From a community center to roadway reconstruction, here are West Hartford's major upcoming projects
WEST HARTFORD — Though budget
season is finished, town leaders and elected officials will remain busy,
with a number of projects across town — from the design of a new community
center to the reconstruction of some of the town's most-used roadways —
currently in the design phase.
New Elmwood Community Center
In January, several of the Town Council's committees heard a report from consultants Tecton Architects that building a new community center to replace the aging existing community center could cost more than $66 million.
The plan to build a new Elmwood Community Center that would
include the senior center, a library branch, teen center and more began
when the town purchased
the former St. Brigid School at 100 Mayflower St. for $3 million
in 2021.
At the time, Tecton recommended against keeping the existing
St. Brigid School building in place as part of the school for a few reasons,
including concerns about accessibility and hazardous materials.
The meeting, which included a variety of designs and
building layouts the town could possibly choose from, ended with the
acknowledgement that a request for proposal would next be issued for the
architectural firm that would work to design and build the center. Ultimately,
two of the Town Council's committees would help guide final design choices.
Town Manager Rick Ledwith said a request for proposal has
not yet been issued and that the town is currently exploring funding options,
including a variety of grants that would help cover the associated costs,
before doing so. He expects the proposal to be issued sometime this summer.
West Hartford Center master plan
Last August, town leaders announced they would be creating
a West
Hartford Center master plan that it would use as a guide to
reconstruct and update roadways, crosswalks, intersections, sidewalks and other
street features in the center of town.
Though not a direct response to the
death of Bob O'Neal, a 61-year-old man who police said was killed
after a driver hit him with their car while he was standing on the sidewalk at
the intersection of Main Street and Farmington Avenue, the project did catch
the eye of street-safety
activists across town who hoped the master plan would help create a
safer and more pedestrian-friendly center of town.
In February, the consultant working with the town on the project published a lengthy report that made sprawling recommendations for the area, including suggestions for LaSalle Road and Farmington Avenue that if adopted would make sweeping changes to the area through expanded sidewalks and bike lanes.
The consultant also included suggestions for reworking the
Main Street and Farmington Avenue intersection, which activists
last year had criticized as being unsafe for pedestrians in the
wake of O'Neal's death. The potential changes include replacing the traffic
light controlled intersection with a roundabout. Other changes and suggestions
made for the area include a potential South Main Street road diet, an expansion
of the town's Unity Green and a reworked intersection at Farmington Avenue and
Trout Brook Drive.
"Our consultant is finalizing preliminary
designs," Ledwith said."We should be back before the committees
in the not too distant future. We’ll be doing some more outreach to the town as
well."
In April, Ledwith said LaSalle's reconstruction would be
first after the announcement that the road
would be returned to its pre-pandemic two-way traffic set up. Final
decisions on the road's reconstruction would be considered by the town's
Community Planning and Economic Development and Public Works and Facilities
committees. Construction, though, has been delayed from this year to the spring
of 2024, meaning Farmington Avenue's reconstruction would not begin until
the spring of 2025.
A new Eisenhower Park pool
The pool and bathhouse at Eisenhower Park, the town's oldest
swimming facility, is still on track to be rebuilt.
Built in 1964, the pool's update was originally chosen
to be fast-tracked over a year ago. Citing a critical failure of the
facility's infrastructure, town leaders recommended to the Town Council that
construction couldn't wait any longer and that the pool should be rebuilt
sooner rather than later.
That timeline would have seen the park's new pool open this
summer, but those plans have since been delayed, with the town
in November citing bids that came in higher than expected.
Ledwith said at that time that the town had budgeted $2.4 million for the completion of a brand new pool and bathhouse, but that the lowest bid came in at $4.4 million.
Despite that news, the town's director of leisure services
and social services, Helen Rubino-Turco, gave some hope to prospective
swimmers this summer, saying that the town would temporarily fix the pool for
the cost of $50,000. Ledwith said crews are currently working on that temporary
fix and that the town hopes to get two summers out of it, with the new pool
being built in the fall of 2024.
The reconstruction of Park Road and New Park Avenue
West Hartford Center's major roadways aren't the only ones
in town due for overhauls.
Last September, the
town received $1.5 million in state bonding dollars to put towards the
rehabilitation of Park Road, one of the town's busiest dining and business
corridors.
Ledwith said the town is currently in the design phase with
work expected to begin this time next year.
"It would be raised crosswalks, street resurfacing,
benches, planting, lighting…and some street design changes that are
coming," Ledwith said. "We’re excited about that."
West Hartford received $1.5 million in state bonding to help cover costs of reworking Park Road. Construction would begin this time next year.
Over on New Park Avenue, drivers, pedestrians and bicyclists
can expect substantial changes, including a road
diet that is similar to the one implemented on North Main Street, bringing
four lanes of traffic down to two lanes of traffic with a shared left-hand
center turn lane.
While design plans are currently being finalized, previous
discussions by the town indicated that New Park Avenue could be the first
street in town to have protected
bike lanes installed via a two-way cycle track.
The plan to encourage other modes of transportation on the
busy roadway align with the town's transit-oriented district that also
encompasses the area. Recently, plans were submitted for the first housing
development that would take advantage of the new zone at the former
Puritan Furniture site on New Britain Avenue.
"We’re excited about the whole New Britain Avenue and
New Park Avenue corridor with that project coming online at the old Puritan
site and the new street design on New Park Avenue," Ledwith said.
"There’s the potential for some new projects coming on New Park
Avenue.”
Other upcoming projects
Ledwith said there are a multitude of other projects also in
the works across town.
One of those, the
wayfinding signage program, would tie into the reconstruction of Park Road,
New Park Avenue and West Hartford Center. In February, the consultant the town
chose to work with, MERJE, gave a report on their "holistic" vision
towards implementing wayfinding signage across West Hartford that connects
residents and visitors to key destinations.
That, too, Ledwith said is in design phase with plans
set to appear in front of the town's Design Review Advisory Committee soon.
There's also the town's public
works campus expansion and creation of a material solution center, a
project made possible after the Town Council in January approved the purchase
of the neighboring properties at 12 Brixton St. and 705 Oakwood Ave. A key element
of the plan, Ledwith said, is the construction of a new animal control
facility, likely at the Oakwood property.
Finally, walkers and bicyclists in town will be able to
stretch their legs even further on the Trout Brook Trail this summer, with
construction currently ongoing in phase six of the project, which expands
the paved trail another 3,000 feet from Fern Street to Duffield Drive. Phase
seven would later connect the trail even further, from Duffield Drive to Asylum
Avenue, right across the street from the
former University of Connecticut site that developers are pitching as
a recreational, residential and retail neighborhood.
Old Greenwich's Sound Beach Avenue bridge replacement complete took $2.5 million and a year of work
OLD GREENWICH — The bright orange construction signs and
equipment around the Sound Beach Avenue bridge are gone now, marking the
completion of a yearlong bridge replacement.
The $2.5 million project started in
April 2022 and the roadway was completely closed
to traffic for three months. After that, traffic was open to
just a single lane.
Officials from the Greenwich Department of Public Works and
the Board of Selectmen gathered at Binney Park on Wednesday to
celebrate the project’s completion.
“This is one of my longest standing projects with the town,”
said Deputy Commissioner of Public Works Jim Michel. “I started with the
town in 2011 and this bridge we started working on in late 2011, early 2012
with the design process. It’s nice to see it finally completed."
The bridge runs over Cedar Mill Brook, just south of the
Perrot Memorial Library, and transports about 14,500 vehicles each day.
The bridge was originally built in 1925 and inspectors found
it to be in poor
condition five times between 2011 and 2019, which led to the
replacement recommendation.
About 50 people gathered for the short event on Wednesday,
including First Selectman Fred Camillo, Selectperson Janet Stone McGuigan,
Selectwoman Lauren Rabin, Town Clerk Jackie Budkins, Director of Planning and
Zoning Patrick LaRow, members of the Greenwich Police Department and some town
residents.
“It’s going to make this whole area safer, more pedestrian
friendly, which is something that is a key to our vision here in town,” Camillo
said.
Crews corrected structural issues with the bridge in
addition to relocating the sidewalk and removing the old wooden pedestrian
bridge, adding new landscaping around the bridge and improving drainage.
Several utility lines now run through the bridge, including
Frontier Communications lines, sewer and a gas line that was previously on the
exterior of the structure.
DPW also did concurrent highway maintenance work in the area
by adding new signs with flashing beacons for pedestrian crossing, new
accessibility devices for blind and low-vision people and new curbs and sidewalks.
There was a
bigger plan to replace the bridge in 2018 that included more work on
the nearby roundabout, but that effort inspired resident protests and it
was ultimately
denied by the Planning and Zoning Commission.
The bridge plan that was implemented was created
in 2020.
Work crews discovered
a human skull during their work last year, which police believed was
the remains of an unhoused man that died nearby in 2017.
The $2.5 million project cost was reimbursed to the town
with a grant from the state's Local Transportation Capital Improvement Program,
or LOTCIP. Greenwich is seeking another LOTCIP grant to fund replacement
of the North Street Bridge, which is expected to start next year.
Torrington reconstructing roads on Carmody Place, Gaylord Road
TORRINGTON — A reconstruction project on Carmody Court
begins May 8, followed by work on a portion of Gaylord Lane from Torringford
Street begins May 11. Both projects are expected to continue until early
June.
The Carmody Court project includes paving, curbing and drainage,
intended to provide for safer driving and pedestrian travel, according to a
statement from the engineering department.
The Gaylord Lane project will also include paving, curbing,
drainage and associated miscellaneous work. "There will be significant
regrading near Torringford Street, which may cause some significant temporary
traffic delays early in the project," according to the engineering
department.
Drivers and pedestrians should expect daily traffic delays,
one-way alternating traffic, and daily road closures, allowing local traffic
only. Emergency vehicles are allowed at all times.
No parking is allowed within the streets' right-of-way at
any time, 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Vehicles in violation of these
rules will be ticketed and towed at the owners expense.
For more information, contact the City of Torrington
Engineering Department at 860-489-2234, Mark_Austin@torringtonct.org or
visit the Engineering Department website link for Construction Projects
2022/2023
Residents are also encouraged to sign up for the Torrington
Alerts Community Notification System to keep up to date with project updates.
Visit www.torringtonct.org/Alerts for
more information.
Only the shell of Norwalk's old IMAX theater remains after weeks of demolition
NORWALK — Brick by brick: The painstaking demolition
of the former IMAX theater at the Maritime Aquarium has been
underway for over two months.
After the many weeks of deconstruction work, there are big
gaps in the facade of the former movie theater, with the steel framework
exposed. Only the shell of the building seems to remain.
The former theater is slowly
coming down to make way for the Walk
Bridge Project as the state Department of Transportation replaces the
nearby 127-year-old train bridge over the Norwalk River.
The former
IMAX building hosted its last movies back in early 2021. Fans of the
big screen can now enjoy the aquarium's state-of-the-art 4D Theater.
After the exterior brick facade is down, workers will remove
the structural steel framework, according to the project website.
The bridge construction is expected to begin later this
spring, pending the receipt of environmental permits, according to DOT. The $1
billion-plus project will take about six years to complete.
The 564-foot-long swing bridge carries trains for
Metro-North Railroad’s New Haven Line as well as Amtrak. Before the COVID-19
pandemic, it transported about 175 trains and 125,000 riders daily, according
to the program website.
East Hartford officials eye tax breaks, other incentives to secure Founders Plaza redevelopment
East Hartford officials are creating a menu of tax breaks
and other incentives to secure a project demolishing chunks of the roughly
50-year-old Founders Plaza office park along the Connecticut River, and
building back hundreds of new apartments, as well as retail and recreation
amenities.
East Hartford officials have been negotiating with an
undisclosed developer.
Mayor Michael Walsh, on Tuesday, shared with the Town
Council a draft letter addressed to developer Port Eastside Partners LLC,
broadly outlining the possibility of tax stabilization and other potential
incentives that could be applied to the ambitious project.
Walsh, on Wednesday, said the letter will be shared with the
developer after it is approved by the council.
Walsh’s letter is addressed to Peter Roisman at Port
Eastside Partners LLC, with an address in a suite in West Hartford’s Corporate
Center West, which is currently occupied by MBH Architecture. The architecture
firm is mentioned in Walsh’s letter.
There is no business filing for “Port Eastside Properties
LLC” with the office of the Connecticut Secretary of the State, but there is
one for “Port Eastside LLC,” listing as its address a separate suite in
Corporate Center West, occupied by real estate investment company Figure Eight
Properties.
The filing for Port Eastside LLC, which registered last
October, lists as its principal Bruce Simons. Simons is a co-president of
Figure Eight.
Figure Eight lists Corporate Center West among its various
office and multifamily holdings in Connecticut.
Attempts to reach Simons and Roisman were not immediately
successful. Roisman is not listed among the leadership team on Figure Eight’s
website.
Walsh said the developer is waiting to finalize agreements
with tenants for the redevelopment before submitting land-use applications.
According to the draft letter Walsh shared with the council,
the plan involves demolition of a four-story office building at 99 Founders
Plaza, demolition of a garage attached to a 20-story office tower at 111
Founders Plaza, and demolition of unoccupied warehousing space at 300 East
River Drive. Walsh, on Wednesday, estimated demolition costs of $9 million.
The plan also involves significant infrastructure
development, including creation of a raised greenway over East River Drive and
a new pedestrian bridge over the Connecticut River into Hartford.
A first phase of the development would see 200 to 300
apartments built, with more possibly to follow depending on leasing success,
Walsh said. He estimates a three- to five-year construction schedule.
Walsh’s letter lists various possible incentives, including
tax increment financing, general obligation bonds to be drawn by the town, a
tax fixing agreement, special services district, enterprise zone tax abatement
and creation of a parking authority able to issue bonds for parking
construction.
CT Construction Digest Thursday May 5, 2023
Blacker charged in Capitol vandalism case
Greg Smith
State Capitol Police on Tuesday arrested Connecticut Port
Authority critic and former Green Party congressional candidate Kevin Blacker
on charges he painted pink stripes on the doors of the state Capitol on Friday.
Blacker was taken into custody in Noank on Tuesday by Groton
Town Police on a warrant, his brother, Andrew Blacker said. Blacker faces
charges of second-degree breach of peace and second-degree criminal mischief,
police said.
Blacker was held in lieu of $500 and was expected to appear
Wednesday in Hartford Community Court. Police said it will cost $406 to repair
the what police called “antique and distinctive wood and glass doors.”
In an interview with The Day on Sunday, Blacker had admitted to painting the Capitol doors in
what he considered to be an act of civil disobedience to draw Gov. Ned Lamont’s
attention to what he claims is corruption within the port authority.
Blacker, 36, who had long fought the redevelopment of State
Pier in New London, was arrested once before for a similar act of vandalism in 2020. In that case, Blacker had admitted
painting directional signs pink on State Pier Road, near the State Pier
construction project.
The pink paint is a reference to the pink house owned by
Susette Kelo, whose was at the center of eminent domain case in New London that
led to the landmark U.S. Supreme Court case Kelo v. New London
Earlier in 2020, Blacker was led out of a port authority meeting in handcuffs for
being disruptive during a vote in Hartford on the State Pier redevelopment
plan.
In 2019, Blacker said he was questioned by police at the
State Capitol after distributing an email calling Lamont a “yellow-belly wimp.
Prior to the Capitol painting incident, Blacker had sent a
series of emails threatening to paint the doors of the offices of the
Connecticut Port Authority in Old Saybrook. He made not secret of his plans and
had addressed the Old Saybrook police chief in the emails.
In an email on Saturday, after the vandalism at the state
Capitol, Blacker appeared to taunt Capitol police in an email.
“How does a person walk up to the front door of the State
Capital. Paint a door pink. Wearing a reflective vest. In Front of a Capital Police
Officer? In Broad daylight. And then just walk away. Using the cross walk as
they leave,” Blacker said in the email.
Blacker, on Monday, said he wore the reflective vest not as
a disguise but so that he would stand out. Capitol Police Lt. Gregory Wimble
said Blacker, whose image was captured by video surveillance, looked like a
maintenance worker.
Blacker still has a case pending in New London Superior
Court where a second-degree criminal mischief charge in connection with the
2020 vandalism awaits resolution. He represents himself in that case.
Jury convicts one former Fairfield official, acquits another in first fill pile case
Daniel Tepfer
BRIDGEPORT — Fairfield’s former public works superintendent was convicted Tuesday of illegally dumping contaminated soil from a local park onto town property.
The six-member jury deliberated about three hours before finding Scott Bartlett guilty of multiple counts of transporting solid waste to an unpermitted facility, receiving solid waste without a permit, disposing of solid waste without a permit and illegally operating a solid waste facility.
But the same jury found Brian Carey, the town’s former interim public works director and town conservation director, not guilty of the same charges.
Bartlett stood stoically beside his lawyer, Frederick Paoletti, as the jury’s verdict was announced while his wife sobbed loudly in the back of the courtroom.
Carey burst into tears and embraced his lawyer, John R. Gulash.
“Obviously he is extremely gratified by this outcome,” Gulash said later.
Prosecutors Tamberlyn Chapman and C. Robert Satti Jr. declined comment as they left the courtroom.
Neither Bartlett nor his lawyer would comment. Bartlett faces sentencing on the charges, some of them felonies, on July 10.
Bartlett and Carey were accused of allowing contaminated soil dredged from Owen Fish Pond in 2018 to be used to build a berm around the town’s public works site and then trying to cover up that fact.
Immediately after the verdict Superior Court Judge Tracy Lee Dayton declined to raise Bartlett’s bond.
“I’m not going to raise the bond. This has been pending for five years and Mr. Bartlett has been here every day during the trial,” she said.
The judge added: “Mr. Carey this case is done against you but there is another case.”
The judge was referring to a second trial, scheduled for the summer
For the second trial, Carey, Bartlett, Emmet Hibson, the town’s former human resources director and Robert Mayer, Fairfield’s former chief fiscal officer, and developer Jason Julian are charged with multiple counts of illegally disposing of hazardous waste and conspiring to cover up their actions. In addition, Bartlett is accused of accepting bribes from Julian to allow him to dump contaminated soil on town property. Bartlett is charged in a separate case with larceny for allegedly stealing more than $30,000 from a disabled woman.
Robert Mayer, is also charged with burglary, larceny and forgery charges in connection with the alleged dumping conspiracy.
Robert Grabarek, owner of Osprey Environmental Engineering in Clinton is also awaiting trial in the case as part of the alleged coverup.
More than 40 truckloads of debris and dirt were removed from the Stratfield Road pond during a three-week period in 2018.
The state’s key witness in the case was Joseph Michelangelo, Fairfield’s former director of public works.
Michelangelo previously pleaded guilty to the illegal disposal of PCPs, multiple counts of receiving solid waste at an unpermitted facility, disposal of asbestos without a permit, making false representations and conspiracy.
Under questioning by Satti, Michelangelo testified that in February 2018 testing of Owen Fish Pond found industrial contaminates including lead that were above the safe limit set by the federal Environmental Protection Agency and the state’s Department of Energy and Environmental Protection.
CT Construction Digest Wednesday May 3, 2023
Bridgeport officials: 177-apartment complex at former Testo's does not require public hearing
Brian Lockhart
BRIDGEPORT — Dorcas White has lived on Russo Terrace in the North End since 1991.
A decade ago she and other area residents failed to stop city officials from granting veteran Democratic Party Chairman Mario Testa's request to alter the zoning for his Madison Avenue catering hall, Testo's, expanding the options of what could be built there.
That controversial proposal at least required a public hearing before the zoning commission and a vote by its members.
Now White and other neighbors of Testo's, which was recently purchased by a developer, are learning they apparently have no say over a 177-unit market rate apartment complex planned for the site. The property's new owner is aiming to break ground in the coming weeks, and, according to City Hall, already received zoning sign-offs from municipal staff with no public hearing required.
"Something needs to be done," White said. "It's too large."
City Council members Aikeem Boyd and Jeanette Herron who represent that neighborhood agree.
"I think it's B.S.," Boyd said. “I guess something has to go there, but nothing that big."
"This is major construction. Residents are not happy. They're worried about environmental issues, the air quality, flooding, parking, the amount of people that will be there," Herron said Monday.
But any opportunity for the public to weigh in and alter the design may have come and gone.
The rare zone change Testa obtained in 2013 laid the groundwork. The land at 1775 Madison Ave. had for decades been the site of restaurants and there were tight restrictions on what could be constructed there. Testa was granted an ORG (office, retail, general) designation, which his attorney at the time, Charles Willinger, claimed was necessary for his client to pursue refinancing and was not a prelude to a sale and redevelopment of the site.
"It's not going to make any difference to the neighbors because there will be no changes made to the property," Willinger sought to assure critics.
Jump ahead to late 2021. Bridgeport, following a broad public-engagement effort, had just updated its ten-year master plan of development and the related city-wide changes to zoning regulations were set to take affect Jan. 1, 2022.
But just weeks before those change went into effect, Testa and Testo's co-owner, his nephew Ralph Giacobbe, quietly submitted plans for an apartment/condominium complex with underground parking to the city.
Their attorney in that matter, Raymond Rizio, had explained that the new zoning rules as of 2022 would have required reducing the building's height by "about ten feet" and prevented the below-ground parking. So, Rizio said, the plans were submitted in late 2021 so that the ORG designation Testa got in 2013 would be applied to the future housing development.
As had been the case in 2013, Rizio and Giacobbe insisted there was no immediate intent to sell Testo's. Then late last November Giacobbe announced that Testo's was being purchased by developer Amit Lakhotia and would close following a New Year's Eve celebration to make way for a 177-unit building with below ground parking.
According to Bridgeport land records, that $3.5 million deal just finalized April 3. And now that it has been completed, Lakhotia's Avon Commons LLC and his local contractor, John Guedes, have an aggressive timeline for securing the remaining permits and breaking ground.
Lakhotia declined to comment Monday. But Guedes said he was hoping to begin demolition "within the next week or two," then quickly begin construction and have the apartments open for occupancy in about 18 months.
Preliminary activity at the site in recent weeks had not gone unnoticed, leading to questions about whether Lakhotia still had to go before the zoning commission.
"The problem everybody had is they just assumed there were other steps within the zoning that were needed," Guedes said Monday. "That was not the case. I designed the building to fully comply with the zoning standards (as of 2021) for the property, so there was nothing that was needed."
The city's economic development office, which oversees the zoning and building departments, confirmed that to be the case Tuesday.
In an emailed statement, Mayor Joe Ganim's communications director Tiadora Josef confirmed Guedes was correct.
"The project was submitted to the zoning office toward the end of 2021," the statement read. "It was submitted under the old zoning code in effect at that time. As it was in full compliance with the requirements of that code as pertained to that site, it was approved."
The statement noted, "All of the regulatory departments of the city — building, zoning, engineering, Water Pollution Control Authority, fire — will have to review the construction plans to ensure compliance with what has been submitted."
But a zoning commission review and a public hearing might have resulted in changes. Recently a developer who wants to erect a self-storage facility a few blocks from Testo's at a long-closed Stop & Shop supermarket has received significant public and political pushback, including from Ganim. That project requires a zoning commission vote, and a public hearing has already been delayed a handful of times while the property owner considers design changes.
"This is ridiculous," activist and former state Rep. Christopher Caruso said. Caruso in recent years has been part of efforts to stop or to alter other large-scale development projects in the North End, including the self-storage plan for the Stop & Shop.
"I can't believe there's no hearing on this," Caruso said. "A 177-unit development. It's terrible. That size development with no public review. It's a travesty that this is occurring."
Herron said the Ganim administration should have kept Testo's North End neighbors, herself and Boyd in the loop.
"Nobody, nobody went to any of these residents and said this was going on. Nobody came to me, either," she said.
Last week she and Boyd met with Deputy Economic Development Director William Coleman and Guedes about the project.
“I told him our concerns. So did Aikeem," Herron said. "He (Guedes) did give us a lot of ... information of the property, how it's gonna be. But again I want to meet with the owner." She also would like to at least schedule a community meeting on the development, but said that may not happen until early June.
"We will continue to share with the principals the concerns raised by the City Council representatives from the district," the economic development office said.
Guedes said he offered to make 10 percent of the 177 apartments affordably-priced, something council members and others have argued is needed given the spike over the past few years in Bridgeport rents and sale values. But, he added, that would require some form of a council-approved tax abatement deal.
Boyd said Testa was "lining his pockets on the backs of my constituents." Testo's full sale price was just over $3.5 million, over five times the $648,000 Testa paid for it in 2003.
As long-time leader of Bridgeport's Democratic Town Committee, Testa is a very influential individual in local politics and municipal government. He is close to Ganim, helping elect him in 2015, and his niece, Giacobbe's wife, Lilly Giacobbe, several months ago was hired as an aide within the administration.
Testa could not immediately be reached for comment.
Lakhotia, who has garnered attention for redevelopment projects in New Britain, last November had said, "People are always worried when something new comes up. This new change will bring modern apartments, modern, young people living in these apartments. We're not trying to disrupt the neighborhood. We're just trying to bring something modern, something new. This should add value to the neighborhood."
White said given Testa's zoning victory in 2013 in the face of community opposition, she has little faith that the current outcry will stop the apartment project. But she is still hoping that some alterations to the size and design might be made.
"They have to," White said. "They need to make changes."
Middlebury Neighbors fighting proposed distribution center at Timex Corp.
STEVE BIGHAM
MIDDLEBURY – The town’s Conservation Commission has until May 23 to make its final decision on a controversial wetlands application for the construction of a large distribution center.
It appears the board is going to take take its time.
On Monday, the commission met at the Shepardson Community Center to begin deliberations on the application after closing the hearing last month, a hearing that spanned five meetings and nearly three months.
It did so before a packed house full of residents opposed to the plan by Drubner Equities, LLC of Waterbury to build a 750,000 square foot distribution facility on the campus of what is currently the Timex Corp. world headquarters off Christian Road.
Town officials say the 112-acre property is currently up for sale.
Residents fear an operation of that size will ruin the town’s rural charm and adversely impact the environment, and, they add, no plan to create man-made drainage systems and watercourses can ever take the place of Mother Nature.
Many of them on hand Monday night brought along signs urging the commission to “vote no.”
Middlebury Land Use Attorney James Strub did most of the speaking Monday, offering up some last-minute advice for board members, reminding them to simply follow the town’s land-use regulations in making their decision.
Strub pointed to a key portion of those regulations that states that an agency can deny an application if it finds that a proposed activity may have a significant impact on wetlands, “unless it finds that a feasible alternative does not exist.”
Strub pointed to existing case law that showed that, even if an application does, in fact, impacts wetlands, that’s not necessarily enough to deny. In that case, the town of Hamden was taken to court over its denial of an applicant’s request to build a 600-foot driveway across wetlands an active wetlands area.
Strub said a judge ruled that the application needed to be reconsidered because the applicant’s only other option would have been to build a million-dollar bridge, which would not have been an alternative that is economically “feasible” or “prudent.”
Strub said the commission can approve the application with conditions.
If approved, and the application still needs Planning & Zoning approval, as well, the facility would come complete with 66 loading bays to accommodate as many as 106 tractor trailers at a time.
Middlebury residents Joanne Maccione, left, and Cathy Concograno make it clear where they stand on the issue. Steve Bigham Republican-American
Residents fear that the massive distribution center, with trucks rolling in 24-7, will destroy their community’s small-town feel. They are appealing to the commission’s “conservation consciousness” and to reject the application.
Resident Jennifer Mahr has been one of the leaders of the group founded to fight what some have called an “Amazon-like facility. Mahr 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.”
Mahr said small and semi-rural communities are bearing the brunt of it.
Mahr said a distribution center to facilitate large-scale interstate transportation of finished goods is the opposite of what it means to be semi-rural and is not consistent with the town’s Plan of Conservation and Development.
Mahr suggested the board put a moratorium on any kind of distribution center until it can better define what uses it wants and what kind of traffic the town is willing to allow. She said the town needs to update its regulations to deal with the realities of e-commerce.
Officials celebrate planned access road to new Norwich business park land
Claire Bessette
Norwich ― Standing on a gravel former farm road that will become part of an access road into the new Business Park North, city and state officials on Monday celebrated the $11.3 million state grant that will pay for the first half of the road.
The city recently received approval of the grant from the state Community Investment Fund that will construct 2,700 feet of access road and install utilities running from Route 97 in Occum into the 384-acre Business Park North. The Norwich Community Development Corp. purchased the property in December for $3.55 million.
During a news conference Monday morning at the site, Lt. Gov. Susan Bysiewicz noted the (Interstate 395) highway noise just beyond the vast farm field behind the podium where she and state Department of Economic and Community Development Deputy Commissioner Robert Hotaling stood.
“This is going to be a key access point and an economic development hub here in Norwich and the entirety of eastern Connecticut,” Bysiewicz said.
Bysiewicz said the state’s investment will foster the growth of thousands of new jobs for an industrial and manufacturing base, potentially supporting the construction of submarines at Electric Boat in Groton and the offshore wind industry at State Pier in New London. Bysiewicz said within 60 miles of Occum, there is a population of almost two million people and one million existing jobs.
The grant will build a road from the area near the Exit 18 ramp from I-395 into the business park property to Canterbury Turnpike and prepare 12 development pads. Norwich Public Utilities will install natural gas, water and electric lines along the roadway.
The business park plan calls for another 2,700 feet of road, with a roundabout at Canterbury Turnpike to be designed to keep industrial traffic off the local road. NCDC is awaiting word on a $15 million federal grant application that would complete the road through the property.
Mayor Peter Nystrom said the state and local partnership has come to fruition, and now the project needs a new partnership with the federal government.
NCDC President Kevin Brown said the rest of this year will be spent designing and engineering the road and market the development sites, now that construction is imminent. Brown said construction should start next January, with a goal of opening the first development parcels by December 2024.
But for now, the property entrance off Old Canterbury Turnpike where Monday’s news conference was held does not even have an address to direct the state and city officials to the site. Hotaling joked that he would have gotten lost if he had not followed Bysiewicz to the site.
“But soon, after this project is developed, no one will be lost,” he said. “They will know exactly where we’re coming to.”
As chief investment officer for DECD, Hotaling oversees the state’s Community Investment Fund. He pitched that the third round of grants opened Monday and encouraged eligible distressed municipalities to apply for the competitive grants. The $11.3 million approved for the business park was part of nearly $100 million approved by the state Bond Commission April 6.
State Sen. Cathy Osten, D-Sprague, said legislative leaders’ goal in creating the CIF was to jumpstart development in distressed municipalities. Norwich, she said, fits into all the targeted goals, and the second business park will bring back the city’s former position as an industrial and manufacturing center.
State Rep. Kevin Ryan, D-Montville, thanked Brown for his work in bringing the second business park development to fruition.
“This is a great location,” Ryan said. “We know we have a great workforce in Norwich that are going to access the jobs that are going to be available here. It’s also going to help a lot of local businesses as you see the construction that occurs here, not to mention it will help the Norwich Public Utilities, which is always a great partner in these endeavors.”
Stamford Transportation Center renovations: Here's what train riders need to know.
Jared Weber
STAMFORD — Stamford's train station is in the middle of some serious construction.
The Stamford Transportation Center — the second-busiest Metro-North Railroad station after Grand Central Terminal — will soon have a new $81.7 million, 928-spot garage to replace its existing one on Station Place. Looming over Interstate 95's Exit 7, the gray structure might be the most visible, but it's just one of multiple projects the transit hub has received funding for in recent years.
Other projects that have been announced include elevator and escalator repairs, a master plan to guide future improvements and the eventual demolition of the existing parking garage.
Commuters said they are happy to see more investment being made in the train station — although as the projects take hold, impacts to daily operations at the train station have irked some people and raised questions about end dates. Shannon Burnham, a spokesperson for the Connecticut Department of Transportation, answered some of those questions.
When will the new parking garage be completed?
The parking garage will be completed by the end of summer, Burnham said.
The project's estimated completion date has been consistent since crews broke ground in October 2021, although Burnham noted that supply chain disruptions in recent years were a problem.
When the parking garage is completed, so will be a pedestrian bridge that connects the east side of the new structure to the northwest end of the train station — entering near Java Joe's, a coffee shop and cafe.
When will elevators and escalators be fully repaired?
As construction crews piece together the new parking structure, workers inside have been tinkering on the elevators and escalators that service tracks three and five. The platform is currently closed.
Once it's finished, work will commence on the utilities serving tracks two and four, closing that platform.
Burnham said the entire project will be completed by the end of summer 2024. Previously, officials said it would be done this August; they did not say the cause of delays.
Where does the state's Stamford Transportation Center Master Plan stand?
Last year, the Connecticut Department of Transportation started soliciting public input for a master plan to guide future improvements to the complex. Officials held one public meeting, but that was more than a year ago in March 2022.
The process is ramping back up and expected to conclude before the end of 2023, Burnham said.
CTDOT is finalizing a customer survey that it plans to release to the public, she said. Additionally, a second public information meeting is being planned this year for a date that has not been announced.
One change discussed was the creation of designated waiting spaces for rideshares like Lyft and Uber in an effort to reduce bottlenecking on Station Place. These changes, along with other improvements to Station Place, will be addressed as part of the master plan, Burnham said.
"The master plan is going to highlight rideshare staging opportunities," Burnham said. "The final master plan is going to include the customer survey responses and the public comments that we get back from the public information meeting. So, the master plan is going to be finalized and set to be released by the end of 2023."
Updates are posted on www.stcmasterplan.com.
Some commuters expressed concerns about people experiencing homelessness staying in the Stamford Transportation center.
Jim Gildea, who chairs the CT Commuter Rail Council, an advocacy group for train riders, said that one thing he hears a lot from fellow commuters is concerns about people "loitering" inside the station.
"I think at the end of the day, they have to find a way to, again, offer commuters the feeling as if the station is safe, secure and they don't have to step over or step around people to get to platforms or to get to restrooms," Gildea said.
Officials communicate with "various local stakeholders," including social service nonprofits and city and state agencies to connect people experiencing homelessness with resources, Burnham said.
"Usually, we connect with local services, especially in the area. They reach out and meet with those individuals and work to find either permanent housing for them or temporary or any other services and support that they need," she said.
Personnel may also call the police if the situation calls for it, Burnham said. "It just depends on the circumstances," she said.
What will come of the existing parking garage on Station Place?
CTDOT plans to demolish the existing parking garage and pedestrian bridge on Station Place after the new parking garage opens, Burnham said.
The new parking garage rose from the ashes of the state's previous plan in 2013 to replace the old garage with a mixed-use development.
The Department of Transportation that year struck a deal with a private developer to create a $500 million office, housing, retail and hotel complex beside the train station and move commuter parking a quarter-mile away. That proposal drew ire from commuters, who wanted the state to rebuild the existing garage instead.
That plan is now dead. However, officials said they want to attract developers once the current building is gone.
“This is prime real estate,” then-Transportation Commissioner Joseph Giulietti said about the old garage site. “We're looking to go and attract investors so that we can offset some of our costs for going into an operation by maybe putting in something there that will generate funds for the system.”
Burnham said no tangible plans have been made for the property.
"The DOT has been working with the city and other stakeholders about how to develop that open property once that parking garage is demolished and that becomes open space," she said. "We understand the importance of transit-oriented development and we’re committed to finding different opportunities for development, whether that be housing, retail, what have you."
CT Construction Digest Monday May 1, 2023
Former congressional candidate admits to painting doors at state Capitol
Kevin Arnold
New London ― Kevin Blacker, the 2022 Green Party candidate for the 2nd Congressional District, admitted Sunday to painting pink stripes across the front doors of the state Capitol.
Blacker, a Noank resident, told The Day he drove to the Capitol on Friday afternoon to paint the doors. He said he walked up the front walkway, wearing a reflective vest, and painted four pink stripes across the front door “for a number of reasons.”
He said a police officer walked out of the building moments beforehand, saw Blacker, and continued walking to his cruiser. Blacker walked back to his truck and drove home, he said, without a word from the officer.
Blacker said it was his way to draw attention to the corruption and the law-breaking at the state’s port authority, which he said has been “allowed to go unchecked for years.” The reflective vest’s purpose was “to make sure everyone knows what I’m doing,” he said.
“The law doesn’t apply to them, so the law doesn’t matter, so the law doesn’t apply to me,” Blacker said by phone Sunday.
Blacker pointed to the significant cost overruns for the port authority’s State Pier project, the federal investigations surrounding the port authority, State Pier, and Kosta Diamantis, Gov. Lamont’s deputy budget chief and head of a school construction program under FBI scrutiny, as well as the hiring of Andrew Lavigne as manager of the state Department of Economic and Community Development’s clean energy program.
Lavigne previously served as manager of business development and special projects for the port authority. He was fined for violating state ethics rules when he accepted tickets to a playoff hockey game and other gifts, totaling about $1,000, from Seabury Maritime, a company doing business with the port authority.
“I made myself a public presence in this fight,” Blacker said.
WFSB reported early Sunday that authorities are investigating the door-painting incident but did not yet have the identity of the suspect, who had been caught on video.
State police at Troop H in Hartford said Sunday that the investigation was ongoing and they did not yet have a suspect.
Blacker said he received a call on Saturday that the Capitol police were in Noank looking for him, but he was not in town. He said he gave police his phone number and told them he did not have anything to talk about.
This is not the first time Blacker has used pink paint to draw attention to the State Pier project. In 2020, he was charged with first-degree criminal mischief for using pink paint to cover several roadside directional signs on State Pier Road in New London.
The pink was a reference to the famous pink home of Susette Kelo, whose attempt to fight the taking of her home by eminent domain at Fort Trumbull led to the landmark U.S. Supreme Court case Kelo v. City of New London.
Blacker was previously charged with second-degree breach of peace, a misdemeanor, after he stood up and disrupted a port authority meeting in Hartford in February 2020 on the eve of the approval of the redevelopment plan for State Pier. He refused to leave until he was arrested. At the time, Blacker argued the plans for State Pier had been negotiated in secret and the port Authority had broken the law.
“I’m not paying to fix the doors,” Blacker said. “The governor and the bond commission can just tack it on to the next cost overrun.”
State Pier partners should share in added costs
The Day Editorial Board
The public-private partnership to redevelop State Pier in New London needs rebalancing. As things now stand there is plenty of public - meaning taxpayer - investment but it is a light on the private side.
Now the ambitious undertaking, which will convert the pier into a heavy-lift facility that can provide staging, assembly, and delivery services for offshore wind development, faces another price hike. Gov. Ned Lamont should ask the state’s private partners in the project, Orsted and Eversource, to help bring this project to completion by sharing in whatever additional costs remain.
Lamont seems disinclined to pick up the phone and try. Worse yet, when asked by one of our reporters about the matter at a press event, he seemed surprised at the suggestion that the cost is rising yet again.
“I haven’t heard about any additional cost changes, but our ears are alert,” said the governor.
Clearly, those ears are not as alert as they need to be.
We admit that Lamont does not have much to work with if he seeks to tweak the deal. He holds a lousy playing hand. And Lamont’s administration and the Connecticut Port Authority dealt themselves those lousy cards — face up.
But try the governor must.
Three years ago, in negotiating for a project that had already seen price hikes, Connecticut and its wind-power partners reached a deal to share project costs, then estimated at $157 million, roughly 50-50.
Yet Connecticut took on the risk of all future cost increases, while the Orsted-Eversource share was fixed.
The projected costs now stand at $255.5 million, with the state on the hook for about $180 million. The Connecticut Port Authority and its executive director, Ulysses Hammond, have signaled that the price tag will go up yet again, but the authority is not saying by how much. It needs to come clean.
Undertaking this work as a public-private partnership made sense. It will remain a state facility when completed, making it a state project. Yet the scope is far more ambitious, and costly, than would be necessary if Connecticut were simply upgrading its port, rather than building a facility to support such a challenging technological undertaking as offshore wind. That is why significant private investment, from the companies that will benefit, was in order.
You can hardly blame the Orsted-Eversource partners for seeking to limit their exposure to overruns, given that they do not control construction. Massive public infrastructure undertakings are notorious for going over budget — see Boston’s Big Dig for an extreme example. But the state should have demanded more by requiring their private partners to have some skin in the game if costs continued to escalate.
Now the best the Lamont administration can do is seek an accommodation from Orsted, a Danish multinational power company, and Eversource, a New England energy company, to provide some significant share of these latest cost increases. The governor’s best argument would be that completion of the project could face delays given the controversy, and political opposition, yet another cost increase will generate. Being able to announce that the private partners are kicking in would help Lamont navigate those headwinds.
We would also add that it would be the fair thing to do, for whatever that is worth. These companies expect to benefit mightily from investing in offshore wind and they are taking advantage of federal tax credits intended to encourage expansion of renewable energy.
In May about 60% of State Pier is scheduled to switch from construction site to operations, ready for the arrival of vessels working on Orsted and Eversource’s South Fork Wind project, under development off Long Island. But the good news that operations have begun could well be overshadowed by the ever-rising costs.
Reducing dependence on fossil fuels by developing offshore wind fields is a vital component in the effort to mitigate climate change. It will have the added benefit of providing economic growth and creating good-paying jobs. But seeing the state and port authority botch New London’s part in this endeavor has been a source of ongoing frustration. Holding a press conference to announce the private partners are helping complete the project would ease that frustration at least a little bit.
The Day editorial board meets regularly with political, business and community leaders and convenes weekly to formulate editorial viewpoints. It is composed of President and Publisher Timothy Dwyer, Executive Editor Izaskun E. Larrañeta, staff writer Erica Moser, retired executive editor Tim Cotter and retired deputy managing editor Lisa McGinley. However, only the publisher and editorial page editor are responsible for developing the editorial opinions. The board operates independently from the Day newsroom.
Ignacio Laguarda, Brianna Gurciullo
STAMFORD — Members of the city's Board of Finance said they were worried about how to pay for a new Westhill High School even with substantial help from the state.
"Are we going to run out of money?" asked board chairman Richard Freedman during a virtual meeting Wednesday.
The total cash needed to pay for the work in each of the next four fiscal years is high: it's estimated to be $52.66 million in fiscal year 2024-25, $106.8 million the following year and $90.4 million the next, with more payments in future years.
The total project is estimated to cost $301.3 million, of which the state has agreed to pay for 80 percent of eligible expenses.
The final price tag for the city's share is estimated to be between $90 million and $110 million, depending on how much of the project is deemed eligible for state reimbursement.
However, the city will still need to pay for the full project with reserve funds before receiving refunds from the state, an ongoing payment process that will take place throughout the design and construction of the new Westhill school building. Expenses eligible for reimbursement by the state cannot be paid for with bonded money, said Katherine LoBalbo, the recently hired director of school construction.
The tricky part is making sure the city has enough reserve funds at any one time to pay the costs upfront, which is what Freedman said he wanted to see an analysis of. The figures get even more complicated when factoring in other large construction projects happening concurrently, such as a new $86 million Roxbury Elementary School.
"It seems to me like we have enough money to maybe do those two things at the same time, but we're going to be damn close to running out after those two," Freedman said.
LoBalbo said the state would likely reimburse the city once every two months.
"So that is another hurdle we have to map out when we're looking at this cash flow analysis," she said.
The reserve account that the city will use is known as "Fund 57," which was created last year to raise $20 million for school construction projects through an increased tax rate. Mayor Caroline Simmons proposed raising another $20 million in the upcoming fiscal year.
But on the same night that Board of Finance meeting took place, Simmons announced an agreement with the Board of Representatives to reduce that amount to $15 million.
In a letter to the Board of Representatives, Simmons noted that the Board of Finance already cut her proposed operating budget for city government by $6.3 million and cut the Board of Education's budget by $1.25 million. She argued that any further cuts by the Board of Representatives “would negatively impact city services for residents.”
Simmons said in her letter that she and leaders of the Board of Representatives agreed on a $5 million reduction to the school construction reserve in lieu of other cuts.
“While I would have preferred that the full $20M remain in the budget given the enormity of the work ahead of us to maintain momentum on our Long-Term Facilities Plan, I am confident that we can absorb this reduction and the city will still be able to meet our commitment to our large capital school construction projects,” Simmons said.
Simmons wrote that a deeper cut could spell bad news for a new Westhill.
"Further cuts to this fund would jeopardize the Westhill High School project and the more than $260,000,000 in state aid previously authorized by the Board of Representatives and Board of Finance," she wrote.
A smaller Fund 57 would create even more cash flow challenges, as school officials would have to make payments using money from the fund while replenishing the outgoing money with reimbursements from state refund checks. Making sure there is enough cash in the account for such large payments figures to be a recurring balancing act.
On Wednesday, board officials also questioned some of the assumptions made in the financial documents presented by city and school employees.
For instance, the state's reimbursement rate was estimated to be 75 percent in the presentation instead of 80 percent, under the assumption that some of the expenses the city believes are eligible now will be deemed ineligible by the state.
LoBalbo said she preferred to take a conservative approach to the numbers.
"I'm concerned that if we promise perfect and we don’t hit perfect, will find ourselves in trouble," she said.
Freedman said that "small assumption" of 5 percent less reimbursement would equal about an extra $13 million the city would have to cover.
"A small percentage of a huge number is a huge number," he said.
Further, the project includes a $11 million contingency line item, which was included in the list of expenses ineligible for state funding.
Freedman and fellow board member Dennis Mahoney said most of those expenses would likely be eligible, however.
Again, LoBalbo cautioned the board not to make such assumptions.
"My approach here is so conservative because there are just so many things that are out of our control at this point and that are unknowns," she said.
The construction of the new Westhill is scheduled to begin in July 2025.
One item that is likely to draw some debate is the inclusion of a swimming pool in the plan, at a cost of about $11 million.
Board of Finance member Mary Lou Rinaldi said the board previously discussed the pool, and she said the majority opinion was that it was too expensive to include.
"I thought this board made it clear that a swimming pool was probably not in the cards," she said.
Freedman said the board did in fact talk about it, but never held a vote on the item. He said they would be able to chime in on whether or not to include the pool in the final design later in the process.
Also during the meeting, the Board of Finance voted in favor of a $2.75 million contract with Colliers Project Leaders to provide advisory services throughout the construction process of the new Westhill school.
Beyond Westhill, the city is embarking on a roughly 20-year plan to upgrade all school buildings, including rebuilding some and shuttering others for a total price of $1.5 billion, of which the state is expected to pick up roughly half.
CASSANDRA DAY
MIDDLETOWN — The High Line, a 1.5-mile elevated park full of lush greenery in New York City, could influence the city’s vision of creating a pedestrian walkway that would “float” above Route 9 in Middletown, reconnecting people to Middletown's portion of the Connecticut riverfront.
Middletown Garden Club members, their guests, Mayor Ben Florsheim and other city officials Wednesday visited The High Line, taking in its, in many ways, remarkable and unique landscape design for possible ideas for the 10-year plan for waterfront redevelopment, Return to the Riverbend.
In 2021, Cooper Robertson of New York drew up the master plan that is expected to become a private-public partnership with the city.
The pathway along the now defunct High Line, a 1930s-era rail structure on the west side of Manhattan, is relatively narrow — between 30 and 50 feet in width — flanked by gardens incorporating elements of its original structure into the linear design.
“It is an innovative reclamation project in an urban area,” according to the garden club.
The project, which cost some $187 million to build, has humble origins.
In 1999, Joshua David and Robert Hammond, who had no experience in planning and development, collaborated with neighbors, officials, artists, local business owners, “and leaders of burgeoning movements in horticulture and landscape architecture to create a free park now celebrated worldwide as a model for creatively designed, socially vibrant, and ecologically sound public space,” according to club members.
The railway carried freight trains to the city's west side when the area was full of factories and warehouses. Once trains were replaced by trucks, it became “obsolete,” club literature said. “Plants grew between the tracks, giving it a wild and striking beauty.”
Landscape architect Lisa Switkin, who worked on the project, led a tour of the grounds, where a few thousand visitors from around the world visit daily.
'Floating’ linear park
There are over 350 species of plants and trees scattered throughout, which are maintained by the Friends of the High Line and other volunteers.
“The species we selected were very tolerant, but it’s pretty robust,” the architect said, in consideration of the climate and city life.
Over the years, the majority of greenery and trees that cropped up were invasive species that lived amid clusters of native grasses, Switkin said. “It’s a really rigorous environment.”
At the time, there were a variety of “microclimates,” such as a grove of native trees “that were trying to catch the light, or there would be areas that were wet or dry. You would get all these different things growing that were particular to the spot,” she said.
Barry Diller and wife Diane von Furstenberg, among The High Line’s earliest supporters, have donated some $20 million to the project over the years. It was executed in three stages, with initial construction beginning in 2009.
Design elements
“Because it was a train track, you would get these exotic species that were distributed seeds from trains. They’re all adaptive species, but some are adapted to this environment,” she said.
“The path meanders to views and vistas and other (areas) that are made to feel very natural, but it’s quite a curated experience in many ways, in terms of how you’re moving through,” Switkin said.
Designers wanted to not only have the gardens change from season to season but week to week, Switkin said. “We wanted to create these elongated transitions from grassland to woodland, etc.”
Public art is a large component of The High Line, including "Windy” by Moroccan artist Meriem Bennani, a black “tornado” funnel that spins, as well as the newest work, “Old Tree,” an eye-catching 25-foot-tall sculpture of a fluorescent pink tree created by Pamela Rosenkranz at 10th Avenue and West 30th Street.
Little Island
The Middletown group also visited Little Island, a man-made public space over the Hudson River with a base of concrete, funnel-looking support structures upon which sits a park on various levels. There are hills, lush grass, and other plantings mixed with pieces of art, as well as seating areas.
The Diller–von Furstenberg Family Foundation donated more than $260 million to create Little Island, according to The Wall Street Journal.
The city’s vision
Municipal Historian Deborah Shapiro last traveled to The High Line a decade ago. “The plantings are so marvelous, and they have [some] that open up at different times, so there will always be something blooming,” she said. The atmosphere, she added, “brings out the best in people.”
When plants were chosen for Harbor Park years back, Shapiro said, species were selected for their ability to withstand the New England weather. Designers also took into consideration the times when the river floods, Shapiro said.
“The river up to Middletown still has some salt water in it from the tide coming up from the Sound,” she said.
Another important component will be its accessibility, the mayor said, pointing to how easy it is to cross the highway near Little Island. “I’m downtown, I’m on Main Street: Oh, look, I’m at the riverfront,” he said.
Past garden club president Laney Bank envisions “very interesting” pollinator species and the bridge being wide enough to also allow people to walk their bicycles to the river.
“Another takeaway is how much of a difference it makes to have this natural environment on a relatively small scale,” the mayor said. “We’re in midtown Manhattan. Up on The High Line, it’s still crowded and still feels like New York. … I wasn’t thinking about that there was a lot of horn honking and traffic going by and smog coming up below us."
“It’s been designed in such a way that, instead, I’m looking at flowers and trees,” Florsheim said.
In Middletown, there would be a staircase to bring visitors to the riverfront, and Union Street would provide street-level access, Florsheim said. “The sort of ‘High Line’ would be off Riverview Plaza (on Main Street), extending from the walkway behind there,” or at the parking arcade, between the courthouse and Washington Street.
Banks said she'd like to see The High Line's "mesh railings, amazingly strong, and sustainable wood, those kinds of features, not just a simple concrete bridge," with “contemporary landscape architecture features that this has; use of the land in the right way.”
“The biggest variable that this brings to the front of my mind is The High Line [used] existing infrastructure and adaptive reuse, and we are going to need to build something new — us and the state working together,” the mayor said. “We don’t know how much real estate we’ll have to work with.”
Florsheim also talked about the casual nature of the High Line and his vision for what Middletown’s version could be. “The goal is that we want it to be a place that you just end up, maybe without intending to.”
For information on The High Line, go to thehighline.org. The master plan may be viewed at middletownct.gov.
This nuclear waste has been sitting in CT for 50 years. Could it finally be removed?
John Moritz
For over half a century, Connecticut’s Millstone Nuclear Power Plant has played host to the spent uranium fuel used to power its three reactors. According to federal regulators, it will be at least another decade until that radioactive fuel has anywhere else to go.
Earlier this week, the Department of Energy released its newest roadmap toward developing a temporary solution for storing the nation’s spent nuclear fuel — a process the agency now says will take between 10 and 15 years to complete.
For eastern Connecticut, the news is a welcome step in what has been a long and politically-fraught effort to find a more permanent location for disposing of spent nuclear fuel, according to U.S. Rep. Joe Courtney, D- Conn., who has been involved with Congress’ efforts to break the impasse.
“Let’s face it, we were just spinning our wheels with Yucca Mountain,” Courtney said Friday, referring to the proposed long-term storage location in Nevada that has stalled in the face of overwhelming local opposition.
“In the meantime over 70 communities, at great expense and really at great risk are really just having this material pile up,” the congressman added.
Without any purpose-built facilities to handle spent nuclear waste, operators of U.S. nuclear power plants have been forced to store their spent fuel rods on site in giant pools or in dry concrete casks.
The federal government’s current efforts, as outlined in the DOE's new timeline, focus on identifying one or more communities that are willing to volunteer to host an interim storage facility that will offload fuel rods from existing sites, and hold that fuel until a permanent storage site is eventually identified and built.
By involving local officials early in the site-selection process, federal officials are hoping to avoid the kind of stalemate that has occurred at Yucca Mountain.
“Prioritizing constructive, community-based input around consent-based solutions has shaped our roadmap for advancing our nation’s spent nuclear fuel management,” Assistant Secretary for Nuclear Energy Kathryn Huff said in a statement Tuesday. “This process deepens our commitment to transparency and equity and moves us closer to our clean energy future
Over the next two or three years, the agency said it plans to embark on a campaign to inform communities about what hosting a nuclear storage facility would entail, as well as what federal funding would be available, before soliciting a call for volunteers. Officials will then take several more years to assess those bids, before negotiating and signing agreements with the selected locations.
Permitting and construction would then take another three to four years, according to the DOE timeline, before the facilities are ready to begin operation.
In addition to Millstone, Courtney’s district is also home to a repository of spent nuclear fuel at the site of the former Connecticut Yankee Nuclear Power Plant in Haddam, which was decommissioned in 1996.
Together, the two sites housed 2,441 metric tons of spent uranium as of 2021, the last year for which statistics were available from the Nuclear Energy Institute.
Neither of the plants were intended to serve as long-term storage facilities for spent fuel, and local officials have long complained that their locations near water leave them — and nearby residents — vulnerable to the risk of an accident caused by flooding or hurricanes.
Waterford’s first selectman, Robert Brule, could not be reached for comment about the report on Friday.
In a letter written last year to the DOE, Brule said that the town would support the continued storage of spent fuel at Millstone “for as long as is necessary to maintain plant operations,” but that would not consider accepting spent fuel from other locations.
Courtney told CT Insider on Friday that he would be “dumb-founded” if any locations in New England were considered as a possible interim storage site, due to the region’s geology and proximity to water.
Even without an identified solution in place for the issue of storing spent fuel, officials in Connecticut have already begun to weigh a potential expansion of nuclear power to meet the state’s clean energy goals.
Last year, Gov. Ned Lamont signed legislation to partially lift the state’s decades-old moratorium on the expansion of nuclear power. The law would allow additional reactors to be built at Millstone, which currently supplied 40 percent of the state’s electricity through its two operational reactors. (The plant’s third, and original reactor closed in the 1990s).
Environmentalists, meanwhile, have criticized the approach, arguing it would be costlier and more hazardous than developing other forms of carbon-free electricity, such as wind and solar. Millstone's owner, Virginia-based Dominion Energy, has yet to announce any plans for building additional reactors on the site.
Bridgeport's building chief: Remington was 'imminent danger'
Brian Lockhart
BRIDGEPORT — If the city had not earlier this month begun tearing down parts of the blighted Remington Arms plant along Barnum Avenue, the crumbling East Side edifice, ruined by neglect, vandals, multiple fires and the elements, would have soon fallen in on its own, possibly injuring passersby.
That was the conclusion of Arben Kica. As head of the city's building department, Kica, following an inspection of the long-abandoned property's interconnected structures last winter, issued a Jan. 9 emergency demolition order to the economic development department for a large section of the former factory complex.
Kica cited significant degradation of the roofs, walls, masonry and flooring of the handful of linked buildings at Barnum Avenue and Helen Street.
"The degree of failure ... is such that there is imminent danger of collapse," Kica wrote, emphasizing that could "threaten the safety and well-being of people on the public way and on the street." He ordered "the immediate demolition of all hazardous elements."
Bridgeport gained control of the property from developer Sal DiNardo in the mid-2010s following a foreclosure fight over back taxes. A subsidiary of DuPont, the last industrial user, in 2000 agreed to assume responsibility for cleaning up any underground soil and water contamination after the city removed the buildings.
Toward that end, the City Council set aside $5 million in early 2020 and Bridgeport's state legislative delegation secured an additional $10 million for Remington in late 2021.
It took much of last year for Bridgeport to gain access to the state aid. By late fall/early winter Mayor Joe Ganim's administration was preparing to move ahead with the normal demolition process, which first includes removing hazardous construction materials before a tear down because it is typically costlier to instead sift through the debris.
But first Kica was called in to make sure the structures were safe for that preparation work to proceed. They were not.
“It had been a while since these buildings were looked at and buildings that are exposed like they were, where the backs were off and parts of the roof were off and so forth, have a tendency to continue to deteriorate," Thomas Gill, Ganim's economic development chief, said last week. "As a result, this time when we asked them (the building department) to go out and look, it was Arben's opinion things had deteriorated to the point where we were concerned there could be a collapse."
That resulted in the Jan. 9 emergency demolition order. And even then, it took over three months for the project to begin. By mid-February, other building department documents show, Manafort Brothers Inc. of New Britain had been hired for the job, with an estimated start of early to mid-March.
Kica issued Manafort's permit April 13, the day before Ganim, Gill and other officials held a press conference celebrating the start of the demolition.
"This has been a blight issue to the East Side for a number of years," Ganim, running for re-election, said at the time before hopping on a piece of heavy equipment for a photo opportunity as the machinery took a bite out of the old factory.
State Rep. Chris Rosario, Bridgeport City Council President Aidee Nieves and Councilwoman Maria Valle all represent that neighborhood and were also present for that April 14 event. All three afterward said they had been unaware of the January emergency demolition order but were not surprised. They have long been pressuring City Hall to start clearing out Remington not only because it is a massive eyesore, but for fear of a collapse.
"People would call me — residents — and say, 'You know, this does not look good. When is this gonna change?'" Valle recalled. "Anybody driving through there or walking, (it) was a threat to the safety of the people."
"Constituents were telling us bricks were falling with the weather. A brick fell here, a brick was falling here. It was just like, 'We’ve got to get this done,'" Nieves said.
Rosario, who played a key roll in securing the $10 million in state aid in 2021, said he and some of his legislative colleagues from Bridgeport met earlier this year with the Ganim administration "and really pressed them" over how long it can take the city to get going on projects like Remington.
"We thought it wasn't fair we acquired these dollars and they were just sort of sitting there," Rosario said.
Remington was not only a public safety hazard, but posed a potential political hazard for Ganim. On the morning of the mayor's April 14 press conference, one of his rival candidates, Democrat John Gomes, lamented the delayed demolition there in a video posted on social media, calling the property's revival another "empty promise."
"I stand here before another landmark in the City of Bridgeport, Remington Arms," stated Gomes outside of the Barnum Avenue site. "Every election cycle is filled with promises of economic development and the impact it will have on the East Side of town."
According to Gill, the remaining structures along Barnum Avenue not included in Kica's emergency order should be put out to bid and removed through the normal process by year's end.
"It's not gonna be a long pause before we start," he said. “Then, once all those buildings are down, it’s a case of pushing Dupont to come in and honor the agreement that’s there relative to the site (underground environmental) cleanup.”
The factory's historic tower, however, will be left standing. City officials between 2021 and early 2022 completed a $3 million fortification of that highly visible and recognizable part of the complex's architecture to ensure the tower alone can eventually be renovated and incorporated into any future modern construction.
Gill said it was too soon to say how long it will be before any soil contamination is dealt with and the property ready for the city to seek redevelopment proposals.
For Rosario and many others it is a big relief to finally see Remington disappearing from Bridgeport's landscape.
"That's been a long-standing eyesore (and) not the type of site you want to see when you walk out of your home or in your backyard," he said. "I'm glad they got on top of it and look forward to not only seeing the rest come down, but to continue to work in getting additional dollars to remediate and develop that land.
"It's literally an open canvas," Rosario said. "You can do lots of stuff over there."
Shelton approves 129-unit apartment complex on Canal Street
Brian Gioiele
SHELTON — A local developer is helping take the next step in Canal Street’s redevelopment.
The Planning and Zoning Commission, at its meeting Wednesday, approved Cedar Village at The Locks, Don Stanziale, Jr.’s plan to develop a four-story building at 287 Canal St., known as the Ascom Hasler site. Cedar Village is planned to have 129 apartments and 1,745 square feet of retail space.
Stanziale must return with final detailed development plans once he receives approvals from the state traffic authority, city engineer and fire marshal,and completes layout and architectural designs.
"We’ve been working on this a long time. It is going to be a nice project,” said Stanziale, owner of Midland Development & Contracting, who also Cedar Village at Carroll’s on Howe Avenue.
The commission called on Stanziale to set aside 10 percent of the units, 13 total, as affordable under state statute 8-30g.
The commission recently approved its proposed affordable housing plan, which the commissioners have stated is a guideline for integrating affordable housing into proposed rental unit developments.
The Board of Aldermen must also approve the plan before it takes effect. The aldermen are scheduled to hold a public hearing on the plan next month, after which a vote could be held.
According to the plan, projects with more than 100 units would need 18 percent to be affordable, split evenly between 80 percent and 60 percent of the area median income.
In seeking to set aside only 10 percent, Stanziale told the commissioners he would construct the Riverwalk and create a seating area for people to enjoy looking over the Shelton canal locks and the Housatonic River. The new building would have views of the river.
The construction would include the walkway, lighting and fencing along the entire frontage of the Housatonic River, plus the Canal Locks, a distance of more than 500 feet. Work would include any necessary retaining walls and a switch-back ramp system providing access from the Canal Street public sidewalk down to the Riverwalk.
“Other riverfront developments have simply provided a prepared easement for the future construction of the Riverwalk by the City of Shelton,” the resolution states.
Commissioners had voiced concerns about the amount of parking proposed. In the plans, Stanziale had proposed 187 spaces, but he has since reached an agreement with John Watts — owner of the former Ascom Hasler site — to purchase the land across the street for at least 24 additional spots.
“This would be for visitors of the apartments or people visiting the locks,” Stanziale said.
An alternative place for extra parking, he added, would be the left side of the building over the lower parking area adjacent to the locks.
The proposed building will include 40 studios, 77 one-bedrooms and 12 two-bedroom units, and the top floor would feature three outside deck areas, one which will be covered, to allow for viewing of the river.
This site has environmental issues, like most of the old industrial sites along Canal Street. During a previous Shelton Economic Development Corp. meeting, SEDC President Paul Grimmer said most of the issues reside inside the building, such as lead and asbestos contamination.
$36M rehab hospital on Danbury's west side approved by CT: 'Beds of this type are extremely limited'
Kendra Baker
DANBURY — Construction on the first physical rehabilitation hospital in the Danbury area is expected to begin after gaining a key state approval.
Encompass Health Corporation, whose plans to build a $36 million 100,000-square-foot facility on Danbury’s west side were approved by zoning officials in May 2021, has been waiting for state approval of the Certificate of Need application it filed in August 2020.
A certificate of need is required for health care providers looking to “make major changes to the health care landscape,” according to the state Office of Health Strategy.
With its certificate granted last week, construction on Encompass Health’s new rehabilitation hospital near the intersection of Reserve Road and Winding Ridge Way can at last commence.
State Rep. Patrick Callahan, R-New Fairfield, said he doesn’t know why the state approval process took so long, but he’s happy the certificate of need was finally granted.
“I’m pleased that after two years, Encompass has been approved by the state to build this inpatient hospital so families can be near their loved ones during the rehabilitation process,” he said. “Beds of this type are extremely limited, and these services will aid in recovery from physical and neurological injuries.”
The 40-bed inpatient rehabilitation hospital will serve people who have suffered strokes, heart attacks, and neurological ailments by providing physical rehabilitation, occupational therapy and speech therapy.
In addition to private patient rooms, the facility will feature a therapy gym, dining room, pharmacy and therapy courtyard.
“This rehabilitation hospital will fulfill an important need in the Greater Danbury area community, bringing specialized care for neurological disorders and physical injuries to the city’s westside,” state Rep. Rachel Chaleski, R-Danbury, said in a statement.
The facility will become part of Encompass Health’s national network of rehabilitation hospitals and be the company’s first rehab hospital in the state of Connecticut.
Representatives with Encompass Health could not be reached for comment on Wednesday afternoon.