(MIDDLETOWN, CT) – Governor Ned Lamont and Transportation
Commissioner Garrett Eucalitto today announced that the Connecticut Department
of Transportation (CTDOT) is starting construction on a project that will
reconfigure the Route 17 on-ramp that leads to Route 9 northbound in Middletown
in an effort to increase safety for drivers and pedestrians and improve traffic
mobility.
The project includes removing the on-ramp’s existing stop sign and creating a full-length, free-flow acceleration lane that will allow vehicles to merge onto Route 9 without first being required to come to a complete stop. The bridge carrying Route 17 over Route 9 will be replaced to accommodate the new acceleration lane, while Harbor Drive access to Route 9 will be removed. The Main Street Extension intersection will be realigned and signalized, and a new sidewalk will be added to the west side of Main Street Extension underneath Route 17.
Middlesex Corporation was awarded the contract, valued at $50 million. It is supported by funding Connecticut is receiving from President Biden’s Bipartisan Infrastructure Law. The project is expected to be completed in 2026.
The on-ramp’s current configuration has resulted in 319 crashes and 27 injuries between 2019 and 2022.
This project is part of a larger, comprehensive CTDOT
program to improve driver and pedestrian safety in Middletown, including
removing the traffic signals on Route 9 and Miller Street access to the
freeway.
Governor Lamont said, “Improving the area around Route 9 in Middletown has been high on my priority list. For far too many years, this has been a notorious spot for congestion and accidents, and the current configuration is the source of many of these issues. Reconfiguring the Route 17 on-ramp by removing the stop sign and creating an acceleration lane is just one component of improvements on Route 9 in Middletown that we will be making.
President Biden’s Bipartisan Infrastructure Law is allowing
us to invest in projects like this that will improve traffic flow and increase
safety.”
Commissioner Eucalitto said, “This project is critical to improving the safety of drivers through the Route 9 corridor in Middletown. Every construction project of ours is focused on improving the safety of drivers, making it easier to get to wherever you’re traveling. The federal infrastructure law passed two years ago allows CTDOT to address the most important roadway and bridge improvements while accelerating our work to make improvements faster.”
U.S. Senator Richard Blumenthal said, “This interchange has long been a rampant source of senseless crashes. I commend Governor Lamont’s use of Bipartisan Infrastructure Law funding to reverse this dangerous trend and make the roads safer for all.”
U.S. Senator Chris Murphy said, “A big goal of the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law is to fund projects that make our roads safer. I’m glad to see Governor Lamont use the federal dollars we secured to make it safer to drive in Connecticut by targeting roads with higher crash rates and making improvements that will reduce the number of accidents and injuries.”
U.S. Representative Rosa DeLauro (CT-03) said, “Since 2016, Connecticut’s Department of Transportation has been working with the City of Middletown to develop plans to reconfigure the Route 17 on-ramp to Route 9 northbound. Improving safety and reducing crashes at the interchange is urgent for motorists who use this ramp every day. This is one of the many reasons why I am so proud that we ramped up historic investments with the recently passed and signed into law Bipartisan Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act. This project will help reduce congestion, improve both vehicle and pedestrian safety, and increase access to the waterfront. Simply put, this investment will help Connecticut build a better, stronger economy – with more jobs. Due to the funding in the Bipartisan Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, this critical interchange project can move forward.”
Updates regarding this project’s development will be published online at portal.ct.gov/DOT/Projects/0082-0316-Route-9-Middletown-Home.
Challenges and high ambitions on display during tour of East Hartford development sites
After East Hartford bought the Church Corners Inn in
downtown East Hartford early this year, workers found the 54-room boarding
house infested with bedbugs, mice and other vermin.
Overrun with drug activity and violence, the property had
seen more than 2,500 emergency calls to police and firefighters over five
years, Mayor Michael Walsh told Lt. Gov. Susan Bysiewicz outside the
now-boarded up building Tuesday morning. There had been stabbings and shootings
and gunshots through closed doors. Some tenants aggressively panhandled in the
nearby Main Street – sometimes going so far to hop into cars stopped at traffic
lights, Walsh said.
Now, in city hands, much of the century-old building is in
such poor shape it will have to be demolished, Walsh said. But he hopes to see
the façade recreated in a new development of 24 apartments.
Challenges facing the economically diverse, historically
blue-collar town of East Hartford were not far from view Tuesday morning as
Walsh toured two state representatives and a small clutch of journalists
through several sites targeted for ambitious redevelopment projects.
The tour began at the Silver Lane Plaza, a 22-acre site
where two of three deteriorating retail buildings stand empty amid cracked and
pitted parking lots, then wound through several sites where retail, office and
residential developments are planned on sites that haven’t seen investment in
several decades.
Walsh took the opportunity to thank Bysiewicz; State Rep.
Jeffrey Currey, D-11th District; and State Rep. Henry Genga, D-11th District
for state support crucial to spurring private investment.
Bysiewicz said she has encouraged architects planning
apartments in East Hartford, noting they will find a receptive partner in the
state.
“The Governor has made building of thousands of new housing
units a priority in the budget and especially if it was near public
transportation, that would make it very attractive,” Bysiewicz said.
Silver Lane Plaza
East Hartford is tapping $10 million through the
state-funded Capital Region Development Authority for the Silver Lane Plaza
project. About $4.5 million went to the prior owner as part of the eminent
domain taking completed early this year, Walsh said. The remainder will be used
to demolish buildings and resettle about a dozen retail tenants hanging on in
one of three buildings on the site.
The plaza is composed of two properties, 794-810 Silver Lane
and 818-850 Silver Lane. They collectively host three retail buildings, of
107,148 square feet, 31,080 square feet and 18,562 square feet, according to
town officials.
Walsh said the city has hired Colliers International to see
if one of the smaller Silver Lane Plaza buildings is worth salvaging. Depending
on the results, either two or three buildings on the site will be demolished
beginning in June or July, he said.
After that, the town will start a search for developers
using either a “request for proposals” or a “request for qualifications”
process, Walsh said. He doesn’t have a particular vision in mind but is leaning
against more apartments, given plans to build several hundred nearby.
Concourse Park
Around the corner from the plaza, Developers Avner Krohn of
Jasko Development and Brian Zelman of Zelman Real Estate have secured local
approvals needed for a complex of at least 300 apartments on a 25-acre site,
which the town plans to hand over for $1. Walsh puts development costs at $120
million.
The project, dubbed Concourse Park, is planned as a
market-rate complex featuring a heavy array of amenities, including a small
movie theater, indoor party room, community garden, fitness center, pool and
more.
Agreements with the town give Zelman and Krohn until Sept.
30 to finalize financing. That funding stack will include $7 million in
low-interest financing through CRDA, Walsh noted.
This site, which once hosted a Showcase Cinemas, will yield
$34 million in local taxes over the course of a 27-year tax agreement, Walsh
said.
Founders Plaza
Tuesday’s tour included a stop at the roughly 50-year-old
Founders Plaza office park along the Connecticut River, where developers are
planning a grand mix of multifamily housing, retail and office development over
roughly 40 acres, Walsh said.
Developers are waiting for a signed letter of intent and
commitments from tenants before making a formal announcement, Walsh said. The
area lies in a special development district, arming the town with the ability
to offer tax increment financing, enterprise zone tax breaks and other
incentives.
Walsh said the city is working to speed through changes in
its plan of conservation and development to accommodate the expected
development plan. He expects demolition of existing buildings to begin this
summer and wrap up in fall. This would be paid through a $6 million request
expected to go before the State Bond Commission in May, Walsh said.
Church Corners Inn
East Hartford paid $950,000 for the troublesome, 54-room
boarding house in January, tapping $2.5 million granted by the State Bond
Commission in December for the purchase and redevelopment. The dismantling of
this property allowed the town to connect residents with better housing
options, as well as social services, Walsh said. It will result in a better
business climate for downtown merchants, he noted.
The town hopes to find a developer to build 24 apartments on
the site, he said.
Rentschler Field Logistics
Walsh’s tour Tuesday drove past Rentschler Field, where
Massachusetts-based National Development is currently working to build a 1.3
million-square-foot distribution center for Lowe's Home Improvement and a 1.2
million-square-foot distribution center for online home decor retailer Wayfair.
It is, at present, the largest development underway in town, but Bysiewicz had
just visited the site in March for a groundbreaking ceremony.
Walsh said the various developments will work in tandem to
improve quality-of-life, business conditions and job prospects in his town of
roughly 50,000.
Texas developer building 232 apartments in Newington, 255 in Southington
The Texas
development company that just won approval to build 255 apartments in
Southington is preparing to begin construction of a 232-unit complex in
Newington.
Anthony Properties will start building on the site of the
former National Welding plant in Newington later this year, and possibly as
early as this spring.
State officials have been eager to see construction there
for the past decade, and located a CTfastrak station alongside it in 2015
partly as a way to spur transit-oriented development.
Just last month, Southington approved Anthony Properties’
plan for a $55 million complex of apartment buildings along Route 229 just a
few blocks north of the I-84 ramps.
On Monday, company Vice President Resa Gilmore confirmed
that both projects will move forward, but cautioned that expecting construction
in Southington this year would be too optimistic.
Founded in Dallas in 1987, Anthony Properties has developed
retail, subdivisions, theaters and more in states including Texas, Florida,
North Carolina and Arkansas, and has built extensive large-scale apartment
complexes in several Iowa communities.
Three years ago it won approval for its first major New
England initiative, a mixed-use project with 329 apartments in Attleboro, Mass.
Currently it is building the retail section of that, with maps showing the
residential portion as “future development.”
Anthony got the go-ahead to create a multi-story apartment
building in Newington two years ago, but state development officials had been
pressing to get the old National Welding property back on the tax rolls even
since launching CTfastrak service in 2015.
The contractors’ trade magazine Construction Journal reports
that the project will cost an estimated $55 million and will include a parking
garage, four stories of apartments, a swimming pool, a dog park and other
amenities. The company has dubbed the development The Spark.
In Southington, Anthony Properties is taking a different
approach. It plans to spread apartments there between eight buildings on what’s
mostly wooded property along Route 229 near Curtiss Street. The company will
set aside 26 apartments as affordable, with rents for families capped at 80% of
the monthly Area Median Income. That set-aside will remain in force for 40
years, according to town documents.
There will be a clubhouse, pool and nearly 18,000 square
feet of retail space, according to Anthony Properties.
The planning and zoning commission approved the project
despite objections from nearby homeowners. Most of those focused on traffic in
the region.
“The development would not be beneficial to the town of
Southington due to the increased traffic and ensuing safety issues this would
cause. Realistically it just isn’t feasible to add another 250 to 300 vehicles
or more to the already congested intersections of Curtiss and West / Spring and
West streets,” wrote Curtiss Street homeowner Kevin Sullivan.
But a traffic study by Anthony Properties’ consultant
concluded that the new housing wouldn’t substantially worsen traffic nearby.
The lower section of Route 229 has been seen traffic volumes rise markedly in
the past two decades, partly because of the arrival of Target in 2008 followed
by other new retailers and several hotels. At the same time, ongoing expansion
of Lake Compounce and ESPN to the north led to more traffic as well.
Wilton to vote on $2.11 million turf field at Allen's Meadow
Karen Tensa
WILTON — After environmental testing, the Board of Selectmen
voted unanimously to recommend moving forward with a project to add the town’s
third turf
field at Allen’s Meadow.
As a result of the vote, the project will be submitted as a
referendum for bonding at the annual Town Meeting on May 2.
The approval came at Monday night’s meeting, after the board
delayed the vote at its April 3 meeting, according to First Selectwoman
Lynne Vanderslice.
"Now it's up to the voters," Vanderslice told
Hearst Media Connecticut in an interview.
The Board of Selectmen's vote came after it had learned that
results of recent
water tests showed no toxins were present that would be attributable
to the town’s two existing artificial turf fields.
"We took it very seriously," Vanderslice said of
the concerns about possible toxins from a turf field. "We did the
investigation of the current turf fields, we did the tests," and no toxins
were found in the runoff from the fields, she said.
The selectmen had also delayed its vote while waiting for
the state Department of Transportation to draft its new lease for Allen’s
Meadow with the town of Wilton. But on April 4, the DOT confirmed the
terms of the lease, which will allow construction of a new artificial turf
field and an enclosed bubble at Allen’s Meadow.
The plans for the third turf field are posted on the town
website, explaining the need for the project, the status of the lease and the
environmental reviews along with costs.
Director of Public Works Frank Smeriglio presented
information on the design of the field and its estimated costs at the meeting
on Monday night.
The turf field’s design and construction would cost about
$1.82 million, according to the
town website. With inflation and a 10 percent cost contingency, the total
cost would come to $2.11 million.
According to town documents, if the estimates are correct
and the contingency were required, the town would bond a maximum of $1.93
million for the project. If no contingency were required, the town would bond
$1.75 million.
A local environmental group, the Norwalk River Watershed
Association, has raised the alarm about the environmental
impacts of turf fields.
Concerns about PFAS — per- and polyfluoroalkyl
substances, which are widely used and long-lasting chemicals — had prompted the
state Department of Transportation to delay drafting its new lease of Allen's
Meadows with the town of Wilton, The state had accepted new lease terms earlier
this year that would allow the town to construct the field at the 423 Danbury
Road property.
The town decided to bring forward a plan to build a
third turf field in town, due to heavy demand for field use by youth and adult
sports leagues, Vanderslice said.
The town's grass fields are heavily used, like the two
existing turf fields, and they do not get much opportunity to rest, she said.
During last year's drought, the
grass playing fields were "fried," Parks and Recreation
Director Steve Pierce said, until heavy fall rains revived them.
"I came into office on turf fields, and I'm going out
on turf fields," Vanderslice, who is not running for reelection to a
third term, said of the long-running
issue in town.
See the renovation prep work at Old Greenwich School happening while students are on break
GREENWICH — While Greenwich Public School students are on
spring break this week, the Old Greenwich building committee is hard at work
having professionals conduct field work as part of the renovation project’s
architecture and engineering process.
Last week at the town’s Board
of Estimate and Taxation 2024 budget Decision Day, the members, with a
tie-breaking vote, denied the OGS renovation project’s construction, which
ultimately postponed the start of the full renovation for at least another
year.
However, the BET members voted in favor of appropriating
slightly more than $1 million to complete the A&E designs for the OGS
renovation. Last year, they appropriated $1 million to begin the design work.
Building Committee Chairperson James Waters said there are
teams of about 20 professionals on-site at the OGS building while students are
away doing schematic design work, including the committee’s owner’s
representative, Morganti Group, who is overseeing the process.
Waters said architects and engineers from
Silver Petrucelli and Associates “are completing thorough assessments
focused on mechanical, electrical, plumbing, fire protection and extensive
architecture design.”
Along with that, experts from Langan, an engineering
consultant, are conducting phase one environmental studies, he said.
Waters said this includes “drilling geotechnical borings and
conducting interior hazardous material assessments.”
The design work includes an in-depth Americans with
Disabilities Act assessment. The lack of accessibility at OGS was mentioned
many times by administrators, parents and private citizens at the BET's
public forum last month.
"Our students with injuries should not have to be
carried up the front steps for another year, or be stuck on the ground floor
room with a substitute because they couldn't physically make it up the stairs
to their classroom," said Kathryn Cooper, first vice president of the
OGS parent-teacher association, at the public forum. "In 2023, our
children should not have windows as the only source of ventilation due to the
lack of HVAC in their school building. Our principal should not have to turn
away any more families with mobility-challenged children due to non-compliance
with the law enacted 33 years ago, thus also leaving our district vulnerable to
additional lawsuits."
Montville housing project on schedule despite rejection of tax break
Kevin Arnold
Montville ― The third time proved not to be the charm for
the developers of the 72-unit Oxoboxo Lofts project.
The Town Council on Monday voted 5-1 to not enter into a
10-year agreement with the project’s land owner Ox Owner, LLC, a subsidiary of
the Massachusetts-based developer Dakota Partners.
The council postponed its decision in February, the first
time it heard the proposal, until it could gather more information and then
rejected it in March as it was unable to agree on a start and end date for the
agreement.
A revised plan was brought up again Monday night but the council
again rejected it.
Dakota Senior Development Director Eric Kuczarski said the
failure to reach an agreement will not kill the project and said construction
at the 42 Pink Row property, home to the historic Faria Beede Mill, is set to
resume in June.
He said the now $43 million project is 45% complete and on
track to be finished by June 2024.
The initial plan requested to lock in the $4.4 million
town-appraised value of the property with a 2% annual increase in the
assessment for the next 10 years. Kuczarski explained that locking in those
figures would help finalize the operating costs.
On Monday, Kuczarski returned to the council with the same
financial figures, but offered to have the agreement start on Oct. 1, 2024 and
end on Sept. 30, 2034.
There was one caveat to the timeline. If for some reason the
owner would not be able to complete the project by the proposed start date, it
would be able to push the start date back until it was complete and could
generate revenue from its tenants.
The proposal called for a three-year window for the owner to
enter the agreement in the case of an unforeseen delay.
Once the owner entered the agreement, the assessed value of
the property would be the same as if it entered the agreement from the proposed
start date. This means if there was a delay and the agreement began in 2025
Dakota would pay tax on the $4.4 million plus 2 percent.
The ending date would remain unchanged. The deal would have
been off the table and the property would be taxed normally if the owner did
not enter the agreement within the three-year window.
“If for some reason there’s a delay or issue, both the
developer and the town would be most interested in not burdening something
that’s not done yet with a large tax assessment,” Kuczarski explained to the
council.
Not all the councilors agreed.
“I can’t speak for everybody on the council but I feel that
you went in the wrong direction with this one,” Council Chairman Tom McNally
said. “I think we want the start date so we get this started as soon as possible.”
Kuczarski said the timeline would motivate Dakota to
complete the project as quickly as possible in order to take full advantage of
the deal.
Councilor Lenny Bunnell Sr. looked to the proposed 57
deed-restricted affordable units in the development as a reason to support the
deal.
A total of 4.97% of the town housing is deeded as affordable
and that number would increase to 5.69% with the project’s completion.
Municipalities that have less than 10 % of affordable housing are subject to
the state’s affordable housing law. Under the law, towns can not reject
developments that have a minimum of 15% affordable units even if they do not
conform to zoning. The only way a town can reject a project is to prove it
endangers health and safety.
“I think that we need to do something to create a goal of
affordable housing and this is one opportunity to do it,” Bunnell said, the
lone council to vote in favor of the deal. “And if we don’t do it, the state’s
going to make us do it.”
Councilor Tim May raised concerns about the town becoming a
part of a business model for a private company. Questioned by May, Kuczarski
said there would theoretically be nothing stopping his firm from securing the
agreement, thus increasing the property’s value, and then selling the property
to another developer.
McNally, as he did in March, said a deal like this could
open up Pandora’s box for other developers to look for similar deals, with or
without the affordable housing component.
Mayor Ron McDaniel, who can not vote on council matters,
said he did not see the agreement as an unfair measure to take to increase the
town’s affordable housing stock, especially since the project has already seen
so many delays.
The project was delayed in 2021 largely because Dakota
Partners was awaiting a flood management certification, among other permits.
The delay caused the developer to request a five-year
extension of the permits it obtained from the town's Wetlands and Watercourses
Commission, set to expire Sept. 15, 2021, and the site plan approval from the
Planning and Zoning Commission, set to expire on Oct. 19, 2021. Both extension
were approved in 2021.
Kuczarski said Tuesday the developer will look to other
avenues to control the project costs. He added that its is unlikely his firm
would propose another tax assessment agreement but remains optimistic about the
project’s future.
“Things are really lining up good to get this underway in
June,” Kuczarski said Tuesday.