BETHEL — The local cost of a project to provide cleaner
water in town will be reduced by a couple million dollars thanks to two federal
grants.
After getting voters’ approval last month to fund the $12.3 million Bergstrom Well
and Water Treatment Plant project, Bethel secured $2.24 million in federal
funding thanks in part to the efforts of U.S. Sen. Richard Blumenthal, who
stopped by Clifford J. Hurgin Municipal Center Tuesday morning to discuss the
project.
The Bergstrom Well and Water Treatment Plant will be located
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.
The recently awarded federal funding for the project
includes a $1.6 million grant toward the facility’s construction and a $640,000
grant to help pay for the plant’s supervisory control and data acquisition
system.
“It’s not your grandfather’s water treatment plant,” Blumenthal
said, calling the plant “the future of water quality.”
Blumenthal said Bethel is “unique in getting two grants for
water quality,” and he believes it’s the only town in the state to receive more
than one.
“Bethel has its foot in the door,” he said. “Water is a big
deal these days with shortages in Connecticut and all around the country, and
Bethel will be a model for other communities, who will be clamoring for these
kinds of systems.”
Bethel’s public utilities director, Thomas Villa, said the
plant’s Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition system — or SCADA — will allow
for remote monitoring of the plant, requiring less manpower at the site.
“Looking at your laptop, you’ll be able to see what the tank
levels are and at what rate pumps are pumping at,” he said.
Villa added that the system will also send alerts if there
are any problems at the plant that need to be addressed.
“There’s no reason for water quality to be left to chance
when we have the technology to make sure it’s constant,” Blumenthal said.
Blumenthal said the plant will not only provide better
quality water, but allow users of Bethel’s water system to avoid “astronomical”
water rate hikes like the one Aquarion recently requested.
“It will be less expensive and better water,” he said.
Construction of the water treatment facility is budgeted at
nearly $10 million. The remainder of the $12.3 million approved for the project
includes roughly $1.8 million for professional services, $499,000 for
contingency and $16,000 for legal fees, according to the town.
The project 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.
Bethel’s acting first selectman, Rich Straiton, said the
Bergstrom well will produce 800 gallons of water a minute and the water will be
“much more suitable for the public water supply” than the subsurface water
that’s currently used.
“The quality of the water will be much better,” he said.
“The old subsurface reservoirs are antiquated and this is the best route to
go.”
Construction is expected to start this spring and take
about two years to complete.
Osten, Conley introduce bills impacting quasi-public agencies
Erica Moser
Stemming from the controversies that surround the
Connecticut Port Authority and its oversight of the State Pier redevelopment in
New London, Sen. Cathy Osten, D-Sprague, and Rep. Christine Conley, D-Groton,
have introduced two bills that would place limits on the authority and other
quasi-public agencies.
One bill would prohibit construction managers hired by a
quasi-public agency to oversee a project from applying for any work associated
with that project, including but not limited to construction, engineering and
operations. This practice is already not allowed in state agencies.
The Connecticut Mirror reported in November that the port authority allowed
Kiewit Corporation, construction manager for the State Pier redevelopment for
offshore wind, to submit bids and recommend itself for subcontracts worth
roughly $87.8 million.
Connecticut Port Authority Chairman David Kooris told the CT
Mirror that Kiewit’s recommendations did not present a conflict of interest
because consulting firm AECOM also reviewed the bids and made the same
recommendation.
The other bill would prohibit “success fees” in quasi-public
and state agencies. The port authority paid a $523,000 success fee in 2020 to Seabury Capital
Group, a New York consulting firm that helped the Port Authority find a pier
operator. A managing director at Seabury previously served on the port authority board.
“We don’t think in publicly related projects there should be
success fees at all. It doesn’t make sense; it has no value,” Osten said. She
added, “If it’s well worth doing, we don’t need success fees.”
Conley said she was “shocked that we did success fees” and
doesn’t think it’s an appropriate use of public funds.
Overall, she said “it’s good for the region to be investing
in State Pier … however, making sure we keep a close eye on the public funds
used is very important.”
Connecticut Port Authority Executive Director Ulysses B.
Hammond said in an email statement Tuesday, “From a public policy perspective,
the Authority welcomes legislators', and especially Senator Osten's, efforts to
clarify procurement policies and best practices for state and quasi-public
agencies."
The State Contracting Standards Board is also looking into
success fees, which are not illegal ― but finder’s fees are. At the board’s
meeting Friday, member Bob Rinker said if the attorney general’s office says a
success fee is not a finder’s fee and was appropriate, the board might want to
take the position that the legislature should ban success fees.
The board’s newly hired research analyst is looking into the legislative intent of various bills
pertaining to the port authority, and Osten said Monday the “port authority was
not meeting the real intent that was set up for it.”
While issues with the port authority inspired these bills,
Osten noted the legislation would apply to all quasi-public agencies, such as Access Health,
Connecticut Airport Authority, Connecticut Housing Finance Authority,
Connecticut Innovations, Connecticut Lottery Corporation, and Connecticut Paid
Family and Medical Leave Insurance Authority.
In even-numbered session years, legislators can only
introduce bills related to budgetary and revenue matters, meaning they were
limited in what they could introduce pertaining to the port authority last
year.
Osten forwarded the two bills ― which just have short
placeholder text for now ― to The Day on Saturday but noted they do not have
bill numbers yet, meaning they’re not yet available to view on the Connecticut
General Assembly website. Legislators had until Friday to file bills, and
Conley said the Legislative Commissioners’ Office was inundated.
Because of this deadline, Conley said the Transportation
Committee ― of which she is a member ― will raise a placeholder bill Wednesday
that has to do with the port authority, “in case more issues arise.” She’s also
not sure what will come out of the State Contracting Standards Board.
Osten said Monday morning that while the southeastern
Connecticut delegation talked about the port authority in a recent meeting, she
had not reached out to anybody aside from Conley about these two bills, and she
is not aware of other legislation pertaining to the port authority.
Sen. Martha Marx, D-New London, said later Monday after learning
about the bills that she would be a co-sponsor and added, “We need as much
transparency as we can have, to make our constituents believe that government
is doing the right thing.”
Editor’s note: This article has been updated with a comment
from the Connecticut Port Authority.
CT Port Authority is likely to ask for more money for State Pier
Andrew Brown
The Connecticut Port Authority is preparing to ask the state
for more money to redevelop the State Pier in New London, despite promises last
year that taxpayers would not need to contribute any additional funding for the
multimillion-dollar infrastructure project.
David Kooris, the chairman of the CT Port Authority, told
Hearst Connecticut Media in a recent interview that he expects the overall
price tag on the roughly $255 million project to increase one more time and
that the authority was likely to seek at least some of that money from Gov. Ned
Lamont and state lawmakers.
Kooris told Hearst that the Port Authority was also likely
to ask for additional funding from Ørsted and Eversource, the two private
energy companies that intend to use the State Pier as a launching point for new
offshore wind turbines.
“We expect one more increase, and we’re working through that
with our contractors,” Kooris said in the interview with Hearst. “We hope to be
in a position to finalize things in the coming weeks and months, you know, by
the end of February. I think what we can say at this point is, we know whatever
else that we may ask the legislature for is going to have to go hand in hand
with an additional commitment from our private partners.”
Kooris and other officials at the Port Authority disclosed
during several board meetings last year that the project continued to face
unforeseen delays due to problems with driving large steel pilings at the
construction site, which sits at the mouth of the Thames River.
But the Port Authority’s leadership gave no indication until
this week that it was considering asking the State Bond Commission to borrow
more money for the project, which has struggled with numerous cost overruns and
schedule delays.
The last time Kooris came before the State Bond Commission
last year, he assured state leaders that no other state funding would be
necessary to finish construction and commence operations at the State Pier.
Rep. Holly Cheeseman, one of two Republican lawmakers on the
Bond Commission, asked Kooris during that meeting to swear on the lives of his
family members that the Port Authority would not need any additional financing.
At the time, Kooris joked that his daughters wouldn’t
appreciate him making that vow, but he promised that he would not appear before
the bond commission again.
It’s unclear at this point how much money the Port Authority
needs in order to finish the work on the State Pier.
Andrew Lavigne, the Port Authority’s Manger of Special
Projects, told the CT Mirror the final cost will be contingent on the outcome
of negotiations with the contractors on the State Pier project.
It will also hinge on the negotiations between the Port
Authority and Eversource and Ørsted, which first announced their partnership in
2019 when the pier was being advertised as a $93 million project.
Cheeseman, who represents East Lyme, said she is deeply
frustrated that the Port Authority is now signaling that it plans borrow more
money for the project.
“I am disappointed,” she said. “I am shocked and horrified
on the part of the Connecticut taxpayer, because we had an assurance that there
would be no more state funds put into this project.”
There were signs last fall that the Port Authority was in a
difficult position financially, as the work stretched on and construction crews
continued to encounter problems at the site.
In October, the Port Authority’s board voted to pull several
million dollars out of an account that was set aside to fund future operating
expenses in order to bankroll the ongoing construction costs at the pier.
Cheeseman said she and other lawmakers viewed that decision
as a desperate move to keep the project alive without asking for additional
money from the Bond Commission.
But she hoped it was the last financial maneuver the Port
Authority would need to finish the project.
It became clear this week that was not the case.
One of the biggest complaints that critics have had about
the project is the amount of funding that Eversource and Ørsted have
contributed to the redevelopment effort, as the cost of the project nearly
tripled over the past two years.
At last count, the state dedicated roughly $178 million to
the project, while Eversource and Ørsted offered up roughly $77.5 million.
Bob Stefanowski, the Republican candidate for governor,
specifically complained about that cost sharing arrangement while campaigning
against Lamont last fall.
Had he been governor, Stefanowski claimed he would have
required Eversource and Ørsted to pick up a larger portion of the cost since
the companies will be two of the primary beneficiaries of the project.
Stefanowski isn’t the only one who espoused that view.
During a meeting last October, David Pohorylo, one of the
Port Authority board members, publicly questioned whether the two energy
companies were contributing enough to the project considering how much they
stand to benefit financially from the pier over the next decade or more.
“They’re the ones to truly benefit from all of this money
that we are putting into it,” Pohorylo said during the board meeting.
“I’m a taxpayer too,” he added. “I’ve got a dollar or two of
my money in this project along with everybody else. So I’m hoping for the best,
but let’s be honest with what we are looking at.”
Kooris responded to Pohorylo’s concerns by arguing that the
state also stands to benefit from the long term investment in the upgraded
pier, which will continue to be managed as a state-owned property.
“I’m confident this is a sound investment for the state and
will create return for generations,” Kooris told his fellow board members.
Even so, the Port Authority and Lamont’s administration now
seem poised to ask Eversource and Ørsted to commit more private money to the
State Pier.
Officials at the Port Authority declined to answer questions
about exactly how much money the agency is asking Eversource and Ørsted to
contribute.
But Lavigne, the Port Authority’s special projects manager,
said those details were being discussed in negotiations.
The Lamont administration was just as vague when asked about
the situation, but in a statement, the governor’s office indicated that they
were hoping for the two companies to offset part of the rising cost of the
project.
“At this time, the Office of the Governor hasn’t received a
request from the Port Authority, but any potential action should include our
partners,” Adam Joseph, Lamont’s Director of Communications, said.
The CT Mirror asked Eversource and Ørsted this week whether
the Port Authority has already approached the companies about increasing their
share of the project cost.
But they too declined to answer specific questions about how
much money the state is asking the companies to pay or whether the companies
will agree to revise their current contract with the state.
“We believe in the strategic and economic importance of
transforming State Pier into a state-of-the-art, heavy-lift marine terminal
able to serve Connecticut with a broader range of industries, cargo types, and
vessels,” the companies wrote in a joint statement.
“As the project progresses, we will continue to work, as we
have always done, with the State of Connecticut and the Connecticut Port
Authority to provide flexibility and support where necessary and practicable to
achieve the port’s successful redevelopment,” they added.
If the companies and the state can reach a new deal, they
will need to do so quickly.
Under the current plan, the pier is expected to be
“substantially completed” by late next month. And ships are supposed to start
arriving in New London as early as May to begin transporting the large wind
turbines into the Atlantic Ocean.
Officials at the Port Authority said the agency is still on
track to meet those deadlines.
Norwich Mayor Nystrom highlights development successes, new school project
Claire Bessette
Norwich ― During an upbeat State of the City address
Tuesday, Mayor Peter Nystrom touted several major economic development projects
completed or underway and thanked voters for their strong support of the $385
million school construction project that is designed to overhaul the public
school system.
Nystrom, starting the second year of his second consecutive
term and third term overall, mostly avoided controversial topics, such as the
proposed second business park in Occum under review by the City Council
Tuesday.
But Nystrom did give the council and the audience Tuesday an
update on the state Department of Transportation’s controversial plan to
reconstruct West Main Street-Route 82. The DOT initially had planned to install
six roundabouts and a median divider on a 1.3-mile stretch of the commercial
strip, but that plan was paused in fall to be “reassessed,” DOT officials said.
Nystrom said Tuesday he, City Manager John Salomone, Public
Works Director Patrick McLaughlin and City Engineer Brian Long met recently via
Zoom with state officials to discuss the project. Nystrom said a revised design
is expected in April.
“What can be shared is that the number 6 will not be
included in future discussions,” Nystrom said, referring to the roundabouts.
He added that after the revised plan is unveiled in April he
expects public discussions to follow.
Mostly, Nystrom focused on the schools, recent voter
referendum approvals for a new emergency dispatch system and firetrucks ―
approvals he called “solid investments” ― and economic development successes.
A year ago, Nystrom reported that a company that
manufactures large architectural glass panels for high-rise buildings would
move into the Stanley Israelite Norwich Business Park. Nystrom said the
company, now called Naverra, is fully operational.
“In addition to the approximate 70 to 100 eventual jobs,
they are establishing themselves as one of our top three utility users,”
Nystrom said.
Several Main Street projects underway garnered a mention.
Heritage Housing, Inc., co-owner of the Wauregan Apartments,
acquired the decades-long-vacant Reid & Hughes Building across Main Street, and the
city obtained a $550,000 state grant to assist with the cleanup. Heritage plans
a $4.9 million renovation to create 17 market-rate apartments.
Down the road to the east, the former Elks Club is being renovated into a boutique hotel and
the blighted former YMCA will become the new headquarters for Mattern
Construction Group, with the help of a $2 million state grant. At the opposite
end of Main Street, work is continuing to convert two large vacant buildings at
77-91 Main St. into 42 market rate apartments.
In Yantic, the former Hale Mill is being renovated into a
hotel, and in Taftville, construction continues at the giant Ponemah Mills,
with an additional 145 units of combined market-rate and
affordable “top quality housing,” Nystrom said.
“When finished 460 units of housing will have been developed
while preserving an historic building complex not found anywhere else in the
world,” Nystrom said.
Nystrom said new and renovated housing, commercial
development projects along with new city schools and improved infrastructure
will make Norwich an attractive place “for families to buy homes and for
businesses to invest.”
Two bridges will be replaced in Lyme this year
Elizabeth Regan
Lyme ― Two structurally deficient bridges that have either
limited or prohibited through traffic on local roads over the past several
years are slated to be replaced this year.
First Selectman David Lahm said the town last week awarded
the $889,202 contract for replacement of the 14.5-foot-long Birch Road bridge
over Falls Brook to Suchocki & Son, Inc. of Old Lyme.
Lahm said he expects construction on the bridge to begin
sometime around May, targeting late summer for completion.
A lower bid of $776,335 from Clinton-based New England Road,
Inc. was rejected because the company did not meet all the qualifications,
according to Lahm.
Licensing documents from the state Department of Energy and
Environmental Projection said the project will replace the bridge with a
21-foot-long, precast concrete box culvert.
Lahm said bids on the replacement of the 50-year-old
Macintosh Road bridge over the Eight Mile River have been received, but the
town has not yet awarded the project. The cost is estimated at $1.2 million and
work is expected to take place over the summer.
Officials since 2020 have been saving for the projects in
the town’s capital reserves. In the current budget alone, officials added
$829,873 for the Birch Mill Road project and $581,710 for the Macintosh Road
project.
The $1.4 million total accounts for more than half of the
$2.4 million increase in the town’s capital expenses compared to the previous
year.
Lahm said the Birch Mill Road project is fully funded while
the remainder of the Macintosh Road project will be included in the 2023-24
budget.
The federal government will reimburse the town for 80% of
the cost of the Macintosh Road bridge replacement, while the state Department
of Transportation (DOT) will cover half of the smaller Birch Mill Road project.
The Birch Mill Road bridge has been closed since 2019
because of its poor condition, and the Macintosh Road bridge was subsequently
downgraded to prohibit large vehicles, such as firetrucks and school buses,
from crossing.
The first selectman attributed the two-year delay in
beginning the work to a lengthy permitting process. The approval from the Army
Corps of Engineers came through in November, according to Lahm.
The Zoning Commission from 2020 and 2021 raised concerns
about the aesthetic aspects of the bridge, according to meeting minutes. Former
First Selectman Steve Mattson in December 2020 assured members there would be a
public hearing after permits were secured.
In August 2021, town engineer Don Gerber made a presentation
to the Zoning Commission on the project. Members afterward voted to approve a
favorable report to the Board of Selectmen.
Lahm said the presentation to the Zoning Commission served
as a public hearing on the matter. The item was listed in the “old business”
section of the agenda and was not advertised as a public hearing.
The Local Bridge Program Manual updated in 2019 said a
public hearing does not have to be a formal hearing “as long as the public is
provided an opportunity to comment on the project and minutes are kept.”
The state DOT could not by press time provide details about
the requirements, if any, for a public hearing on local bridge projects such as
this one.
Macintosh Road Bridge will be extended
The National Bridge Inventory specifies the Macintosh Road
bridge is in fair condition, while the substructure is in serious condition.
Project engineers with the state Department of
Transportation and SLR International Corp. at a 2021 informational meeting
acknowledged the bridge is in an “environmentally sensitive area” where two of
the three abutting properties are owned by or under a conservation easement
through the Lyme Land Trust. They said the Eight Mile River’s prestigious Wild
and Scenic federal designation added additional scrutiny to the process.
Plans call for extending the span from 50 to 64 feet and
using methods that allow for water to flow underneath more efficiently during
flood conditions and to reduce the chances of debris getting trapped there.
Engineers during the informational meeting said the road
will be closed during construction with a detour south onto Mount Archer Road
and Route 156. Access will be maintained to the parking area for Jewett
Preserve to the west of the bridge as well as the swimming area to the east,
they said.
A nearby bridge upgrade to the East Haddam Swing Bridge
started to affect local traffic this month. The rehabilitation project, slated
to last through the spring of 2024, includes periodic closures resulting in a
30-mile detour that includes Routes 82 and 156 in Lyme. Updates are available
at www.easthaddamswingbridgeproject.com.
Renewable energy company proposes 13.6-acre solar farm in Enfield
Arenewable energy developer is proposing to construct a
solar farm with 9,852 photovoltaic panels spanning 13.6 acres that will produce
4 MW of electricity in Enfield.
Avon-based Lodestar Energy LLC is seeking approval from the
Connecticut Siting Council to build the energy-generating facility on three
parcels on the east side of Raddia Road. Although the town’s Planning and
Zoning Commission does not have jurisdiction, it was notified of the project
during a meeting earlier this month.
The southwestern portion of the site contains a farm, which
will not be affected by the project.
The project includes an electrical service connection from
an existing Eversource distribution system along the west side of Raffia Road,
and six new utility poles.
The maximum height of the panels will be 11 feet, according
to the application. There would be no impact on wetlands.
Construction is expected to take six to nine months once
permits are obtained, and the developer hopes to begin construction this
spring.
Not only will the project produce electricity, it will
produce no air emissions during operation and will contribute to carbon
reduction, the developer’s petition to the Connecticut Siting Council says.
Because the project has a capacity of less than 65 MW, it
can be approved by the Connecticut Siting Council by a declaratory ruling. The
council received the petition Jan. 6 and the deadline for public comment is
Feb. 5. The council has until March 7 to take action, and a deadline of July 5
to make a decision.
Lodestar develops renewable energy projects across New
England, with more than 500 MW of capacity in its portfolio.
Simon Konover eyes apartment development on long-dormant East Hartford riverside property
The Simon Konover Co. has approached East Hartford officials
with tentative plans for a 130-unit apartment development near the Connecticut
River.
The West Hartford-based real estate investor and developer
has owned the 35.2-acre property at 341 East River Drive for decades,
originally eyeing it as space for office development.
Newton C. Brainard, Simon Konover’s vice president of
acquisitions and development confirmed Simon Konover’s interest in a
multifamily development on the site. The company sees continuing demand for
apartments in Greater Hartford and is encouraged by “a bit of a renaissance” in
East Hartford, particularly its riverfront.
The “beautiful site” benefits from easy highway access, its
proximity to Hartford and its position along the river, Brainard noted.
To the south is riverside greenspace and trails leading to
Goodwin University’s recently built – and growing – riverside campus. To the
north is Great River Park and Founders Plaza – an office park that is a priority
for redevelopment by the town.
Brainard cautioned Konover has months of work ahead vetting
the development before it determines if the development is possible. The
company still needs to “crunch the numbers,” and hash out possible financing
terms with public agencies and private lenders, he said. Still, Konover remains
hopeful the project will be possible and will continue pre-development work, he
said.
“We are happy to be doing it,” Brainard said. “We think it’s
a very good use.”
Eileen Buckheit, the town’s director of development, said
she anticipates funding from the Capital Region Development Authority will be
in the mix.
East Hartford Mayor Michael P. Walsh said the town still
needs to hammer out a development and tax agreement with Simon Konover. He is
enthusiastic about the development prospect.
“We are in the process of remaking East Hartford,” Walsh
said. “These units are a good start toward raising incomes and that becomes the
lifeblood for future retail.”