Several other parts of the project are also being rolled
back. The technology package for the building was one such consideration, with
the removal of the proposed vending machines for laptops from the plan.
Committee members also seek to cut down on costs by moving over some of the old
furniture from the old library into the new one.
While some notable features of the building are being kept
in, such as the drive-in reception window and book drop off, committee members
are considering keeping it unstaffed for logistical and budgetary reasons.
With the slashes to the budget currently proposed, there is
the potential for a million dollars to be saved on the construction.
In spite of the reduction of several of the building’s
features, committee members were largely satisfied with the outcome of the
meeting - with several cost-effective cuts made. One aspect that garnered
approval was that virtually none of the interior programming spaces were
downscaled.
“The only programming spots we looked at for not having are
the exterior ones, all the interior stuff is intact,” Town Manager Mark Sciota
said. With them pursuing alternate means of funding the exterior spaces, he
said, none of the programming space could be cut at all.
Architects had a booth during the final weekend of the Apple
Harvest Festival earlier this month, and mentioned that residents seemed
largely satisfied with their current plan and were understanding of the changes
that needed to be made.
With several major features put up as alternates, the
implementation of certain parts of the current plan remain in flux. Designers
and members of the committee are looking to come to a more solid determination
of the project’s scope by their next meeting, which will be held on
Nov. 2 at 6 p.m. at the Southington Library.