June 30th Connecticut Bond Agenda
Hartford’s North End flooding woes to be addressed with $170M
For decades, homes in Hartford’s North End have been plagued
by regular flooding, and nobody took responsibility for fixing the problem.
But on Monday, state and local officials, led by Gov. Lamont
and U.S. Senator Richard Blumenthal, announced a $170 million project to
correct decades of environmental injustice.
Standing in front of a house at 294 Granby St. that has had
chronic flooding issues, politician after politician apologized for how long it
has taken to hear the residents’ pleas for help and promised that they will not
leave now until the flooding is stopped.
“I’m sorry and shamed at how long it took us to get here,
but we are here now, and we’re not leaving until we get it right for each every
one of you in this community,” Lamont said. “If there were sewage bubbling up
in a basement in Guilford or Greenwich they’d be getting that fixed overnight,
and now we’re gonna get it fixed right here on Granby Street and beyond.”
The $85 million to pay the state’s portion will come from the Clean Water Fund, which is administered by the state Department of Energy and Environmental Protection, to implement a pilot program that will address sewage overflows in streets and basements homes and businesses in North Hartford.
DEEP Commissioner Katie Dykes said the funds will be
applied to 12 projects proposed by the Metropolitan District
Commission to increase protections from sewer and stormwater-related flooding
and backups in North Hartford. Five projects are slated to begin in 2023, six
projects will begin in 2024, and one project will begin in 2025.
Officials expect the first shovels in the ground by the end
of summer.
The rest of the funding will be provided by MDC, and Dykes
said the agency has promised the project costs will be covered within the
current MDC rate structure, with no impact on current rates.
Dykes said the projects will include a pilot program where
MDC will be allowed to go onto private properties and propose fixes for each
property that would then be paid through the $170 million.
There also is $5 million set aside to cover the costs that
residents have endured or will face if there is another storm and sewage
overflows into their basements. An administrator will be hired to review claims
and submit them to the state Comptroller’s Office for payment.
Delores Quinn, owner of Deloreses Masonry Services, wondered
if the $5 million would be anywhere near enough to compensate homeowners for
flooding damages in the past.
“The past few years, I’ve been in more basements than I can
count helping people who were flooded,” Quinn said. “All those places have to
be sanitized because of the sewerage before you even get to damage to furnaces
or water heaters or try installing a sump pump.”
State officials said the $5 million fund will be renewed
annually and that more can be added to it if needed.
Dykes said the impetus for Monday’s announcement was a
community meeting last February where resident after resident recalled their
flooding horror stories that took place after two major back-to-back storms in
August 2021 — storms Fred and Ida.
For some of the speakers, the problem is personal. Sen.
Douglas McCrory pointed across Granby Street to the home he grew up in as he
spoke.
“You see that house right there? That’s my mama’s house, and
I was born and raised in that house. You see that young lady across the street
there? That’s Miss Burke. That’s Miss Mansfield. That’s the lady who walked me
up the street,” McCrory said. “Those people have lived in this community for
over 30 or 40 years dealing with this problem.”
“I’m happy that this is a good start. But I’m disappointed
that it took this long. There’s been flooding ever since I was a child, and
everybody passed the buck to the next person and then to the next person, and
it took a storm that was an act of God to make people come to realize the
problems.”
McCrory stood with the rest of the city’s state legislators,
all of whom worked to get the funding for the project. House Speaker Matt
Ritter acknowledged that, for a long time, “the trust has been so frayed that
you can’t even get to a bill because you can’t even talk the same language
about what the next steps ought to be.”
“I remember that first meeting and the emotion and the
tension … What it said to me is we got to do something. People are at their
wits’ end. And so the three things we laid out were more money for more
projects, a fund that will allow people to be reimbursed, and reporting
requirements. And we did all three,” Ritter said.
Making sure the projects are done on time and the money is
spent properly and fairly is key, said Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn.
“We need to make sure there’s oversight and scrutiny and
make sure that stuff happens on time. It’s not about 10 years from now, it
ought to be about 10 weeks, 10 months from now, work beginning right away, so
we don’t ask residents to wait any longer for environmental justice,”
Blumenthal said.
Blumenthal said while the Clean Water Fund does contain some
federal funding, much more will be needed to overcome decades of neglect.
“The federal government has an obligation to do much, much
more. And I’m not done fighting for this community and others who were
similarly affected,” Blumenthal said. “The problems here are about
environmental justice. It’s simple, straightforward environmental justice. The
reason it took so long, the reason we’re not done, the reason why we still face
threats of flooding and wastewater contamination is inequity and injustice.”
All Alice Nance wants is to be able to plant her flowers
again. She has lived in the North End for more than 20 years and has endured
multiple floods that have ruined her backyard.
“I can’t enjoy my backyard. I can’t enjoy my basement
because of the floods. I have mold. I have sinkholes in my yard,” Nance said.
“But today, looking around, I have hope that I will be able to enjoy my home
again and be able to plant my flowers.”
Honeycomb Real Estate Partners, expects to launch a $26
million transformation of the run-down West Hartford Inn into 44 affordable
apartments this fall.
The Farmington Avenue project is moving forward in a
well-to-do area of West Hartford that’s already seeing numerous new market-rate
and luxury apartment developments.
A stone’s throw to the west, developers Brian Zelman and
Avner Krohn are partnered with Rich and Zach Korris on a roughly $20 million
effort to build 48 market-rate apartments.
To the south, New York-based Continental Properties is
building an amenity-rich project with 172 luxury apartments on the former West
Hartford Children’s Museum site.
“There are a lot of market-rate apartments that are coming
online,” Brown said in a recent interview. “That’s why we felt this particular
property at 900 Farmington Avenue was going to be perfect for affordable. With
all of the high-end luxury and market rate coming out of the ground, there was
a need for affordable apartments.”
Brown, who has had a hand in building about 10,000
affordable housing units since 2005, could be getting some new company in the
affordable housing space.
Soaring interest rates and construction costs, along with
historic levels of state funding, have some of the biggest names in
Connecticut’s multifamily development sector moving to add affordable housing
to their portfolios.
Brown, for example, is in talks with Zelman, Krohn and
well-known Hartford developer Martin Kenny, of Lexington Partners, about
potential projects.
While they declined to share further details, the
traditionally market-rate apartment developers did discuss the forces
incentivizing their newfound interest.
Krohn said fast-rising rents have increased the need for
affordable housing at a time when construction of market-rate units has become
“extremely challenging” due to higher interest rates and materials costs.
He said these pressures are shrinking the number of
market-rate projects that make financial sense.
“We are looking at opportunities where a market-rate project
wouldn’t make sense, but where it would make sense for an affordable or
mixed-rate project,” Krohn said.
Krohn isn’t exiting the market-rate space. He said he’s
advancing a pipeline of about 500 market-rate units. But adding affordable
projects to the mix will help him keep busy, and allow his company, Jasko
Development, to retain its roughly 20-person construction team.
“Anybody who is successful as a developer is opportunistic,”
Krohn said. “... Me, Marty (Kenny), we run construction in-house. We both have
big staffs to keep busy. If there’s less opportunity, what you don’t want to do
is lose staff members. So, (you try to figure out) how to bridge this time,
until the market resets.”
Differing business models
Lexington Partners’ InnoConn Construction Management arm has
been retained by Honeycomb for construction at the West Hartford Inn site.
Honeycomb is also partnered on the project with Simsbury-based affordable
housing developer Vesta Corp., Avon-based investor Corridor Ventures, and
architect Joseph Vincent Vallone of Westport-based Vallone Ventures.
The redevelopment is being funded by debt through the Connecticut
Housing Finance Authority (CHFA) and Connecticut Department of Housing, a state
brownfields grant, a grant from the town of West Hartford, tax credits and a
“seven-figure” deferral of development fees, Brown said.
Lexington Partners’ most recent projects have included some
affordable units, mostly at the request of the municipalities involved, Kenny
said. His transformation of the former Sisters of St. Joseph of Chambery campus
in West Hartford into 292 upscale apartments is an example.
Town officials gave the “One Park” project a tax deal after
Kenny agreed to set aside 10% of the units as affordable.
Now, he said he’s contemplating diving more directly into
projects with higher percentages of affordable units, which will allow him to
tap state financing.
Bond financing through CHFA allows a 6% rate locked for 35
years, Kenny said.
“We’ve had some of the highest increases in construction
costs in history,” Kenny said. “The last two years, the increase is a
record-breaker. We had interest rates two years ago on construction loans that
were at 3 ½%, and now they are at 8 ¾%.”
The business model for affordable projects differs from
market-rate developments, Kenny noted. Affordable housing depends on government
contributions, and with less cash flow, profits typically come from developer
fees.
“With market rate, your fee income is not as important,”
Kenny said, because rents are higher and can be increased more easily. “When a
developer does affordable housing, the bulk of the profit is in the development
fee because it’s a long-term hold, usually 30 to 40 years. And management fees
are based on the income. That’s not a high yield.”
Kenny said Lexington is contemplating projects that would
mix affordable with market-rate housing. He’s focused on towns around Hartford,
as well as southeastern Connecticut, which is experiencing a jobs boom being
driven by Groton submarine maker Electric Boat.
“Clearly, there is a demand, and we think it’s a good way
for us to grow and diversify the work we are doing beyond just market-rate
multifamily,” Kenny said. “The governor has prioritized affordable housing and
the demand is there.”
Like Krohn, Kenny is not giving up on market-rate projects.
He continues to advance plans for a $100 million redevelopment of the 12-acre former
Red Lion Hotel property in Cromwell into 265 apartments, 24 townhomes and
30,000 square feet of retail.
He is working on a pipeline of additional market-rate
efforts.
Reggie D. Kronstadt, principal of Krown Point Capital, has
worked with partners to buy or build hundreds of upscale rental units in
Connecticut since 2020.
In May, Krown Point and Fairfield-based Connecticut Realty
Trust broke ground on 90 luxury townhomes in Bloomfield. The partners are
currently seeking permits for 163 single-family homes in East Granby.
Kronstadt said Krown Point is contemplating affordable
projects, given the growing number of funding supports. Even so, affordable
builders face competition for the funds and, quite often, opposition from local
residents, he said.
“It’s definitely an interesting property type and a lot of
people are looking at it,” Kronstadt said. “We are softly looking. It takes the
right project in the right location and the right municipality. We haven’t
found the right site that works yet, but it’s definitely on my radar.”
Funding wave
The two-year budget Gov. Ned Lamont signed earlier this
month included $810 million for affordable housing and housing supports, more
than double the spending allocated in the previous budget that expires on June
30.
Michael Santoro, director of the office of policy, research
and housing support at the Connecticut Department of Housing, said it’s been
decades since policymakers allocated so much money for affordable housing.
Santoro said the new funding will allow the department to
speed up the project pipeline.
However, state lawmakers failed to pass zoning reforms that
had been sought by advocates and developers who contend local resistance to
affordable housing is at least as big a factor in the current shortage as the
need for additional capital.
Department of Housing Commissioner Seilia Mosquera-Bruno said her department is stepping up outreach to deploy the new resources as effectively and efficiently as possible.
“We are bringing in more developers,” Mosquera-Bruno said.
“We are working with companies that are providing homes for manufacturers. We
are looking at all different avenues to achieve our goal.”
Hamden eyes $5 million in state aid to repair tennis courts, ice rink
HAMDEN – For longtime resident Ed Doll, the condition of the
town’s tennis courts has been a concern for several years.
“The courts have been in a state of deterioration for some
time,” said Doll, who visited the courts Friday to practice tennis.
On a couple of occasions, he has asked the town about repairing
the cracked courts, he said, and was told it would be too expensive.
But in the coming years, that could change: Hamden is
seeking $5 million from the state’s Community Investment Fund, a portion of
which would help repair the tennis courts. The rest would go toward updating
and renovating the neighboring Louis Astorino Ice Arena.
The Legislative Council on Tuesday voted to give the town
administration permission to submit the CIF application.
The tennis courts, which are used by Hamden High School’s
tennis team, have large cracks in them. Officials described their state of
disrepair as a safety issue.
“The tennis court is uneven and cracked,” said Councilman
Justin Farmer, D-5, adding that the conditions could cause users to trip and
fall. “I just see it as a general hazard.”
While the town had the cracks patched earlier this year,
Mayor Lauren Garrett said, that solution is not long-term; just liked patched
potholes, the material can easily re-crack.
As for the ice rink, Garrett said it has its own safety
issue: its cooling system, which uses the chemical ammonia, has come under the
scrutiny of the Environmental Protection Agency in recent years.
In November 2021, the EPA issued a notice of violation and a
non-penalty compliance order over the rink’s ammonia refrigeration system.
The compliance order required a Process Hazard Review of the
cooling system, according to a copy of the document obtained by the New Haven
Register.
“Ammonia systems have to have a lot of different
protections, warning systems in case there’s a leak,” Garrett said. “The town
had to do an evaluation of (the rink’s system).”
Now, the EPA is requiring that the town make certain
improvements to the system, according to Garrett.
“That’s kind of a safety issue as well,” she said.
Sean Donohue, who helps manage the rink, said the arena also
requires various aesthetic repairs, including upgrades to doors, flooring and
the locker room.
“It’s just an old building, so we’ve got some electrical
stuff that needs to be done. One of the major things is just some work with the
compressor,” said Donohue, noting that the compressor is part of the cooling
system.
But the possibility of a state investment raises questions
about long-term plans for the rink, which occasionally comes up as a subject of
debate among local officials, as the New Haven
Independent reported in 2021.
While the rink is town-owned, it is managed by a private
company called 595 Mix Management, LLC, which operates under a contract with the
town. Donohue is a co-owner of the business, state business records show.
Currently, the rink costs more to operate than it brings the
town in revenue, according to Garrett. In addition to being responsible for
utility and certain capital improvement costs, the town pays 595 Mix Management
an annual fee of $257,500 for operating the rink, the contract between the town
and the firm shows.
The agreement gives the town a portion of the ice time fees.
Overall, however, Garrett does not think it was well-written and believes the
town could get a better deal.
She hopes to put the contract out to bid when it expires in
2026, she said.
“We accepted the contract that they offered us,” Donohue
said when asked about Garrett’s statement.
If improvements are made to the rink, Garrett also believes
the town could charge more for ice time, thus increasing revenues, she said.
Farmer, the Legislative Council member, also raised concerns
about community access to the arena. Though the high school hockey teams use
the rink, there are no public skate sessions.
One reason the rink cannot currently offer public skate is a
lack of rental equipment, Garrett said.
Donohue is working to procure rental skates and hopes to
have public skate sessions starting at the beginning of the coming school year,
he said.
State approves $4.3M for Plantsville streetscape project
Jesse Buchanan
SOUTHINGTON — State funding is ready for a streetscape
improvement project for downtown Plantsville that’s been in the works for well
over a decade.
The $4.3 million project will realign the West Main Street
and Route 10 intersection slightly to improve site lines in addition to
providing other safety and aesthetics upgrades for the area. Funding is coming
from the state Department of Transportation.
Town Manager Mark Sciota said he got a letter from the
transportation department last week saying that the project was approved.
On Monday, the Town Council selected Paramount Construction
LLC of Newington to do the work. The total contract amount includes a
10% contingency and 10% earmarked for incidentals.
Town officials have been working to get the grant for years.
There were a host of delays, including the pandemic.
Sciota said securing the project with state funding was a
great development for Southington.
“I know that some of us including myself get frustrated, but
it’s days like this that I’m pleased we’re working closely with the Department
of Transportation,” Sciota said Monday. “I know it took a long time, but the
result is going to be worth it.”
The Town Council unanimously approved Paramount for the work
during Monday’s meeting. Republican Councilor William Dziedzic recused himself
from the vote. He’s part of a property management company based in downtown
Plantsville.
The question of safety at the downtown Plantsville
intersection has arisen several times when drivers crashed into the Hop Haus
building on West Main Street. State transportation officials have emphasized
that the crashes were related to driver impairment of various kinds. The
building owner Cheryl Moran wanted some physical barrier to prevent drivers
from hitting the building and put up some large planters following the most
recent crash in 2020.
Concrete posts along the road are in the plans for the
streetscape project, although they’re designed to prevent street parking rather
than stop cars.
The project will also make improvements to the Farmington
Canal Heritage trail crossing to make it safer for pedestrians.
Several downtown buildings on West Main Street were
renovated in recent years by Dean Michanczyk, who owns Dean’s Stove and Spa as
well as buildings across the street.