Developers submit new plans for 83 housing units in West Hartford Center
Michael Walsh
WEST HARTFORD — Plans to build a mixed-use development
containing 83 multifamily housing units and retail space in West Hartford
Center have been resubmitted.
Plans for the project were
first submitted earlier this year by The Arapahoe Group, a development
group formed by Marc Lewis of Lexham LaSalle Development, Manafort WHC and West
Hartford Arapahoe. The plans were withdrawn before a public hearing was held,
but were revised based on feedback from the town's Design Review Advisory
Committee.
The proposed plans, which the Town Council last week
referred to its Planning and Zoning Commission and the Design Review Advisory
Committee for review, envision the construction of two separate five-story
buildings, one offering 58 one- and two-bedroom condominiums and the other
offering 25 units of rental housing — four of which would be deed-restricted
affordable units for 40 years available to those making 80 percent or less than
the area median income. The project would also include about 3,500 square feet
of retail space.
The housing would be built on 3.4 acres of land the
developers said is "underutilized" and the development group
would need to demolish two office buildings at 8 Arapahoe Road and 12 Arapahoe
Road. The other buildings included in the development — 53-65 LaSalle Road,
27-43 LaSalle Road and 1001 Farmington Avenue, all of which are already owned
by the developers — would remain intact.
The development would also include a three-story parking
garage with two of its levels underground, surface parking, new landscaping and
public spaces. A number of parking spaces would be made available to the public
on the weekends and in the evening.
This revamped proposal includes fewer condo units, as
requested by the town's Design Review Advisory Committee. Developers dropped
the number of condominiums from 64 to 58. In turn, the developers added four
units to its rental apartment building. In all, the developers dropped the
total number of units from 85 to 83. The number of structured parking spaces
was also reduced from 260 to 218. And overall, the entire project decreased in
size from 254,394 square feet to 245,430 square feet.
"DRAC was right in saying the larger of the two
buildings should be reduced in size and that more consideration had to be given
to the space around the base of that building," wrote the developer's
attorney, Robin Messier Pearson of Alter & Pearson. "The change was
made to make it more vibrant and welcoming to both residents and to the
public."
Michael Walsh / Hearst Connecticut Media
Other design changes were also made, including the addition
of more lighting features, the widening of sidewalks and the addition of
specialty paving at pedestrian crosswalks.
"This design will be an incredible improvement over
existing conditions and a significant addition to the vitality of the
Center," Pearson wrote. "The new buildings will create significant
value, beauty, green area and even employment opportunities in the
underutilized existing surface parking areas that characterize so much of this
property. The effect will be to transform this barren, unattractive area in a
vibrant residential community benefiting the existing businesses in West
Hartford Center and the overall town of West Hartford."
A public hearing on the proposed plans — which are
requesting a change in zoning — has been set by the Town Council for Dec. 13.
DOT advises against returning Norwalk's Wall Street train station; study finds it 'is not feasible'
NORWALK — A Department of Transportation study four years in
the making determined that reinstating a train station along Wall Street in
Norwalk was not recommended for a number of concerns.
The Wall Street Station Feasibility Study, which began in 2018, was completed and released by the DOT
in July, with a final report briefing on Oct. 21, according to DOT
documents.
In the final study, a 104-page document, the DOT determined, “due to a
combination of physical, operational, and cost factors, none of the station
alternatives evaluated are considered viable.”
Wall Street previously had rail service from 1860 until
around the 1930s, when the station was closed and the service converted to bus,
according to the study.
“The city of Norwalk thanks CT DOT for conducting a thorough
analysis to consider the feasibility of reestablishing a train station in the
Wall Street corridor,” said Jessica Vonashek, Norwalk’s chief of community and
economic development.
“After examining five locations in the area, their study
determined that a station is not feasible," she said. "While we are
disappointed with the conclusion of their report, we are grateful for the time
and effort they spent exploring the potential return of a Wall Street train
station.”
The study area limits were defined by a 10-minute walkshed
around the historic Wall Street station and included Cross, River and Isaacs
Streets, and encompassed the Norwalk transit hub, according to the study. The
area was centered on the rail tunnel adjacent to River Street.
“This assessment addressed the physical constraints of each
potential site and the surrounding areas, the potential impacts to existing and
future rail operations, as well as market and demographic considerations,” the
study said.
Within the study area four station sites were identified:
Cross Street, 18 River Street, 47 Wall Street, and 17 Isaacs Street. During the
study process, a fifth station site was identified that combines the Cross
Street and River Street sites, according to the study.
Five findings were identified that led to the assessment of
poor viability for the proposed station, according to the study. The findings
were centered on site constraints, ridership impacts, rail service limitations,
cost and economic development potential.
For the site constraints, DOT found that none of the four
original sites meet the engineering minimums for construction, including
platform size and the likely need for property takings, according to the study.
With four existing train stations — East Norwalk, South
Norwalk, Rowayton and Merritt 7 — in the city, the nearest of which is one mile
from the study area, “it is likely that the projected ridership for a Wall
Street station does not consist of new riders, rather a shift of existing users
along the Danbury Line.”
However, no analysis was done on the East Norwalk and South
Norwalk stations along the New Haven Line and ridership impacts are unknown,
according to the study.
The Danbury Line service showed capacity for a new station,
however, existing headways of 40-plus minutes in the peak time would be
increased by four to eight minutes by adding a station. Considering the
limitations of the Danbury Line, DOT suggested there is potential to add more
frequent shuttle service between the existing rail stations and surrounding
area by using existing transit options within Norwalk.
Cost estimates placed construction of the station at $60
million, according to the study.
“A smaller investment into existing transit/microtransit
systems could likely create a focused and highly effective shuttle service
within the study area that links to the main line and points north of Danbury,”
the study said.
DOT announced plans for the study in April 2018 amid local
pressure to consider reestablishing the previous stop. The State Bond
Commission previously approved $275,000 for the study.
The considered spot for the station was the city-owned
Mechanic Street parking lot off Wall Street, across the Norwalk River from
Freese Park.
How New Milford will fix one of the worst bridges in Litchfield County
NEW MILFORD – The town is now one step closer to the
replacement of Merryall Road bridge — which has been identified
as one of the worst five bridges in Litchfield County and classified
as being in “poor condition."
Residents were encouraged to bring their questions about the
replacement of the bridge, which is located over the West Aspetuck River, to a
public hearing at the New Milford Inland Wetland Commission meeting on
Thursday.
New Milford hired WMC Consulting Engineers in Newington to
provide the design of the bridge and associated roadway and site improvements,
along with the evaluation of additional alternative studies for the bridge
replacement.
The town held a public information meeting to inform
residents of the bridge replacement project’s proposed construction, cost,
schedule and environmental considerations. In addition to replacing the bridge,
WMC Consulting Engineers Vice President Keegan Elder said the project’s goals
are to minimize disturbance to the traveling public, complete construction in a
timely manner and effectively use available funding for the project.
Elder said for next year, the cost of construction is
approximately $4.3 million — funding will be 50 percent from the
state and 50 percent from the town. He said construction is expected to take
seven months, to start April 1, 2023 and be finished on Nov. 30, 2023.
Elder said the project's total impact to state wetlands is
under 1,900 square feet.
As Elder discussed the bridge’s structure, he said the plan
for the project’s construction is to build half the bridge at a time. During
construction, he anticipates Merryall Road will be closed to traffic.
New Milford Department of Public Works Director Jack Healy
said the town will have another public session to address traffic concerns and
detours.
Elder said most concrete bridges have a 75- to 100-year
lifespan with proper maintenance and good workmanship.
Focusing on the west side of the river embankment and how
close it is to the road, resident Jim Stasiak asked if WMC is going to build
out the west side to prevent water from going up against the edges of the road.
Elder said the plan is to extend the waterwall and demonstrated on the maps of
the project how the wall will be built out.
Members of the Inland Wetland Commission also raised
concerns about whether the public had been made aware of the public information
session in September, given the bridge’s location in “a major area” and the
impact of the road’s closure on residents.
A public hearing on the Merryall Road bridge’s replacement
will continue at the Inland Wetland Commission’s next meeting on Dec. 8 at 7
p.m.
Bethel to vote on $12.3 million upgrade to water treatment plant — with water users to bear cost
BETHEL — A nearly $12.3 million project that’s part of the
town’s multi-year water system capital improvement plan will soon go to a town
vote.
A special town meeting will take place at 7 p.m. Thursday in
Meeting Room A of the Clifford J. Hurgin Municipal Center to schedule a
referendum on funding for the proposed Bergstrom Well and Water Treatment
Plant.
The plant would be located north of Joe Freebairn Field near
the intersection of Plumtrees and Walnut Hill roads and allow the town to
replace the subsurface water currently used for its water system with well
water.
“Well water is much better than subsurface waters from
reservoirs,” Acting First Selectman Rich Straiton said. “The well on the
Bergstrom property will produce 800 gallons a minute, and that water will be
much more suitable for the public water supply.”
Compared to reservoirs, which can yield drastically lower
amounts of water during periods of drought, Straiton said wells provide “a
more constant source of water.”
Of the $12.3 million needed for the project, nearly $10
million would be for construction, roughly $1.8 million for professional
services, $499,413 for contingency and $16,000 for legal fees.
Not all Bethel taxpayers would bear the cost — only
those who get town water, according to Straiton, who said there are 3,500 town
water users in Bethel.
“It’s user-based, so the people who currently get town water
will pay for this project and it’ll be over a 20-year loan,” he said.
Straiton said their water rates will go up a bit, but it’s
not yet known how much.
“We’re applying for over $3 million in grants, which will
help lower the cost, but the final number is not currently known,” he
said.
The Bergstrom Well and Water Treatment Plant project
— which Straiton said has been in development for three to four
years — is part of a 30-year capital improvement plan that the town
embarked on after voters rejected a proposal to sell Bethel’s water system to
Aquarion in 2013.
Since then, the town has built two new storage tanks,
drilled two new wells, refurbished a couple of existing ones and renovated
virtually every pump system. Part of the work involved the 2016 completion of the 750,000-gallon Eureka water storage tank,
which allowed the town to move forward with plans to further expand Clarke
Business Park.
New Haven, Spinnaker break ground for 200-apartment 1st building on former Coliseum site
NEW HAVEN — For 15 years, the five acres bounded by
South Orange, George and State streets and Route 34 has been nothing but a big
expanse of gray asphalt, a parking lot where the New Haven Veterans Memorial
Coliseum once stood.
That's about to change.
Heavy equipment and construction workers will roll in to
peel up the asphalt, do some digging, pour a foundation and start putting up
steel. In a couple of years, the 200-apartment
first of three buildings in Phase 1 of the site's redevelopment, to be known as
"Square 10," will appear.
"This is a big, big moment," said Mayor Justin
Elicker, a few minutes and seven more speakers before officials from the city,
state, Spinnaker Real Estate Partners and other stakeholders grabbed shovels to
toss some sand that had been trucked in and dumped on the parking lot at 275 S.
Orange St. for the occasion.
It's not easy to break ground through asphalt.
Elicker made reference to all the concerts that took place
at the Coliseum over the years, saying, "It's a different kind of rock and
roll, but we're rock-and-rolling today."
Over the past decade or so, "different entities have
tried to make this work, and now we have success," Elicker said said
of the
development, which is part of the larger Downtown Crossing project.
"Today is the day that we break ground."
He remarked about how many groundbreakings and ribbon cuttings
the city has had in recent months, saying the city's resilient economy "is
what just made the city pop."
Clay Fowler, founding partner of Spinnaker Real Estate
Partners and principal of LWLP New Haven LLC, to which the city transferred
ownership of the property last month, said, "We couldn't be more pleased
or more excited to be here."
He offered thanks to a host of people associated with the
project for their efforts getting it to this point.
Spinnaker took over the project in August 2019 after the initial
developer, Live Work Learn Play, a Montreal company that started the plan in
2013, withdrew after six years, faced with complications related to potentially
moving utility lines and putting up a hotel that didn’t cost out.
City Economic Development Administrator Michael Piscitelli
called the groundbreaking "really a milestone effort, even beyond the
shovels in the ground."
He acknowledged Ninth Square neighborhood businesses, which
he said have been patient for years while they waited for something to happen
on the site. "What happens on this site is going to support them for many
years," he said.
Piscitelli said there will be a public information meeting
on the project on Nov. 17 at 6 p.m. in the Canal Dock Boat House.
Hill and Downtown Alder Carmen Rodriguez, D-6, thanked
Spinnaker "and all others that are part of this project. History is in the
making today," she said. "We are going to see something that's new,
beautiful and it's going to connect communities."
Other speakers included Ginny Kozlowski, CEO of the Economic
Development Corporation of New Haven; Alexandra Daum, deputy commissioner of
the state Department of Economic & Community Development; Peter Calkins,
vice president of development for Ancora; and Garrett Sheehan, president and
CEO of the Greater New Haven Chamber of Commerce.
Daum praised New Haven as a partner with the state, saying,
"We always prioritize working with strong partners" and in this case,
"this is an amazing array of partners. ... Like everyone else, I'm excited
to get shovels in the ground."
In addition to 200 apartments — 20 percent of which will be
classified as "affordable housing" — the first building, designated
Phase 1A, will have 16,000 square feet of retail space and a 25,000-square-foot
public plaza. Two other buildings are in the development pipeline.
Spinnaker and its partners will reserve 20 of those units
for households at 50 percent to 60 percent of the area median income, or AMI,
and 20 units for households at 61 percent to 100 percent of AMI.
Phase 1 is a 3.5-acre parcel that will be developed in three
sub-phases, which will include housing, public amenities and a "life
sciences" medical and lab office building, city officials said.
The next two buildings, Phase 1B and Phase 1C , which still
need zoning approval, will follow next year after plans are reviewed and
approved by the City Plan Commission, city officials and an executive with the
developer said.
Phase 1B currently calls for construction of a 650-space
parking garage and an additional 75 to 100 apartments, 20 percent of which will
be affordable units, officials said. The new housing will partially wrap around
the garage structure.
Phase 1C will involve the construction of a more than
200,000-square-foot medical and laboratory building with a ground floor
restaurant, officials said.
Elicker thanked Ancora, one of Spinnaker's partners which is
developing the Phase 1C building, for investing in New Haven "without a
fully-leased building," for its confidence. He pointed out that Pelli
Clarke & Partners, a globally-respected architectural firm based in New
Haven, will be the building's designer.
Calkins also said he was pleased to be there and said
Ancora, based in North Carolina, is here because "obviously, Yale's here
and Yale is increasingly a driver in the life-sciences community." He said
his company currently is "in the midst of advancing the design" of
the third building.
The total construction price for Phase 1A is expected to be
$76 million, with the costs of the later phases still to be determined, city
spokesman Len Speiller has said. Estimated completion dates are 2025 for Phase
1A and 2027 for phases 1B and 1C.
The five-acre site, which has been a parking lot since the
Coliseum was imploded in a billowing cloud of dust, is at the city's
front door, where vehicles exiting Interstate 95 and Interstate 91 on Route 34
first enter downtown. It eventually will be home to 700
units, with ground floor retail, pool, a health club, a public plaza and many
other amenities.
Quarry operations prompt trail detour on Chauncey Peak in Meriden
Ben Baker
MERIDEN — Starting this month, hikers will need to
chart a different path along the trap rock ridges atop Chauncey Peak.
The Mattabesett Trail — which crests over the peak —
now has a minor detour, rerouting climbers near the top of the
mountain. Visitors can expect to find orange fencing and a sign pointing
them in an alternate direction due to work at the Suzio York Hill quarry.
After making a turn as directed, hikers are instructed to
follow a new set of trail markers: the signature blue blazed Mattabesett Trail,
accompanied by red, square-shaped markings beneath them.
The detour still allows Mattabesett hikers to witness
an extensive mountain view and summit Chauncey Peak, but they will be flanked
by orange fencing while doing so.
Because of work conducted on the Suzio York Hill property,
hikers “will be re-directed away from equipment and quarry operations,” the
Connecticut Forest & Parks Association announced.
Suzio York Hill Vice President Ric Suzio said the
company will begin quarrying in an area adjacent to the trail.
Though altering the pathway of the loop encircling the Bradley Hubbard
Reservoir, Suzio said the company will not interfere with major hiking
trails.
“The main trail will continue to be open and unobstructed,
but the loop that comes off, and some of the smaller spurs that people have
created to go look into the quarry, we’re going to be clearing some land
there,” Suzio said. “We just do not want people coming and walking in
while equipment is running up there.”
Suzio added he is unsure how long the ongoing project will
last or how long the Mattabesett detour will remain in place.
“We don’t know. It really depends on the weather
conditions.” Suzio said. “If we get a winter that arrives in the middle of
November and lasts until April, that’s going to make it a longer project. If we
have no snow this winter, it will be a shorter project.”
The process of extracting stone from the quarry often
requires the use of explosives. Suzio York Hill works with the company Maine
Drilling and Blasting to carry out quarrying, according to Suzio.
‘Unusual circumstance’
Suzio York Hill owns exclusive rights to the quarry
used to acquire trap rock — a key element of asphalt — and is free to
use land within 50 feet of cliff edges, naturalist Bob Pagini
said.
What makes Suzio York Hill’s activity uniquely
precarious for natural landmarks such as Chauncey Peak, Pagini said, is its
abnormally close proximity to quarry activity and the absence of a protective
“buffer” between a potential quarrying zone and the peak’s southern edge.
“Suzio has the right to blast away those cliffs at the top
on the southern part of the mountain because there is no 50-foot buffer
there that would protect that part of the mountain,” Pagini said. “It’s an
unusual circumstance in that most quarries don’t infringe upon cliff edges like
that.”
Suzio York Hill owns the southern exposure of Chauncey
Peak and could legally choose to run operations on the mountain, but Suzio
insisted his company “will not be infringing on Chauncey Peak at all.” He
stopped short, however, of guaranteeing the landmark would not be
damaged by ongoing quarrying.
“I can’t guarantee that. We take all caution that we can,”
Suzio said. “But life doesn’t come with a guarantee. We have no intentions
of it [damaging Chauncey Peak], and we take all precautions in making sure that
it is not [damaged].”
Suzio believes natural erosion poses a greater threat
to Chauncey Peak than quarrying and said his company previously committed
to protecting the mountain’s south side. But Pagini worries the company may
have a change of heart and continue to push closer to the peak as it seeks to
further extract trap rock.
“I’m just wondering if they’re going to stop at that point,”
Pagini said, “so that’s my main concern, that the southern peak be saved if
they could.”
More students, companies are pursuing apprenticeships in CT
It took about two weeks to assemble the application, recalls
Tahjay Greene, a senior at Platt Technical High School in Milford.
First he had to gather his high school transcripts, three
teacher recommendations, attendance and community service records and various
signatures from school administrators. Then there was the essay portion, which
asked, among other questions: “Where do you see yourself in five years?”
When all was said and done, Greene was among the less than
13% of applicants who were accepted this year. But it wasn’t admission to
college.
Greene landed an internship building military helicopters at
Lockheed Martin’s Sikorsky Aircraft, in Stratford, where he and 44 fellow high
school-aged students became the newest members of the Teamsters Local 1150 this
summer. They work full-time for eight weeks during the summers after their
junior and senior years, and upon graduation, many receive full-time job offers
at the helicopter manufacturer, making $27 to $29 an hour to start.
Sikorsky’s “Career Pathways” program, as it’s known, is one of a
growing number of work-based learning programs and apprenticeships that are
seeing an upswing in interest in Connecticut.
From 2020 to 2021, the Connecticut technical education
system said participation in work-based learning programs — where students work
part-time for school credit and pay — rose by 43% to more than 1,000 students
across the system’s 17 schools. That far exceeded the department’s annual goal
of 10% to 20% growth, according to Patricia King, who supervises the
program.
Registered apprenticeships, which are one- to four-year
on-the-job training programs offered by employers and trade unions, have also
made gains in recent years. According to the state labor department, there were
almost 300 more companies employing apprentices in 2022 than there were in
2013. The number of apprentices fluctuated over that time period but has
remained above 6,000 for the last six years — up from 4,618 in 2013.
“We call it ‘the other four-year degree,’” state
apprenticeship director Todd Berch said. “Instead of going to a classroom every
day, you go to the world of work.”
“Upon graduation from college, you get a degree,” Berch
said. “Upon graduation from an apprenticeship, you have your career.”
Policy researchers say the rising cost of higher education —
and crippling student loan debt — has begun to shift popular thinking about the
value of four-year bachelor's degree programs, leading to a renewed focus on career
and technical education. These career paths are more affordable (often paid)
and line up students with jobs in fields like defense manufacturing, where
Connecticut has a considerable need for skilled workers.
In Connecticut, which is among the top five states for
defense contract spending, there are about one-third as many jobs in
manufacturing today as there were at the sector’s peak in the late 1960s. And
much of the current workforce is nearing retirement age.
In order to crew up for a slew of new federal contract work,
Connecticut’s defense manufacturers are working together with state agencies,
community colleges and labor unions to train underemployed and unemployed
workers — and to build career paths for younger students coming up through the
state’s school systems.
Students like Greene stand to benefit from those programs,
which are heating up almost as quickly as the competition to get in.
Greene said one of his friends applied to Sikorsky’s “Career
Pathways” program and wasn’t accepted. Another friend had been “bragging” about
his summer job, Greene said, “but once he found out that I got into Sikorsky,
the first two weeks he kept texting me, ‘How’s it going? How’s Sikorsky going?”
There’s a reason work-based learning programs and
apprenticeships are so competitive: While their numbers are growing, they’re
still in short supply.
Before he was accepted into the Sikorsky program, Ben Pucci,
a recent graduate of the electrical trade program at W.F. Kaynor Technical High
School in Waterbury, said he had a hard time finding a company that would take
him on.
“A lot of the electricians, at least in my area, were so
swamped with work, they didn't have enough time to train a one-year apprentice,”
Pucci said. “I actually ended up working at Stop & Shop for about six
months. Man, that humbled me.”
For small manufacturing companies, hiring and training
young, inexperienced workers requires a significant investment of time and
money. And it’s hard to know whether it will pay off.
This year, at the urging of business groups, Connecticut
lawmakers passed legislation providing a tax credit to small manufacturing
companies who take on apprentices. The credit was already available to
large corporations, and smaller businesses had been urging the state to expand
it.
In testimony to the legislature, representatives from dozens
of companies — many of whom are suppliers to larger manufacturers — called on
lawmakers to “level the playing field.” They said it’s often the case that
they’ll invest in training a young employee, only to see them move on to take a
job at a larger company.
“This has made training new employees an unproductive use of
time and resources for smaller companies and only exacerbates the current
drought of skilled labor in the manufacturing industry,” Rep. Tami Zawistowski,
R-Suffield, said in written testimony.
While small companies can now take advantage of that tax
credit, the “drought of skilled labor” continues to strain defense
manufacturers and their suppliers.
Young people, once they’re trained, are in high demand. The
sector’s current workforce is aging: More than one-third of manufacturing
workers in Connecticut are over 55, according to the state labor department.
That leverage gives young people the luxury of choices.
Briley Peters, a senior at Emmett O'Brien Technical High
School in Ansonia, said some of the interns in her department saw the prospect
of working at Sikorsky after high school as “a fallback plan” and were still
weighing whether to go to college.
“I’d say it’s split 50-50,” Peters said.
To entice young employees to stay on, many companies
including Sikorsky offer reimbursement for the cost of additional schooling.
In many cases, but not all, the certification or degree has to be job-related.
“I wasn’t planning on going to college,” said Mikayla
DePalma, a Sikorsky intern who graduated this year from Platt Tech. “But coming
into Sikorsky, I still have the option to go to college.”
“It definitely beats tens of thousands of dollars of college
debt,” Pucci said.
(Pucci and DePalma both accepted job offers at Sikorsky
after completing their internships this fall.)
The investment can pay off for companies if it prevents
employees from heading somewhere else. And it pays off for the state by keeping
skilled, productive workers — and their income taxes — local.
This year, the legislature approved a tax break for
businesses that offer education reimbursements to their employees, up to $5,000
a year per person. (The credit was included in the annual budget “implementer”
bill, section 419.)
“The big guys were already doing it,” Gov. Ned Lamont told
attendees at a recent meeting of the Connecticut Business and Industry
Association. “I like to think this is one more reason [young people] want to
stay in Connecticut and one more reason you’d want to hire them,” he
said.
Paying dues
In several industries, labor unions take the lead running
apprenticeship and pre-apprenticeship programs.
Unions say the training provides a path to the middle class
on par with a four-year college degree. A recent study from the Illinois Economic Policy
Institute, which focused on the construction sector, found that “outcomes for
participants in joint labor-management (or union) apprenticeship programs rival
those for college graduates.”
Stephen Herzenberg, an economist and executive director of
the Keystone Research Center in Pennsylvania, says apprenticeship has been
increasingly “in vogue” in the United States, in part because college education
has become prohibitively expensive for many families.
Proponents often point to Germany’s education system,
where trade programs are seen as equally prestigious to
other educational paths, Herzenberg said.
“In Germany, there's basically a bifurcation in high school
between your college track and the apprenticeship track,” he said. “And
apprenticeship leads to lots of good and high status jobs in Germany.”
It’s slowly catching on here. Presidents Joe Biden, Donald
Trump and Barack Obama have all supported expanding apprenticeship programs.
From 2012 to 2021, the number of new apprentices in the U.S. grew by 64%, according to the Department of Labor.
Major new federal investments in infrastructure and broadband are pushing unions to ramp up those programs
in Connecticut and around the country. Union membership in Connecticut remains
above the national average of 10.3%, though it declined in 2021 to 14.6%.
The International Brotherhood of Teamsters runs Sikorsky’s pre-apprenticeships.
The students pay dues as part of participating, and they’re matched with
mentors who they work with side-by-side for the duration of the “Career
Pathways” program.
Known as “interns” around the plant, some operate advanced
machines that shape helicopter rotors and gears or work with composite
materials to build the aircraft frames. Others work as electricians and
mechanics on the assembly line, installing miles of wire and other components,
and spending a few days on each aircraft. Shifts start at 6:00 a.m., and
students earn $25 an hour for the duration of the eight-week program.
There’s a “family night” and an offsite “labor history day,”
where the students learn about contract negotiating and take a class with union
historian Karin Jones. At the end of the summer, the Teamsters hold a
graduation ceremony.
George Mitchell, Sikorsky’s VP of operations, said the
presence of so many inexperienced workers — and the investment of time by their
mentors — hasn’t had a measurable impact on the plant’s productivity or costs.
“For the most part, it multiplies our resources,” he said.
Shoring up defense
Major contracts with the Department of Defense are the
driving force behind Connecticut’s manufacturing sector, generating thousands
of jobs at the big three companies — Pratt & Whitney, General Dynamics
Electric Boat and Lockheed Martin’s Sikorsky — and thousands more at those
companies’ suppliers. Statewide, defense spending makes up 8.2% of all economic
activity.
In acknowledgement of the importance of that economic
engine, state lawmakers this year passed emergency legislation providing up to
$75 million in tax incentives to Sikorsky if the company wins a pair of contracts to build “future long-range assault”
helicopters for the U.S. Army. The new fleet is slated to replace Sikorsky’s
iconic Black Hawk helicopters and other aircraft that the Army is phasing out.
If only one of the contracts is secured, the state incentive would be up to $50 million.
In exchange, Sikorsky must maintain its headquarters and
primary helicopter production in Connecticut through 2042, employ a minimum of
7,000 full-time workers (roughly the same number it employs now), spend at
least $300 million annually with suppliers in the state and another $70 million
a year on capital expenditures.
Upon graduation from college, you get a degree. Upon
graduation from an apprenticeship, you have your career.
TODD BERCH, STATE APPRENTICESHIP DIRECTOR, CT DEPARTMENT OF
LABOR
David Lehman, commissioner of the state Department of
Economic and Community Development, said those requirements add “a layer of
assurance” for Sikorsky employees and subcontractors that there will be steady
work for the next 20 years.
“The first decade is the contract from the Army, and then
building out the factory and the supply chain,” he said. “Then you have a much
stickier economic ecosystem around these new helicopters. Really, the jobs in
that second decade, I think, are where a lot of the economic benefit comes from
to the state.”
It’s not easy for a high school student to picture where
they’ll be in five years, let alone 20.
But as young people in the state develop skills — via
work-based learning, apprenticeships, certifications and other education
supported by their employers — two decades from now, many members of
Connecticut's Gen Z could attain some financial stability.
Dave Tuttle, an instructor at Platt Tech who coordinates
many of the school’s work-based learning programs, said there’s really only one
group left to convince: parents.
“They believe, like a lot of people in our society believe …
that a college degree will automatically get you anything you want. No, it
won’t,” he said.
This story was produced as part of the Higher Education Media Fellowship. The Fellowship supports
reporting on career and technical education. It is administered by the
Institute for Citizens & Scholars and funded by the ECMC Foundation.