Here's a new plan to improve the Route 7/Merritt interchange in Norwalk; public invited to weigh in
NORWALK — A new plan to create more connections
between Route
7 and the Merritt Parkway in the north end of Norwalk is heading
to a public hearing with the hope of gaining community approval.
Currently, motorists driving south on the Merritt, also
known as Route 15, cannot exit directly to southbound or northbound Route
7. Also, motorists driving north or south on Route 7 cannot exit to the
northbound Merritt.
“This project will allow motorists to move directly between
Routes 7 and 15 in new ways, avoiding unnecessary travel on local
roads,” Scott Hill, chief engineer for the Connecticut Department of
Transportation, said in
a statement. “We encourage the public to attend this hearing to share
their feedback with the CTDOT project team. The public’s input is valuable
and will be essential as we move forward into the design phase.”
This proposal, called
Alternative 26, includes plans to smooth traffic flow off Main Avenue
by adding new exits and entrance ramps that connect to both Route 7
and the Merritt.
Additionally, proposed improvements to the Route 15 and Main
Avenue ramps would address the substandard acceleration lanes, steep changes in
grade, sharp curves and limited sight distance in an effort to increase
safety. These factors contribute to a high number of crashes on
the Merritt Parkway.
Plans to remedy the lack of direct connections in
the Route
7 and Merritt 15 interchange have been in the works for decades. CTDOT
has devised many proposals over the years, however, the project has faced
challenges with balancing environmental and community concerns.
Before the public hearing, CTDOT released a joint
Environmental Assessment and Environmental Impact Evaluation, which
outlines the new plan and its potential impacts as well as another proposal,
Alternative 21D, which was presented in 2009.
Construction to add the additional exits originally began in
2005 but was halted by a lawsuit in 2006 filed by the Merritt Parkway Conservancy and
other preservationist groups against the Federal Highway Administration and
CTDOT, saying the plan was too large, costly and destructive.
U.S. District Court in New Haven agreed, stating the
“administrative record did not adequately document that avoidance, minimization
and
mitigation alternatives associated with impacts to resources within the project
area had been fully analyzed,” according to the EA/EIE.
After the court decision, new plans were developed and approved
by the public in 2009, however, there was not sufficient funding at the
time.
The plan approved was Alternative
21D; however, the CTDOT now has “identified Alternative 26 as the
preferred alternative.”
“In evaluating each alternative, CTDOT and FHWA considered
the project’s purpose and need, engineering complexities, constructability,
estimated construction and maintenance costs, and potential environmental
impacts,” the joint evaluation states."As described throughout this
document and summarized below, this alternative best addresses the project’s
purpose and need while minimizing the environmental impacts.”
With plans for new bridges over the Norwalk River, the
proposal has significant environmental factors regarding wetlands and flood
plains development to consider.
“Due to the clear-span structures proposed for the new
highway ramps, both build alternatives would have little impact on the 100-year
floodplain,” the joint evaluation says. “Additionally, the work would not
promote additional floodplain development since no developments can be made
along a highway ramp.
On Aug. 16 at 7 p.m. in the community room at City Hall, the
public is invited to weigh in on the latest Route 7/Merritt interchange plans.
Comments can also be submitted by email to comments@7-15norwalk.com; by
mail to Kevin Carifa, transportation planning director, 2800 Berlin
Turnpike, Newington, CT 06131 or via the project’s website at www.7-15norwalk.com.
Mixmaster construction will close Route 8 exit in Waterbury for 6 weeks, DOT says
Matthew P. Knox
WATERBURY — An exit connecting Route 8 northbound and
Interstate 84 will be closed for approximately six weeks, the state Department
of Transportation has announced.
As part of the rehabilitation of the Route 8 and I-84
interchange, known as the Mixmaster, Exit 31 on Route 8 northbound will be
closed starting at 10 p.m. Monday, according to the department.
The department said drivers seeking to access I-84 from
Route 8 northbound will need to use Exit 35, make a U-turn onto the southbound
side and then use Exit 31 from that direction.
Signage will be placed in advance along both sides of the
highway and Exit 35 to direct drivers, the DOT said.
EPA: Raymark cleanup costs in Stratford increase by $45 million
Richard Chumney
STRATFORD — The ongoing effort to remove
thousands of truck loads of toxic waste buried across town by the
defunct Raymark Industries is now expected to cost around $140 million,
according to the Environmental Protection Agency.
That figure is up from the $95 million the agency originally
estimated seven years ago it would take to dig up and consolidate the polluted
soil, Jim DiLorenzo, an environmental engineer who is leading the yearslong project, announced at
a recent public meeting.
DiLorenzo said the increase in expenses were largely driven
by the impact of inflation on labor, fuel and material costs. He also noted the
agency decided to remediate more areas than initially planned after crews
discovered additional underground waste.
“There’s been an expansion generally of the amount of
material that we had to dig,” DiLorenzo said. “So that brought up labor costs.
Actually more significantly, has been the inflation that has hit everything
across the board.”
As of July, the agency has spent $64 million to clean
up nearly two dozen properties where Raymark, an automotive parts
manufacturer, dumped waste decades ago contaminated with cancer-causing agents
such as asbestos, lead and polychlorinated biphenyls or PCBs.
The federal environmental officials, who are working
alongside the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, have also spent $38 million on
related infrastructure costs associated with the cleanup, including temporary
roads and a new stormwater conveyance system that will feature a pump station
to help prevent flooding.
DiLorenzo said it will likely take up to an additional $40
million to complete the project. But he said the agency has already secured
those funds as part of the $1 trillion bipartisan infrastructure bill President
Joe Biden signed into law in 2021.
“Right now we are fully funded through the end of the
consolidation remedy because of that big slug of money,” he said.
In total, crews have dug up about 56,000 cubic yards — or
nearly 5,000 truckloads — of contaminated soil from 23 different private and
town-owned properties since the work began in 2020. Another 6,381 cubic yards
of particularly hazardous waste have also been removed and transported to a
disposal site outside of town.
Crews are now in the midst of clearing toxic soil from the
badly-polluted Ferry Creek — an intensive project that required
workers to drain much of the waterway. The excavation work began in late June
and is anticipated to continue into late October or November, DiLorenzo said.
DiLorenzo said other areas that still need to be remediated
include a residential property on Third Avenue, spots around Ferry Boulevard
and the wetlands directly east of Lockwood Avenue — a location that is polluted
with about 20,000 cubic yards of waste.
By the time the project is expected to end in late 2024,
somewhere between 100,000 to 125,000 cubic yards of toxic soil will have been
extracted and consolidated at the former Raybestos Memorial Field on Frog Pond
Lane.
Engineers are consolidating and “capping” the soil with a
clay-type material to prevent the toxic chemicals from emerging from the
ground. Eventually, buildings may be constructed on the once-abandoned softball
field.
Meanwhile, crews are building a stormwater conveyance system
designed to handle what is expected to be a significant amount of rainwater
runoff from the field. The system will link the site to a planned pump station
on the edge of the Housatonic River that will operate during significant storms
and other high water events.
Mike Looney, a project manager with the U.S. Army Corps of
Engineers, said the conveyance line has been built and the pump station is now
expected to be completed by the end of 2024. He said construction crews have
encountered delays in recent weeks due to an unexpected level of
groundwater.
Looney said the delays have also pushed back plans
to use explosives to blast away up to a foot of rock to make way for
the crucial pump station, which will help mitigate flooding. The drilling and
blasting work, which will take place over the course of three weeks in an area
east of Platt Street, is now expected to start in late August.
The EPA plans to hold a community
meeting on Aug. 8 regarding a new project to remove Raymark waste from
an area around the Housatonic Boat Club and Shore Road. The event, which will
be streamed online, will be held at 6:30 p.m. at the Raymark Cleanup
Headquarters at 300 Ferry Boulevard.
Latest federal funding provides further lift to Meriden airport
Christian Metzger
MERIDEN — Meriden-Markham Municipal Airport will
receive a $1.4 million grant from the federal government to repave the
southern section of its taxiway, the latest in a series of improvements to the
municipal airport.
The grant, announced during a press conference
Tuesday, will provide funding for the last in a significant series of
redevelopment projects at the airport over the last five years, which has seen
the airstrip completely repaved, the construction of new hangars for the
planes, the installation of new lights, and a state-of-the-art fuel pump.
U.S. Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Connecticut, discussed the
grant during Tuesday’s event alongside Mayor Kevin Scarpati. He praised
the airport, citing its central location in the state and continued growth as
an investment in the economic prosperity of Meriden.
The funding was awarded through the Federal Aviation
Administration’s Airport Improvement Program and will finish the
replacement of the airport’s southern taxiway, which is covered in large cracks
and overgrown with weeds.
It is the largest open space on the property where many
planes are tied down and has not been redeveloped in over 20 years. Not only
will the redevelopment be able to accommodate more planes, 30 tie-downs in
total, but it will also improve safety. Construction is expected to begin in
the fall.
“Airports are one of the essential links that create
connections for businesses in areas like Meriden. They foster and support
economic development,” Blumenthal said. “These kinds of regional airports
are the lifeblood of air transportation in the United States increasingly … We
need more options for aircraft. And so the investment here is in economic
development, ease of travel, and safer air transport.”
Blumenthal thanked the FAA and fellow U.S.
Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Connecticut, for securing the money for the
project.
Constance Castillo, manager of Meriden-Markham Municipal
Airport, said that the completion of the project is only the beginning of what
they wish to be a larger revitalization of the airport space. Though there is
no timeline for further projects, she spoke of a desire to extend their
services to build even more hangers to accommodate a growing waitlist.
Castillo, Scarpati, and Blumenthal also expressed
hope that as the airport continues to grow, it may attract other
businesses, such as a charter service to operate out of the airport
— which could fly smaller passenger planes across the state and elsewhere.
“If Meriden isn't ahead of the game, we lose a tremendous
opportunity. And so with these funds from the FAA and our continued trajectory
to continue building out, we stand a great shot at making sure that Meriden is
not only one of several airports, but the airport for Connecticut. And I think
that's kind of where we're headed,” Scarpati said.
Over the past several years there have been several closures
of smaller airports across the state to utilize the land for other projects,
leading Meriden to service more incoming aircraft traffic. And with continued
discussions surrounding the potential closure and redevelopment of Hartford’s
Brainard Airport, it could leave Meriden with a significant location for
aircraft looking to fly centrally into the state.
With the ongoing pilot shortage, in both the military and in
the commercial sector, officials also recognized the importance of the Meriden
redevelopment for providing a space where students can come to educate
themselves about aircraft and get their pilot licenses.
The Experimental Aircraft Association has rented one of the
hangers on the property, and last year over 20 students helped complete
construction of the group’s own aircraft — which has since flown across
the country. To Blumenthal and others, they see it as a valuable step toward
expanding the presence and reach of the airport in the community, which they
say has so far been understated.
“Until these hangers were built, they didn’t really have a
space. They were kind of this lost child that was dependent on decent weather
to then depend on how many kids we could have. So the fact that they now have
their own space, they can invest, build, learn, and grow like the next
generation of pilots,” Scarpati said.
“Producing more pilots is so critical,” Blumenthal added.
“You could look at this $1.4 million as a workforce
development and skill training grant — apart from what it’s gonna do in
infrastructure.”
Luxury housing at Seely School site seen as boon to EB workers
Kimberly Drelich
Groton ― New luxury apartments, designed to ease pressure on the local housing market as Electric Boat ramps up hiring, are coming to the site of the former William Seely School off Route 12.
The 304-unit housing development, called Triton Square, will feature a yoga studio, pool, pickle ball courts, a dog run and co-working spaces. It is the first redevelopment project involving Groton’s excess school properties to begin construction, local officials said.
Project leaders and government officials gathered on the site for a groundbreaking ceremony Wednesday to celebrate the start of the project led by DonMar Development of North Haven. They took photos wearing hardhats and holding shovels in front of an American flag.
“Groton is starved for housing,” said U.S. Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., speaking during the ceremony. “This housing is going to meet a real need.”
Electric Boat spokesman Daniel McFadden told The Day that the company expects to hire about 3,000 new employees in Connecticut this year, primarily in the manufacturing trades at the Groton shipyard and in engineering and design.
Duing the groundbreaking, Anthony Di Gioia and Michael Di Gioia, who are brothers and vice presidents of DonMar, gave praise to the town staff and partners who made the project a reality. They also thanked their family.
“Triton Square stands as a symbol of what can be achieved when the public and private sector work together with a shared purpose,” said Anthony Di Gioia.
“For us, this is a dream realized,” said Michael Di Gioia.
The idea is to attract workers to the region, said project leaders and officials. Construction already has started on the apartment building at the 14-acre site.
The DiGioias said DonMar Development, along with LakeMarsh Investments and the Simon Konover Group, are the project developers. ELV Associates is an equity partner and Fairfield County Bank is a lender.
Haynes Construction is the construction company, Sullivan Architectural Group the architecture firm, and SLR Consulting the civil engineer.
The apartment complex will be a mix of studios, one-bedroom apartments and two-bedroom apartments. Rents will start at $1,650 for studios and go up to $2,800 for the largest apartments, said Anthony Di Gioia.
He said the first building is expected to be completed in the summer of 2024, with the rest being completed four to six months after that.
Mark Keeney, partner at LakeMarsh Investments, said amenities will include a yoga studio, workout room, club room, co-working areas, a music studio, a pool, fire pits, grilling stations, cabanas and pickle ball courts.
Anthony Di Gioia said a playground, dog park and walking trails through the woods will be open to the public.
State Sen. Heather Somers, R-Groton, who presented a citation from the Connecticut General Assembly, said the amenities will make it so the residents of the apartment complex pretty much don’t have to leave.
“It’s all inclusive,” Somers said. “It’s just what people are looking for in the state and actually across our nation, and it’s just, I hope, the first of many transformations that you’ll see here in the Town of Groton.”
Representative Town Meeting member Lian Obrey, a former town councilor, who was on the committee selecting DonMar as the developer for the town-owned property, said the town stressed how important amenities are and the developers were very cooperative.
Town Councilor Bruce Jones said the development sets a standard for new projects coming up.
State Rep. Christine Conley, D-Groton, said the state improved the nearby intersection of Route 12 and Walker Hill Road to make it easier for pedestrians to get back and forth from the apartments to shopping centers and restaurants.
Groton Town Manager John Burt said that with the expansion of Electric Boat, it’s vital to have enough housing for incoming employees.
He said the purchase price for the former town-owned site at 55 Seely School Drive was $1, as the town’s goal is to start receiving taxes on previously un-taxed properties. He said the yearly tax revenue initially was estimated to be at least $1 million per year, once fully built, though it may be even higher now.
The latest large-scale apartment complexes to come to Groton were the apartments on Pleasant Valley Road North and Route 12 in 2018 and the Ledges Apartments in the mid-2000s, according to the town’s Assistant Planning Director Deb Jones.
The former Colonel Ledyard School in the City of Groton is slated as another former school site to be redeveloped into apartments. It is slated to become a 65-unit apartment complex.
Second Norwich business park readies for takeoff
Claire Bessette
Norwich ― Plans were filed this week seeking state and
federal approvals for a proposed access road into 384 acres of land in Occum,
where Norwich plans to create a second business park.
Rather than seeking city approval for a business park
development plan, the Norwich Community Development Corp. on Monday filed plans
to divide the property into three major “condominium” lots. Though the word
condominium is often associated with buildings, in this case it refers to the
vacant land in the industrial park property.
Under that method, NCDC will retain ownership of the
property and sell development rights for specific parcels, NCDC officials said.
Each of three large condo lots shown on plans filed in the
Norwich city clerk’s office shows proposed divisions into smaller pieces. The
plan shows a 66-acre condo parcel east of Canterbury Turnpike, a 216-acre piece
between Canterbury Turnpike and Lawler Lane running along Interstate 395 and a
27-acre piece west of Lawler Lane.
The plan shows a potential to divide each of those larger
parcels into smaller development sites.
Condominium lots are not considered subdivisions, and do not
need local planning and zoning approval, Norwich Director of Planning Deanna
Rhodes said. Individual proposed developments still must go through local
permitting processes.
NCDC last week selected the national firm Cushman &
Wakefield Commercial Real Estate Brokers, with an office in Hartford, to market
the lots. NCDC President Kevin Brown said NCDC officials will meet with the
Hartford office Executive Director Sean Duffy on Aug. 16 to discuss marketing
ideas.
The roadway now needs state and federal environmental
approvals and approval from the state Department of Transportation’s Office of
State Traffic Administration. NCDC officials hope for quick approvals to start
road construction this fall.
NCDC initially had proposed creating a business park master
plan for the property, but the City Council, serving as the city zoning board,
rejected the plan amid strong neighborhood opposition.
Brown said Tuesday he has met several times with Occum
residents to discuss neighbors’ concerns. He said changes have been made to the
road design in response to some concerns.
Residents have formed a nonprofit group, Preserving Norwich
Neighborhoods LLC. Brown said he plans to meet monthly with neighbors to update
them on the plans and to hear concerns.
Neighborhood group organizer Frederick Browning said
Wednesday he disagreed with the condominium approach, as it avoids a public
hearing and review of a business park plan. The condo plan does not address
building heights, setbacks and other restrictions, he said.
The proposed roadway will run from Route 97 in Occum
westerly, crossing Canterbury Turnpike with a traffic circle designed to keep
business park traffic off the residential street. The road will end just before
the intersection with Lawler Lane, keeping business park traffic off the narrow
road.
NCDC shifted the road northward slightly to minimize
encroachment on wetlands in response to neighbors’ concerns, Brown said. The
road plan was approved previously by the Norwich Inland Wetlands, Watercourses
and Conservation Commission.
Brown also said a four-acre area near a pond directly across
Lawler Lane from the Norwich Worship Center church will remain undeveloped as
open space, another request by neighbors.
“Those changes are significant in that we listened to the
neighbors and avoid crossing wetlands,” Brown said. “One reason we made the
shift north was because we are no longer going to develop the parcel across the
street from the Norwich Worship Center. The area next to the pond now will be
green space.”
Browning said the condo plan does not show clearly enough
that traffic could not get into the business park from Lawler Lane and does not
show the proposed traffic circle on Canterbury Turnpike. The group opposes the
traffic circle as a traffic safety hazard, Browning said. It also would not
prevent cars and smaller trucks from entering the business park using
Canterbury Turnpike.
“Our main concern is getting written agreements that would
protect the residents going forward on things like building height and
boundaries,” Browning said.
CT's infrastructure czar visits three Greenwich sites for potential federal spending
GREENWICH — The town's recycling center, the neglected
Pemberwick dam and the Route 1 bridge connecting Greenwich with Port
Chester, N.Y., may be in line for federal infrastructure money.
State officials made a trip to Greenwich Friday to visit
some sites that may be eligible for Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act
money, including the
neglected dam on the Pemberwick River that hadn't
been inspected in more than a decade.
Mark Boughton, Commissioner of the Department of Revenue
Services and Senior Advisor to the Governor for Infrastructure, along with a
cadre of local officials, toured the three sites in Greenwich — preliminary
visits to determine whether grant money would be available for any of the
projects.
There is, however, no indication that any of them will
receive funding.
The visit was organized by Greenwich’s State House
delegation, Reps. Hector Arzeno, Rachel Khanna and Stephen Meskers, who
were all on hand.
“It was a pleasure to host Commissioner Boughton last week,”
Khanna said in a statement. “We have been working very hard to identify
projects that would benefit from federal infrastructure funding grants to make
necessary capital investments in our town. This visit was an exciting first
step in the process.”
Meskers said they invited Boughton to town so local
officials could better understand what federal funds are available and how the
town could apply for them.
First Selectman Fred Camillo, Selectperson Janet Stone
McGuigan and other officials from the Department of Public Works, Emergency
Management and Environmental Affairs were also present.
Connecticut is slated
to receive several billion dollars from the Infrastructure Investment
and Jobs Act, also known as the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, and Gov. Ned
Lamont has
tasked Boughton with managing the influx of funds.
“I was delighted to visit Greenwich and hear about these
local projects and priorities in person," Boughton said in a statement.
"I look forward to working with local leaders to help them advance their
goals through the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law and any other available federal
dollars."
The Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act is a $1
trillion spending package designed to revamp the nation’s roads,
bridges, transportation and more in the coming years. President Biden signed
the bill into law in November 2021 and money is flowing out to states, towns
and counties now.
The three sites in Greenwich have previously been identified
as needing expensive repairs.
The dam near 200 Pemberwick Road is privately owned, but the
owners have failed to keep up with regular inspections, so the town stepped in
to fund one earlier this year. The dam was found to be in “fair” condition in
March, but engineers recommended updating an emergency plan.
The Route 1 bridges leading into New York act as a choke
point for the Byram River beneath it, which makes flooding worse, so the Army
Corps of Engineers said it needs
to be replaced.
Replacing the bridges is expected to cost about $35 million,
but the project has not advanced since it was presented in December 2021. The
federal government is expected to cover half the cost and Greenwich is supposed
to cover the other half, but officials at the New York State Department of
Transportation have said they will help bear the cost since the bridges are on
the border.
Selectperson Stone McGuigan said that to her, the
reconfiguration of the Holly Hill recycling center in Chickahominy seemed like
it was the strongest contender for funding on Friday.
There is a decade-old
plan to rearrange the facility to better deal with inflows of
residential and commercial waste, but the town has yet to fund the project.
Updating the Holly Hill master plan has been put on the budget several times,
but the Board of Estimate and Taxation has cut it, most
recently in 2021.
Meskers said that ultimately it's on the town to do more
planning and design work on these projects before it goes to the state or
federal government seeking funds.