THE SUZIO STORY 125 YEARS OF FAMILY ENTERPRISE PHILANTHROPY AND SERVICE
The Meriden Historical Society is hosting an exhibit entitled "The Suzio Story - 125 Years of Enterprise, Family, Philanthropy, and Service" at its Museum and History Center, at 41 West Main Street in Meriden every Sunday in October from 11:00 to 3:00
Featuring memorabilia and photographs from Suzio headquarters on Westfield Road as well as videos of interviews with past and present employees
Capturing the remarkable story of a 21 year old Italian immigrant, Leonardo Suzio, who grew Suzio York Hill into one of the most successful and enduring family-owned businesses in Connecticut history starting in 1898
Including the role of 2nd, 3rd, and 4th generation Suzio members and Henry Altobello in the evolution and growth of the business from building (1910's) to road construction (1930's) to building materials (1955 - today)
Highlighting Suzio loyalty to its origin city Meriden, its employees, its vendors, and its community.
‘Everybody’s going to be impacted’: Fed shutdown would delay civil work
As House Republicans force a fight over federal spending,
it’s looking increasingly likely that Congress will not pass bills that fund
federal operations before the start of the new fiscal year, which would shut
down the government on Oct. 1. Among a slew of negative impacts, a shutdown
would hold up federally funded infrastructure projects, according to the White
House.
The impacts will be wider-ranging that one might expect,
according to American Society of Civil Engineers President Maria Lehman. In the
current landscape of complex project funding, even builds that aren’t fully
federally funded will be impacted.
“Most projects these days have lots of different funding
sources, they maybe have local and state and federal, maybe a private
component, maybe an authority,” said Lehman. “So [a shutdown has] a much bigger
impact than it might have been in the past as far as the number of projects
potentially that could get hit.”
Some vital government functions are exempt, but most federal
agencies would be curtailed. For example, the U.S. DOT and other key federal
agencies responsible for infrastructure would not be fully operational, meaning
new federal projects would largely not get started, awards would be suspended
and current projects could be put on hold, according to Lehman. Federal
agencies are also unable to issue new guidance on how funds should be used.
That could impact new Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act
work, such as the newly announced $7.5 billion in financing
for water infrastructure and another $1.4 billion to fund 70 rail
and supply chain infrastructure projects.
State DOTs, uncertain of future federal funding, may
hesitate to authorize new construction projects over worries they won’t be
reimbursed — that’s what happened in the 34-day 2019
shutdown triggered by a dispute over former President Donald Trump’s
proposed border wall with Mexico, according to Lehman. She thinks this problem
would be even more pronounced this time around, since many IIJA programs are
new and agencies don’t have a historical precedent to use to gauge whether
they’ll be reimbursed.
“Because a lot of those [federal] programs are new, there’s even more anxiety about what the impacts might be,” Lehman said. “It’s kind of disheartening, because we were starting to really get some momentum on moving projects that were in a big backlog and moving them effectively and efficiently, and so this is just another bump in the highway to keep us from doing that.”
Wide-ranging impacts
In addition, workers at the Environmental Protection Agency
and the Department of the Interior would be furloughed, preventing them from
issuing necessary project documents.
That “could delay
major infrastructure projects across the country due to a delay in EPA
and DOI environmental reviews, which would affect multiple federal agency
projects,” said the White House in a press release last week. “In addition,
permitting could be disrupted.”
The Federal Emergency Management Agency’s Disaster
Relief Fund is nearly depleted and if it runs out during the shutdown,
its ability to respond to disasters would be hobbled and long-term recovery
projects would be delayed further as it awaits new appropriations, according to
the White House.
The Federal Highway Administration will stay open and
construction should continue without interruption for current projects because
they use highway trust fund money, but rail and transit projects are a
different matter, according to Lehman. Federal transit employees will be
furloughed, so local transit and rail agencies will have to use their own funds
to pay contractors, or shut down work altogether. Airport construction activity
will also see shutdowns, depending on how the funding came in.
“This will cost money. Ramping down, ramping up costs money.
That money has to come from somewhere, so your buying power just got eroded a
bit,” said Lehman. “It is a system, and one chink is going to have a ripple
through the whole thing … everybody’s going to be impacted on some level.”
Historically, Congress has relied on a continuing resolution
to keep government offices functioning while budget talks are underway, but
hardline congressional Republicans say any temporary
funding bill is a non-starter, according to AP News. They are pushing for a
shutdown until Congress negotiates all 12 bills that fund the government — a
laborious undertaking that typically isn’t finished until December at the
earliest. Despite movement
Tuesday night in the Senate, a continuing resolution for short-term funding
in the House is anything but a done deal.
The shutdown could hit the building industry in ways that
are impossible to predict, Lehman said.
“The biggest thing that Congress has to grapple with is that
markets hate uncertainty. And so, what happens to construction prices after
this is over? What happens to contracting prices if companies got caught
carrying costs?” said Lehman. “It’s going to cost us time and money, there’s no
doubt about that. But what else is it going to cost us?”
Editor’s note: This story was updated with information about
a tentative short-term funding deal in the Senate.
Battery storage facility coming to Torrington landfill?
SLOAN BREWSTER
TORRINGTON – A Maine company is looking to build a nearly
$100 million battery storage facility on property at the local landfill.
The facility, which would potentially hold between 100 and
150 megawatts of renewable energy, would be connected to the Eversource power
grid and serve as a backup for power “to save for a rainy day when we have a
capacity event,” Dale Knapp of Walden Renewables of Portland, Maine told the
City Council last week during a presentation on his proposal.
Knapp wants to lease six acres at the landfill. In the
initial six-year development period, the company would pay $5,000 a year while
it looked into permitting and connecting with Eversource. After that, it would
enter a 40-year lease at $6,000 per acre with a 2% increase per year.
“We’re targeting a small area that falls outside of the
landfill cap,” Knapp said, noting he has walked the property.
If the plan is approved, Knapp said the city will pocket
$1.47 million in lease payments by the end of the 40 years.
“It’s probably close to a $100 million facility,” he said,
adding that the facility itself would be also taxable.
“It would be taxable as personal property,” Mayor Elinor C.
Carbone said.
It was Knapp’s second visit to the council. The conversation
started with a presentation in May.
Knapp promises the facility will bring jobs to the city and
encourage economic development around the area. It will also help diminish the
need for fossil fuel, he said.
“One of the things that is happening in New England now –
and if you had told me 20 years ago it was going to happen I might not have
believed you – is that there are times when we produce more energy than we
consume,” Knapp said. “That’s kind of a new paradigm.”
The plant would hold some of that excess energy in lithium
ion batteries. According to Knapp, the state’s Integrated Resource Plan targets
the state to have 300 mw of renewable energy in storage by next year, 650 by
2027 and by 2030 aims for a gigawatt.
Currently, there are about 46 mw stored in the state, he
said.
“This could account for, we hope, between 100 to 150
megawatts,” Knapp said.
He said existing vegetation would screen the facility and it
would not be visible to the general public.
Knapp, in an email Tuesday, said while battery energy
storage programs are in the process of being developed and implemented
regionally, none as of yet have been constructed. Many are in the development
and permitting phase, he added.
“We have not built a stand-alone grid resource to date,” he
said.
While plans were for the council to vote on a motion to
authorize the mayor to enter into a contract with Walden, not all the members
were ready to go that far.
“Lithium ion batteries have been known to take up lots of
fire,” member Armand Maniccia said.
Maniccia asked if there would be any other combustible
material on the site, and member David L. Oliver asked who would be responsible
for cleanup in the event of a fire or flood.
Knapp said the site would be designed to assure a fire would
be contained and that the company would be responsible for cleaning any messes.
“If we build it and we’re operating it, we want to keep it
that way so we have a vested interest,” he said.
Paul E. Cavagnero said there were still outstanding
questions, including containment and decommissioning costs.
“We know these costs can escalate dramatically,” he said.
He also said he wanted to hear from the fire department to
get their take on the potential dangers.
“This is too premature for me to vote on this particular
agenda item,” he said.
The council agreed three to two to table the matter.
Director of Public Works Ray Drew, in a phone call Tuesday,
said Facilities Manager Jamie Sykora, who is in charge of the project, plans to
add the discussion to the council’s October 16 agenda.
Sewage treatment plant is a go in Norwich
Claire Bessette
Norwich ― After years of planning and design work,
negotiations with state environmental officials, project changes and cost
increases, the biggest utility project in city history is about to break
ground.
The City Council last week authorized $199.2 million in
bonding, secured solely by Norwich Public Utilities sewer revenue, to build a
new wastewater treatment plant to replace the aging plant on Hollyhock Island. The
manmade island sits in the center of Norwich Harbor, where the Yantic River
splits into east and west branches as it spills into the harbor.
The project will be financed with 36% grant funding and the
remaining 64% with a 20-year, 2% low-interest loan through the state Clean
Water Act.
NPU has proposed a one-year, 12.1% rate increase for sewer
service starting Nov. 1 to start covering the costs for the new plant. NPU
General Manager Chris LaRose said the 36% state grant and favorable interest
rate would help keep costs down, but NPU also is seeking additional state and
federal grants to help reduce the loan amount.
“This is a difficult choice, but it is the one we must do,”
Mayor Peter Nystrom said prior to the vote to approve the bonding ordinance.
“It’s about the quality of the river. It’s also about securing, at this time,
probably the best deal we’re going to get.”
Nystrom said normally, municipal utilities receive only 20%
in grant funding, but NPU will receive a grant for 36%. NPU officials thanked
the DEEP and Norwich’s state legislative delegation for securing the additional
funding.
“When this is complete, we’ll have a very significant nitrogen
reduction in our river,” Nystrom said. “And that’s to the benefit of all, the
people in this room and future generations.”
Also last week, the state Department of Energy and
Environmental Protection approved design and construction plans, NPU officials
said Friday. NPU expects to sign a contract this week and give selected
contractor CH Nickerson of Torrington the go-ahead to start construction by
early November.
A groundbreaking ceremony is planned for late October.
The project will transform the NPU sewage treatment system,
greatly reducing nitrogen pollution from the Thames River and Long Island Sound
and the now frequent raw sewage overflows into waterways during major
rainstorms.
When completed, the new plant will expand the city’s sewage
treatment capacity from 15 million gallons per day to 20 million, allowing for
increased economic development, utility officials said.
Part of the project includes spreading excavated material
from the plant construction onto the city’s old landfill at the northern end of
Hollyhock Island. The landfill, which never was capped properly, will receive a
new cap when the project is completed and could become a future site for solar
power generation.
“There is no way to underestimate the impact this project
will have on the Yantic River, Shetucket and the Thames, and ultimately Long
Island Sound,” NPU spokesman Chris Riley said.
The current plant was built in 1955 and upgraded in 1973.
Equipment that was supposed to have a 20-year lifespan is still in use. The
plant’s treatment systems fall short of current water pollution requirements,
and NPU faced the prospect of fines for failing to comply with Clean Water Act
regulations if the new sewer plant was delayed much longer.
Larry Sullivan, NPU water division integrity manager, said
the environmental improvements will be realized in the fourth year of the
five-year construction period.
Because the new plant will replace the existing equipment on
the same grounds, the project will be series of construction and demolition, Sullivan
said, while ensuring there is no disruption in sewage treatment service.
As one new component is built, its older predecessor will be
demolished to make way for the next component.
“If you had a blank piece of land, we could get it done in
two years,” Sullivan said.
Fairfield Metro is one of the newest stations on the
Metro-North’s New Haven line, having opened in 2011. The area around it is
rapidly becoming a case study in transit-oriented development. This kind of
development has been suggested as a solution to curbing climate change, while
simultaneously helping connect residents more closely with their neighborhoods.
Advocates say it cuts emissions, bringing residents closer to a train station
as a central hub and relieving them from dependence on cars.
That’s a big deal for commuters in Fairfield County who rely
on Interstate 95 — recently named the most congested stretch of interstate in the United States.
Advocates say transit-oriented development could be a good
solution if done right. But in order for it to succeed, they say it’ll need to
be both affordable and environmentally sustainable. Building in wetlands like
the area around Fairfield Metro requires infrastructure that can mitigate the
effects of climate change and reduce the impact of wastewater on a vulnerable
environment.
Transit-oriented development and climate resilience
Gail Robinson is a real estate agent for the neighborhood of
Black Rock, technically part of Bridgeport, the state’s largest city, but
served by the Fairfield Metro train station across the town line. She’s also
the president of the Ash Creek Conservation Association, and in that role,
she’s one of the most vocal advocates for the environmentally sensitive
wetlands that surround the train station.
WSHU met with Robinson at a coffee shop so close to the
station that we could watch the trains go by on the tracks and hear
announcements from the loudspeaker. Trains stopped and released crowds of
commuters as we talk — most headed toward their cars at the station’s massive
parking lot, but some set out on foot.
Robinson showed a printed dossier full of details on a
flurry of similar-looking new apartment complexes that have been built or are
under construction within a few blocks from the station with more proposed in
both Fairfield and Bridgeport.
“It’s all generations moving in there,” she said. “All
different ages, but it’s really popular with young professional people. They’ll
spend $2,000-$3,000 a month on an apartment and not think twice about it.”
Ash Creek is the body of water that separates Bridgeport and
Fairfield. She said, wearing her conservation hat, the ongoing developments
concern her. One, for example, called the Crossings at Fairfield Metro, is
being built just across Ash Creek Boulevard from the train station.
“It’s being built on a spit of land that’s directly on the
Ash Creek tidal estuary,” she said. “We’ve been concerned for a while with that
land.”
Ash Creek draws its name from the day the British burned
Fairfield to the ground during the Revolutionary War, ashes from the fires
settled in the creek. It’s also the last remaining saltwater marsh in
Bridgeport.
“It’s only about four feet deep,” she said. “When the tide
is down, it’s mostly a mud flat.”
Ash Creek faces the Fairfield Metro train station along the
appropriately-named Ash Creek Boulevard. The land slopes up near the train
station, rising away from the tidal marsh to an elevated street. A wide stretch
of long, low, marshy trees span out from the creek up to the station. (There’s
a walking trail back there, it’s beautiful, but its entrance is not well-marked
from the street.)
“It’s out of the flood zone, because it’s up high enough,”
Robinson said. “But over time, and particularly with storm surges, that land
could get vulnerable.”
Then, Robinson adds, there’s the toll these new complexes
will put on Fairfield and Bridgeport’s infrastructures. The Crossings at
Fairfield Metro will add nearly 700 new apartments, meaning the town of
Fairfield will have to put in a new sewer pipe. Robinson says both cities will
have to strengthen their infrastructure to handle the new load.
“Can we handle it?” Robinson asks. “We’re in the process of
having to replace an aging wastewater plant in Black Rock. And if all of this
sewer water is going to that plant that’s aging and beyond capacity now, then
what’s going to happen? Because when it gets a lot of rainfall right now … they
have to dump the raw wastewater into Black Rock Harbor.”
The conservation group Save the Sound gave Black Rock Harbor
a “D-” for its bacteria count in its most recent Long Island Sound Report Card
last year.
“Bridgeport is a combined sewer overflow community,” said
Bill Lucey, who holds the title of Soundkeeper with the group. “That means when
it rains, the stormwater drains mix with the sewage mains. So what ends up
happening if you have too much rain, the sewage treatment plants are legally
allowed to open up the side tunnels and side culverts, and have raw sewage
mixed with rainwater go right into Black Rock Harbor, for example.”
“People are dying for something reasonably priced”
Three new complexes have appeared near the train station in
recent years — one to the north, one to the west, one to the south. All are
easily within walking distance of the platforms.
The Crossings at Fairfield Metro is the largest of the
proposed developments. One building is already under construction. Eventually,
the sprawling complex will include nearly 700 apartments, a hotel, an
eight-story concourse building and more than 40,000 square feet of office
space. That’s based on an ambitious expansion of the project from the
developers, Accurate Builders, in March.
Eighty of those units will be below market rate, a fact the
developers highlighted as a way for the town to fulfill its requirements under
8-30g, a state law meant to encourage a minimum amount of affordable housing.
Eighty units is significantly more than is offered in other
nearby new developments, Robinson said. Another four developments have been
proposed, mostly in Bridgeport, and none have offered plans for any affordable
housing. But she said those 80 units won’t solve the need.
“People are dying for something reasonably priced,” she
said. When Robinson puts up a listing she considers “reasonably priced,” she
said she gets about 60 applications. That tells her that 80 new affordable
housing units isn’t enough to meet demand.
“Affordable housing” means the homeowner pays 30% or less of
their income on housing-related costs, including mortgage or rent, taxes,
insurance and utilities. Only 3% of all housing in Fairfield meets that
definition as measured by the standards of 8-30g, far less than the 10% the
state wants from all cities and towns. The average rent for a two-bedroom apartment
in Fairfield is $2,800 a month. (By comparison, Bridgeport — which has a vastly
lower median income — has about 20% affordable housing, by far the most of any
municipality in Fairfield County. If you want a two-bedroom apartment there,
it’ll set you back $1,800 a month on average.)
Some quick math: if you’re spending $3,000 a month on rent,
the amount Gail Robinson said her young clients “don’t think twice about,”
you’d better be making at least $108,000 a year as a household in order to live
comfortably. That’s not factoring in utilities and other costs.
At the time that Fairfield Metro was under construction more
than a decade ago, Metro-North also had plans for another new station on
Bridgeport’s East Side, a relatively lower-income area. It would be called
“Barnum,” after the circus founder and former Bridgeport mayor P.T. Barnum, who
built up the city’s East Side. It was planned to open in 2021, but the project
eventually stalled in 2019. (Advocates had said it would be an opportunity to
support transit-oriented development in that area.)
“There’s a huge movement for transit-oriented development to
be more affordable so that it can benefit the folks who have been historically
more marginalized from city centers or even other neighborhoods,” said Nyla
Holland, a researcher with the Urban Institute. “But transit-oriented
development can also offer market rate rents, and have really high prices which
can price out those with lower incomes and prioritize more affluent residents
moving in.”
Holland said redlining and racist infrastructure practices
have physically marginalized low-income communities out of city centers, where
transportation hubs are traditionally found.
“Transit-oriented development has the ability to create
greater access to employment, education, and more,” she said. “So those folks
who have been excluded from that can access career opportunities.”
But she adds she’s too often seen a practice she calls
“climate gentrification.”
“So you have climate friendly cities,” she said, “Cities
that are prioritizing energy efficiency, transit-oriented development, and
folks really want to move there. And they’re willing to pay the higher prices
for rents that can price out those with lower incomes who would really benefit
from living near transit hub.”
Holland said one way to solve this problem is to incentivize
developers to include affordable housing in their plans, just like how
Connecticut’s state law incentivized Accurate to include 80 affordable housing
units. But not all communities, including Fairfield, have seen Connecticut’s
affordable housing law as a solution.
Fairfield First Selectwoman Brenda Kupchick rejected the
idea that only 3% of the town’s housing is affordable. She said that’s a
shortcoming of 8-30g.
“We have a lot of two and three family units in Fairfield
that landlords rent out,” she said. “They don’t count, we don’t keep track of
them, because they’re not under our purview. But we know they exist.”
“There are properties we can do the exact same thing with”
Last week, the town of Fairfield marked a first: a groundbreaking for four new homes built by the
Georgia-based nonprofit Habitat for Humanity. They went up in the Tunxis Hill
neighborhood, which borders Bridgeport. The organization has built 281 homes in
Fairfield County, but these were their first affordable homes in the town of
Fairfield.
“It is not due to the lack of need for affordable housing in
the town,” Habitat for Humanity of Coastal Fairfield County director Carolyn
Vermont wrote in a letter announcing the groundbreaking, reiterating that only
three percent of the town’s housing is affordable. “It is because we have never
been able to obtain property on which to build.”
The town of Fairfield is providing the four lots, which will
be developed through a 75-year renewing land lease.
At the groundbreaking, alongside Vermont and others from
Habitat for Humanity, Fairfield First Selectman Brenda Kupchick said she grew
up in the neighborhood and played in the woods around the houses.
“And when the owner of this property came to me and said,
‘First Selectwoman, we’d like to buy a piece of the Tunxis Hill Woods and knock
down this house and build a house to sell,’ I said, ‘well, how about if we buy
your property and we decide to do something different with it?”’
Fairfield established an affordable housing trust fund in
2018, which paid for the purchase of the property. The fund adds on a fee to
permits for all housing and developments, allowing the town to then buy its own
homes and sell them at affordable rates.
Kupchick said she wants to keep the project going across the
town.
“There are properties in our town that we can do the exact
same thing with,” she said at the Habitat for Humanity groundbreaking. “And to
me, it’s not just giving affordable housing but actually an opportunity to
build roots in a community, especially in a community as great as Fairfield.”
For example, she said officials are working with former Navy
housing that was given to the town nearly 20 years ago. But she says she
doesn’t see a need to prioritize affordable housing around train stations.
“My dream would be that we would have affordable units
scattered throughout the entire town,” she said. “You can live in any
neighborhood that you choose. So if you do have a car and you want to live
farther away from the train station or the bus station, then you should be able
to have that opportunity.”
Habitat for Humanity said the four houses mark a new
opportunity for Fairfield. But four units may not satisfy the need at a time
when real estate agents like Robinson say a single opening leads to 60
applications. And the Fairfield Metro station is a nearly 40-minute walk away,
making this property less than optimal for transit-oriented development. But
advocates say the model can be ported out across Connecticut and other areas
with a lack of affordable housing.
State Senator Tony Hwang, also at the event, said the entire
state has a critical housing need.
“We’ve got to get there,” he said. “This is four of hundreds
that need to be built. But the solution is the model here. It’s a model of
collaborative effort and creativity where local governments, state governments,
private sector and federal government get involved to collaborate … It is not
private developers looking at a market valuation. This is out of faith, love
and a need in our community.”
Worried about wetlands and flooding, West Hartford residents aim to halt ex-UConn campus development
WEST HARTFORD — A group of residents has created a petition outlining their concern over the impact the proposed mixed-use residential development at the former University of Connecticut campus would have on existing wetlands and the town.
It's a response to West Hartford 1 LLC, the development
group that plans
to build 620 units of housing on the long-vacant site mixed with
commercial space for a restaurant, cafe, spa and a grocery store on the
property, which contains around 12 acres of wetlands.
The online petition, which has yielded nearly 700 signatures
in the week since it was started, takes issue with how the developers would
successfully build on and around those wetlands.
"The proposal includes too many parking areas and too
few areas with decarbonizing large trees and grasses," the petition reads.
"It replaces permeable surfaces with impermeable ones, exacerbates
drainage and flooding problems for surrounding neighbors and threatens natural
wetlands habitat."
Ruth Miller lives on Asylum Avenue near the University of
Saint Joseph campus, just down the road from the former campus. Miller, who
said she has worked in conservation in the past, predicts that building on the
site at the proposed scale would cause significant problems to the area's watershed.
"The size and the scale, the bigger and the denser the
scale is on lands that were originally wetlands, it’s going to be become less
and less functional and it's going to shed water instead of absorbing it,"
Miller said on Monday, as more rain fell on a town beleagured
by flooded streets, yards and basements.
Trout Brook Avenue and part of the former campus are
included in West
Hartford's long term plans to alleviate stormwater flooding through
the installation of larger pipes, replacing culverts and by creating access to
new outfall areas. But those plans could take years to complete.
"There’s really nowhere for the water to go,"
Miller said. "It’s going to be more and more cut off so it can’t take the
groundwater like it did before. It’s just going to come back into the
neighborhood. I know the town is worried about what climate change is bringing
and this last year has been a killer. That is my main concern because I think
we can make something better of this. It means looking into the future instead
of the bottom line."
Gary Schulman, a pediatric dentist who lives on Braintree
Drive, was an architect before changing careers and said he has some experience
in applying for wetlands construction approval. He, like Miller, is concerned
about how developers intend to build on the wetlands
"I don’t think they can mitigate it," Schulman
said. "The site is at the depression between the adjoining hills.
Everything flows down to that depression. It’s a fairly wet site. The site
right now handles it okay... but that’s because 1800 Asylum is not very
developed. There are buildings, but there’s a lot of open space in addition to
the actual wetlands, so the site handles the flow that comes down the hills
towards it. My concern from a wetlands point of view is that their proposal has
a lot of impervious acreage."
Proposals for 1800 Asylum Ave. — the western side of the
property — do call for the construction of six buildings plus additional
townhouses that would line Asylum Avenue and Lawler Road. All of that would be
surrounded by parking lots. Developers do intend to leave green space open,
including a recreational lawn alongside Trout Brook Drive, a woodland trail
behind the property, a wet meadow walk and a bridge traveling over the wetland
pond central to the location.
Still, residents said they would prefer to see the
development scaled back a bit, particularly the commercial aspects, which they
said are redundant to what the town already offers, citing the town's
own Plan of Conservation and Development that indicated that West
Hartford already had enough grocery stores and personal care businesses.
Developers previously scaled back the total number of parking spaces on the
site when they removed a planned parking garage from the west side, bringing the
number down from 1,900 to 1,387 parking spaces.
"Parking lots are ugly," said Christine Feely, who
lived on nearby Haynes Road for two years before moving across town. "I
was really shocked when I saw how many large structures they planned to put on
the west parcel. To me, the west parcel is the most embedded into the
residential neighborhood. It’s this huge development right there in this space
that’s carved out from a very residential neighborhood."
Feely said she wouldn't mind seeing the spa and grocery
store removed from the plans, which could invite more room for middle-density
housing, she said, instead of four or five-story apartment buildings.
"There would be more units on the west parcel,"
Feely said. "I think you could get quite a few more people in there
without your destination spa and your organic market. My vision is for it to
have basically middle-density housing. You can get pretty good density without
it being those big apartment buildings. I really think that could retain a
neighborhood feeling much better and have a fair number of people there."
Schulman said he's glad to hear that the
Trout Brook Trail will connect with the property — which his son uses
to bike across town to the GastroPark with friends — but hopes to see it
stretch further north, which he said would promote sustainability and encourage
methods of transportation other than cars, something he fears this proposal
isn't doing.
"We’re very concerned about this not being a
development that protects or promotes sustainability, which the town wants, but
it goes in the other direction and it's more cars and more parking lots,"
Schulman said. "[Trout Brook Trail] gives young people a chance to not use
cars and get on their bikes and connect them to different parts of the town.
That’s what we should be doing: allowing for green spaces to connect us in
wonderful and interesting ways as alternative ways to car-based traffic."
Schulman, who attended a crowded neighborhood meeting on
Tuesday night to learn more about the project, said that "presenters
responded by explaining that the proposal will be massaged to answer some of
those concerns." He also noted that since the campus has been quiet for
six years now that many neighbors have grown accustomed to having no activity
on site.
In a statement provided by the developers, the group said
their plans "continue to evolve and improve" through subsequent
meetings with the town and various committees.
"For over a year, we have had conversations with West
Hartford’s land use, planning and economic development staff and six sessions
with the Design Review Advisory Committee," the statement said. "We
have also received thoughtful comments from the town’s wetland consultant which
we continue to address through plan changes."
The group also said they won't be in a position to finalize
their plans until a review with the town's wetlands agency, which they expect
to happen in October. West Hartford's Town Planning and Zoning and Inland
Wetlands and Watercourse Agency next meets on Oct. 2, though no agenda has been
posted yet, so it's unclear if the development will be discussed that evening
or at a later date.
"Each conversation, especially the feedback we have
received from our neighbors, has improved our village concept so that it looks
quite different from where we began," the statement said. "We expect
to undergo a public hearing before the Inland Wetland agency in October. Only
after that review is complete will we be in a position to finalize development
plans for submission to the West Hartford Town Council."
Homewood Suites looking to build 125-room hotel in Cheshire
The sprawling Stonebridge
Crossing mixed use development at the intersection of Route 10 and
Interstate 691 in Cheshire continues to expand on multiple fronts with plans
for an extended stay hotel submitted to the town's Planning and Zoning Commission.
Homewood
Suites by Hilton is seeking to build a four-story, 125-room hotel near
the entrance to the 107 acre property. If the hotel plans for Stonebridge
Crossing are approved by Cheshire officials, it will join eight other locations
that Hilton's Homewood Suites brand already has in Connecticut.
The hotel is being proposed near the main entrance to the
property off Exit 1 of I-691. Plans for the hotel show an indoor swimming pool
as well as an outdoor putting green, a basketball court and outdoor kitchen
with fire pits and seating areas.
Planning and Zoning Commission members will get their
first chance to ask questions about the proposed development at a public
hearing on Oct. 23.
Commission members on Monday heard from a Jacksonville,
Fla.-based developer that is under contract to purchase the retail and
restaurant components from Stonebridge Crossing. Regency Centers, which has Connecticut
offices in Westport and Greenwich, is under to purchase the retail and
restaurant component from property owner TriStar Land Development, whose
principles include former Town Councilman Paul Bowman, and a Cheshire limited
liability company, Miller Nepolitano and Wolff.
Regency Centers is seeking to add 15,000 square feet of
retail space to 136,000 square feet that had previously approved. Rebecca Wing,
Regency's vice president of investment, said Regency "develops properties
for the long term."
"We're excited about the possibility of developing a
retail center that the town can be proud on Cheshire main street," Wing
said referring to Route 10. She declined to identify any potential tenants, but
told commission members that the company has good working relationships with both
Trader Joe's and Whole Foods, which
retail experts have long speculated were the two most likely candidates for the
grocery store space that will anchor the 21.5 acre retail component.
In Connecticut, Regency's retail center portfolio includes
Corbins Corner in West Hartford, High Ridge Center in Stamford and the Danbury
Green retail center, all of which have Trader Joe's stores. Monday's zoning
commission hearing was continued until Oct. 11.
Regency Centers acquired
Connecticut-based retail center landlord Urstadt Biddle Properties in
a $1.4 billion deal that closed in August.
The latest news about Stonebridge Crossing come two weeks
after a joint venture involving Chicago-based investment management firm and a Fairfield
residential development company purchased a 300-unit apartment complex that is
currently under construction in Cheshire for $9 million, according to municipal
land records.
Officials with Blue Vista Capital Management
and Eastpointe LLC announced Sept. 13 that the deal had closed to purchase
the complex. The property was also owned by TriStar Land Development and
Miller Nepolitano and Wolff.
The apartment complex will include eight three-story
buildings, and one four-story garden style apartment building. The complex will
offer a range of studio, one, two and three-bedroom apartments to prospective
tenants. It will also include a 7,500 square foot clubhouse with a fitness
center, seasonal swimming pool, co-working spaces and an outdoor dog park.
Construction of some of the components of Stone Bridge
Crossing started last year. When fully developed, Stone Bridge Crossing will
include also town homes and senior housing.
Brandon Goetzman, managing principal and co-head of the
equity group at Blue Vista said the acquisition reflects Blue Vista’s
"strategy of developing high-quality multifamily in under-supplied markets
backed by strong demand drivers."
The joint venture acquisition is the third involving Blue
Vista and Eastpointe in Connecticut multifamily complexes. The two
companies also developed The Pointe at Dorset Crossing in Simsbury and The
Preserve at Great Pond in Windsor.
$2M renovation of North End Little League complex close to completion in Meriden
Mary Ellen Godin
MERIDEN — A roughly $2 million upgrade to the North End
Little League complex at 234 Brittania St. is expected to be complete next
month.
That facility currently includes fields used by the Jack
Barry and Ed Walsh leagues, which combined to form Meriden Little League. When
completed, the North End complex will have two artificial turf fields — a
baseball diamond along with a new softball field.
The other project, northwest of the existing fields, will
convert a neighboring full-size basketball court into a half court with the
addition of a new playground next to it.
In February, city crews began demolishing the structures
around the ball fields, including removing their fencing and back stops,
explained Chris Bourdon, city director of parks and recreation.
The demolition included removing the concession stand at the
corner of Britannia and Tremont streets to incorporate into the softball field,
Bourdon said. He doesn’t expect the leagues or schools to replace the concession
stand.
The project and artificial turf fields as well as other
upgrades have turned a bleak section of the city into an attractive site, city
officials said.
“We were given some input, through meetings with the mayor
and the parks department and (Trinity Financial),” said Holly Wills, president
of the Meriden Council of Neighborhoods. “We are very pleased to see an area in
disrepair turned into a beautiful ball field that the children can enjoy. It’s
a very positive move for the neighborhood.”
The fields will be used by the schools.
In October 2021, Meriden Public Schools officials announced
the complex would be among a group of athletic fields in the city that would be
upgraded with new turf surfaces, through the school district’s American Rescue
Plan Act monies.
Officials previously stated the upgrades would require less
maintenance than the current fields, allowing for consistent playability,
especially following inclement weather.
After the recent soaking this past weekend, the artificial
fields were suitable for play hours later, Bourdon said. It’s the first
artificial turf baseball and softball fields in the city.
Officials planned to complete the project in 2022. But it
did not proceed because responsive bids from contractors for the project exceeded
its budget by around $500,000.
Officials said the project scope was revised and
readvertised. “So we took stuff out of the bids,” Michael Grove, assistant
superintendent for finance and operations for Meriden Public Schools, said last
spring. Grove described the process that followed as “a little bit of value
engineering.”
It is being funded through $1.8 million of the school
district’s ARPA funds, along with another $400,000 from the city, Grove
explained.
“This time, the city and the board are partnering together
on the North End Field,” Grove said.
Mayor Kevin Scarpati stated in February that the city took
action to allocate that $400,000 to “make up the difference in funding.”
To reduce costs, parks department staff completed the
demolition of above-ground features at the park. Workers also completed an
open-air dugout and revamped the parking area and added parking at the north
end. The restrooms and storage building were brought up to code, Bourdon said.
Meanwhile, the basketball half court and playground
construction will be funded through other grant monies received by Trinity
Financial, the developers overseeing the construction of a mixed-income housing
development at 85 Tremont St.
Scarpati described the project last spring as part of a “greater
North End neighborhood redevelopment.” He added that the Board of Education and
Trinity Financial are partners in what he described as a “community project.”
A dedication and ribbon-cutting are scheduled Oct. 26 at 4
p.m.