There’s a plan for a new $45.5 million train station in CT. Here’s how to weigh in on it.
The Connecticut
Department of Transportation will hold a “hybrid” public information
meeting on the proposed
Railroad Station in Enfield at 6 p.m. Wednesday, Oct. 4, at Enfield
Town Hall, 820 Enfield St., and on Zoom and YouTube, according to the agency.
“The virtual public information meeting is being held to provide the public and local community the opportunity to offer comments or ask questions regarding the proposed project,” the agency said in a statement.
Further, the meeting will “kick off the National
Environmental Policy Act” process, which the DOT said is required as the agency
received federal grants to assist in funding the proposed station.
The process “will evaluate and report on impacts of the
proposed project to the natural and human environment and affords additional
opportunities to comment on the project in the future,” the agency said in the
statement.
“Reestablishing a railroad station in Enfield will be a key
component of the popular Hartford Rail Line, connecting Enfield to the rest of
Connecticut, Massachusetts, New England, and beyond,” Connecticut Department of
Transportation Project Engineer Julianne Chatman said, also in the statement.
“We encourage the Enfield community and members of the
public to attend this important meeting and share their feedback with the CTDOT
project team. Public involvement is a critical component of train station
design,” Chatman said.
Details provided by the DOT:
The proposed project would be intended to provide a safe,
reliable, and convenient alternative mode to motor vehicle travel connecting
Enfield to Hartford, New Haven, Springfield, and via Amtrak’s Northeast
Corridor to the cities of New York and Boston.
The proposed project would be serviced by CTrail Hartford Line Rail.
The goal is to provide another option to bus service,
increasing frequencies for non-automobile travel between Enfield and cities
served by CTrail while enhancing connections to local bus service in Enfield,
reducing auto dependency and vehicle emissions.
The project is also consistent with state and local planning
initiatives for responsible growth and long-term sustainability.
Construction is anticipated to begin spring 2025,
dependent on the acquisition of rights of way and approval of permit(s).
The estimated construction cost for the project is about
$45.5 million.
The project is anticipated to be undertaken with 40% federal
funds and 60% state funds.
A question and answer (Q&A) session will immediately
follow the presentation, according to the agency.
The agency said registration is required to attend the
meeting on Zoom; this is the link to register: https://zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_pl7gMXiWTFS9obgQtc8EZg.
The meeting will be streamed live on CTDOT’s YouTube
channel; no registration is required for that, according to the agency.
Enfield Town Hall is ADA accessible and transit accessible.
Also according to DOT: People with limited internet access
may use this number (646) 931-3860, and enter Webinar ID 989 6989 8745 and
password 259199 and can request that project information be mailed to them
within one week by contacting Richard Bertoli at richard.bertoli@ct.gov or
(860) 594-3263. People with hearing and/or speech disabilities may dial 711 for
Telecommunications Relay Services (TRS).
Greenwich High School's toxic soil was worse than expected and is costing more to clean up
GREENWICH — Officials have approved an additional $2 million
to fund the final portion of soil remediation at Greenwich High School, which
is expected to be the last spending on the long-running project.
Both the Board of Estimate and Taxation and the
Representative Town Meeting approved the funding request on Tuesday. The money
will be borrowed via a future bond issuance.
Public Works Commissioner Amy Seibert told the BET
budget committee that crews found more toxic materials while working this
summer, which are more expensive to dispose safely.
“Some of the material we're taking out is tasked to be
disposed of at a specialty disposal site. It is more hazardous than the other
materials we've typically been taking out,” she said on Sept.
12.
“We now have a high hazard waste, as well, that we've found
out there based on that soil characterization. And that also increased
some of the costs, because that's material we had not run into before.”
The project entails excavating the dirt, sampling it for
toxicity, transporting it, disposing of it and ultimately backfilling the field
and planting new sod.
DPW anticipates that the project will be complete in 2024,
but the department will not have a firm completion date until crews start the
next phase and assess how much more work is needed. The department
previously projected that
the fields would be open next spring.
The town has been working to clean up these fields for more
than a decade. Leslie Tarkington, chair of the BET budget committee, said
last week that the town had spent more than $38 million on the soil remediation
since the 2012 fiscal year. That number is now greater than $40 million with
the new appropriation.
The contaminated soil was originally brought to the site
during the school’s construction in the 1960s and 1970s as a means to shore up
wetlands upon which the school now stands.
Wilton selectmen OK contractor for new police HQ: 'huge milestone' for town
Jarret Liotta
WILTON — With a groundbreaking ceremony tentatively planned
for sometime before Thanksgiving, the project to
build a new headquarters for the Wilton Police Department is finally
moving forward toward construction even as costs increased to over $15 million.
The Board of Selectmen gave its unanimous approval to enter
into a contract with A. Secondino & Son Inc., a Branford-based general
contractor, to
build the 19,000-square-foot facility. The go-ahead came at a meeting
Tuesday, Sept. 19, after the selectmen discussed an outline of the funding
plans for the building's $15,201,400 anticipated cost.
First Selectwoman Lynne Vanderslice, whose final term in
office is winding down, called the approval for the project "very
exciting" and said it was a "huge milestone" for the town.
The new police facility will be built on an 11.17-acre site
at 238-240 Danbury Road.
The project has been in development for several years,
beginning with the appointment of a study committee in 2016. After it
determined in late 2019 that a new building for the police department was the
best option for the town, versus a renovation of the current headquarters, the
COVID-19 pandemic sidelined progress for over a year.
In October 2021, the Board of Selectmen approved the
creation of plans and set
a cost plan for a Special Town Meeting, in which the residents voted
to approve
bonding in the amount of $14,382,370 in May 2022, based on previous
estimates.
With a focus on the permit process, work on the project has
been moving forward since that time on what all involved say is an important
effort to replace the outdated facility, which was built in 1974. The new
building will offer double the amount of space to accommodate a much larger
police force than when the current building was constructed, along with a range
of modernized features.
This month, however, the base bid for the contract came in
higher than expected, totaling $15,692,000. This, in turn, motivated the
Police-Town Hall Building Committee to ask for some potential modifications to
the plan on items that could be added or addressed down the road without
impeding the construction. That was done in order to meet the costs of the
project within the approved limit.
Chris Burney, a retired town official who has been serving
as the project manager, said the options that were offered include a delay in
construction of the ERT bay and a covered carport.
"We were able to come up with the idea that if we
eliminated the ERT bay over the garage for the emergency response truck and the
covered carport," he said, it would pare down the cost. by an estimated
$410,000.
"That was a fairly large item, but it could always be
built later on," he said. "It was not integral to the construction of
the main building. ... That's something we can go back to at a later
date."
"That will be a paved parking area and we will simply
add the ERT bay and the covered carport to it at some time in the future,"
Burney said.
Other smaller-cost items that will likely be delayed include
design work on the ceiling of the training room; cosmetic screening of rooftop
mechanicals, including HVAC equipment; and aesthetic design elements originally
planned for the front of the building.
Although Vanderslice made it clear that the Board of
Selectmen will not go back to the town to ask for more money to be bonded above
the $14.4 million approved, some of the additional costs will be covered using
$611,000 in unassigned funds from the American Rescue Plan Act, or ARPA, along
with budget savings found in the current fiscal year.
"The bottom line is we have the funds to fund this
contract, even though the bid is higher than we had originally expected when
this was all put together back in 2021," Vanderslice said.
"At that Town Meeting, I stood up as the first
selectwoman and said we will not come back for more money. We will do what we
have to, but we will not come back for more money," she said, noting that
future grant money could also solve the funding gap.
"I have a high level of confidence when you go to the
ribbon-cutting for the police headquarters, (the bay and carport) will be
there, or it will be under construction," she said of the bay and carport
that were cut to trim costs.
Stamford developer Ted Ferrarone is stepping down as BLT co-president after 15 years
STAMFORD — Ted Ferrarone has stepped down as
co-president of Stamford's largest developer, Building and Land Technology, he announced last week on
the professional networking site LinkedIn.
"After 15 years with BLT and 18 years of working on the
Harbor Point project, I have officially transitioned out of my role as
Co-President of BLT to start a new chapter in my career," Ferrarone said.
In the announcement, Ferrarone did not say what his next
career plans are.
"I am looking forward to starting this new chapter —
please reach out if you have something amazing you’d like to work on
together," he said.
The announcement represents the end of an era for BLT and Harbor Point, the redevelopment project that has
remade once-blighted portions of the South End into a bustling district of
high-rise apartments.
BLT took up the Harbor Point project in 2008, after
Greenwich developer Antares — which owned the collection of South End
properties — saw its investment portfolio ravaged by the financial crisis. One
constant between the two companies was Ferrarone. He jointed BLT in 2008 to
work on construction and development, after helping lead acquisition efforts
for Antares.
"Because we owned a lot of land, we could really take a holistic view," Ferrarone said in March. "If I own this parcel and you own this parcel, we're sort of competing with each other and trying to figure out who's gonna do what. Here, we have the whole thing ... and the idea was to create something that was mixed-use and walkable so that it would be active maybe not 24 hours a day, but 18 hours a day."
Ferrarone was a steady presence as BLT remade parts of the
South End, one steel and concrete tower at a time. He was often the company's
public face, appearing at zoning meetings and speaking with the media.
His role also meant being front and center in BLT's
tempestuous relationship with local politicians and activists who came to view
their steady construction as overdevelopment. Controversial events such
as the demolition of a beloved boatyard and the collapse of one high-rise's outdoor patio became
political red meat for those who opposed BLT's work.
In the post, Ferrarone made a gesture of goodwill to both
sides of the process.
“For the thousands of people who helped us assemble, plan,
entitle, finance, design, build, lease and operate Harbor Point … and all of
our other major projects, I hope you are as proud as I am of what we have all
created together,” Ferrarone said. “For those who we have not always seen eye
to eye with, I hope that the finished product has exceeded your expectations.”
BLT officials did not respond to an immediate request for
comment Friday, and Ferrarone didn't respond to an attempt to contact him
individually.
East Hartford housing update: The latest on major apartment projects and redevelopments
Joseph Villanova
EAST HARTFORD — A major housing development in the Silver
Lane corridor in town has hit a financial snag, though redevelopment of a
historic downtown building is moving forward.
Development Director Eileen Buckheit shared an update on
five East Hartford projects at a Capital Region Development Authority meeting
Thursday, including information on where the Showcase
Cinemas apartments and the redevelopment
of Church Corners Inn stand.
New Britain-based Jasko Development, in a partnership with
West Hartford-based Zelman Real Estate, plans to build as many as 400 apartment
units in an "amenity-rich" complex on the site of the former Showcase
Cinemas, to be known as Concourse Park. The developers had previously agreed
with the town to have a shovel in the ground by the end of September, or else
face $30,000 per month in penalties.
Buckheit said Thursday that the town plans to extend the
agreement to the end of next April, due to the increase in interest rates.
"They are trying to secure the last piece of funding
they need to start the construction," Buckheit said. "A little
disappointed, but not unexpected considering the market right now."
Mayor Mike Walsh said Friday that the project is estimated
to cost about $110 million, with one of the eight buildings currently funded.
"They believe in short order they will have the full
financing," Walsh said.
Changes in the banking market have impacted the project
in the past. Developers initially proposed as many
as 470 units when the project was approved in 2022, but an amendment
in in May allows anywhere between 300 and 400 apartments in order to satisfy
lender requirements.
Walsh said the pushing back of the deadline also allows the
Showcase Cinemas developer to start after the winter season, and to address
issues with the Metropolitan District Commission regarding a water main
connection.
Church Corners Inn has a developer
As for Church Corners Inn at 860 Main St., Buckheit said
Thursday that the town has found a developer interested in redeveloping the
site without demolishing the building.
The town purchased the 24,820-square-foot building in
January, motivated in part by poor
conditions and high levels of crime. Church Corners Inn previously served
as a 53-unit rooming house with a bar and restaurant on the ground floor, and
officials hoped at the time to gut the property to construct 25 apartment units
and ground-floor retail space.
Buckheit said Parker Benjamin, a Unionville-based investor
and developer with a specialty for historic preservation, presented a plan that
matches the town's desires as part of a request for proposals issued earlier
this year.
"I'm happy to say that it seems that we found a
developer for Church Corners Inn and we're not going to have to demolish that
building," Buckheit said.
Walsh said Friday that town officials previously thought the
building could not be salvaged, in part due to foundation issues and narrow
floor heights, but talks on Parker Benjamin's proposal will begin this
month.
"We do have a viable company that believes they can
convert this into a historic adaptive reuse," Walsh said.
Walsh said Parker Benjamin's plan would also
use historic tax credits to help fund the renovation.
Silver Lane Plaza tenants moving
In other East Hartford development news, town officials are
still trying to move
tenants out of Silver Lane Plaza to facilitate demolition and
redevelopment of the parcel.
Walsh said two businesses, Bare Bones Boxing and Splinting
Solutions, have completed relocation, and Je Mart hopes to move into a
Manchester storefront in late October. He said the remaining nine businesses
have been issued eviction notices, in an effort to get some
"certainty" on when the tenants will vacate.
"The plaza is literally falling apart around them, so
we have filed eviction notices on all nine businesses," Walsh said.
"It will force the town and the nine tenants into housing court."
Walsh said the town hopes to agree on relocation packages
with each remaining business through the mediation process.
Walsh said the
distribution warehouses at Rentschler Field are on track, if not ahead
of schedule, for a certificate of occupancy next April.
"It's phenomenal," Walsh said. "The roofing
is in, everything is connected, cement is poured."
Lowe's and Wayfair are lined up to take over the two
"logistics centers," spanning 2.5 million square feet of warehousing
space. Massachusetts-based National Development broke ground on the 300-acre
site in March, with plans to complete the logistics centers in 18 months.
Liese Klein
Walsh said the tax abatement for the warehouses would be
lifted once they are occupied. "When there's a paying tenant, they
will start paying taxes," Walsh said.
Officials expect about $4 million in annual tax revenue for
the entire completed development, including the warehousing space and
technology center.
Port Eastside, a plan to revamp the Founders Plaza area, has
been impacted by the
death of developer Martin Kenny. Walsh, who plans to serve
as the project's "champion" after finishing his term, said
Kenny was a partner in the project and the team is mourning the loss.
"He brought a special set of skills to this
development, and the Port Eastside partnership is looking for ways to do what
Marty did so effectively," Walsh said. "He had such an effective
skill-set for something this big and dynamic."
Buckheit said Thursday that the town received $6.5
million from the State Bond Commission earlier this year to
fund demolition of 20 Hartland St./99 Founders Plaza, known as the United
Founders or Bank of America building, and the town has since filed for a
demolition permit.
"We're hoping to have that building down in a few
months," Buckheit said.
Once that building and two others are demolished, the town
hopes to begin agreements to build a mixed-use development in the area.
Affordable housing development proposed for Rosalini’s site in Pawcatuck
Carrie Czerwinski
Stonington ― A Misquamicut business owner is seeking to
build a 113-unit affordable housing project on the site of the former
Rosalini’s nightclub in Pawcatuck.
Fair Housing of Connecticut, LLC, of Trumbull, whose
principal is Eugene Arganese, has filed an application for special use permit
to develop the 4.2-acre Liberty Street property, which was home to the popular
nightclub from the 1970s to the 1990s before it closed.
Residents stopped a strip club from opening there in 1999
and since then it has operated as a series of restaurants and clubs, the last
of which brought back the Rosalini’s name but closed in May.
The Rosalini’s project is the latest affordable housing
project proposed for the village, which residents complain already hosts the
bulk of the town’s affordable housing.
Arganese is the owner of Arganese Cigars, based in the
Dominican Republic, and several Misquamicut businesses including the Sandy
Shore Motel and Gino’s by the Beach restaurant on Atlantic Avenue, among
others.
According to the application for the project, the 113
three-bedroom, 2.5-bathroom townhouses will be clustered in 10 groups with 3 to
20 units.
Plans for the project call for two styles of units: 101
units of 1,800 square feet with a garage and a dozen smaller, Americans with
Disabilities Act compliant, 1,400-square-foot units with driveway parking.
The larger three-story units will have a ground-level garage
with three bedrooms on the third floor and a living area on the main floor,
while the smaller two-story units will have one first-floor bedroom and two
second-floor bedrooms.
The development will be serviced by public water and sewer
and plans show decorative plantings along the road and trees around the
perimeter of the property.
A traffic study conducted by BL Companies of Meriden
estimated the development would generate 56 vehicles coming and going from the
property onto Route 2 during peak morning travel times and 62 during peak
afternoon hours and would have no adverse impact on traffic flow.
It was unclear how many of the units would be considered
affordable, but to qualify as an affordable housing development, a minimum of
30% of the units must be affordable to people who earn 80% or less of the area
median income.
An individual earning 80% of the area’s median income,
$63,000 per year, would pay $1,500 per month in rent.
Haddam-Killingworth Face $200+ Million School Construction Costs
Emilia Otte
HADDAM-KILLINGWORTH — The Board of Education is debating how
to spend hundreds of millions of dollars in repairs and upgrades for the
district’s four schools — a plan which could include closures of the elementary
school campuses and moving students into new or renovated buildings on
consolidated campuses.
The goal of the master
plan, which has been under discussion for over two years, is to update the
infrastructure of the school district’s four buildings, which have an average
age of 52 years. All the buildings except Haddam-Killingworth Intermediate
Middle School are over half a century old.
A facilities assessment completed by the firm Tecton in 2021
estimated that — with state reimbursement — the district would still need to
spend between $115 million and $120 million to make the necessary fixes to
equipment and code upgrades for ADA accessibility to the schools. At a
joint meeting of the towns and the Board of Education on Thursday, Jeff
Wyszynski, principal-in-charge at Tecton, described several additional
proposals that would further renovate the buildings or rebuild them from the
ground up.
While the least expensive option would involve simply fixing
the mechanical issues and making code upgrades, several people noted this would
not include making improvements to the quality of the educational spaces. Wyszynski
also estimated that the cost would likely be much higher with inflation, given
that they would be replacing the equipment over a period of 30 years.
Renovating or rebuilding all four of the buildings is
estimated to cost between $204 million and $231 million with state
reimbursement. Another option would be to close one of the elementary schools
and transition to a three-school configuration — a cost of $206 million with
state reimbursement.
A fourth would move Burr Elementary to the high school
campus and Killingworth Elementary to the middle school campus – a cost of
about $215 million. The last option would create a two-school configuration,
with pre-K through sixth grade at one school and seventh through 12th grade at
another school, for a total of $146 million with state reimbursement.
Wyszynski said that the idea of a “modern” classroom would
emphasize flexibility and open space, with a lot of natural light. These spaces
would have access to functioning science labs, STEM resources and music
programs.
“The quality of their space absolutely impacts their
performance,” Wyszynski said.
Board of Education Chair Suzanne Sack said despite having
hosted three “community conversations,” she did not feel the board received
much feedback from the community.
“I don’t think it’s fair to say we have by and large
community input on this,” Sack said.
A survey sent
to community members found that 81 percent of the approximately 300 people who
responded believed Haddam-Killingworth High School was the top priority for
renovations. The high school has been cited by the national accrediting body
for high schools for having old mechanical systems, a lack of compliance with
the ADA and nonfunctioning science classrooms.
Board members said they still don’t know how the community
would react to the idea of moving the elementary schools onto the secondary
school campuses.
Kate Anderson said she believed parents would be open to the
idea, particularly since the towns had lost a lot of recreational
opportunities.
“I have found that most people are totally open to the idea
of combining at that age,” she said.
But others expressed doubt.
Killingworth Board of Finance member Annie Stirna said she
wanted to ensure that closing and consolidating schools wouldn’t mean that the
district would sacrifice programming or educational excellence. She questioned
how consolidating the elementary schools would improve educational
outcomes.
“From my experience just with [Killingworth Elementary
School], people are very happy in Killingworth with KES as a school and the
teachers and the setup,” Stirna said. She added that the district needs to
invest in the teachers and programs.
“If we don’t invest … in our educators and our staff and our
paras, it doesn’t matter what the schools look like,” she said.
But Sack said she didn’t believe combining elementary
schools would improve or worsen educational outcomes, and that investing in one
didn’t prevent investment in the other. She also pointed out that any
operational savings — like eliminating duplicative positions in administration
— could be reinvested into education or returned to taxpayers.
Board of Education member Lisa Connelly said the plans that
involved renovations or rebuilding would be an improvement to the current
educational system.
Haddam Selectwoman Kate Anderson said having two schools
rather than four could save money, because the overall cost of running the
buildings would lessen over time.
Sack noted that the district saved $1.2 million when it
closed Haddam Elementary School, most of which came from staffing. She said the
plan reducing four schools to two would likely be the greatest cost-saver in
the long run.
Wyszynski underscored that the master plan would be rolling
out over a series of decades, so the costs presented would be subject to inflation.
Sack said she believes the community will ultimately settle
on a price they are comfortable with and seek the design that best fits within
that price.
“When you take $50 [million] or $80 million and add it onto
the tax rolls of these two communities, I think it’s going to be a big impact,”
Sack said.
Town officials and the Board of Finance plan to have another
meeting on Nov. 2 to further discuss the options.
New Haven panel approves $25M plan to convert school to apartments
Plans to convert the long-vacant former Strong School
building at 69 Grand Ave. in New Haven into residential apartments secured key
approvals Wednesday night.
The City Plan Commission approved the site plan, coastal
site plan, and two special permits required for the project to proceed,
according to Planner Esther Rose-Wilen.
Pennrose LLC and The Cloud Company LLC plan to create 58
mixed-income residential apartments and a community amenity space by renovating
the school building and constructing a 50,225-square-foot addition.
The city of New Haven currently owns the property, which is
just over 1 acre, though the applicants plan to purchase the site for $500,000.
The building was used as an elementary school for about a
century before closing in 2010.
The housing units will be entirely deed-restricted as
affordable, according to Attorney Meaghan Miles, who represents the applicants.
“This exciting project will add much-needed affordable
housing and community space to Fair Haven and contribute to the revitalization
of the Grand Avenue commercial corridor,” the application states.
In addition to Grand Avenue, the property also has frontage
on Perkins Street and Clinton Avenue.
In the fall of 2022, the city announced it had selected
Pennrose as its preferred developer for the site. At the time, the city
indicated the project would include 58 affordable housing units and
community arts and culture space, including live/work spaces for local artists.
An LGBTQ-friendly environment is a key aspect of the project vision, according
to the announcement.
Plans are for the residential units to include a mix of
studio, one-bedroom, and two-bedroom apartments. They will range in size
between 555 and 1,175 square feet, the application shows.
City officials estimated the project would cost $25 million,
with a completion date in 2025.
The developer plans to preserve the school’s auditorium
space. It will be available for community use, such as for health and wellness
programs, community art shows, and New Haven Pride Center events.
What to do with an abandoned CT power plant? Officials ponder future for New Haven's English Station
NEW HAVEN — More than three decades after workers doused the
last of the boilers supplying power from English Station, a simmering debate
over what to do with the rusting carcass of the
old power plant is threatening to once again delay a long-awaited
redevelopment of the property.
Efforts
to repurpose the aging brick structures have repeatedly fallen through
over the years, while the nearly nine acres of property on Ball Island
surrounding the power plant has passed through a
string of owners, none of whom have gotten past the early planning stages
of development.
The island is riddled with contaminants such as asbestos and
PCBs, which are left over from the years when it was used to store and burn
coal — later oil — in order to generate power for United Illuminating, which is
now on the hook for $30
million to clean up the property.
In an interview late last month, New Haven Mayor Justin
Elicker referred to a plan by the current owners to build
housing for city residents on the property, which would require an
intensive remediation that would likely take years and come at cost well beyond
what the utility has already agreed to spend.
“In general, my concern is that — maybe I’ll say our
concern, me and the city’s — is that the private property owner’s interest in
residential development is challenging because of the pollutants on the site,”
Elicker said.
Ownership of the site is currently split between two New
York-based limited liability companies, Haven River Properties and Paramount
View Millennium, which
do not appear to have any relevant experience in large-scale
redevelopment projects.
Representatives for both companies did not respond to emails
and calls seeking comment in recent weeks.
Under the terms of a 2015 consent
order with UI brokered by then-Attorney General George Jepsen, the
utility agreed to clean up the site so that it could be developed under its
“current zoned use,” which property records identify as heavy industry. That
effort was supposed to be completed within three years, a deadline that
passed in 2019.
Earlier this summer, state regulators accused UI of failing
to live up to the terms of that agreement and delivered a $2 million fine as
part of a larger decision denying the utility’s request for a rate hike.
Officials with the company responded by filing
a lawsuit claiming that the state was forcing them to operate at a
loss.
In a statement to CT Insider, a company spokeswoman said
that UI has already spent $19 million toward the cleanup of English Station,
including the removal of asbestos, thousands of tons of contaminated soil and
the demolition of a building on the property that the city deemed to be at
risk of “imminent collapse.”
“UI is not only meeting its obligations under existing
agreements, but is going above and beyond to perform additional cleanup
measures that were neither required nor budgeted,” the spokeswoman, Sarah Wall,
said in a statement.
The Department of Energy and Environmental Protection, which
is overseeing the cleanup, has two sets of standards to determine what types of
activities are permitted on remediated properties. The stricter of the two
standards permits residential uses such as housing, schools and hospitals,
while the lower standard allows for a broader range of
"industrial/commercial" projects. In a statement, a spokesman for the
agency said that DEEP will require UI's cleanup of English Station to meet the
"industrial/commercial" standard.
The area around English Station contains a mix of
apartments, single family homes, abandoned factories, warehouses and salt piles
that today are the last vestiges of the once-booming industrial area along the
banks of the Mill River. Directly across the water, a magnet school for
STEM-interested students sits in the shadows of the station’s towering smoke
stacks.
For those living nearby, the idea of returning the site to
an industrial use is widely seen as a missed opportunity.
“That’s not as aggressive as the community wanted,” said
Aaron Goode, a local activist from the Fair Haven Heights section of New Haven.
“The problem with that is it provides much less flexibility in terms of the
reuse.”
Advocates for preservation of the aging, brick building have
pointed to a string of successful projects in Baltimore, Savannah and London that
transformed power plants from a similar era into hubs for shopping, restaurants
and hotels.
In Providence, the city’s long-shuttered South Street Power Plant was
redeveloped into a nursing school and offices for Brown University, a member of
the Ivy League.
“What I’ve always hoped is that there would be a reuse for
the building, because it’s really a New Haven icon,” said Anstress Farwell,
president of the New Haven Urban Design League. “You see it from the highway,
you see it from East Rock, you can even see it from the state parkway out in
Meriden. It would be a shame to lose it.”
Since the power plant closed in 1992, proposals for the site
have included returning it to service as a backup
in times of peak power demand, building residential towers or even turning
the plant structure into a museum focused on the region’s industrial heyday,
according Eliezer Lee Cruz, a Fair Haven resident and outreach coordinator for
the Community Foundation for Greater New Haven.
“No one really had the gravitas to pull that together,” he
added of the museum plan.
Cruz said that while an effort to preserve English Station’s
historic brick facade could prove too costly due to the state of disrepair, any
attempt to demolish the structure would come with its own set of challenges due
to the potential to spread contaminants into the air and nearby waterways.
“We’re not the experts in the community, they’re the
experts,” Cruz said, referring to UI’s commitment to remediate the site. “All
we can do is demand what is right since millions of dollars were made over
many, many decades producing electricity there … It’s time for them to do the
right thing and clean it up.”
Despite state regulators’ criticism over the pace of the
cleanup, Elicker said that UI had been “productive partners” with both the city
and the state’s efforts to determine a future use of the site. Conversations
between those three entities have been “ongoing” for more than two years,
Elicker said.
The mayor added that it was his “preference,” that the site
be used for something other than an industrial purpose, noting its location
along the river and adjacent to a planned
bus rapid-transit system the city hopes to launch by 2029.
“What I would like to see done with the property is that it
has a significant positive use for the community," Elicker said. "I
think we have to be practical in our expectation for the site and work with all
parties to find a pathway to ensure the site doesn’t lay fallow for many
years."
Farwell, the preservation advocate, said potential for
adaptive reuse of the property will likely hinge on the condition of the former
power plant after years of neglect and scavenging by those in search of scrap
parts and metals. She said that advocates have pushed — with little success so
far — to have an independent assessment done on the building’s structural
integrity.
The current owners, she said, appear mostly interested in
hanging on to the property until the clean-up is completed by UI, at which
point they can seek to flip it for a profit.
“It’s obviously built like a mountain,” Farwell said. “But
even mountains can get blown up.”