Speed cameras keep watch over Interstate 95 work zone in East Lyme
Elizabeth Regan
East Lyme ― The multiyear Interstate 95 construction project
at the exit 74 interchange is part of the state’s test run for speed cameras in
work zones.
The speed camera and radar system arrived atop a white SUV
June 5 from its previous position in Newtown, where it watched over
reconstruction of the Rochambeau Bridge. The Know
The Zone: Speed Safety Camera Program, which applies to work zones with
posted speed limits over 45 mph, started in Newtown, Norwalk and East Hartford.
The state Department of Transportation rolled out the pilot
program on April 10 with four of the SUVs featuring “speed safety systems” to
slow down traffic in work zones. The setup works by snapping pictures of
vehicles going more than 15 mph over the limit.
The owner of any car caught speeding through a work zone
will be greeted with first-class mail from the state’s Centralized Infraction
Bureau. The first offense comes with a warning. The second includes a $75
ticket. Every offense after that will cost $150.
State Department of Transportation spokeswoman Kafi Rouse on
Friday said 581,658 vehicles traveled through the targeted work zones from the
start of the pilot program through June 11.
She said there were 2,739 vehicles clocked traveling faster
than 15 mph over the speed limit, with warnings issued to 1,344 of them. The
remainder were rejected as unreadable or are still being processed.
There have been no citations sent out so far, she said.
Images are reviewed by troopers from the Connecticut State
Police before any notices can be issued, according to Rouse. So it’s possible
there are repeat offenders who haven’t made it through the vetting process yet
or whose license plates couldn’t be discerned.
“At some point, those who receive the warnings, hopefully
they will take heed, but those who don’t, they will receive a citation,” she
said.
Rouse said there are no points assessed against the driver's
license of someone who receives a citation and the violation isn’t reported on
driving records.
“This is not a ticket,” she said. “We issue the warnings and
we issue the citations and the goal is to change behavior. It’s not to make
money at all.”
A sample citation provided by Rouse identifies the form as a
“complaint ticket.”
Rouse cited successful programs like one in Pennsylvania
that began in April 2020.
The three-year pilot program there yielded 1.1 million
violations, according to a report from the Pennsylvania Department of
Transportation. About 18% of that total came from repeat offenders.
The report said the pilot program collected more than $15
million in fines but cost nearly $2.5 million more than that to administer.
About 76% of those ticketed paid their fines.
The Pennsylvania report said there were 100 fewer crashes in
2021 than there were before the pandemic in 2019. The report said the 6%
decrease was “in direct contrast to national trends of increased work zone
crashes from pre-pandemic to today.”
Rouse reiterated post-pandemic effects are putting people in
danger in work zones and elsewhere on the road.
“People sped up during 2020 and they have not necessarily
slowed down since then,” she said. “And there’s more cars on the road.”
Connecticut DOT data shows 3,674 work zone crashes from 2019
to 2022, with 13 fatalities and 37 serious injuries. Rouse said the majority of
fatalities were drivers or passengers, not site workers.
Lawmakers in 2021 authorized the cameras to be used in no
more than three locations at any given time through Dec. 31. Rouse said that
means there can be up to three cameras during the day and three cameras at
night, though the pilot program’s four vehicles limits coverage.
The cameras are operational from 7 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. Monday
through Friday for the East Lyme project, according to the DOT’s
Know the Zone website. Work slated for the past week included placement of
a temporary barrier, new pavement markings, temporary paving, median
reconstruction and drainage installation.
The DOT in a press release said photos are taken only when a
vehicle is traveling over 15 mph and the images of any visible occupants will
be masked. The agency said data collected by the speed safety systems is used
strictly for this program, with no data used for surveillance “or any other law
enforcement purposes.”
The location of the speed cameras is posted ahead of
time on the DOT website. Signs will be located 500 feet and
200 feet before the SUV while enforcement is in effect.
The speed camera will be in the East Lyme work zone at least
through July 9, Rouse said.
Brookfield's new Candlewood Lake Elementary School to open in fall: ‘symbol' of the 'future’
BROOKFIELD — The new
Candlewood Lake Elementary School is in the final phases of
construction and will be ready by the start of the 2023-24 school year.
“It’s extraordinarily exciting,” said Bob Belden, chair of
the Brookfield Board of Education. “I think our public will be very proud of
what is being built for our students and the experiences that our students for
future generations will have in our school… I think more than anything I am
excited and the board is excited about having a fresh new school that meets the
needs of our students.”
Belden said the flooring and other finishing touches are
being installed at the $78 million school at 100 Candlewood Lake Road. He
said the district designed the school with “all the needs of the 21st century
student in mind,” including state-of-the-art classrooms and multipurpose rooms
and a “top rate” gymnasium. The school was also designed so each grade level
will have its own “neighborhood.”
“The new school is going to be tremendous,” First Selectman
Tara Carr said. “We’re already close to completion and it’ll be a symbol of
Brookfield of the future. We’re moving away from the old and into the new.”
Building a new school from scratch
Belden said the school district has been talking about
building a new elementary school in Brookfield for decades. He said the school
board formed a committee in 2015 to study what should be done, and a committee
of school board members, administrators and public members started looking at
the town’s options in 2018.
Belden said the committee came forward at a town referendum
to propose building a new elementary school to consolidate Center Elementary
School and Huckleberry Hill Elementary School into a single elementary school
and bring the fifth graders at Whisconier Middle School to the new elementary
school.
Details and documents concerning the Candlewood Lake
Elementary School project can be found on the
Candlewood Lake Elementary School website.
The $78 million project was approved
at a town referendum in 2019 and construction of the
139,000-square-foot elementary school began
in March 2021. Belden said Candlewood Lake Elementary School is being
built from scratch on the same property as Huckleberry Hill Elementary School,
which was built in 1963.
Construction was originally scheduled to be finished by the
middle of the 2023-24 school year but was delayed
due to supply chain issues. The town also dealt with a minor incident
involving a hazardous
materials spill at the construction site in December 2021.
The future of Brookfield’s elementary, middle school
buildings
Huckleberry Hill Elementary School will be demolished and
landscaped with parking spaces for the new elementary school, Belden said.
School ends June 15, which Belden said will give Huckleberry Hill teachers a
couple of weeks to move their belongings before the school is turned over to
the construction firm O&G Construction.
O&G Construction has been building the new school for
the last three years, Belden said, and will start demolition of Huckleberry
Hill as early as the beginning of July. Belden said the school will be
demolished in phases through the fall.
The Center School building, which was built in 1939, will be
turned over to the town on Sept. 1, and the town
will determine “if it has a future use or not,” Belden said.
With the fifth graders at Candlewood Lake Elementary School,
Belden said Whisconier Middle School will become a more traditional middle
school housing sixth, seventh and eighth grade students. The portable
classrooms the fifth graders used at Whisconier Middle School will be
removed.
“It’s going to be a different way of teaching and learning
and carrying our kids into a new community of school environment,” Carr said,
“so it’s exciting and it’s absolutely beautiful.”
Shelton P&Z wants more affordable units in 152-apartment River Road development
SHELTON — An apartment development proposed for River Road
may be closer to approval – but it would come with a demand for additional
affordable units.
The Planning and Zoning Commission, at its meeting
Wednesday, asked staff to prepare a favorable resolution for developer B-WIZZ,
LLC’s plans for a four-building, 152-unit apartment development on a
nearly 10-acre site listed as 453 River Road.
The commission will further discuss and vote on the
resolution in the coming weeks.
The commission agreed that the developer should make 21 of
the units affordable, according to state statute 8-30g, less than
recommendations in the city's affordable housing plan for a development this
size. The plan calls for 18 percent of units to be affordable in projects with
more than 150 units.
“I think this is a fair compromise,” said commissioner Ruth
Parkins.
The developer had hoped to do no more than 10 percent
affordable. The commission's requirement that 21 of the 152 units be affordable
would represent about 14 percent.
Howard S. Rappaport of Rocky Hill-based Continental Global
Ventures, LLC, in a letter on the developer’s behalf, detailed the economic
impacts of affordable units on apartment developments.
Rappaport stated that if the commission required an
affordable set-aside of 15 percent instead of 10 percent, in a development with
152 overall units, this would require approximately eight more affordable units
and the “value loss to a lender, in addition to the value loss on the first 10
percent of the affordable units, could range from a loss of $2.2 million to
$2.9 million.
“(The) value loss can certainly render a project
unfinanceable such that it does not move forward even if it is approved,”
Rappaport added.
The development calls for the construction of four separate
buildings — each with 38 apartments — and a 5,500-square-foot clubhouse. Each
of the apartment buildings are proposed to be 11,800 square feet. There are 274
parking spaces proposed.
While most commissioners supported the plan as proposed,
commission Chair Virginia Harger said having a completely residential
development along what she called a commercial corridor along River Road was
“inappropriate.
“I feel a residential use similar to the townhouses on the
other side of Coram Road on Katherine Court/Morningside Court/Rivendell Drive
with access only to and from Coram Road would be a more suitable use for the
rear portion of the property,” Harger added.
Harger said she would not rule out a residential use on the
site but said “I just don’t think five buildings are appropriate for the entire
property.”
Commissioner Elaine Matto said this was an appropriate
project, adding that she does not think more commercial space is needed along
River Road.
“I like the design and the layout,” said commission
alternate Dan Onofrio, adding that he felt this residential development would
be a boon for the businesses already along River Road.
The developers are seeking a Planned Development District,
or PDD, for the vacant property, which sits across the street from Cumberland
Farms and Hook Line and Sinker as well as the entrance to Jordan Avenue.
The property is bounded by residential housing to the north,
residential and commercial to the south, commercial to the east and Coram Road
to the west. There will be access to the site from River Road as well as from
Coram Road, according to the proposed plans.
Developer pitches ‘mass timber’ technology for new Hartford apartments
A developer presented plans for a high-end apartment complex built with compressed wood “mass timber” for a parcel in the Bushnell South area of Hartford on Thursday, seeking to upgrade both the area’s housing stock and environmental bona fides.
Laminated wood beams would form the skeleton of the new
buildings, designed by Anthony Amenta on behalf of The Michaels
Organization. That company was chosen by the Capital Region Development
Authority (CRDA) last year to develop a parcel across from the Capitol Building
and near The Bushnell theater.
The $100 million project would result in 233 apartments in
two newly built mid-rise buildings designed “to push the envelope on the
marketplace,” said CRDA Director Michael Freimuth. Mass timber technology
allows for the buildings to rise to eight stories, instead of the five-story
limit for traditional “stick-built” construction.
Massive structural beams composed of compressed wood would
be visible on the building’s ground floors, highlighting the sustainable
material. The project’s developer is currently completing preliminary work with
plans to refine plans over the summer, said Geoff Lewis, director of
development for the Michaels Organization.
Designer Anthony Amenta said that mass timber would allow
for a taller building, greener finishes and more housing.
“For this particular site, we wanted to see if we could do
something different, particularly on the key corner there across from The
Bushnell,” Amenta said. “We spent a good amount of time looking at mass timber…
and what this means is the entire structure of a building of this type
could be made of a renewable resource.”
The proposed mass timber complex is part of a major project
designed to create a new neighborhood south of Hartford’s downtown. Hartford
Mayor Luke Bronin told the City Council last month that public
subsidies in the form of tax-fixing agreements would be needed to
complete the redevelopment.
New Haven is the home of the
state’s first mass timber project, a 69-unit apartment complex now under
construction on Dixwell Avenue. That complex is also said to be the first
affordable housing project in the nation to utilize the environmentally
friendly material.
More developers are choosing mass timber as the technology
evolves and customers demand sustainability, Amenta said. “ I do believe
they will be taking over a good deal of the marketplace, because [it] allows
the beauty and aesthetics of wood to be shown within some of the unit types,”
Amenta said. They also have a very rapid construction time.”
High-rise apartment building planned for East Main St. in Meriden
MERIDEN — The Planning Commission is expected to take
up a Parker Avenue North apartment project that was approved several times
since 1985, but never built.
Regency Towers LLC has filed plans with the Planning
Department to build a new 70-unit apartment building at 37 Parker Ave. adjacent
to Victoria Towers along East Main Street. The commission meets on July 11.
The Carabetta Companies, the entity behind Regency Towers,
proposed the 16-story project on a three-acre site currently used as a
parking lot and community garden for Victoria Towers tenants. According to
plans the two towers will share 321 parking spaces and
pedestrian access will be provided by sidewalk at the front and rear
“In staff’s review of the application, it appears that
the proposed use aligns with the uses permitted by right within the R-4 zone
and the submitted materials contain a sufficient level of detail for the
commission to consider this application.”
Planning staff has made some recommendations to the project
that the commission will consider at its July meeting. Some of them include
replacing existing trees at the rear property line with other
trees planted more closely together to provide necessary screening for
adjacent residences.
Also recommended were modifying parking stall sizes,
extending a sidewalk and adding a pedestrian crossing to provide access to
the pool area.
The applicant is also asked to submit a plan to ensure adequate
lighting will not overflow on neighboring properties. Developers must also
submit a plan that combines 37 and a small lot at 49 Parker Avenue North.
They must also submit an erosion control bond, and clear interior floor
plans with the city fire marshal, according to notes in the application.
“I recall Carabetta was looking to do this a while back,”
said Democratic City Councilor Michael Rohde, chairman of the council’s
Economic Development Housing and Zoning Committee. “I’ll wait to see
what happens but the foundation is already there.”
Rohde said that despite other city officials’ opinions, the
city still needs apartments. The city has several large and small apartment
projects in the works, adding primarily market-rate units into the inventory. Rohde
says tenants seeking apartment referrals have moved to Bristol and other areas
for high-end apartments.
“I know a lot of people couldn’t understand any
more subsidized housing, but this is market rate housing, these people
contribute to the local community, he said. “I know a lot of people are
looking for all kinds of rental housing and Meriden is increasingly going
to be that place for people. We have a lot to offer.”
Developer unveils nearly $100M mixed-use vision for Hartford’s Bushnell South zone
A New Jersey developer picked to redevelop a 2.8-acre
parking lot south of Hartford’s Bushnell Park presented tentative designs to
the Capital Region Development Authority Board of Directors Thursday, outlining
233 apartments and several townhouses.
Costs for the development are “approaching $100 million,”
CRDA Executive Director Michael Freimuth said.
This is scaled back from the initial, $130 million concept
of 345 apartments and 15 townhomes that Michaels submitted when it was
initially chosen last November as the preferred developer by the CRDA.
Officials were clear at the time that Michaels was selected for its
vision and capabilities – not the scope of its initial presentation – and that
the final design could vary in scope.
The proposal outlined by Anthony J. Amenta, of
Hartford-based Amenta | Emma Architects, includes an eight-story apartment
building, five-story apartment building and three, three-story, townhouse
buildings. The townhouse buildings appear to offer 12 units, all of which are
meant to be owner occupied. The plan includes 3,500 square feet of retail
space.
The buildings ring the periphery of the lot – which is
bounded by West and Buckingham streets, Capitol Avenue and a 1-acre park
adjacent to a state office building at 165 Capitol Ave. Inside this square of
buildings is a 100-space surface parking lot.
The design offers a first for Hartford. The eight-story
building has a “mass timber” design using “cross-laminated timber” or a “CLT”
floor system. This allows for greater achievable heights with the
traditional wood-frame multifamily buildings. The technique uses engineered
wood beams and has been gaining steam in the U.S. following its popularization
in Canada and Europe.
Traditional wood-frame design is a “proven solution” for
mid-rise structures up to six stories, according to a 2014 article published by
the American Institute for Architects Continuing Education Center for
Architecture and Engineering. Mass timber is a possible solution for even
taller buildings, according to the article.
The mass timber and CLT design allows for rapid
construction and appealing wood aesthetics, Amenta said. The design also uses
an exterior skin that hangs on the side of the building, rather than running
floor to floor. That allows for larger spans of glass, Amenta said.
“We are obviously trying to push the envelope on the
marketplace,” Freimuth told his board. “This would be a higher-end building
taking on some new technologies. It would be a green building. What it allows
us to do is get greater scale on this site, which gives us greater
architectural flexibility.”
Board members were generally complimentary.
Board member Robert E. Patricelli mingled compliments with
some concern the exterior’s modern design would be a departure from surrounding
architecture.
“It is likely to be a bit challenging to look at,”
Patricelli said.
Patricelli was also surprised to see such a large surface
parking lot.
Michaels Director of Development Geoff Lewis said
underground parking would be prohibitively expensive, but the design is meant
to hide the surface lot from view.
City seeks to ‘discharge’ lawsuit holding up development of North Crossing apartments
Attorneys representing the city in a lawsuit brought by the
developer initially selected for, and later terminated from an effort to build
what is now Dunkin’ Park, are seeking a court order that would allow
development on several parcels surrounding the ballpark to proceed despite a
trial scheduled for next year.
On Friday, attorneys with Harford-based Carlton Fields filed
a motion for discharge of lis pendens. They say the “lis pendens,” or pending
litigation revived by the plaintiffs, is a “recycled version of their
previously discharged lis pendens.”
Last year, the state Supreme Court overturned an earlier
ruling in Superior Court that said the parties’ contracts “did not
unambiguously grant the plaintiffs legal control of the architect and the
stadium's design across all relevant time periods.”
Attorneys for Centerplan and its offshoot companies, known
as DoNo, believe their clients have a right to continue developing the North
Crossing project, which includes several city-controlled properties surrounding
Dunkin’ Park.
But the city says the legal dispute was already discharged
and cannot be resurrected now.
“Those lis pendens were already discharged by this court,
pursuant to Conn. Gen. Stat. §52-325b, and as a matter of law, the DoNo
Plaintiffs cannot simply revive a discharged lis pendens by re-recording a
‘new’ one at a later date,” the motion states.
The city hired Centerplan in 2015 to develop the ballpark
for $56 million, along with four parcels around it. The following year, the
city terminated Centerplan, saying the company was at fault for
construction-related delays.
Centerplan sued the city for wrongful termination and breach
of contract, claiming it was owed $6 million.
The roughly 6,000-seat ballpark was completed in 2017. The
city worked with Centerplan’s insurer to complete the stadium and picked
Stamford-based RMS Cos. to build apartments on several blocks around it.
RMS has already built 270 apartment units on property next
to the stadium, known at The Pennant. But with a new trial set for 2024, the
rest of the projects are on hold. RMS CEO Randy Salvatore has said he
still wants to develop the remaining parcels, no
matter how long it takes to clear legal roadblocks.
The crux of the city’s argument in the motion for discharge
is that the "refiled lis pendens interferes with RMS’ vested rights to
develop the additional parcels, after already having developed Parcel C (The
Pennant).” If prior leases to Centerplan for the other properties were
enforced, “RMS would be stripped of this vested right entirely," the
filing states.
According to a memorandum of law in support of the motion
for discharge, RMS claims the pending litigation will have a "devastating
financial impact on RMS and the city," which "far outweigh(s) the
impact on the DoNo Plaintiffs ..."
Also, on Thursday, Superior Court Judge Cesar Noble
scheduled a hearing on the city's motion to dismiss at 10 a.m. Aug. 7, at
Hartford Superior Court, 95 Washington St.