Port Authority Officials Strip Escrow to Pay Escalating Cost of State Pier Redevelopment
Brendan Crowley
As new obstacles complicate the ongoing renovation of the
New London State Pier – and add to the cost – the Connecticut Port
Authority is running out of options if the price tag continues to escalate.
On Tuesday, the Connecticut Port Authority Board approved spending an
additional $7,471,779.
That brings the total cost of the project to $255.5 million
– roughly equal to the total funding now available for the project, which
includes state and private dollars.
The redevelopment includes a contribution by the partnership
of Eversource and Ørsted, which will be the first to use the reconstructed pier
for their South Fork Wind project next year.
In May, Port Authority Board Chair David Kooris promised the State Bond
Commission that an additional $20 million of public funding would be the “final
tranche” of state borrowing needed to complete the project.
With no further state dollars forthcoming, the Port
Authority is exploring other options for funding, including $3.7 million pulled
from an escrow account holding a decade of lease payments for renting the New
England Central Railroad property next to the pier.
On Tuesday, the authority agreed to take the final 5 years
of those payments out of escrow to pay for the State Pier renovations. That
means that those lease payments will have to be paid out of the authority’s
future operating budget, according to Kooris. He said he was confident that the
authority would have the funds to pay that lease.
But Kooris couldn’t say definitively that the contractor
wouldn’t uncover more issues, given the ongoing work. And it’s still possible
that even the known problems could end up costing more, Marlin Peterson, AECOM
construction manager for the project, warned the board.
“We are working within the context that we all understand,”
Kooris said. “We don’t have access to any more funds beyond this.”
“We have exhausted our available funds as approved and
authorized and allocated to us by the state, and we are proposing a big move in
taking on that obligation for those rent payments in the future,” Kooris said.
“We don’t have any other tools like that available to us beyond this.”
The price tag of the project has escalated
repeatedly for various reasons since it was first announced as a $93
million project in 2019. The authority pinned the most recent increases, for
which the state approved another $20 million in bonding this year, on having to
speed up the construction timeline to meet the March 2023 deadline for the
South Fork Wind project, after lengthy permitting
delays.
Peterson said the project is still on track to be finished
in time for Eversource and Ørsted’s deadline to use the pier for the
construction of South Fork Wind. The reconstruction of the pier’s northeast
bulkhead is scheduled to be completed by Feb. 28, 2023. Construction of a new
heavy-lift platform that is central to plans for offshore wind assembly will be
completed in June, in time for South Fork, Peterson said.
East Haven mayor calls for full environmental impact statement on Tweed Airport expansion plans
NEW HAVEN — East Haven Mayor Joe Carfora has asked the
Federal Aviation Administration to do a full-blown environmental impact
statement on the proposed
expansion of Tweed New Haven Regional Airport rather than the more
limited environmental assessment already underway.
East Haven "has significant concerns regarding the
planned expansion and relocation of operations" at Tweed "as
described in the Tweed-New Haven Airport Master Plan Update Final Report dated
October 2021," Carfora wrote in an Oct. 7 letter to Colleen D'Alessandro,
the FAA's regional administrator for the New England Region.
In doing so, Carfora added his official voice as the chief
elected official of one of the two municipalities in which Tweed is located to
a chorus of previous calls from neighbors in East Haven and New Haven who
oppose airport expansion, the 10,000 Hawks grassroots community and
environmental group, Connecticut Fund for the Environment and others.
"Our concerns center on the significant and unavoidable
negative impacts the project will have on public health and the environment in
contravention of local, state and federal policy and legal requirements,"
Carfora wrote.
"The FAA’s own guidance documents contemplate such an
action," Carfora said, quoting a policy document that states that the FAA
"must prepare an EIS when one or more environmental impacts of a proposed
action would be significant and mitigation measures would not reduce the
impact(s) below significant levels."
Another FAA policy document states that "moving to
prepare an EIS is appropriate even if preparation of an EA has already
commenced," Carfora said. He also quoted that policy.
Tweed New Haven Airport Authority Executive Director Sean
Scanlon responded that Tweed is following FAA procedure and guidance by
performing the environmental assessment — essentially, going through the
process because that's what the FAA told Tweed to do.
Were the FAA to require an EIS, Tweed, its management
company, Avports, and its consultants would do an EIS, Scanlon said.
But he said he did not believe a request from Carfora was
any different or more weighty than a request from any other member of the
public.
FAA spokeswoman Eva Lee Ngai said that "environmental
impact determines whether a more extensive ... EIS is required. The FAA
provides oversight of the environmental review of the proposed project
consistent with the National Environmental Policy Act ... and other special
purpose laws. The airport has contracted consultants to prepare the
environmental review and the FAA will independently evaluate the data to ensure
it is consistent with NEPA regulations and FAA Order 1050.1F."
East Haven resident Lorena Venegas, a co-founder of 10,000
Villages and one of the people who have been calling for an EIS, said,
"East Haven residents remain uninformed and confused since Mayor Carfora
was '100 percent on board with this project' on May 6, 2021, and then changed
his opinion in (the) March 2022 State of the Town Address.
"Despite petitions and residents attending Town
Council, Board of Finance and Economic Development Commission" meetings
"to present evidence and request an EIS, there have been no public forums
in the town of East Haven," Venegas said. "There has been no
explanation by FAA community liaison staffers on the NEPA (National
Environmental Policy Act) factors that decide whether the agency will do a
no-impact versus requiring an EIS.
"Instead, the residents have the primary resources
about the environmental impacts and have had meetings with congressional
staffers and CT DEEP," she said in an email. "There are four
neighborhoods groups working at local, state and federal level to require an EIS.
"The main issues that are resonating with
decision-makers are wetlands, noise and air pollution, construction (especially
at night) as a disturbance of quiet enjoyment of people’s homes," Venegas
said. "Tweed airport attorneys have failed to comply with basic FOIA
requests related to obtaining signed copies of the lease, pesticide vendor
information and gifts and bequests to Tweed Airport Authority Board members
under by-laws."
An EIS "will allow a restart to the process and address
necessary questions of cumulative impacts," Venegas said.
Tweed is owned by the city of New Haven but located in both
New Haven and East Haven. It is managed by Avports, a private company owned by
a subsidiary of Goldman Sachs. The $100 million expansion plan, to be funded by
Avports as part of a recently-approved
43-year sublease, would build a new terminal with up to six gates on the
East Haven side and move the airport's main entrance off Proto Drive in East
Haven.
The current terminal and entrance are on the New Haven side,
off Burr Street.
Carfora told the FAA that while his letter "will
primarily discuss impacts and concerns that the town and its residents have
regarding the proposed expansion," it is worth noting "that the
proposed expansion will have a negative effect on the physical environment and
the health and well-being of those living and working in ... New Haven and the
surrounding region, as well."
But "the vast majority of the project consists of a
planned expansion and relocation of facilities" to East Haven, he wrote.
"This includes an extended runway and ancillary access to the runway; a
new terminal facility with up to six gates; new parking facilities with up to
1,800 parking spaces, and a new primary access road."
In addition, "traffic will be routed through and on
town roads in residential and town-center areas that are already inadequate for
current local purposes and are unable to be expanded due to physical
constraints," Carfora wrote.
"The impacts of the project on families, businesses and
other members of the community will be immense and negative," he wrote.
"It is unlikely that any noticeable economic benefit (the main driver for
the project) will be experienced by those in the town, which is a 'distressed
municipality' under the laws of the State of Connecticut."
Instead, "town residents will ... experience increased
air, noise and light pollution, unsafe and at times unpassable roads, and many
other negative impacts associated with potentially up to 100 additional daily
passenger flights and an unknown number of new cargo flights to and from Tweed
enabled by the Project," Carfora wrote.
Carfora cited the National Environmental Policy Act, or
NEPA, which he said "requires a federal agency to prepare an EIS when
'major federal actions significantly affecting the quality of the environment'
are proposed."
"A federal agency such as the FAA must prepare an EIS
if there is a possibility that a project may have a significant environmental
impact," Carfora wrote. "Direct, indirect and cumulative impacts must
be considered when determining significance."
An environmental assessment "is a preliminary document
that can be the basis for a Finding of No Significant Impact ('FONSI') or a
finding that an EIS, which fully considers the project pursuant to federal
standards, must be conducted," Carfora wrote.
"Public input is key to a successful environmental
review under NEPA, and to date, the information provided to the public, and the
opportunity for meaningful comment, have been woefully inadequate,"
Carfora wrote. "... The Authority has provided no meaningful opportunity
for the community to obtain updated information or feedback."
State issues key permit for long-shuttered Bridgeport bridge
BRIDGEPORT — The slog to replace the demolished Congress
Street Bridge that used to link downtown and the East Side got a
significant boost last week with the issuance of a key permit from the state
Department of Energy and Environmental Protection (DEEP).
Still, if the current project timeline remains unchanged,
the span will not be completed until possibly late-2024 or even 2025 — over
eight years since Mayor Joe Ganim sought to make the bridge a priority for his
administration.
"It's frustrating," said City Councilwoman Maria
Valle on Tuesday. "It is too long."
The Congress Street drawbridge got stuck in the open
position over the Pequonnock River in 1997, during Ganim’s first tenure in
office. He was re-elected in 2015. The rusty hulk was demolished in 2010 under
then-Mayor Bill Finch, who called it “the city's most visible reminder of
infrastructure neglect.”
Ever since there has been talk about building a new
structure not only to help the East Side and downtown economies, but also to
improve emergency response. The city’s fire headquarters is located on Congress
Street on the downtown side.
"Even though I know the fire department has their way
to move rapidly — they're experts (and) can get from one point to others — if
that bridge were open, it's (the East Side) a skip and a hop away," Valle
said.
Ultimately officials decided it would be cheaper to erect an
immovable bridge. As a result, the city and Bridgeport’s Congressional
delegation successfully convinced the federal government to de-authorize the
Pequonnock channel, meaning the Army Corps of Engineers is no longer
responsible for dredging it, which required a drawbridge to be in place.
In
January 2019, a re-election year for him, Ganim announced that the
state would help Bridgeport split the $24 million cost of a new fixed bridge
and city officials were aiming to start construction in 2020.
As
reported this past July, that never happened because of: The global
coronavirus pandemic that struck Connecticut in 2020; the complicated federal
and state permitting process; and last minute objections from a few property
owners along the Pequonnock River about the decision to make the new Congress
Street span a fixed one rather than reviving it as a drawbridge.
In an email last Thursday responding to an inquiry from
Hearst Connecticut Media, Will Healey, a DEEP spokesman, wrote, "The
permit for Congress Street Bridge was finalized today with approval from DEEP’s
Bureau of Water Protection and Land Reuse."
Healey in July had said the DEEP and city were at the time
seeking to address concerns a couple of property owners along the banks of the
Pequonnock had about "impacts to navigation" by a fixed span. In last
week's email, Healey noted his agency had the city "conduct an analysis on
potential impacts to water dependent uses."
"The City of Bridgeport was able to demonstrate that
there are no water dependent uses that would be impacted from the
project," Healey wrote. "A condition was added to the license to
require the applicant provide reasonable access of the waterway during
construction, which seemed to resolve concerns of the adjacent
properties."
Though providing a crucial approval, the DEEP does not have
the final say on moving the project forward. Tiadora Josef, Ganim's
communications director, said Monday that the city is still awaiting sign-off
from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.
"Which we fully expect to receive," Josef added.
"Design is at 95 percent completed. The designer has two months’ worth of
design left to get the project ready for bid. We expect to go out to bid in the
first quarter of 2023 and then construction to start once a contractor is
selected."
She said it will take an estimated 18 months to complete the
bridge, which, depending on how long it takes to select a contractor, could
mean the new Congress Street structure will not be open to traffic until late
2024 or early 2025.
One remaining issue, however, will be the price tag, whether
inflation and supply chain issues have increased the cost beyond $24 million,
and, if so, where the additional dollars will come from.
Besides being a potential factor in next year's mayoral race
— Ganim is seeking a third consecutive term with no declared challenger so far
— Republican Jayme Stevenson, former first selectwoman of Darien, has been
trying to use delays in replacing the Congress Street Bridge against U.S. Rep.
Jim Himes as she seeks to unseat the seven-term Democrat.
Himes has previously campaigned on re-opening the span and
helped secure some federal dollars to make that happen.
During
their debate last Thursday, for example, Stevenson said, "There's good
work being done in the downtown of Bridgeport. Lots of building, redevelopment.
The East End of Bridgeport is blight. There's drug dealing. And businesses
can't thrive, because they're literally cut off from the downtown. ... Mr.
Himes campaigned on this back in 2008 — the Congress Street Bridge. The
Congress Street Bridge is still broken."
Stevenson claimed she would do a better job
"shepherding" such infrastructure projects to completion, though the
delays to the Congress Street project that Hearst reported in July had nothing
to do with Himes. For example, according to the DEEP, Bridgeport filed its
application with that agency in May 2021 and it was nearly four months later
that DEEP staff conducted a site inspection.
Himes. who over the years helped secure $2.3 million in
federal aid for the Congress Street Bridge replacement, did not have a chance
to respond to her during the debate. In an interview Tuesday Himes took some
credit for last week's issuance of the DEEP permit, saying he made the agency
"miserable with constant phone calls" and also added his
"sense" is the project was more of a priority for Bridgeport under
prior Mayor Finch.
He also said one reason the effort has taken so long is that
Congress had to take the unusual step of ensuring the stationary bridge could
be installed rather than a drawbridge, which was finally done in
2018.
The congressman said ground-breaking for next spring looks
promising but added, "I'm not gonna pop any corks until shovels are in the
ground." He added he would not be shocked if, given the passage of time,
it winds up costing more than $24 million.
Valle on Tuesday said she also understood that the city's
decision to forgo a drawbridge seemed to be what complicated matters, but still
would have thought construction would have been underway by now. She added she
does not blame Himes for any delays.
"I don't think it's his fault," she said.
Meriden panel OKs flood control project from Cooper Street to downtown
Mary Ellen Godin
MERIDEN — The Inland Wetlands and Watercourses
Commission voted 4-0 earlier this month to approve Phase I of the Harbor
Brook project that stretches from the Amtrak bridge to the Cooper Street
bridge.
City Engineer Brian Ennis explained to commission members
that the project runs through city-owned properties and three buildings known
as Hanover Towers and impacts seven acres of property.
“This is in two phases,” Ennis said. “The first part is
construction of the two bridges. The second part is the actual channel
work.”
The project will impact a parcel between Cooper Street
and Hanover Street and will tie into the city’s linear trail. The trail will
run along the brook behind Factory H and up to Butler Street where Butler and
Hanover connect. It will continue to run along Hanover Street and meet at the
Meriden Green, The project will also ready the parcel for a proposed skate park
on the site.
Part of the work includes demolishing the former Castle Bank
at 100 Hanover St. The city received a demolition grant to raze the building
and interior cleanup began this month. The demolition is expected to start next
month.
The demolition will pave the way for deepening and widening
the channel of Harbor Brook that flows under the former bank. The section of
the brook is a significant choke point that permits water pooling on Hanover
Street and Cook Avenue.
"That is one of the bends that causes the back
up. By taking it out we'll be lessening the curve," city Economic
Development Director Joseph Feest said in May.
The project entails creating wetlands, changing
watercourses, two bridge replacements, associated channel work and excavation,
and some utility work for displaced water and sewer lines.
Elsa Loehmann, Fuss & O’Neill’s project engineer and
lead designer, described the project as a “Flood Resiliency Project,” designed
to reduce flooding and flood risk to the neighborhood with ecological
restoration.
Loehman told commissioners the channel has been straightened
over the past 200 years due to industry and there are invasive
plantings. Large sections of the brook are covered by concrete pads and
there is no connectivity to the wetlands and floodplain.
According to meeting minutes, the brook between the Cooper
Street and Butler Street access drive will be moved to the east away from the
former Factory H building site, which is currently undergoing voluntary
remediation with the state Department of Energy and Environmental
Protection.
An area adjacent to the brook will be replanted as a
riparian meadow habitat, to be mowed by the city once a year in October to help
contain invasive growth and prevent growth of woody species.
In the upland area closer to Cherry Street,
conservation wildlife seed mix will be planted as well as ornamental tree
plantings, which will provide a visual barrier between the Cherry Street
residences and the linear trail.
The first phase will focus on the bridge replacements and
utility improvements for Harbor Towers. All channel, floodplain, and trail work
will be done during the second phase and the layout, grading, and drainage
plans were displayed.
There will be limited access points at Cherry Street and off
of Butler Street for the channel work, with additional temporary access near
the Butler Street bridge and on Hanover Street.