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.
Now that the Mixmaster
rehabilitation project is nearing completion, the state Department of
Transportation is moving on to New Mix, a plan
to look ahead to what the interchange of Interstate 84 and Route 8 will be like
as much as 50 years from now.
“That goes beyond just pavement and bridge rehabilitation.
It’s really looking ahead 25, 50 years from now, about how that area will work,
how the highway system will interact with the city” of Waterbury, said DOT
spokesman Josh Morgan.
“So we have a larger project out there that’s involving
stakeholders, involving the business community, that’s putting together
basically a list of potential projects in the future,” he said.
And removing the long-closed Exit 21 exit ramp on I-84
eastbound will be among the first projects on the list.
To that end, a public meeting will be held Oct. 25 to
discuss the removal of the exit ramp, which will include extending an auxiliary
lane near Exit 22.
“What we have in Connecticut is a lot on-ramps and a lot of
off-ramps,” Morgan said. This causes a lot of traffic congestion, he said.
“And so what we’re doing in a lot of roadway projects now is
building out what’s called an auxiliary lane, because we find that people are
using the highway as a local road in many instances, getting on one exit and
then getting off the next exit and not really going 5, 10, 50 miles,” he said.
With an auxiliary lane, drivers don’t need to merge into
through traffic if they are going from one exit to the next, Morgan said. “So
by eliminating this exit, that auxiliary lane could be extended,” he said.
“What we’re trying to show is that we’re doing projects,
we’re planning ahead, but then we also want to improve safety, reduce traffic
congestion, and not wait 25, 35 years,” Morgan said. “So having what’s called
these early-action projects is just a good-faith effort on the part of the
state to get more work done that can make an impact in people’s lives.”
The Oct. 25 meeting will be held from 6 to 8 p.m. at Maloney
Magnet School, 233 S. Elm St., Waterbury. The first half hour will be an
informal open house so the public can speak one on one with DOT project staff.
The meeting will also be broadcast live on Waterbury-area
Comcast channels 13 and 96.
Torrington battery project gets boost
SLOAN BREWSTER
TORRINGTON – A Maine company will be performing a
feasibility study to develop a nearly $100 million battery storage facility on
a portion of land at the landfill.
The City Council agreed 5 to 1 Monday to authorize Mayor
Elinor C. Carbone to negotiate a lease agreement with Walden Renewables of
Portland, Maine to lease six acres at the landfill.
In the initial six-year development period, the company will
pay $5,000 a year while it looks into permitting and connecting the facility
with Eversource. After that, it will enter a 40-year lease at $6,000 per acre
with a 2% increase per year.
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 month during a presentation on the project.
Council Member Paul E. Cavagnero took issue with the 40-year
option, which he said was too much of a risk for the city to take. He said he
wanted to assure the city could pull out.
“The six-year option gives us the opportunity to study the
site and then get city and state permits,” Knapp said, adding that in that
period the city will have many chances to pull out.
Armand Maniccia cut the discussion short by calling the
motion to a vote. Despite objections from Cavagnero, the council approved the
motion with all members but him in favor.
“I personally think that vote was illegal,” Cavagnero said
later, adding that the council needed a two-thirds majority to end the
discussion. “That’s just common sense and it goes to the beginning of this
republic.”
Carbone turned to City Clerk Carol Anderson, who concurred
that if a member objects, the council is required to vote to close a
discussion. The council rescinded the initial vote, held a brief discussion
during which Cavagnero said he would stand down. Then the body closed the
discussion and voted on the motion with the same results.
Director of Public Works Ray Drew said about four years ago,
the city entered into lease agreement with U.S. Solar for another piece on the
landfill. The company is looking into putting a 4-megawatt solar array there.
The two projects compliment each other, Drew said.
If the solar array and energy storage facility are built,
there will still be about 55 undeveloped acres left at the landfill, he said.
Danbury Career Academy demo phase completed; construction of classrooms begins: 'falling into place'
DANBURY — Outfitted in hard hats and neon orange
construction vests, the city’s mayor and top engineer looked out the third
floor windows of what will be Danbury’s
new high school, their eyes fixed on an office building down the hill on
Apple Ridge Road.
Mayor Dean Esposito mentions to city Engineer
Antonio Iadarola about securing the right of first refusal on the sale of
the downhill property, should the company move to a new location as it expects
to do in as soon as the next few years.
“Something we definitely need in the future for Danbury is a
fieldhouse,” Esposito said during a tour of the gutted, sun-fed
266,000-square-foot former
Cartus Corp. headquarters that workers are transforming into a middle
school and high school for 1,400 students. “Danbury is one of the only cities
that doesn’t have a pool and doesn’t have an indoor track. Obviously, we are
talking the future, but we’ve got the land here. We’ve got the ability to do
it.”
That the mayor is already thinking about acquiring more
school-related space 22 months before the city’s career academy is scheduled to
open for the 2025-26 school year shows the scope of the enrollment growth,
which has outpaced the city’s efforts to catch up for a decade.
“We are always keeping an eye out now for when we have to
expand,” Iadarola said. “We really want a bigger footprint in educational space
on the west end, because this area is just booming.”
With the demolition of the interior complete, and
construction workers putting in the lines on the concrete for the framing that
will become classrooms, labs and offices, Iadarola said it was easy to see the
city’s vision coming into reality for the 24-acre west side campus and the
rebranding of the high school known as the Academies
of Danbury.
“The views here are spectacular,” Iadarola said, speaking of
the green ridge of hills that rim the Danbury Municipal Airport, and blue
autumn sky above them. “These planes coming right over the horizon, and the
sunset is outrageous.”
In addition to a three-story middle school for 360 students
and a four-story high school that will house four industry-focused career
academies for 1,040 students, the city’s $164 million west side campus includes
a 12,000-square-foot gymnasium and offices for the Board of Education.
“This gives you a feel for how big it is,” Iadarola said,
looking through the second floor windows of the middle school to the gym
construction site on the west part of the campus, where workers prepared the
foundation. “This is a huge undertaking.”
The completion of the demolition phase and the start of the construction phase
is part of a larger $208 million spending plan approved by voters in 2022 to
build more classrooms across the city, including $27 million for a 16-classroom
early childhood education center at location to be determined.
The city’s decision to buy a hilltop corporate headquarters
that it would own and control follows the breakdown of an earlier deal to fit
the city’s newest west side schools into the sprawling office park near the New
York border known as The Summit.
“It would have been a real challenge to work within the
complex we were going into over at The Summit,” Iadarola said. “The site layout
area was so small we wouldn’t even have been able to stage (construction
materials and equipment) there. We’ve got 24 acres here. We were on a postage
stamp at The Summit, you know?”
The opening of the west side campus, which was delayed for
one year because it took months to remove a restriction from part of the
property that would have limited the city’s options, is on track for August
2025.
Norwich City Council approves $385,000 to buy land for proposed police station
Claire Bessette
Norwich – The City Council voted unanimously Monday night to
use $385,000 from the city’s American Rescue Plan Act federal grant to purchase
nearly 30 acres off Ox Hill Road as a potential site for a new police station
and to expand Mohegan Park.
The council voted for the expenditure among several
re-allocations of the city’s remaining money from the $28.8 million two-year
COVID-19 recovery grants.
Residents will vote on whether to build a proposed new
$44.75 million police station at a Nov. 7 referendum.
The council removed $500,000 from the $715,000 earmarked to
hire new police officers. Police Chief Patrick Daley said the department is
having a difficult time hiring officers and likely could not use the ARPA money
within the federal time limits. The council used $385,000 of the police money
to cover the entire purchase price for the land.
Other re-allocations included adding $150,000 to the Uncas
Leap Heritage Park project to reconstruct a stairway from Yantic to Sachem
streets, used frequently by Norwich Free Academy students, added $186,719 to
the reconstruction of the former YMCA into the new headquarters for Mattern
Construction Co., and added $95,000 to a bridge construction project at the
Norwich Golf Course.
The money for Mattern Construction is expected to be
reimbursed through an outside grant and loan not yet available for the project,
City Manager John Salomone told the council.
Speakers during public comment Monday offered mixed
reactions to the use of ARPA funds to purchase the land for the police station.
Resident Joanne Philbrick said the ARPA spending plan lacked long-term planning
for how the new projects would be maintained over time when the grant money is
gone.
She called the police station land purchase “one of the most
ill-conceived projects,” questioning whether the city needs to add land to
Mohegan Park.
Resident and business owner Mike Grillo said he strongly
supports the police station and the purchase of the land, calling it an
important project.
Last week, Daley said the department has used some ARPA
money to hire three officers, who recently graduated from the Connecticut
Police Academy. Three more had graduated about a month ago and are now in
Norwich police training.
The department is trying to hire “at least 10 more officers,”
but he is doubtful Norwich could find that many new officers.
“We kept some of the money for hiring but we just don’t
think we can get that many,” Daley said.
Port authority to add staff, focus on ports and harbors
Greg Smith
New London ― The Connecticut Port Authority has paused its
search for a new executive director but is adding a new position to help market
its deep-water ports and manage its small harbors.
The port authority plans to hire a maritime business
development manager that will in part handle the duties performed by Andrew Lavigne, the former manager of business
development and special projects. Lavigne left the port authority in April to
work as the clean energy program manager with the state Department of Economic
and Community Development.
Ulysses Hammond, the port authority’s interim executive
director, said Tuesday he had created a committee to look over applicants for
the position, which will pay between $75,000 and $100,000 a year. The deadline
for applications was Monday.
He called the new position, “a critical piece of
administrative infrastructure for the Connecticut Port Authority.”
The focus of the new job would be, among other tasks, to
coordinate port development, manage grants and administer the CPA’s Harbor
Improvement Projects Program. The individual would also serve as the CPA’s
chief marketing, communications, business and economic development officer.
As the port authority transitions from the construction
project at State Pier, Hammond said much of the organization’s attention will
turn to marketing the state’s three deep-water ports in New London, Bridgeport
and New Haven as well as assisting municipalities with management and
infrastructure at 35 smaller ports and harbors across the state.
The port authority was created in 2014 “to market and
coordinate development of the state’s ports and maritime economy.”
The CPA is seeking someone with at least nine years of
professional experience in maritime-related business development and program
management.
Board Chairman David Kooris said the CPA is likely to
advertise for the permanent executive director position closer to the end of
the year when the $309 million construction project at State Pier is closer to
wrapping up. That position is more enticing, he said, with a completed project
and staff to help out. In addition to the new maritime development manager
position, the CPA now has a full-time finance director/ethics compliance
liaison, an office manager and a part-time fiscal analyst.
“I think operationally we’re in a good place,” Kooris said.
Throughout the construction of State Pier, the CPA has also
had project management assistance from personnel at the state Department of
Transportation. That assistance disappears once the project is completed.
Hammond, the former vice president for admissions at
Connecticut College, was hired by the CPA in April 2022 and has a background in
public administration and law. He said he does not have plans to seek the
permanent executive director position.
“My commitment has been to finish the job. I’m going to
finish the job and I’m going to prepare the port authority to be in a position
to be sustainable. That’s my goal. I figured I could do that as a short timer.”
Retail portion of Cheshire’s massive Stone Bridge Crossing development approved
The giant Stone Bridge Crossing mixed-use project in
Cheshire has cleared another development hurdle as the retail portion won town
land use approval.
The Planning and Zoning Commission last week granted
approval for the 130,000-square-foot retail area, which will include large and
small storefronts, restaurants, outdoor seating areas and drive-thrus.
Tenants for the retail portion have not yet been announced.
The largest spaces include a 40,000-square-foot inline
anchor store in the center of the retail strip with adjoining outdoor seating
area, and a 22,000-square-foot space.
The rest of the spaces are smaller, ranging from 2,500 to
8,000 square feet.
The main building is anchored by a 7,500-square-foot space
on one end, and two 5,000-square-foot spaces on the other end, both with outdoor
patios.
The area also includes four free-standing buildings in the
parking area, from 3,800 to 6,000 square feet, some with double drive-thru
lanes.
The retail section of Stone Bridge Crossing in Cheshire.
The retail portion of the project -- on what’s known as Lot
5 -- is part of Miller, Napolitano, Wolff LLC and Tri-Star Development’s
broader plans for the massive Stone Bridge Crossing project, which also
contains more than 300 residential units in various stages of
construction.
Ownership of Lot 5 is expected to transfer in the next 30
days to Regency Centers real estate development group, with construction of
anchor tenants completed by the end of 2024, and substantial completion of the
entire retail area in 2025, town officials said.
The special development district is set on more than 100
acres near Interstate 691. The overall master plan, adopted in 2019, also
includes a Homewood Suites hotel on Lot 2, which is one of the only lots left
needing town land use approval.
No development plans are yet in place for Lot 4, which is
the last open lot in the project, town officials said.