CT to experiment with speed cameras. Here’s what that means for drivers.
The unblinking eye of cameras will begin enforcing the speed
limits at highway work zones in Connecticut in a tightly constrained pilot
program that begins on April 10, the day after Easter.
To Carl Chisem, the experiment is long overdue. As the
president of Connecticut Employees Union Independent, Chisem represents 3,600
state employees, including 1,500 at the Department of Transportation.
“The data does not lie,” Chisem said Wednesday. “In the last
four years, there have been 3,674 crashes, resulting in 13 fatalities and 32
serious injuries in work zones alone.”
A simple memorial in the DOT lobby lists names of the 13 and
24 other workers killed in work zones. Where someone might ordinarily leave
flowers, there are orange traffic cones marked CT DOT and wrapped in black ribbon.
Gov. Ned Lamont joined Chisem, DOT workers and others in a
parking lot near the DOT headquarters in Newington to publicize the start of a
pilot program that transportation officials hope will become a permanent check
on reckless drivers.
“It’s gotten pretty dodgy since COVID,” Lamont said. “A lot of people driving like a bat out of hell. It’s these folks who are at risk.”
They stood by a white SUV equipped with cameras linked
to automated systems that will issue tickets. Cars sped by on the Berlin
Turnpike, occasionally drowning out the speakers.
“What if this press conference was scheduled for behind a
set of cones on I-95 at midnight — or even better, after the bars get out?”
asked Donald J. Shubert, the president of the Connecticut Construction
Industries Association.
The highway construction season is a three-season affair,
with overnight shifts common.
“Construction workers are going to be out there eight to 10
hours a night, spring, summer and fall, focusing on their fellow employees, the
trucks, the heavy equipment and the quality of their work with their backs
towards the traffic,” Shubert said. “Think about that. How would you feel?”
On the night of Nov. 16, 1995, David Ferraro was a
construction inspector in a closed southbound lane on I-95 in Greenwich, about
1,000 feet from the New York border, when a motorist sent safety cones flying,
struck a truck and sped away.
“It was at the beginning of the night at the point where all
workers were preparing to start paving,” Ferraro said.
He felt the impact of the cones, not realizing he had been
hit by the car until a trooper pointed to his torn and bloodied jeans. Troopers
caught the driver in New York. He was drunk.
Ferraro said things only have gotten worse.
“Over my years on the job, I’ve seen it all,” he said.
“People not just going five or 10 miles an hour over the speed limit, they’re
going 30, 40 or plus miles an hour over the speed. So what can we do to slow
people down? We do this by joining other states around the country and adding
automated speed control devices and cameras to active construction projects.”
The General Assembly has placed tight limits on the DOT:
Only three camera-enforcement vehicles can be used at one time, each limited to
a work site posted with signage warning motorists of automated speed
enforcement.
The cameras are unblinking, but they are programmed for
leniency: They cannot issue a ticket unless someone is 15 miles per hour over
the limit.“This is not that complicated. Don’t drink and drive. Don’t tweet and
drive. Stop speeding,” Lamont said. “Look at the wrong-way deaths. We see
what’s happening to pedestrians getting hit. And look at the folks behind me.”
Behind him were DOT employees and private-sector
construction workers.
“These guys are going to be really busy for the next 10
years. We’re upgrading our roads and bridges in a way that the state hasn’t
seen since Dwight Eisenhower,” Lamont said.
Eisenhower was the president who pushed for passage of the
Federal-Aid Highway Act of 1956 and the creation of an interstate highway
system not deemed to be finished until 1992.
Garrett Eucalitto, the DOT commissioner, said the agency
will compare speeds at work sites before and after the cameras are deployed to
measure their effectiveness. He must report results to the legislature at
year’s end.
The DOT currently is seeking authorization to use the
cameras on local roads.
“We’ve seen it in New York City. We’ve seen it in
Philadelphia,” Eucalitto said. “We don’t want to put them everywhere. But it’s
a good tool to have to help save lives and reduce crashes.”
Speed traps seemed to have disappeared during COVID.
Col. Stavros Mellekas said staffing has limited their
deployment, but they are out there. And in state police parlance, speed traps
do not exist.
“We don’t call them speed traps,” he said. “We do motor
vehicle enforcement.”
Construction employment increases in 45 states
Construction employment increased in 45 states in February
compared with a year ago, according to analysis
of federal employment data by the Associated General Contractors of
America.
Texas saw the largest number of jobs added, increasing by
37,900, or 5%, from February 2022 to February 2023. West Virginia saw the
largest drop, losing 2,200 jobs, or 6.5%, over that time period.
From January to February, construction employment increased in 24 states, held steady in six and declined in 20 and Washington, D.C. “Unfavorable weather may have held back construction in many states last month compared to January,” said Ken Simonson, the AGC chief economist. “But construction employment continued to expand almost everywhere in February compared to a year ago, despite a slump in homebuilding.”
Most construction firms report trouble finding enough
workers to keep pace with demand. Many contractors are opting not to bid on
projects as a result, because they simply do not have the staffing to complete
and deliver the work, according to AGC.
AGC officials have urged Congress and the Biden
administration to increase funding for career and technical education and to
open doors to permit foreign workers with construction experience to more
easily enter the country legally.
The Department of Labor has recently announced
initiatives to train and employ women and minorities —
underrepresented groups in construction — so that they can find
a strong career path and fill the gap in demand. The agency hopes the
Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act will create an opportunity for workers
seeking good-paying jobs, who then realize their future in construction.
Nevertheless, the gap is wide. The IIJA
will likely continue to push demand higher. Even as large infrastructure
projects come to town, builders are competing over a small pool of staff for
their work.
Developer proposes larger Fairfield Metro multi-use project
FAIRFIELD — The developers of a massive mixed-use
development in town are proposing changes to their project.
Accurate, the development company which bought the Ash
Creek Boulevard property last year, presented its plans to the Town Plan
and Zoning Commission in a meeting Tuesday night. The project has been stymied
for nearly two decades, and Accurate has stated it will finally build the
mixed-use residential and commercial development.
According to town documents, the concourse building, which
was originally going to be a 30,000-square-foot commercial space, will now be
expanded with plans to include a hotel. The proposal also calls for building
674 apartments, up from the original 357.
Accurate aims to create the "vibrant, transit-oriented
community first envisioned several years ago a reality," according to the
plan. In order to do that, plans say, it will submit several land-use
applications and zoning amendments to the town, and is seeking a pre-review
from the TPZ.
Commissioners asked about parking, stormwater drainage as
well as what type of commercial businesses would fill the space.
The developers said there would be retail and restaurants,
noting there would be a business center, stores and other types of companies.
Commissioner Lenny Braman said the new designs are an
improvement on what was previously approved in many ways. Commissioner Daniel
Ford shared similar sentiments, but said there might be objections from
neighbors about the scale of the concourse building.
Commissioner Meg Francis also said she liked the plan.
"It's more attractive than it was and I really commend
you for it," she said, adding it would not bother if they decreased the
amount of the project dedicated to housing.
The proposal notes Accurate is seeking to reconfigure what
was originally approved so that the apartments will be spread out across seven
buildings ranging from three to five stories in height. As part of that, the
plans call for a pedestrian plaza in front of buildings 6 and 7, which will be
surrounded by 10,000 square feet of commercial or residential amenity
space.
Accurate said it wants to make the concourse building a
landmark building in the community, later adding it will be eight stories with
a train depot for commuters, office space, a hotel and restaurant uses.
"The Concourse will contain approximately 41,400 square
feet of office space, and 118 hotel rooms," it said. "Two
below-grade parking levels are also contemplated."
In order to facilitate this, Accurate is proposing changing
zoning regulations to allow for building heights of up to 125 feet on the
property. For the apartments, it is requesting increasing the amount of
bedrooms allowed per acre to 39 from 20.
To allow the increased number of apartments, Accurate is
looking for the town to approve an increase in bedrooms per acre from 20 to 39.
The proposal notes there will be 874 bedrooms in the development's 674
apartments. It also proposes that 80 of the units be restricted as
affordable.
In the plan, Accurate notes that the town can use the affordable
units to earn points under the 8-30g system. A state statute, 8-30g allows
developers to bypass local zoning laws if building affordable housing in a town
where less than 10 percent of housing stock qualifies as affordable.
The proposal said that 79 percent of the development will be
residential while the remaining balance will be for non-residential use.
"The contemplated modifications to the approval and
zoning regulations will help achieve the highest and best use of the property,
provide much needed housing and support economic growth within the town,"
it said.
Shovels hit the dirt on the project last fall, after years
of delays, with town officials and the developers expressing excitement at the
time that work was underway. First Selectwoman Brenda Kupchick said she was on
the Representative Town Meeting when the town entered into an agreement with
the state and a developer for the property.
Accurate is the third developer working on the project since
Blackrock Realty proposed a massive development around Fairfield’s third train
station with the goal of making it a hub of commuter and shopping activity.
Blackrock Realty contributed $5.4 million to the construction of the station in
exchange for the rights to build its initial commercial and residential project
connected to the station.
Initially proposed in 2005, the development was to have
roughly 1 million square feet of mostly office space with a mix of retail and a
hotel elements.
Those developers had wanted to pre-lease a lot of that
office space before beginning construction, but found the demand for it had
dried up after the 2008 economic crash. Blackrock's project went through a
number of revisions after that, including proposals for a five-story, 197-unit
apartment building.
The site is the former location of a foundry, and
development of the site had long been a topic of debate, with officials saying
the property has been vacant for too long. Construction on Building 4, which
will host apartments, started last year.
Connecticut commercial energy storage demand spurs government action
Connecticut has initiated the second tranche of its
statewide commercial energy storage program, aimed at incentivizing 100 MW of
battery deployments while continuing to support its residential program.
In the first round, 46.4 MW of commercial and industrial
energy storage was approved, with a total energy capacity of 139.4 MWh. The
projects average 3 hours of capacity per hour of peak power output.
The residential program recently surpassed the 1 MW sign-up
milestone and has ample space in its first round, which targets 10 MW of
deployed capacity.
The program is managed by Energy Storage Solutions and
administered by the Connecticut Green Bank. The state aims to deploy 1 GW of
energy storage by 2030, with interim targets of 300 MW awarded by 2024 and 650
MW by 2027.
Residential customers can receive an upfront incentive of
approximately $200 per kWh of battery capacity, with the maximum incentive
capped at $7,500. Multiple batteries can be combined to achieve up to 37.5 kWh.
Several other factors affect the final value, which can be found here.
To qualify, batteries must be accessible by local power
companies for use during peak demand periods. Residential battery owners will
be compensated based on when and if their systems are used during high-demand
periods. The summer season runs from June to September, and the winter season
from December to March. The batteries are expected to be used between noon and
9:00 PM.
Batteries from Enphase, Generac, and SunPower have been
approved for the residential market. These units can be managed by inverters
from Enphase, Sol-Ark, GoodWe and Shenzhen Lux Power.
The legislation also stipulates that low-income,
underserved, and “grid edge” located customers qualify for additional
incentives. The state has released a detailed map that shows where the edges of
the grid are located.
Research by Dr. Christopher T. M. Clack of Vibrant Energy
suggests that putting additional solar and storage at the edges of the grid
would generate $473 billion in benefits nationally, with $109 billion in California alone.
The first tranche includes 27 projects submitted by six
developers, with projects located in 20 towns across the Constitution State.
Of the 1 GW of capacity to be deployed, the law states that
at least 580 MW must be located at the point of demand.
The energy storage program is part of Connecticut’s broader
goal of achieving 100% clean energy production by 2040. As of 2030, 48% of the
electricity sold within the state must come from renewable energy resources.
The commercial portion of the program aims to deploy 100 MW
of capacity. Hardware from six manufacturers are approved: Cadenza Innovation, Caterpillar, Tesla, ELM
Fieldsight, Milton CAT and Socomec.
For more on solar policy in Connecticut, read 50 states of solar incentives: Connecticut.
CT Water plans to build solar array in Clinton
The Connecticut Water Co. said it will begin construction on
a solar array installation at its corporate office and southern region work
center in Clinton next month.
The solar array, a combination of roof and ground-mounted
units, will completely offset electrical consumption at both facilities, the
company said. It will also provide energy for two high-capacity electric
vehicle charging stations, as the company electrifies part of its utility
fleet.
Connecticut Water president Craig J. Patla said this is the
company’s latest step toward its goal of reducing emissions by 50% from 2019
levels by 2030.
In addition to environmental benefits, the solar
installation should help stabilize Connecticut Water’s energy costs and keep
water costs stable for consumers, the company said.
The array is expected to be completed in June 2023 and will
generate 275 kilowatts of power.
Connecticut Water has installed two other solar arrays, one
at the Stewart Water Treatment Plant in Naugatuck, generating 25% of the power
needed for that facility, and another in Colchester at the Westchester Village
system, which nearly offsets power use for that system.
US energy officials release strategy to boost offshore wind
JENNIFER McDERMOTT
The U.S. Energy Department said Wednesday it has a new
strategy to meet the goal of vastly expanding offshore wind energy to address
climate change.
The Biden administration wants to build 30 gigawatts of
offshore wind energy by 2030 — enough to power more than 10 million homes. The
turbines would be anchored to the seafloor. It wants to deploy another 15
gigawatts of floating wind turbines by 2035, enough to power 5 million homes.
The first commercial scale offshore wind project in the United States is
currently under construction off the coast of Massachusetts.
Capturing the power of strong wind does not contribute to climate change and can enable the shutdown of power plants that operate on combustion and do pollute, reducing the emissions that are causing the climate to change.
With its Offshore Wind Energy Strategy, DOE lays out a plan
for supporting offshore wind development to meet the 2030 targets. It was released
during an offshore wind energy conference in Baltimore held by the Business
Network for Offshore Wind.
Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm promised in a statement
that offshore wind "will create tens of thousands of good-paying, union
jobs and revitalize coastal communities.”
The administration is attempting to lower the cost of fixed
offshore wind by 30%, down to $51 per megawatt hour by 2030 and support a
domestic supply chain for the industry. It also wants to establish the United
States as a leader in floating offshore wind and lower its cost by nearly 70%
to $45 per megawatt hour by 2035. Another goal is to figure out how to bring
large amounts of wind energy onto the U.S. power grid, and advance technologies
that use offshore wind to produce hydrogen and clean fuels. Among other uses
those can be used to make power even when the wind is not blowing, making an
intermittent clean source into one that is closer to 24/7.
To achieve all this, Jocelyn Brown-Saracino, the
department's offshore wind energy lead, said DOE is bringing people together to
solve offshore wind issues, working with the industry on technology
demonstrations and offshore wind research, and financing clean energy projects.
“Our hope is that this outlines a really powerful
contribution to advancing offshore wind in the United States,” she said.
_______
Associated Press climate and environmental coverage receives
support from several private foundations. See more about AP’s climate
initiative here.
The AP is solely responsible for all content.
In Stamford, 8-month project to replace Cedar Heights Road bridge means detours for drivers
STAMFORD — Work to replace a bridge on Cedar Heights Road in
the Turn of River neighborhood is scheduled to start next month and wrap up in
November.
The bridge, which is south of the Merritt Parkway, near the
intersection of Cedar Heights Road and Wire Mill Road, “is being completely
removed,” according to a post on
the city’s website that includes a link to a detour map.
Construction will begin April 3, unless the weather causes a
delay.
Stamford officials have eyed
the bridge over the Rippowam River for replacement since
at least 2013.
The span was built in 1933 and is considered structurally
deficient, said city engineer Lou Casolo. About 3,800 vehicles cross the bridge
every day, Casolo said.
“The new structure will be capable of withstanding
pressures, velocities, impact and uplift forces from a 100-year flood,”
according to a project
page on the city’s website.
The project is estimated to cost $2 million, with 80 percent
to be covered by the federal government, according to the web page.
West Haven approves Washington School demolition, new design
WEST HAVEN — The Planning & Zoning Commission approved
the demolition
and new construction of Washington School, the next step forward in bringing
the 114-year-old school into the future.
In a presentation by representatives from architectural firm
Antinozzi Associates and engineering firm Stentec, commissioners reviewed plans
for the two-story, 49,000-square-foot building that will accommodate roughly
438 students between pre-K and fourth grade and more than 70 staff
members.
Architect Lisa Yates said the current structure, built in
1909, is out of compliance with accessibility requirements and many features of
the current building — including narrow stairwells, wide hallways and masonry —
make it so renovation is not a feasible option. The new site design notably
includes updates expected to address traffic concerns in the area, which are
exacerbated during drop-off and pick-up times as passenger vehicles compete
with school buses and line Washington Avenue and Brown Street as children walk
across oncoming traffic and doors open into the street. 00:00 / 00:32
Engineer Antonio DiCamillo said the new site plan implements
a left-turn lane from Washington Avenue into a parking lot that can support
about 30 cars queuing at a time; Principal Alicia Limosani said about 70 cars
queue daily, but the entire operation moves quickly, taking place in the span
of 15 minutes.
“We think you're still going to have traffic in this
neighborhood,” said Yates, adding that there was no need to sugarcoat the
issue. “We’re just doing everything we can within the context of this new
project to do everything this project can do.”
Beyond the queue through the parking lot, the site design
adds a separate bus loop on Brown Street and increases the total parking
on-site from 52 spots to 74. Officials with the site design said it was the
most they could manage on the four-acre parcel without causing other issues,
such as reducing the size of a playground or encroaching farther into a
floodplain.
Neighbor Henry Manoni said he has ongoing concerns about
traffic, and the plan as presented likely still would lead to cars stopping on
the road. He also asked whether any consideration had been taken to preserve a
memorial bench on the streetcorner. DiCamillo said the bench would get
"special treatment" and would be removed and placed upon a
newly-paved area.
The design plans show the exterior of the building will
include terra cotta brick and gray stone, materials that officials said were
intended to match over civic buildings, such as City Hall and the First
Congregational Church.
At Tuesday's meeting, a day after six
were killed in a Nashville school shooting — including three children
— some commissioners raised concerns about the security of the entrances.
Limosani said school staff are "actually pretty neurotic" about
ensuring that the doors are secured; the approved new design would create vestibules
at entrances with reinforced glass that is expected to protect against break-in
attempts for an estimated six minutes.
Neighbor Thomas Sciarappa said the addition of a gymnasium
to the building years ago created loud noises that disrupted the neighborhood
most mornings around 7 a.m.
"We're people who live there," he said. "I
know projects in West Haven do take longer than normal, but God built the world
in six days and rested on the seventh. When I get up in the morning this is
what I'm going to hear for two years."
Officials said that, although construction can be noisy,
construction officials can reserve some of the noisiest functions for later
than 7 a.m.
Commissioners said they were pleased with the presentation;
the use of materials intended to match the facades of other civic buildings was
applauded by several.
Vice Commissioner John Biancur said the application is
"certainly not perfect" because of constraints related to the size
and location of the parcel, but "it looks as if the applicant is doing as
much is possible with everything possible for them.”
"It meets everything as much as is humanly possible to
do,” he said.
Commissioners Greg Milano and Gene Sullivan said the
building is likely to be in the spirit of the city's Plan of Conservation and
Development by attracting new residents.
Yates said the estimated
$44.5 million construction project may begin once bids go out in the
late summer and may be completed by March 2025. During construction, Washington
students will attend school at the presently-vacant Molloy School.
Details on The Riverbank and other projects shared at New London Landmarks meeting
Johana Vazquez
New London ― At an eventful New London Landmarks annual
meeting Tuesday, it was announced that Tox Brewing Co. is moving to Bank Street
and the Garfield Mills project has begun remediation of its building.
The meeting was held at one of the three adjacent historic
buildings owned by developers High Tide Capital at 137, 133 and 123 Bank St.
The buildings are being restored and turned into luxury apartments and space
for businesses to create a collective development called The Riverbank.
High Tide Capital was this year’s recipient of Landmarks’
Restoration Award for its work on Bank Street and its most recently completed
work at the Manwaring Building at 225 State St. where Connecticut College
students are being housed.
Landmarks Executive Director Laura Natusch said for many
years developers have not taken part in the costly effort to restore historic
buildings. She said she hopes High Tide Capital’s work inspires others to do
the same.
“These buildings have been vacant for so long,” she said.
“It feels like we are finally turning the corner.”
Historian Tom Schuch received the Cliff Stone award for his
years of research and work on the Black Heritage Trail. Constance Kristofik
received the Volunteer of the Year Award for her documentary about the history
of New London’s LGBTQ+ community called “Holding Space for Each Other.”
Landmarks Intern Leslie Ann Melendez presented a video
montage as a preview to a project called “Bridging the gap with stories” that
will feature the oral histories of two dozen people who grew up in the city’s
income-restricted housing projects.
Natusch said she and Melendez would also be working on a
documentary in the summer about Puerto Rican migration into the city.
The meeting’s featured speaker was Brian Lyman, the managing
broker for Parker Benjamin, a real estate advising and development firm. The
firm has renovated 38 Green St. into small studio apartments and is working for
High Tide Capital on the Riverbank development and construction. Lyman accepted
the restoration award on behalf of High Tide.
Lyman said his firm only works on buildings that have
existed pre-1936 and are typically blighted in order to receive certain tax
credits to help fund the renovation. He said a lot of infrastructure work goes
into the projects with new electric, gas service and sewer systems.
In a presentation, Lyman showed slides of what people can
expect from Riverbank. He said the small building at 137 Bank St. would be home
to the record store The Telegraph.
At 123 Bank St., the site of the former New London Antiques
Center, Lyman said Tox Brewing Co., currently situated at 635 Broad St., would
move into the first floor and apartments would be on the top two floors. He
said there will be a roof deck on top where residents will have “spectacular
views of the harbor.”
At the former site of Jason’s furniture, or 133 Bank St.,
commercial space for a restaurant is still available on the ground floor and
the top three floors will have apartments. Between both buildings there will be
32 one- and two-bedroom luxury apartments.
The apartments are expected to open its doors to its first
residents this summer. More information on the development can be found at
its website.
Lyman said his firm is also working with Litchfield-based
Park Lane Group on the renovation of the Garfield Mill complex at 90 Garfield
Avenue into workforce and affordable housing. He said building material at the
site will be undergoing abatement for a few months before construction can
start.
After the meeting, a group of attendees participated in a
tour led by Lyman of the construction underway at 123 Bank St. and stood among
exposed steel framing of what will be future apartments.
The attendees talked about how the building once served as
the location of Olympic Sporting Goods where they would try on new shoes. Felix
Reyes, the city’s director of Planning and Development, reminded everyone that
133 Bank St., the building with the “gorilla” mural in the back, was the
subject of a fire last year.
He said the developers called the next day after the fire to
re-instate their commitment to the development.
East Lyme sewer commission makes room for senior development
Elizabeth Regan
East Lyme ― The Water and Sewer Commission this week helped
a 454-unit proposed senior housing development clear its first major hurdle.
Members on Tuesday voted 6-1 to allocate a majority of the
sewer capacity Pelletier-Niantic LLC estimates it needs for 160 condominiums,
144 apartments, and a 150-bed assisted living section, as well as urgent care
and radiology facilities that would be open to the public.
The company’s principal is listed as New York-based
architect Eric J. Pelletier.
Pelletier’s application asked for 110,000 gallons per day of
sewage flow. The request came as officials warned the town is close to capacity
in the system designed to send 1.5 million gallons of sewage per day from East
Lyme to New London’s Piacenti Water Treatment Facility.
The commission granted a reduced 75,000 gallons per day,
which was a more generous number than the 55,000 gallons per day recommended by
utilities engineer Ben North.
Civil engineer J. Robert Pfanner, representing the project,
described the amount approved by the commission as “fine.”
“We'll never go over that allocation,” he said in a phone
interview Wednesday.
The developer could begin filing permit applications with the
land use department “maybe in a couple months,” according to Pfanner. Multiple
public hearings will be required as the project moves through the regulatory
process.
North at a public hearing earlier this month said the
project would likely be “one of the last major developments” in town until
officials figure out where to find additional capacity for its sewer system.
The commission on Tuesday considered either approving the
reduced amount or denying the request. The decision hinged on different interpretations
about how much capacity would be available going forward.
Officials said it’s a difficult number to predict because
there are potential customers along the town’s sewer lines who are entitled to
connect if they choose. That means there’s a pool of customers on septic
systems currently who may decide to tie into the sewer system in the future, as
well as vacant lots that may eventually contain buildings.
But it’s unknown how many of those possible ratepayers will
actually connect.
North estimated there would be approximately 882 gallons per
day of capacity left if he factored in all the properties that may or may not
connect to the system. If he only looks at existing sewer customers and
projects under construction, there would be 137,000 gallons remaining.
Commission member David Zoller said the focus needs to be on
the amount of capacity actually being used instead of unreliable projections.
“We can’t stop the growth of this town because of some
phantom number,” he said.
But he said the commission has to get serious about looking
at ways to find more capacity before it runs out.
Of the 1.5 million gallons per day allotted for sewer lines
in East Lyme, 1.02 million gallons are for municipal use while the rest are
reserved for the state at sites including York Correctional Institution and
Camp Nett.
The town averaged about 708,000 gallons per day in each of
the past five years, according to North.
The state used only about 200,000 gallons per day of its
478,000-gallon-per-day allocation, which it currently shares with the private
beach communities of Pine Grove in East Lyme and Point o’ Woods in Old Lyme.
Member Carol F. Russell, the lone opposition vote, said she
didn’t believe the commission should immediately approve an allocation without
having more solid information about where additional capacity might come from
and how much it will cost.
Officials at the public hearing said options for increasing
capacity could include renegotiating agreements with New London and Waterford
or working with the state to access some of its unused allotment.
“We need a new policy in terms of other revenue to help pay
for that,” she said, adding one option could be for developers to pick up some
of the cost. Another would be for taxpayers to chip in if expanding capacity is
going to foster economic development.
Commission Chairman and First Selectman Kevin Seery said the
need for additional capacity is clear, but said he didn’t believe it was an
emergency situation.
He said the eligible households along the town’s sewer lines
would have to connect “abundantly” and in consistent numbers to max out the
system over the next few years, which he didn’t foresee happening.
“So I don’t think we’re putting ourselves in a position
where, within the next six months or couple of years, we’re going to have a
problem with capacity,” he said.
For member David Bond, reserving capacity for customers that
may or may not end up connecting is a waste of space.
“As a commission, we’re a business. We’re paying for
capacity, we’ve paid for the sewage treatment plant, and now we have all this
capacity that we can’t get paid for because people aren’t tied in,” he said.
He said maxing out capacity makes financial sense.
“We need customers,” he said. “All we’re doing every year is
going up on our rates.”
225 Middlebury residents show up to stop distribution center
STEVE BIGHAM
MIDDLEBURY – An estimated 225 residents, most of them clad
in red, packed the Pomperaug High School auditorium Tuesday night to express
their opposition to a proposed distribution center.
The developer, Drubner Equities of Waterbury, is looking to
build a 750,000-square-foot “Amazon-like” distribution facility on the 112-acre
Timex Corp. campus off Christian and Southford roads, which is for sale, town
officials say.
Resident Stacey Brooks said the “monstrosity” being proposed
would destroy the town.
The plan is before the Middlebury Conservation Commission,
which held its third hearing Tuesday. Another is scheduled for April 4.
If approved, the facility would have 66 loading bays to
accommodate as many as 106 tractor-trailers at a time.
Drubner’s attorney, Edward G. Fitzpatrick, told the
commission the plan would have little impact on wetlands, just one half of 1%.
“That’s like having 3,000 school buses and only one of them
being impacted,” he said.
The applicant brought in several environmental experts who
expressed their support for the plan, including herpetologist Dennis Quinn, who
said the wetlands on the site have little value, with nearby Interstate 84 and
Route 188 having all but eliminated the salamanders, tree frogs and snakes.
Most wetlands there are infested by non-native earthworms that do more harm
than good, he said.
But residents fear the massive distribution center, with
trucks rolling in 24-7, would destroy their community’s small-town feel.
“You are here to protect us. We’re scared and angry. You
have the legal authority to stop this,” said resident Sam Dexter, who appealed
to the commission’s “conversation consciousness” and to reject the application.
Fitzpatrick pointed out, however, the commission cannot deny
the application simply based on a wetlands impact.
“There needs to be a balance between wetlands and economic
growth,” he said.
Resident Jennifer Mahr said air, light and noise pollution
from the trucks would have an adverse impact on the natural habitat.
“Diesel exhaust creates a cocktail of air pollutants,” she
said.
But Commission Vice Chairwoman Mary Barton said those
concerns would need to be addressed by the Zoning Commission.
Barton said the issue at hand is to determine if the plan
has a net-zero impact on the wetlands and, if so, regulations state the
application must be approved.
Environmental experts for the applicant went into detail
about the plan to mediate any wetlands impact or water runoff through the use
of sophisticated storm water drainage, bio-retention basins and systems.
But resident Bill Pizzuto said no amount of wetlands
remediation is as effective as Mother Nature.
“We can’t let enticement of profit supersede our quality of
life,” he said.
Resident Terry Jack agreed, noting “man-made wetlands are no
substitute.”
Keith Ainsworth, an attorney representing Middlebury Small
Town Alliance, which has intervener status, reminded the commission the
applicant’s plan constitutes 58 acres of total disturbance.
The 100-acre Timex property is zoned “light industrial,”
which does not specifically identify a “distribution center” as a permitted
use, though “warehouses” are an allowable use.
Drubner had sought to have Middlebury’s zoning regulations
amended to allow for “a specialized warehouse that serves as a hub to store
finished goods, facilitate the picking, packing and sorting process, and ship
goods out to another location or final destination.”
It also wanted to raise the cap on the permitted height of
buildings from 35 to 55 feet.
However, it has since withdrawn those requests, opting to
eventually seek zoning approval, even without the text amendments.
Zoning enforcement officer Curt Bosco said the applicant
could seek almost the exact same size distribution center, “with almost the
same intensity,” under the current zoning regulations, even without any text
amendments.
“They allow warehousing in the current regulations in
Middlebury. Warehousing is almost the exact definition of a distribution
center. Stuff goes in, they store it and stuff goes out. That’s what
warehousing is,” Bosco said.
Mahr disagreed, saying Middlebury’s “light industrial” zone
prohibits trucking terminals, except for the transportation of goods
manufactured on the premises.
“The LI-200 zone is all about the creation of new goods and
is not a transportation zone,” she said. “E-commerce is light years ahead of
zoning regulations and developers are taking advantage of regulatory gaps to
build whatever they want, wherever they want.”