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CT Construction Digest Thursday December 21, 2023

NL students get a behind-the-scenes look at State Pier wind power work

John Penney

New London ― A group of 10 burgeoning engineers from the city’s high school spent part of their Wednesday morning in an outdoor classroom that featured towering wind turbine components, a massive off-loading barge and the kinds of activity expected at a major manufacturing site.

“It’s the scale,” Masyn Smith, a 17-year-old senior attending the New London High School Multi-Magnet School, said while gazing up at a stack of wind turbine sections at the edge of State Pier. “I had no idea those pillars were this big.”

The students toured the turbine pre-assembly site in the company of several chaperones from the campus’ college career and workforce readiness program, which aids students in exploring post-high-school careers.

“This is a chance for the kids to actually see the work being done right in their backyard,” said course leader member Dale Clark. “There’re students here interested in robotics, computer engineering and mechanical engineering. It’s a chance for us to show students who might not see the value of staying in school why it’s important to at least get a diploma so they can get jobs in these fields.”

Ahead of the tour, the students got an overview of the ongoing work by Ulysses Hammond, interim executive director of the Connecticut Port Authority, which oversees State Pier.

Hammond walked students through the $309 million transformation of the site from a pair of finger piers into a heavy-lift cargo port currently tasked with assembling sections of wind turbines ahead of their delivery to the South Fork Wind project located 35 miles east of Montauk Point.

“We are bringing a new industry to America and it’s happening right here in New London,” Hammond said, rattling off the length of each turbine blade (330 feet), the weight of the nacelle generators (520 metric tons) and the height of the finished towers (more than 800 feet).

As they walked past an onloading ship and a row of stacked blades – the fifth of 12 such sets set to be delivered to the South Fork project – students looked up toward the sets of cranes responsible for shifting the wind components around the pier.

“There’s so much work involved in all this,” said Sergio Garcia, a 17-year-old senior considering a career in mechanical engineering. “It makes me wonder about the math and science behind all this. The magnitude of this – you can’t compare being here to just hearing about it in a class.”

Taking advantage of “backyard’ projects

The State Pier visit was just one of several on-the-job field trips planned by local schools taking advantage of major construction projects in their backyards. New London officials plan to take students to Fort Trumbull where a new $40 million community center is under construction.

“Once the (foundation) slabs are in we hope to get kids out there in the spring,” said Felix Reyes, director of the city’s Office of Planning and Development.

City Councilor Akil Peck said the center project offers a once-in-a-generation opportunity for students interested in the building trades.

“It opens up possibilities and shows them that a career in those fields isn’t far-fetched or out of reach,” he said. “We’ve got companies like Electric Boat begging to fill spots and a police department that’s having a hard time hiring. There are opportunities beyond college out there.”

Last month, more than a dozen East Lyme High School students donned hardhats to tour an Interstate 95 blasting site where crews are working on a $148 million highway reconstruction project.

For New London sophomore Galileo Thompson, the State Pier tour offered a new perspective on the kinds of work he’d like to tackle as an aerospace engineer.

“It’s so different than just seeing pictures or hearing someone talk about it,” he said. ‘It’s a great vision of human innovation.”

Grand jury probe into CT’s school construction program continuing

Dave Altimari and Andrew Brown

A federal grand jury’s investigation into how contracts were awarded through the state’s school construction grant program has quietly continued in recent months, with four detailed subpoenas issued this year — two as recently as October.

The subpoenas, as well as two previously undisclosed from 2022, seek phone records, emails and calendar entries of as many as 16 state employees, according to the attorney who reviews Freedom of Information Act requests concerning subpoenas.

All names in the subpoenas are redacted, except for Konstantinos “Kosta” Diamantis, the former state representative who became the head of the state’s school construction program and a deputy secretary at the Office of Policy and Management. Diamantis retired in late 2021.

Diamantis declined to comment for this story. A spokesperson for Gov. Ned Lamont’s office also declined to comment, citing the ongoing investigation.

Assistant U.S. Attorney David Novick told attorney Morgan Rueckert, hired by the state to review all subpoenas, that some details should be redacted so as not to “frustrate the federal investigation by alerting the targets of the investigation to a more complete picture of the nature of the probe, the techniques employed, the identities of witnesses, and the evidence developed to date.”

“We identified a very limited amount of information for redaction which, if disclosed, would cause ‘prejudice to a prospective law enforcement action,’” Novick wrote.

The materials sought in the subpoenas suggest that the grand jury has made progress in its investigation. For example, it asked for communications between two unidentified parties for one specific day: May 12, 2020.

The most recent subpoena, issued on Oct. 4, 2023, sought all available records of incoming and outgoing calls to/from the office telephone numbers for four state employees, including Diamantis, from Jan. 1, 2020 through May 31, 2020.

A separate subpoena issued on June 28 seeks all of Diamantis’ emails for that same time period.

That same subpoena also seeks all communications from an unnamed state employee containing the words “Kosta,” “Konstantinos” or “Diamantis.”

Diamantis led the state’s school construction grant program for more than six years, but he retired in October 2021 after Lamont placed him on paid administrative leave in conjunction with an investigation into his daughter’s hiring at the state Division of Criminal Justice.

Diamantis was fired from his other position as deputy commissioner at the Office of Policy and Management the same day.

The state was subpoenaed by a federal grand jury around the same time for records related to Diamantis and several state-financed projects, including school construction grants and the State Pier in New London.

The focus of the initial subpoena was a school project in Tolland in which D’Amato Construction of Bristol was awarded a no-bid contract. 

Tolland school officials said Diamantis pushed them to hire a construction management company that later hired his daughter Anastasia.

Tolland officials hired Construction Advocacy Professionals, or CAP, based in Plainfield, to first oversee installation of portable classrooms at the Birch Grove Primary School on June 20, 2019, according to contracts obtained by The Connecticut Mirror. They were paid $70,000 for the work. 

Then, in July 2019, CAP hired Diamantis’ daughter Anastasia, documents state.

Weeks later, a contract amendment, giving CAP another $460,000 worth of work, was signed on Sept. 18, 2019 for the construction of a new Birch Grove school. The old school needed to be replaced immediately because the foundation was crumbling.

The CT Mirror also published a story in February 2022 that showed Diamantis and another state employee, Michael Sanders, pressured Groton and Bristol to hire two specific contractors to deal with hazardous material at their schools. 

The subpoenas show federal prosecutors asked the state for records related to those two school projects, and several others, a few days later.

Other school projects that the grand jury subpoenaed records for include the Platt Technical High School in Milford, the Bulkeley High School or Martin Luther King, Jr. Middle School in Hartford, New Britain High School and Birch Grove Elementary in Tolland.

Officials in New London also told the CT Mirror that they felt pressured into hiring one of the same contractors, AAIS Corp. of West Haven, to perform work on the city’s new high school project. 

Altogether, at least five municipalities received federal subpoenas requesting documents tied to their school construction projects. 

AAIS Corp. was one of two companies that got nearly all of the hazardous waste removal contracts through a state contract that was run by Michael Sanders, who worked for Diamantis under OSCGR.

The contract was originally supposed to only be for emergency hazardous waste removal jobs at state buildings but was quickly expanded to include municipal school projects.

The CT Mirror also reported that two of the state’s hazmat contractors — AAIS Corp. and Bestech Inc. — netted nearly all of the $29.2 million that was spent from the state hazmat fund between 2017 and 2022. 

AAIS Vice President Glen Mulrenan said his company “was awarded contracts with the state because we provided high quality work at reasonable prices and every review by the state has confirmed that.”

“In fact, since our contract was dropped, the state has paid significantly more for the same services at additional cost to taxpayers. We stand by our bids and our work, and we look forward to continuing our service to the state of Connecticut,” Mulrenan said. 

DAS officials responded to that story by immediately canceling the state contract through which the companies were paid, and the state agency sought to expand the list of contractors who were eligible to perform hazmat cleanup work on state-owned buildings.

Some in Simsbury fear 580-unit complex at The Hartford's former campus may ruin town's character 

Natasha Sokoloff

SIMSBURY — As the proposition of a 580-unit development looms over Simsbury, multiple residents passionately expressed their opposition to its construction, saying that it could destroy the rural character of the town they call home.

Located at the site of The Hartford's former campus on Hopmeadow Street, the development will comprise 580 units, ranging from one-bedroom apartments to four-bedroom houses, an uptick from the 540 units depicted in an earlier proposal.

Citing concerns over overcrowding local schools and damaging the rural character of the town, more than 15 residents spoke out against The Silverman Group's, a New Jersey-based developer, plans for a residential development at a Zoning Commission public hearing Monday night.

"We live here, and purchased our homes here because of the character of Simsbury," one long-time resident said, which resulted in applause from the audience.

As a counterpart to the already developed The Ridge at Talcott Mountain North, the new development would occupy the site of the 645,239-square-foot former office complex, which closed in 2013 and was demolished in 2016 to prepare for redevelopment. Developer representatives emphasized Monday that the design of the project prioritized staying within the already disturbed area occupied by The Hartford and its parking lot infrastructure.

But at 124 acres, the sheer size of the residential community — called The Ridge at Talcott Mountain South — was the source of many residents' opposition, who feared that the construction could mean the beginning of Simsbury's spiral into a more developed town.

"The town is turning out like the town I left," said Simsbury resident Mary Turner.

Another reason that many residents love Simsbury is because of its quality school system, but building more developments will overcrowd these schools, they said.

The number of public school students that will be generated by The Ridge at Talcott Mountain South development and enrolled in the Simsbury Public School District is estimated at between 96 to 115, according to the school impact study conducted for the developer. But multiple community members said at the meeting that they felt that was an extremely conservative number.

Developers projected that the increases in enrollment would not result in increases above the recommended class size. But Latimer Lane School, which is located less than one mile from the development, is already struggling with capacity, residents said.

Additionally, several residents said that the traffic in this area was terrible when The Hartford complex was active, and now that there are additional developments nearby as well as potentially this new one, it will be even worse. The project site abuts Hopmeadow Street (Route 10/Route 202), which serves as the main southern gateway and commercial corridor of Simsbury.

"The commission should be representing not people who want to live here, but people who do already live here," said resident Lori Boyko at the public hearing. "By speaking to literally anyone in this town, you know, that this is unequivocally not what any of us want."

But resident Pete Harrison, who is the director of Desegregate Connecticut, also spoke at the public hearing, saying that the need for affordable housing should take precedent.

The Ridge at Talcott Mountain South will set aside 10 percent, or 58, of the dwelling units across all building types as “affordable” units in a manner consistent with the requirements contained in Connecticut General Statutes 8-30g, according to the application.

Simsbury's affordable housing stock is currently at 5.1 percent, according to a recent statewide report.

However, Harrison did also note that the town should be doing more to create not only rental homes, but homes to buy, an idea that many other residents at the meeting agreed with.

“I would strongly recommend this admission push for some homeownership options,” he said. “We do not have enough homes in Simsbury.”

The one-bedroom apartments will be priced at around $1,600 per month, and the two-bedroom apartments at $2,100 per month, said Holden Sabato, development director of The Silverman Group, at the meeting. The duplex units are priced at $3,500 a month, and the single-family houses are estimated at just over $5,000 in monthly rent.

In addition to the residential units, a 5,500-square-foot community building, including a playground, gym, game room, and other amenities, is proposed to be centrally located among the cluster of apartment buildings.

The project site is also surrounded by protected wetlands that abut the Farmington River, and development plans also include a multi-use trail system along the site’s frontage that would link the newly extended Farmington River Trail to the north and continue toward the Farmington Canal Heritage Trail Rail Trail (off site) to the west.

The Zoning Commission voted Monday to continue the public hearing to its Jan. 3 meeting.

Full build-out of The Ridge at Talcott Mountain South is estimated to be completed some time between the middle of 2026 and the start of 2027, according to the project application documents.

Whole Foods to anchor new Cheshire mixed-use complex, developer says

Luther Turmelle

The developer of the 300-unit apartment complex currently under construction in Cheshire's Stone Bridge Crossing mixed use development is telling prospective tenants that the retail anchor of the project is a Whole Foods Market grocery store.0:00

Fairfield-based Eastpointe LLC is building an apartment complex that will be know as Riverpointe and has created a web page to market the 10-building complex. The page refers to the Stone Bridge Crossing retail component describing it as "adjacent to a Whole Foods-anchored retail center."

The grocery store anchor has been the subject of wide speculation for more than a year. Officials with Texas-based Whole Foods were unavailable for comment.

Dan Zelson, a founding principal of Faifield-Couinty-based Charter Realty, which is overseeing the procurement of retail tenants for the complex, said the company is not identifying the anchor grocery store.

"Hopefully, we'll have some good news to announce early next year," Zelson said.

Despite the website announcement, an Eastpointe executive said identity of the new grocery store was not yet official and declined to say whether it was indeed Whole Foods moving in.

Stone Bridge Crossing is being developed near the intersection of Interstates 84 and 691 in Cheshire. The main entrance to the development is off Route 10, near the town's border with Southington.

In addition to a grocery store, restaurants and other retail tenants, Stone Bridge Crossing will also include an extended stay hotel and a Mobil gas station with a convenience store. And in addition to the apartment complex, a Southbury developer - EG Home - is developing high-end townhouses and carriage homes in the northwest corner of the project on Dickerman Road near the intersection of Route 322 and Clark Street in Southington

Construction of EG Home's townhouses was started in 2022.

The flurry of construction activity since then came after decades of stops and starts in development efforts for the sprawling vacant property. Whole Foods has a distribution center on East Johnson Avenue in Cheshire, near the town's border with Meriden.

Whole Foods continues to develop new Connecticut stores at a brisk pace. A new store will open in mid-January in South Windsor at The Promenade Shops at Evergreen Walk lifestyle center, making it the chain's 11th store in Connecticut.

And Whole Foods, which is owned by ecommerce giant Amazon, is also looking to open a store on the Boston Post Road in Old Saybrook.

New Southington library gets a new look after additional funding

Jesse Buchanan

SOUTHINGTON — Town leaders are close to approving expansion plans for the library following a redesign made possible with state money.

Jim Morelli, a town councilor and library building committee chairman, said his group approved a new look for the library and is settling on colors for some of the exterior materials.

He’s pleased with the changes.

“It’s hard to look at a drawing with some colors on a page and visualize what it’s going to look like,” Morelli said. “I think that people are generally pleased that they made the modifications, (although) I think there’s still some confusion about what it’s going to actually look like.”

New look

A state grant approved this fall provided $5 million more to the $17 million library project, which allowed an increase to the square footage as well as design improvements and other upgrades. Additional money will also allow an upgrade to the exterior aesthetics of the proposed library, which had been criticized by some town officials and residents.

Among those critics was Robert Hammersley, Planning and Zoning Commission chairman, who said the original library design looked like a factory. The commission approved the initial plans for the library, saying the design wasn’t in the purview of the commission and that the plan otherwise met regulations.

Hammersley was impressed with the new aesthetic.

“I think the building committee has done a fantastic job with this thing,” he said, Monday. “They’ve incorporated enhancements and a redesign that reflect (the town’s concerns).”

“I think they should get a lot of credit for being responsive in that manner,” Hammersley said.

More space

State money also funded an expansion of the building. A change to the original plan goes back to the Planning and Zoning Commission for approval on Tuesday.

Town leaders had initially pitched the idea of a 30,000-square-foot library to voters prior to last year’s $17 million referendum. When costs of such a building came in high, the plan was reduced to about 24,000 square feet. The addition of $5 million allows the construction of a library closer to the initial size.

“It’s pretty close to what we’d originally planned,” Morelli said.

He’s hoping for approval on Tuesday so that construction on footings for the new space can begin before the cold weather sets in.

“The sooner we get the approval, the sooner we can get the footings,” Morelli said. “We’ve been very fortunate with mild weather … We’ve got to get in the ground before it’s too late.”

Town officials hope to open the new library in the fall of next year. 

Hammersley said approval would hinge on whether the amended plans met town regulations, particularly in regards to parking.

“I think the outcome will be a positive one,” he said, Monday. “If they meet the regulations with regards to the amount of parking they’re providing, we’re obligated to vote in favor of that.”

DOL rule would promote apprenticeships, tighten program labor standards

Kathryn Moody

The U.S. Department of Labor proposed a rule Dec. 14 that seeks to modernize the registered apprenticeship program. The rule intends to strengthen labor standards and worker protections as well as better promote apprenticeship pathways, among other things.

The rule also includes a program called the “registered career and technical education apprenticeship” that is designed to make it “more seamless” for full-time high school and community college students to enroll in the apprenticeship system.

“Equity and job quality have marked the most successful Registered Apprenticeship programs for workers and employers alike. This proposed rule codifies the Department of Labor’s strong commitment to these principles,” Acting Secretary of Labor Julie Su said in a statement. “Importantly, the proposed changes will also provide strong worker protections, improved employer experiences and greater clarity about the roles of federal and state governments and their partners in the National Apprenticeship System.”

Apprenticeships have received much attention of late as a way to funnel badly needed talent into key industries.

The Biden administration has pointedly proposed investments in sectoral training and apprenticeship as part of its wider jobs platform; part of the fiscal year 2024 budget proposal from President Joe Biden included $335 million for the RA program to build pathways to in-need industries, such as construction, clean energy and semiconductor manufacturing.

The Senate has also proposed bills aimed at modernizing RAs, focusing on expanding the programs to similar industries as well as improving “wrap-around” services, such as childcare and eldercare.

But apprenticeships still remain outside the mainstream in the U.S. market, a Multiverse and Burning Glass Institute report said, despite the high potential that could be unlocked through investment in such programs. If the U.S. followed the U.K.’s “mature apprenticeship” system, over 830,000 new apprenticeship opportunities could launch each year, leading to $28.5 billion in wage increases, the report said.

Biden mandates PLAs on large federal contracts

Zachary Phillips

The Biden administration announced on Monday a final rule implementing an executive order that will require project labor agreements on federal construction projects costing $35 million or more. It will likely result in PLAs being required on a majority of large federal jobs.

President Joe Biden first enacted the rule change in February 2022, but it will not go into effect until 30 days after it is published in the Federal Register on Friday, due to formal rule change processes by the Federal Acquisition Regulatory Council. The executive order’s implementation replaces an Obama-era rule that encouraged PLAs on federal jobs, but did not mandate the practice.

As a result, the White House estimated as many as 200,000 workers on federal construction jobs could see boosted “wages, benefits and safety protections regardless of union membership.” 

Part of the goal of the executive order, according to the White House fact sheet, is to increase efficiency by having all stakeholders — contractors, subcontractors, unions or other labor groups — negotiate the terms of each project ahead of time.

The White House claims the PLAs will improve projects by:

Eliminating project delays from labor unrest, such as strikes.

Creating dispute resolution procedures and cooperation for labor-management disputes, such as those over safety.

Including provisions “to support workers from underserved communities and small businesses.”

Helping to create a steady pipeline of workers for federal projects.

Promoting competition on government contracts so that all builders, even those who are non-union, can bid on jobs that require a PLA.

Although labor groups champion PLAs, saying they better protect workers, many builders and employer groups claim they disadvantage contractors that don’t often work with unions.

But experts told Construction Dive when Biden first signed the executive order that all subcontractors and contractors will still be able to compete for work, regardless of their experience with collective bargaining.

“This executive order is not requiring you to be a union contractor, it’s requiring you basically on a one-off basis to agree to a pre-hire collective bargaining agreement,” James Terry, partner at New York City construction law firm Zetlin & De Chiara, said at the time. 

Construction groups’ reaction

On Monday, Sean McGarvey, president of North America’s Building Trades Unions, praised the implementation.

“With this latest action to strengthen economic security, labor-management relations and family-sustaining job opportunities, President Biden is yet again demonstrating his rock-solid commitment to American taxpayers and all workers — union and non-union — across the country,” McGarvey said.

Employer trade groups pushed back against the mandate.

Ben Brubeck, vice president of regulatory, labor and state affairs for Associated Builders and Contractors, decried the rule in a statement released Monday, calling it “burdensome, inflationary and anti-competitive,” and claiming it would raise costs on projects and steer contracts toward unionized contractors and workers. He said ABC plans to challenge the rule in court.

“Absent a successful legal challenge, this executive overreach will reward powerful special interests with government construction contracts at the expense of taxpayers and the principles of free enterprise and fair and open competition in government procurement,” Brubeck said.

CT Construction Digest Tuesday December 19, 2023

NY company inks $30 million deal to build hangar campus at Bradley International Airport

Luther Turmelle

The state already has five general aviation airports within its borders, but officials at the Connecticut Airport Authority announced late Monday they have reached an agreement with a Westchester County, N.Y. company to develop a hangar campus to serve that sector on eight acres of unused land at Bradley International Airport.

Terms of the deal between Sky Harbour Group and the CAA were not immediately available, although officials with the Airport Authority said Sky Harbour will spend $30 million to develop the multi-hangar campus at Bradley International. The partnership with the Airport Authority is part of larger move by Sky Harbor to fill what officials with the publicly-traded company describe in a press release as "a large and growing hangar deficit impacting the New York metro area."

Kevin Dillon, the executive director of the CAA, the deal with Sky Harbour will "diversify our partner portfolio and bolster aviation activity at Bradley International Airport."

"Their multi-million-dollar private investment will benefit our region for years to come, by creating jobs and making our airport even more attractive to the corporate and private aviation market," Dillon said of Sky Harbour.

Even as Sky Harbour officials announced their deal with the Airport Authority, the company also unveiled an agreement with Dutchess County, N.Y. and the Hudson Valley Regional Airport in Wappingers Falls, N.Y., That airport is located just north of Interstate 84 and seven miles south Poughkeepsie.

Sky Harbour's deal at Hudson Valley Regional Airport calls for developing a hangar campus and related services on a seven-acre tract of land on the grounds of the Dutchess County facility. Officials with Sky Harbour said both deals will serve "as a catalyst to create hundreds of local jobs and generate significant economic benefits to their local communities."

"(These campuses will offer) the best home base in business aviation to house some of the New York and Connecticut area’s top corporate and privately-owned business jets in private hangars, with line-services dedicated exclusively to based tenants, offering the shortest time to wheels-up in business aviation," Sky Harbour officials said in a written state.

Officials with the Airport Authority and Sky Harbour weren't immediately available on Monday to provide substantive details on their arrangement. In a written statement included in the Sky Harbour press release, Dutchess County Executive William F.X. O’Neil said he is looking forward to working with the Westchester County company "to enhance our Hudson Valley Regional Airport’s value to our community and to the business aviation community."

Michael Boyd, president of a Colorado-based aviation consulting firm, said "there is no down side to a deal like because general aviation is the sector that we see the most growth in."

"Historically hangar space has been at a premium across the country," Boyd said. "It's a renters market and these hangars make a lot of money. Not only that, but this is going to create a lot of jobs."

In addition to the construction jobs associated with developing the hangar campuses at both airports, Boyd said "you're probably looking at 300 to 400 jobs, both directly involving the airports and indirectly for companies serving those airports."

Construction of the hangar campus at Bradley is expected to start at some point in 2025, according to Dillon. When completed, the enhanced general aviation facilities at Windsor Locks-based Bradley and Hudson Valley Regional Airport will join other Sky Harbour hangar campuses at Nashville International Airport, as well as similar facilities outside of Houston and Miami.

The company also has hangar campuses under construction in the Denver, Phoenix, Dallas and Chicago areas.

The Airport Authority operates Connecticut’s five general aviation airports in Danielson, Groton-New London, Hartford-Brainard, Waterbury-Oxford, and Windham.

Norwich parks improvement plan would cost $30M over 10 years

Claire Bessette

Norwich ― A new draft Norwich parks master plan recommends the city consider building two splashpads, an artificial turf field, more shady areas and trails, and improve accessibility.

Officials from FHI Studio of Hartford on Monday presented an overview of the 170-page plan, which assessed 31 city parks and made recommendations for improvements to each one. The group also proposed two new parks, including what FHI Studio landscape architect Phil Barlow called a potential signature park at the blighted, decaying former Capehart Mill along the Shetucket River in Greeneville.

The proposed improvements and new parks would cost $30 million. FHI recommended tackling the projects in seven phases over 10 years, with potential funding sources identified.

The group will finalize its draft report in early to mid-January and will submit it to the city. At that point, the plan will be posted on the city’s website, city Public Works Director Patrick McLaughlin said.

Barlow and FHI planner Kevin Rivera said during eight months of study and interactions with residents, sports advocates, city and school officials, several themes emerged. Rivera said Norwich residents think the city’s 400-acre Mohegan Park is “a gem,” and do not want major changes there.

But residents did ask for a splashpad, more programs in the parks, more park furniture for picnics, improvements to waterfront parks, upgraded playground equipment and new park bathrooms.

Barlow and Rivera quickly reviewed the existing conditions and proposed improvements to each park. The group proposed two splashpads, one at the Taftville playground area and one at Jenkins Park, a popular collection of sports fields and gathering space.

The group recommended converting the much-used Fontaine Field on Mahan Drive across from Kelly Middle School, into an artificial turf field to improve scheduling and open the field to more uses. The group also proposed improvements to the field’s walking trail and added parking.

Asked by Alderman Mark Bettencourt to recommend low-hanging fruit the city could address quickly in the plan, Barlow admitted the Fontaine field turf would not be inexpensive and quick, but he said it would bring great advantage to recreation opportunities.

“Every community that builds a turf field does not regret it,” Barlow said.

Barlow said the plan also recommends the city create better connections between neighborhoods and their parks and in some cases between two or more parks. Much of the city’s population lives within a 10-minute walking distance to a park. The group recommended better walking trails, bicycle trails and sidewalks.

To improve waterfront access, the committee proposed improving the existing kayak ramp at the Occum Park on the Shetucket River and at the Jennings Field along the Shetucket River.

Barlow said another comment from residents was that they want to be able to bring their dogs to city parks. Currently, nearly all city parks prohibit dogs. The proposals outlined Monday did not include recommendations to allow dogs in the parks.

The group did analyze the city’s dog park on Asylum Street. Barlow said the plan will make recommendations for minor improvements there, including more walking trails and improved vegetation.

New Utility Right of Way in Fairfield and Bridgeport Spurred by CTDOT Plans for Faster Rail Service

Brendan Crowley

United Illuminating told CT Examiner that its efforts to move transmission lines off of railroad catenaries on Northeast Corridor in Bridgeport and Fairfield came at the request of the  Connecticut Department of Transportation, which wants the rail overhead cleared as it looks at ways to speed up trains.

The state’s second-largest electric company is asking for approval for the fifth and final part of a plan to replace the 25-mile transmission line from West Haven to Fairfield.

United Illuminating told CT Examiner that the company’s goal is to replace equipment holding its wires on top of the railroad catenary structures, not necessarily to create a new utility corridor.

The company assessed the equipment along the line in 2018, and said it found heavy corrosion on some of the catenary structures from the 1910s, and corrosion and damage from the electrical equipment installed in the 1960s. The transmission line is the “backbone” of electric service for UI and for the electric grid across New England. 

UI manager of transmission projects Shawn Crosbie told CT Examiner that weather in the northeast can wear down metal equipment. And with the existing structures deemed to be at the end of their useful life, the company has received approval from the regional grid operator ISO-New England to replace it. 

But instead of simply replacing the infrastructure where it has run on top of the New Haven Line for about 60 years, the company is proposing to move the line onto monopoles on private property adjacent to the rail line. The final section proposed on a 7.3-mile stretch from Bridgeport to Southport would require taking 8.6 acres of easements and has drawn vocal opposition from neighbors and elected officials in the region. 

Simply replacing the lines where they are would sidestep the need for these easements, but Crosbie said the state Department of Transportation does not want the lines strung on the corridor any longer.

“They’re trying to look at possible upgrades to their system, and those upgrades require possible construction on those catenaries,” Crosbie said. “We wouldn’t be putting lines when you’ve got to do construction, and that’s been communicated.”

The Connecticut Department of Transportation did not answer several queries by CT Examiner for information about plans on the corridor, or how UI’s existing infrastructure would affect those plans. 

But in its written comments to the Siting Council, the department said that the existing lines would interfere with future projects on the rail corridor, and would “continue to hamper” the department’s ability to maintain railroad equipment.

“In fact, CTDOT would prefer [UI move off the catenary structures], as it aids in our maintenance of the traction power system and wayside equipment, by not having to request UI transmission line outages,” according to CTDOT recommendations to the Siting Council.

CTDOT told the council that there are “several efforts” to shorten trip times, improve service and enhance stations along the New Haven Line. To increase speeds, the department explained, it would have to add new catenary structures, track sidings, additional bridge spans and monitoring equipment.

The department advised the council that it wouldn’t object to UI’s proposal for moving transmission lines to new monopoles about 25 feet from the existing catenary structures, but the department encouraged the company to move the lines as far as possible from the railroad right of way.

The Connecticut Department of Transportation separately opposed undergrounding the lines, a proposal popular among neighbors, warning that underground lines along the corridor would interfere with existing infrastructure. The department advised the Siting Council that given the age of the railroad, which dates back to the mid-1800s, every excavation would need to be hand-dug down to four feet, adding time and money and impacting operations on the rail line.

Crosbie said that, where possible, UI is attempting to keep any new monopoles within the existing right of way, but especially along the final section, portions of the track sit alongside retaining walls, preventing the company from installing new monopoles in the existing easement. The company also needs to tie into substations off the right of way by a fraction of a mile, he explained, and in Southport the company needs to connect with the Eversource line.

New Haven, East Hartford, others will share $7.2M in state brownfield remediation funding

Hanna Snyder Gambini

Gov. Ned Lamont has approved the release of $7.2 million in state grants that will be used to support the remediation and assessment of blighted properties in nine municipalities across Connecticut.

The grants are part of the Department of Economic and Community Development’s Brownfield Remediation and Development Program, which will help clean up properties for redevelopment and put them back into productive use to support economic growth. 

The grants will leverage nearly $229 million in private investments and are expected to create more than 850 jobs, the governor’s office said.

State officials said the majority of the funds will go to distressed municipalities, where developable land is often scarce and economic revitalization efforts take on added importance.

Nearly $2 million will go to New Haven: $990,000 for soil remediation, excavation, and disposal of impacted soils at 265 South Orange St., the former coliseum site where the  11-story, “Square 10” life sciences and tech office building is planned. Another $995,600 will help abate and demolish four dilapidated buildings at 10 Liberty St., to make room for a new five-story, 150-unit affordable housing complex.
 
East Hartford will get a $178,800 grant for site assessments at a former industrial paper mill site at 87 Church St., where a hydro-powered liquor distillery and tasting room will be built.

Ansonia is getting $3.8 million to dispose of demolition debris and remediate the 8.56-acre property at 31-165 Olsen Drive to prepare the property for redevelopment of a new $16.4 million multi-sport indoor/outdoor complex.

Other grants include:

Danbury: $200,000 for 72-80 Maple Ave., and East Franklin Street, to determine future uses for the former Amphenol warehouse.

Griswold: $110,000 grant to survey contaminants at the former repair garage and gas station at 1554-1560 Voluntown Road.

Lisbon: $120,000 for assessments of the former Lisbon Textile Prints company site at 99 River Road for future mixed-use and commercial uses.

New Milford: $200,000 for the assessment of three properties – 6 Youngs Field Road, 20 Youngs Field Road, and 72 Housatonic Ave., to determine a remediation strategy for future remediation and development.

Putnam: $200,000 for environmental assessment of the former Putnam Foundry site at 2 Furnace St., and the John M. Dean Company at 20 Mechanics St., to determine a remediation plan for future mixed-use housing and commercial space.

Sprague: $200,000 for site investigations of the former Paper Manufacturing site at 130 Inland Road in Baltic to determine future remediation and current waste treatment expansion and other potential uses.

Sewage spilled into CT waterways nearly 150 times this year. See where, why and what’s being done.

ED STANNARD

Between Jan. 1 and Nov. 30, there were 146 sewage spills into Connecticut’s rivers and harbors, according to state Department of Energy and Environmental Protection data.

That number is led by Norwich, which has had 41 spills into the Shetucket River and 16 into the Thames, which empties into Long Island Sound, data show.

That’s one reason the city recently bonded $199 million to completely overhaul its sewage-treatment plant on Hollyhock Island in the Yantic River, a project that will take five years.

In Norwich and three other Connecticut cities, outdated sewer systems that share the underground rainwater pipes, mean that several state rivers, and ultimately the Sound, become polluted after heavy rains.

But while there have been more than 10 spills a month this year — usually when rainwater overwhelms those old systems, Connecticut is in much better shape than it was back in the 1970s and before, say DEEP officials.

“We have been working on this problem for many years, since the 1970s,” said Ivonne Hall, assistant director of municipal wastewater at DEEP. “We have data that shows that we had 13 municipalities that had these combined sewer overflows,” which combine groundwater and wastewater in one pipe.

“At that time, we didn’t have the Clean Water Fund,” Hall said. “We had its precursor, which was the EPA construction grants program, but then in 1987, we got the Clean Water Fund in Connecticut, one of the first in the nation.”

The Clean Water Fund, which is composed of federal and state money, totaled $583 million for 2023-24, half of which went to combined sewer overflow systems.

Now there are four cities with combined sewer overflows: Norwich, with 57 spills to date this year; Bridgeport, with 42; New Haven, 30; and Hartford, eight. Two more are combined just before the sewage-treatment plants: Norwalk had two spills and Waterbury had one.

Even though there are just four combined systems left, they are in the cities that will be the most difficult to separate. Hartford has been working for years to address it and end the flooding and overflows.

“It’s just those last remaining CSOs that are going to be the hardest to remove because they’re in the most tightly populated areas,” Hall said. “Unfortunately, it’s going to be decades to come in order to eliminate it.” 

When ‘it’s not raining”

Hartford, which has an underground storage tunnel to store water during heavy rains, intended to prevent overflows, still has a problem in the North End that combined sewer systems were meant to prevent: sewage backups into the basements of residents’ homes.

“Back about 100 years ago … particularly in really urban communities, the thought and the best engineering practice at that time was to have one pipe installed that would collect sewage, any other wastewater from people and their activities, as well as any rainwater that fell within those inhabited areas,” said Nisha Patel, director of DEEP’s Water Planning and Management Division.

“Because at the time the real driver was public safety,” she said. “There was one pipe that was constructed to collect that and then discharge it to the nearest water body,” she said.

In Hartford’s North End, that system hasn’t worked well, especially with new rainfall totals, and $85 million from the Clean Water Fund will be used to address the problems.

However, even towns with separated sewer and groundwater systems have had sewage spills this year: Fairfield, five, and Stratford, one.

The number of spills may not reflect how much sewage is being released into the rivers, Hall said.

“There are certain communities, like Hartford, which might have a fewer number of releases, but it doesn’t really tell you how much volume is discharged,” she said. The 41 spills in Norwich “are probably smaller than some of the other ones.”

“Norwich is a great example of what we’ve been doing but it also will tell you how long these projects take, because it takes a lot of years to plan, design, fund,” Patel said. 

“Norwich started … about 10 to 12 years ago. … So it’s taken this long to go through all of that engineering, all of that project planning and financing to get to a point where we just did groundbreaking at that facility. And that’s not atypical, because these are highly engineered, highly expensive systems.”

Norwich has made “tremendous progress,” decreasing the volume of its spills by 53%, from 1.69 million gallons per inch of rain in 2018 to about 795,000 in 2022, according to Chris Riley, communications and community outreach manager for Norwich Public Utilities.

Besides totally renovating the sewage-treatment plant, the city has been relining pipes in the Greenville section by the Shetucket River, Riley said. He said when there are spills, which are approved by DEEP, just 1% is wastewater.

“We’ve made dramatic progress,” he said. “Norwich is an older city. We’ve got a lot of older infrastructure. Some of the CSOs are more than 100 years old and some of the infrastructure was put in in the ’50s. It’s well past its useful life, so we’re realigning some pipes, we’re eliminating them in certain areas. It’s expensive and time consuming, but it’s critically important work because we’re on a consent order with DEEP.”

“As it works now, if it’s not raining, the sewer system works fine,” said Larry Sullivan, integrity manager for Norwich’s water and wastewater divisions. “Depending on the rainstorm, if you get 1 inch of rain over 24 hours, they probably won’t activate. You get 1 inch of rain in an hour, it’s probably going to activate because the pipes get overwhelmed.”

DEEP requires towns and cities to warn residents not to go into the water near an outflow pipe after it rains.

“When we permit these facilities, the wastewater-treatment facilities that manage this wastewater, we require each of those municipalities that have the systems to say, where you have … a pipe that’s discharging into a water body, you have to put up signage to let residents know that, hey, there’s this kind of outfall, so be aware and don’t go in the water or don’t fish in the water right after a rain event,” Patel said.

She said there is also a citizen’s right-to-know law that requires municipalities to let neighboring towns and their own residents know of spills. DEEP has a page on X (previously Twitter), @ctsewagespills, where it posts notices.

“This is not the ideal. No one wants these things to exist,” Patel said. “But the fact that they are triggered when there are rainfalls, there is some benefit to the fact that the discharge of sewage is pretty heavily diluted with storm water.”

She said spills “generally get cleared away within 24 to 48 hours, depending on the specific flow conditions of that river or water body. So it’s not a lengthy period of risk. … It’s not a prolonged risk to aquatic life either.”

Housing, a community center and more: Here are new West Hartford developments to watch for in 2024 

Michael Walsh

WEST HARTFORD — A slew of new housing developments, along with brand-new town projects and the arrival of new retail, is all moving forward in West Hartford next year.

From investments by private developers to town-led projects that look to modernized outdated buildings, here are some of the more notable projects that will be developing and progressing in West Hartford in 2024.

A new community center and animal control facility

The town's plans to tear down the former St. Brigid School and build a brand-new community center in its place are moving forward. 

West Hartford bought the school for $3 million in 2021 and plans to replace its aging and outdated Elmwood Community Center with a modern building that would house the senior center, the Faxon Library branch, a teen center, and more. Last January, it was estimated that the project could cost more than $66 million.

At a recent Public Works, Facilities and Sustainability Committee meeting, Robert Palmer, the town's director of plant and facilities services, said a design for the demolition of the St. Brigid School is currently underway. Palmer also said that the town is expecting to soon receive three proposals for the design of the new center from architectural firms.

"We had 11 firms respond," Palmer said at that meeting. "Town staff selected six firms to interview. We had really great presentations from those firms. We were very happy with the quality of those and how they paid attention to the work we've already done with that."

There is no firm timeline on when the demolition of the existing building will begin, though it likely is a multiyear project.

Mayor Shari Cantor, speaking at last week's reveal of the newly renovated teen center, said a community center that allows for more space for all programming is a priority community need.

"We know this space probably doesn't fit the need of the community," Cantor said. "That's something that we're working on."

Earlier this year, the Town Council paved the way for a new animal control facility to be built by authorizing the town's purchase of two properties — 12 Brixton St. and 705 Oakwood Ave. — that are adjacent to its existing public works campus for $1,235,000.

The purchase of the Oakwood Avenue location, specifically, is going to allow the town to build that new animal control facility.

"We are taking the new design for the animal control facility and placing it on that site," Palmer said at that same meeting. "At the same time, we are also engaged in the process of the demolition of that structure. Those two things are at work right now."

Housing developments

It's possible that over the next few years West Hartford will be adding well over 1,000 more housing units through a variety of new developments. 

Some of those, like the redevelopment of the former University of Connecticut campus, are still in the approval process. 

Others, like the $100 million expansion of the West Hartford Fellowship Housing campus that provides homes to people with disabilities and those over the age of 62 years old have already begun work that will continue into next year.

Two others currently under construction that could see major progress in 2024 are The Byline and 950 Trout Brook Drive, the former site of the Children's Museum. The Byline, located on Farmington Avenue, is already standing tall and will provide 48 units. Over on Trout Brook Drive, the Children's Museum has been demolished, making way for 172 housing units.

Next year might also see the start of the transformation of the West Hartford Inn into The Camelot, an affordable housing development that's also on Farmington Avenue.

New retail coming

Work could also start on two new fast-food chain locations in West Hartford next year.

Starbucks, set to be built on the Corporate Center West property at 433 South Main St., will feature a drive-thru. Approved last December, the plan caused some residents to be concerned about traffic impacts. And employees at the nearby unionized Starbucks were concerned that the drive-thru location would be a direct competitor to their shop.

Less controversial was the approval of a Chipotle, complete with a drive-thru, that will be built in the Prospect Plaza. Both it and the Starbucks are completely new constructions.

The major East Hartford, Manchester and South Windsor developments to watch in 2024

Jamila Young

North-central Connecticut will look quite differently in many spots in the coming year. East Hartford, Manchester, and South Windsor residents in particular can expect to see big changes around their towns in 2024.

Officials in all three towns are looking to redevelop areas in need of upgrades — from new retail businesses to new and redeveloped housing.

East Hartford has big dreams

In East Hartford, newly elected Mayor Connor Martin has several redevelopment projects on his plate, both to start on as well as finish up.

Martin plans to bring in new retail businesses to the Silver Lane Plaza after its demolition, as well as finishing construction for new housing to replace the Showcase Cinemas movie theater, and beginning updates to the apartments at the Church Corners Inn building.

"We have to start raising the household median income, bring in revenue through economic development, and bring in retail, entertainment, shopping," Martin said during his swearing in ceremony last month. "We want to give residents a reason to spend their money in East Hartford."

East Hartford acquired the Silver Lane Plaza by eminent domain on March 1, with $4.5 million from the State Bond Commission. 

One of the plaza tenants, JE Mart, an Asian grocery store, recently relocated to the Manchester Parkade. 

East Hartford Director of Development Eileen Buckheit said that several businesses still remain in the plaza, but town officials are actively working with attorneys or the businesses themselves to exit the property. 

In November, the Grossman Development Group, Charter Realty Principal, and Leyland Alliance submitted a joint proposal for the plaza, which town officials will review. The proposal consists of three different formats for mixed-use property — some retail property with housing property behind it, according to Michael Goman of Goman + York, a real estate consultant for the town.

"It's a concept that's consistent with the goals of the master plan in the works on the plaza to improve commercial uses and add housing to the area," Goman said. "It will create new jobs, and increase the demand of housing as a result."

In July, Gov. Ned Lamont announced that $7 million in State Bond Commission funding would be allocated to build an apartment complex called Concourse Park, at the site of the former Showcase Cinemas, which closed in 2006. 

The town purchased the property in January 2019 for $3.3 million, and the theater demolition was completed in 2020.

The complex will be developed by New Britain-based Jasko Development, in a partnership with West Hartford-based Zelman Real Estate.

Former mayor Mike Walsh said in September that the complex, which would include up to 400 apartments, a pool, a dog park, and other amenities, will cost an estimated $110 million. 

The Church Corners Inn at 860 Main St., known for a years as a high-crime location, remains vacant after the town purchased the building in January for $950,000.

In January, Walsh said the plan was to demolish the 53-unit, 24,820-square-foot building and construct 25 apartments of 700 square feet each, with retail space on the ground floor. The plans changed from a demolition to a renovation, when Unionville-based developer Parker Benjamin proposed a plan in September to redevelop the building instead.

In October, Walsh said if Parker Benjamin's proposal is approved, the building would be converted to hold about 24 units, with the first floor being used for retail.

Distribution warehouses for Lowe's and Wayfair are expected to be completed at Rentschler Field sometime next summer, according to Massachusetts-based National Development, which broke ground on the 300-acre site in March. National Development expects the warehouses to create 400 construction jobs, and up to 1,000 permanent positions.

Residents an also expect to see the demolition of buildings at Founders Plaza. This year the town filed a demolition permit for 20 Hartland St./99 Founders Plaza, after it received $6.5 million from the State Bond Commission.

Transformations in Manchester

Main Street in Manchester will be going through a transformation of its own, as plans to develop a multistory building with residential and retail space next year at the site of the Tong building at 942 Main St. are currently underway. The town bought the building earlier this year for $1.75 million with plans to demolish it by next February. 

Several tenants remain in the building and the town is currently in the midst of relocation negotiations with them.

Another plan for Main Street is to have a 75,000-square-foot library constructed at the site of the Webster Bank branch at 1041 Main St., as well as repair the Mary Cheney Library at 586 Main St.

The new library will cost roughly $39 million, and the town has already secured $5.5 million in grants, and hopes to secure $9.5 million in state funds.

The Redevelopment Agency unanimously decided in October to recommend that the Board of Directors begin planning the construction of a 600-foot trail and pedestrian bridge across Bigelow Brook, using $200,000 awarded to the town by the State Bond Commission. 

Town officials said that the trail project, which would link Center Springs Park to the Purdy Trail, is directly connected to plans to revitalize the long-vacant Broad Street Parkade.

Whole Foods and apartments in South Windsor

South Windsor has also had a number of development announcements, some that were applauded by residents, and others that became quite controversial.

The Promenade Shops at Evergreen Walk will soon have a highly anticipated new tenant, Whole Foods, which is expected to open on Jan. 17. The store was touted as part of a plan to transform the shopping center that was dubbed "Evergreen Walk 2.0." 

In 2021, the site plan for the new Whole Foods showed that the building would be split into two units, with 40,000 square feet for the store and 10,000 square feet of retail space for lease.

An apartment complex on a 6-acre site at 240 Deming St. and 440 Buckland Road has gotten the go-ahead by the Planning and Zoning Commission, but not without hurdles.

Hundreds of residents turned out for public hearings on the proposed apartments, many concerned about traffic, noise, and the potential effects of property values.

The plan, which originally called for 72 apartments, was narrowed down to 55, with five, two-story buildings. In November, the PZC, along party lines, narrowly approved a zone change for the site and on Dec. 12, again along party lines, the PZC approved the site plan with certain restrictions, including the preservation of trees.

CT Construction Digest Monday December 18, 2023

State Bond Commission OKs hundreds-of-millions of dollars for brownfields, development and more

 Michael Puffer

The State Bond Commission, meeting Friday, approved hundreds-of-millions of dollars to aid housing initiatives, clean brownfields, upgrade cultural facilities and support private development projects. 

Housing is a big focus of Friday’s session, with the Department of Housing in-line for $59 million to be used for grants for development projects and housing programs. Another $35 million was approved for first-time homebuyer assistance. 

The state’s Time to Own program offers downpayment assistance for low-to-moderate income homebuyers, and has received more than $100 million in state support since its 2022 creation by Gov. Ned Lamont. 

The commission approved $35 million for the state’s brownfield remediation fund. The program has been a key component in the teardown and redevelopment of abandoned and polluted industrial sites that would otherwise continue to rot away without attention due to the extreme expense of remediation. 

Another $5 million was approved for grants to upgrade security at nonprofits deemed at heightened risk of a terrorist attack, hate crimes or violent acts. The Nonprofit Security Grant Program has provided grants to 237 organizations, including 129 places of worship, since its creation by Lamont in 2021.

AdvanceCT is up for $800,000 to support its business recruitment efforts. 
 
Friday’s agenda also included funding for various cultural, nonprofit and private development projects, some of which include: 

$1.4 million for repairs of the Connecticut Convention Center in Hartford, including security upgrades, smoke detection repairs and more. 

$5 million for a new University of Connecticut research center at Hartford’s XL Center arena. 

$6.8 million for environmental investigation and cleanup at New Haven Science Park’s Tract A. 

Reallocation of $2.5 million previously approved for a Hartford affordable housing project into funding for Capital Region Development Authority loans to two Hartford projects, including Simon Konover’s planned conversion of office and commercial space at 45 Pratt St. in Hartford into 37 apartments, which is slated for a $1.1 million loan. The remaining $1.4 million will be used for a loan to help Carbone’s Ristorante reestablish itself in a former movie theater building in Hartford’s Front Street District. 

$5 million for a grant to New Haven for a housing development under the Mill River Municipal Development Plan.

$300,000 for a grant to Newtown’s Everwonder Children’s Museum for relocation and expansion. 

$475,000 for a grant to redevelop a sculpture garden at the Aldrich Contemporary Art Museum in Ridgefield.

$900,000 for a grant to complete Phase 2 of the Simsbury Meadows Performing Arts Center. 

$2 million for a grant to New Canaan for renovations to its Playhouse Theater.

$100,000 for a grant to the Connecticut Foundation for Dental Outreach in Southington to help provide care for underserved and uninsured individuals.

New CT DOT project to tackle crash-prone, curvy roads in Farmington Valley and beyond

Natasha Sokoloff

FARMINGTON — The Farmington Valley is home to a plethora of windy roads, making for scenic drives that are trademark to many rural towns throughout the state. While many residents cherish these beautiful roadways, such narrow roads and curves are also characteristic of a substantial amount of Connecticut's car crashes.

According to police crash report data from 2020 to 2022, there were approximately 280,000 crashes in Connecticut, and 34,000, or 12 percent, occurred on curves on state or town roads.

In an effort to curb car accidents and deaths, the state Department of Transportation is updating and installing new horizontal curve warning signs and speed advisories on local roads throughout 15 towns in northwestern Connecticut.

"Looking at these numbers, it's clear that curves are a prime location for crashes, especially fatal crashes," said Claire Sylvestre, the project engineer from the DOT's Traffic Safety Unit, at a public information meeting for the project in Farmington on Dec. 14.

While fatal crashes make up less than 1 percent of crashes in the state, a third of them happen on curves, she said. So, the project takes a proactive approach by installing warning signs to improve driver awareness in response to curves.

"Which means putting warning signs on curves before a serious crash can happen, not after," Sylvestre said. That involves not just putting up warning signs where crashes have happened in the past, but looking at all current locations on the road system to prevent crashes in the future, especially because crash patterns can vary widely year to year, she said.

Numerous studies have concluded that by installing arrows, chevrons, and curve warning signs, crashes can be reduced anywhere from 30 to 50 percent, according to the DOT presentation. And signs are considered a relatively low-cost countermeasure with quick installation.

The estimated construction cost for this project across the 15 towns is approximately $305,000, covered completely by federal funds. The construction cost includes the actual sign installations and removals, Police traffic control along the road, and trimming of tree branches near signs.

Enhanced signage will be implemented at curves on 99 town roads, including in Farmington, Simsbury, and Canton. A field review of each curve, which includes reviewing existing conditions and using a ball-bank indicator to determine appropriate advisory speeds, will be conducted.

In Farmington, Mountain Spring Road, Brickyard Road, South Road, and River Road are included in the project. There were a total of 83 car crashes among all four of these roadways from 2020 through October of this year, according to the Connecticut Crash Data Repository. While none was fatal, a quarter of the crashes had injuries.

Notch Road, Nod Road, and Stratton Brook Road in Simsbury will be worked on, an area had 44 crashes in the last three years, according to the Connecticut Crash Data Repository. About half of those crashes happened on curves.

Canton's North Mountain Road will also be part of the project. In the last three years, six non-fatal crashes occurred on this road, according to the Connecticut Crash Data Repository. All but one of the accidents occurred where the road was curved.

However, to be proactive, DOT didn't rely on recent crash history alone for the project, but had to also determine which roads had the potential for crashes based on their layout and surroundings, as well as town feedback, Sylvestre said.

DOT officials then determined which curves could benefit from signs considering primary crash risk factors, like advisory speed, the presence of an intersection, and whether the curve was on a hill, according to the presentation. Not only will the project will replace old, faded signs according to federal guidance, but also potentially change the type, number, and location of signs on curves.

Based on submissions from the 15 towns in the northwestern section of the state, there are 213 horizontal curves that may benefit from enhanced signage, according to the project.

The state is also initiating three other similar projects to cover the remaining regions of the state. A total of 61 Connecticut towns are included in these signage projects, impacting 609 locally owned and maintained roads.

"The best way to address the fact that single-curve crashes can happen in an unpredictable way is to warn drivers of curves in a consistent manner across the state," Sylvestre said.

Construction is anticipated to begin next summer and should be completed through summer 2025, according to DOT officials. It's still to be determined when project construction will start in each individual town.

The project is limited to installing post-mounted sheet aluminum signs on posts driven into the ground, so no excavation or earthwork, or right-of-way impacts, are anticipated as part of this project.

Bridgeport developments: What to watch for in 2024

Brian Lockhart

BRIDGEPORT — Next year could see progress on some significant economic developments in Connecticut's largest city.

A couple long-delayed projects are finally expected to be completed — John Guedes' downtown apartments and Anthony Stewart's Honey Locust Square on the East End — while others either still in the concept stage or in limbo as to their status might move at least incrementally forward. 

Guedes in early 2019 struck a deal with Mayor Joe Ganim's administration and the City Council to purchase three then city-owned parcels on Congress and Main streets and receive a tax break to erect 92 market-rate units with ground floor retail. 

After issues involving cleaning up contaminated soil and supply chain problems, Guedes on Friday said, “We should be starting occupancy by March, April. If you go by you'll see the outside is coming to completion. Probably half the apartments are ready."

He also has 7,000 square feet to offer approximately five "mom and pop shops" but no committed tenants yet.

"The important thing is the apartments because the apartments create demand," said Guedes, who recently completed converting the closed downtown Holiday Inn hotel into housing.

Also downtown the city has been trying to redevelop the old Davidson's Fabrics on Middle Street and adjacent Main Street land where a $12 million "premiere hockey and ice skating training facility" proposed in 2018 never broke ground. 

The Ganim administration in summer 2022 sought proposals for the Davidson's building and received one that was characterized as "likely" to be forwarded to the council for approval but so far has not. Asked for an update last month, economic development staff responded, "No comment because these matters are still under consideration."

Guedes said Friday he has expressed interest in the ice hockey land for housing but "they (the city) still haven't moved on that, either."

The economic development office also said that a plan Zulfi Jafri of Darien submitted in summer 2022 to transform the historic McLevy Hall downtown on Broad Street across from the government center into a small hotel is similarly "still under consideration."

Meanwhile, on the outskirts of downtown on the opposite side of Interstate 95, developer Howard Saffan is looking to build upon his success transforming the former minor league baseball stadium into a publicly-owned, privately-run 6,600-seat concert amphitheater that opened in summer 2021. Saffan in September announced his desire to add a 3,000-capacity concert venue there on vacant municipal land. But, as reported at the time, there are plenty of wrinkles to be worked out, from financing to local permits to whether there is even a need given all of the other existing entertainment venues around Bridgeport.

Further along the harbor on the East Side is Steelpointe where 2024 should be when construction finally begins on the 1,500 luxury apartments the development team there have been planning. Years and a few mayors in the making, Steelpointe currently boasts a massive Bass Pro outdoor retail store, a Starbucks coffee shop, the Boca seafood restaurant and a luxury marina.

Adam Wood, spokesman for father/son Steelpointe developers Robert Christoph Sr. and Jr., recently said the hope is to break ground in the coming weeks on the infrastructure necessary to support the apartments as well as a future hotel. In late 2021 the council voted to approve a 12-year tax break for the Christophs' apartments, but the project encountered more complicated-than-anticipated ground contamination that had to be addressed to the satisfaction of state and federal environmental permitting agencies.

Dirty soil is also an issue at the nearby AGI rubber company site on Stratford Avenue, where developer Anthony Stewart and Jafri in 2021 proposed a 10-story building with 200 units of market-rate and affordably priced apartments, plus retail, including an IHOP restaurant.

This time last year the Ganim administration was unsuccessful in obtaining $8.1 million in state aid to: Complete the environmental cleanup at AGI; raise the land, which borders the Pequonnock River, so it will not flood; build a seawall; and construct a public accessway along the water. The economic development office is still trying to obtain state dollars for that work.

In the meantime IHOP has announced it is opening a location in neighboring Stratford. 

Stewart on Friday said he believes there is a big enough customer based for the restaurant chain, known formerly the International House of Pancakes, to also come to the AGI property.

"I still want to build that," he said, while acknowledging things are on hold until funds are secured for ground remediation and other infrastructure.

Stewart's current focus is completing Honey Locust Square, his supermarket/retail/office/restaurant development on the East End which is aimed at revitalizing that neighborhood. The Ganim administration tapped his Ashlar firm in 2018 to redevelop the dilapidated commercial block on Stratford Avenue between Newfield and Central avenues into Honey Locust Square.

The project has become known for delays and budget woes, much of which Stewart blamed on the global COVID-19 pandemic and its impacts on the price and availability of construction supplies. Last spring the state committed $3.5 million to help fund the completion of Honey Locust, but Stewart, as reported in early October, has been waiting for the release of those dollars.

"We expect to be funded sometime soon," Stewart said Friday. Having wanted to be complete this fall, Stewart is now aiming for "April-ish, May-ish." But the news has not been all bad. In late August M&T Bank announced it would open a branch there, something Stewart and local elected officials had been urging.

Another prominent municipal parcel is the former Harding High School on the East Side. Early this year the city put the property on the market and received two bids, one from neighbor Bridgeport Hospital's owner, Yale New Haven Health, and a second from a Conifer Realty.

Neighborhood leaders have during the ensuing months met with Yale New Haven representatives over their intentions to expand the hospital at Harding and how a deal for the property might also include construction of affordable housing. But the economic development department is mum on when the terms of a sale might go to the council.

In March a social media star, Steve Ronin, who travels the world documenting abandoned places, posted footage of Harding's interior online that showed all of the furniture, equipment and supplies left behind in the aged structure when faculty and students in 2018 relocated to a new state-of-the-art home a few blocks away.

While all of the aforementioned efforts involve municipal land, there are two situations where city officials are aiming to acquire, either through negotiation or seizing through eminent domain, long-blighted private sites in the South End and the Hollow whose owners have for years failed to improve or sell them. Those are, respectively, the former Warnaco clothing factory on Myrtle Avenue and nearly a block of nine other properties by Lafayette Park in the Hollow. The City Council after some delays authorized moving forward in November.

But city officials have given up on their plans to similarly obtain the decommissioned PSEG coal-fired power-plant along the harbor in the South End. As of October the plan is to instead work with PSEG on ways to repurpose the site with the landmark red-and-white smoke stack. 

In September the state awarded the Ganim administration $22.5 million to eventually tear the plant down. But that work is years away. For now the Connecticut Metropolitan Council of Governments has undertaken a study of future uses that should be ready sometime around the end of 2024.

Meanwhile in the North End a pair of high profile proposals for privately-owned land are in court due to objections from city officials.

Amit Lakhotia, who has been active in New Britain, wanted to build a 177-unit market-rate apartment complex at the closed Testo's restaurant on Madison Avenue with Guedes as his contractor.

After some neighborhood elected officials, residents and activists opposed the scale of the redevelopment, Ganim ordered the municipal law department to review whether the zoning permit had been properly issued. Municipal lawyers and a private attorney determined that was not the case, pulled the permit in late July, and in November Lakhotia filed a pending lawsuit to have it restored. 

Similarly a few blocks up Madison Avenue opposition from the mayor and some neighbors convinced Bridgeport's zoning commission to deny Hugh Scott of Branford's application to turn a long-vacant North End Stop & Shop supermarket into a self-storage facility. Scott sued in July and the case is ongoing.

Development projects to watch in Middletown, Portland and Cromwell in 2024

Alex Wood

At a time when multifamily housing faces numerous obstacles, developers are well on their way to building more than 1,000 such housing units, mostly rental apartments, within less than 8 miles of one another in Middletown, Portland and Cromwell.

None of it came about easily, however, as major projects now moving toward fruition have been in the works for years, sometimes with significant conflict along the way and always with extensive scrutiny and discussion.

Most of the multifamily housing growth comes from three major complexes:

The 240-unit Brainerd Place, under construction in Portland, overlooks the Connecticut River near the Arrigoni Bridge.

The Springside Middletown apartments on Middletown’s Newfield Street, or Route 3, will include 486 apartments when both phases of construction are complete.

The Lord Cromwell complex on the site of a blighted former hotel at 100 Berlin Road, or Route 372, in Cromwell, is to include 274 housing units, mostly rental apartments and 20 condominium townhouses.

While those three complexes, all of which are receiving tax abatements from the municipalities, account for 1,000 of the coming housing units, redevelopment of buildings on Main Street in Middletown is expected to add another 30 units.

The reasons for the surge in apartment construction are undoubtedly multifaceted. But Bob Dale, the developer of Springside Middletown, succinctly explained one major reason when he said during a recent tour of the construction site, “Connecticut is the state with the least vacancy.”

The burgeoning apartment market is not the only development taking place in the area. At least two of the big apartment complexes, Brainerd Place and Lord Cromwell, will also include commercial space, as will the four smaller redevelopment projects on Middletown’s Main Street.

Other commercial development in the area includes a Big Y supermarket under construction on South Main Street in Middletown and a Texas Roadhouse restaurant and Goldfish Swim School, both under construction in the big shopping plaza anchored by a ShopRite supermarket at 45 Shunpike Road in Cromwell.

An entrepreneur’s plan to convert the abandoned Portland Drive-in site into a complex containing a firing range, archery range, axe throwing lanes, a food court and conference rooms could become real at any time.

Robert Pizzi, president of Central Connecticut Arms LLC, says he put the project out to bid last month and is waiting to see whether the bids show that the COVID-19 spike in construction prices has come down to the point that he is willing to go ahead.

Here’s a rundown of the projects by town:

Middletown

Springside Middletown. Phase 1, consisting of 240 apartments and amenities that include conference rooms for people who work at home and an outdoor pool, is under construction. Bob Dale, the developer, said during the site tour that he hopes to have apartments ready to occupy by about Memorial Day, with completion of Phase 1 by mid-2025.

After that, he said, he hopes to secure financing for the second 246-apartment phase of the project.

Dale said it was too early to know exactly what rents in the complex would be, but he said they would be comparable to other “newer communities in the region,” roughly in the range of $2,000 to $3,000 per month.

The complex will bring a big infusion of population to the outskirts of town. But the developer plans to encourage the tenants to shop locally by giving out gift cards good at more than 200 local businesses, Mayor Ben Florsheim said during the tour. He said the total amount of the cards started at $100,000 but is higher now.

Big Y. Construction is well underway on the new supermarket on South Main Street. The store is expected to bring 50 full-time and 100 part-time jobs to the city, while adding $20 million to the tax rolls, according to a document the developer, Stone Point Properties LLC, submitted to the Planning and Zoning Commission when it was under consideration.

The developer said the new store is in an “underserved corridor,” and several residents who submitted written comments to the commission agreed that the area needs a grocery store.

The developer called the store more “appropriate and attractive” than the telephone company fleet maintenance garage that was on the site previously.

The entrance will be from South Main Street, unlike the maintenance garage, which opened on Highland Avenue, and a traffic light will be installed at the entrance. The developer said the light would enhance traffic and speed control in the area.

418-422 Main St. Dominick DeMartino is the principal of companies redeveloping this building and several others on the east side of Main Street.

The business on the first floor of 418 Main St. is to be called The Wine Bar at Sicily, and is to be operated by Tony Prifitera, who also owns Sicily Coal-Fired Pizza next door at 412 Main St. Prifitera said the space for the wine bar is “about ready” and that it probably will open in February.

On the northern, 422 Main St. side of the building, an ice-cream and cookie shop is planned, also to be run by Prifitera.

The upper floors of the building are to be renovated into 10 market-rate apartments, according to Christine Marques, the city’s economic and community development director.

428 Main St. is another DeMartino project, being done with city and state financial assistance. The developer plans to restore the art deco façade of the former Woolworth building and use the first floor for retail and restaurant space, while creating a rooftop bar overlooking the Connecticut River, according to Marques.

545 Main St. consists of two buildings, a former office building facing Main Street and a former roller-skating rink in the back, according to Marques. It belongs to a company headed by resident Jerome R. Carnegie-Hargreaves, records show.

The plan, also being carried out with city and state financial assistance, is to create eight “workforce residential units” and more than 12,000 square feet of “program and small business space,” according to Marques.

584 Main St. is another DeMartino project, this one involving replacement of the front section of the existing building. The revamped building is to be occupied by a restaurant and 12 apartments, Marques said via email.

Cromwell

Lord Cromwell complex. The town is giving substantial tax abatements to the developers of the new complex planned for 100 Berlin Road, at the intersection of Route 372 and the entrance ramp to the northbound lanes of Interstate 91.

But, in addition to the new development, the town stands to get a cleanup of a blighted former hotel that presents challenges from squatting to mold and PCBs, according to the developers.

The project has necessary local approvals but physical work has yet to start. When the financing for the project is in place and weather permits, the developer, Lexington Partners LLC, plans to start a demolition and site cleanup process that could take a year and cost more than $4 million, according to lawyer Peter J. Alter, representing the developer.

Construction will come next and is expected to take 24 to 28 months, depending on the weather, Alter told the Town Council in October.

When the project is complete, it is expected to include 254 rental apartments, 20 townhouse condominium units and some 30,000 square feet of commercial space, the developer says.

Texas Roadhouse. The new restaurant is under construction on the edge of the parking lot of the ShopRite plaza at 45 Shunpike Road, replacing the Ruby Tuesday restaurant that formerly occupied the site.

"We are on schedule to open our doors at the end of March 2024," Peter Christian, an official of three companies involved in the development, said via email.

Goldfish Swim School is being built in the same plaza, in a space formerly occupied by a Pet Valu store and a vacant space that was next door to it, according to Steve Marszalek, a co-owner of the company that will operate the chain’s Cromwell school.

He said the school is expected to open Jan. 2. It started taking enrollments in October and has reached almost 600, said Lydanis Cruz, the school’s sales and service coordinator. She and Marszalek said the school can accommodate up to 1,800 students.

Aside from the Cromwell school’s sign and construction fencing around the front, little visible change is taking place. But major changes have been happening inside, where construction of a pool started about four months ago, and it was recently filled with water, Marszalek said.

Other changes to the building include changes to the ventilation system, installation of showers, bathrooms, and even a hair drying station, he said.

The school plans to keep the pool’s water temperature at 90 degrees and the air temperature at 92 degrees, he said. That’s part of the school’s approach of making learning to swim a fun and pleasant experience for the children from ages 4 months to 12 years that it teaches.

The school emphasizes learning through play, along with safety, according to its website. Marszalek said the interior will seek to create a bright, colorful family atmosphere.

Portland

Brainerd Place, now under construction, is to include 240 apartments and almost 118,000 square feet of commercial space, according to Dan Bourret, the town’s development planner. The complex, at the intersection of Main and Marlborough streets, also includes three historic homes that will be preserved, he said.

The project received its first approval around 2017 and it has undergone changes over the years, Bourret said. He said the developer, BRT DiMarco PTP LLC, has changed the project from two phases to three and is negotiating a new tax abatement agreement with the selectmen.

Central Connecticut Arms plans a firing range that will include five 100-yard rifle lanes and 15 25-yard pistol lanes on the site of the former drive-in theater, according to Pizzi, the company president.

Asked about the compatibility of the range and the food court also planned for the complex, Pizzi said, “You won’t hear a thing.”

The complex is also to include five archery lanes separate from the firing range, he said, and will offer axe throwing and several large conference rooms available to rent for events.

The complex will also include a three-dimensional simulator for such things as self-defense training, he added.

Development projects to watch in the New Haven area in 2024

Austin Mirmina

The New Haven area recently has been a hotbed for development, with the Elm City as ground zero.0:00

Office buildings, lab buildings and, increasingly, housing have begun to rise in New Haven over the last few years, and several projects are expected to be completed in 2024.

Other New Haven County communities are also seeking to bring more housing online, including Hamden and East Haven, where the latter could see the start of construction on two projects that had been delayed for years. Meanwhile, in West Haven, could 2024 be the year that New England Brewing Co. finalizes a deal to relocate to the city's shoreline?

Here are some of the key development projects in the New Haven area to look out for in 2024:

New Haven

One of the city's most visible projects, a glitzy building containing 500-square-feet of mostly leased bioscience lab space at 101 College St. on the seam between downtown, Yale's medical campus and the Hill neighborhood, is nearing completion after several years in the works.

It is expected to provide 700-1,000 jobs.

New construction is also rising on the longtime parking lot that was the New Haven Veterans Memorial Coliseum before it was demolished in 2007.

Among the projects is "Square 10," a development led by Spinnaker Real Estate Partners on the 5-acre site bounded by South Orange, George and State streets and Route 34. 

Construction of the first of three buildings in Phase 1 of the site's redevelopment is well underway.

The site is at the city's front door, where vehicles exiting Interstate 95 and Interstate 91 on Route 34 enter downtown. It eventually will be home to 700 units, with ground-floor retail, a pool, a health club, a public plaza and other amenities. The first building will consist of 200 apartments.

City officials have called the Coliseum site at 275 S. Orange St. "one of the most important pieces of the Downtown Crossing redevelopment project."

More apartments on the way

Apartments and new lab space are under construction along Orange Street, Audubon Street, State Street, Crown Street, Olive Street, George Street, Howe Street, Dixwell Avenue, Winchester Avenue, South Frontage Road and Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard, among others. They are rising both downtown and in adjacent neighborhoods.

Here are a few of them:

Wooster Square

Wooster Square is growing beyond Wooster Street and the area along it. Mid-rise apartment buildings are going up along Olive Street, among other locations, dropping hundreds of additional apartments in an area with restaurants, bakeries and a watering hole or two already built in.
Several buildings already have gone up in recent years, with more on the way.  

Among them are 78 Olive Street, where Philadelphia-based PMC Property Group won Board of Alders approval in April 2022 to build a 13-story building with 136 apartments, including 14 affordable units, on what previously was a parking lot next to the Strouse Adler “Smoothie” building. The alders by a 24-1 vote approved a zone change to allow denser development than otherwise would have been allowed.

The Olive Street development will be the tallest building on the Wooster Square side of State Street and the railroad tracks — nearly twice the height of other apartment buildings approved in recent years and months. The 2.48-acre site is bounded by Olive, Chapel and Court streets and the railroad tracks that run behind the State Street Rail Station.

Dixwell Avenue

Dixwell Avenue is another part of New Haven that has become a target for redevelopment.

Demolition of the former Elks Club at Dixwell Avenue and Webster Street began in November to make way for the more than $200-million ConnCAT Place development, which will revitalize the deteriorating Dixwell Plaza shopping center in the heart of the city's Dixwell neighborhood.

The project's first phase calls for ConnCORP, the for-profit subsidiary of the nonprofit ConnCAT, to demolish the existing Dixwell Plaza and the former Elks Club and replace them with a new headquarters for ConnCAT, 184 apartments — 20 percent of which will be "affordable" with below-market rents — a food hall, a 20,000-square-foot grocery store, 5,600 square feet of retail space, a health care clinic, daycare center and public plaza.

Not far away, developers connected to a nearby city church broke ground in 2022 on a project to build 69 units of housing — including 55 affordable units — on the triangular former “Joe Grates” property off Dixwell Avenue and Orchard Street. When construction is complete, the four-story building will be the first environmentally friendly “mass timber” affordable housing project in the nation, an official said.

Of the 55 affordable units set aside for low- to moderate-income families, 20 will be reserved for those experiencing homelessness. 

Long Wharf

Get ready for some eventual big changes at Long Wharf, the largely commercial area of the city that stretches roughly from Union Avenue south — beneath Interstate 95 — to New Haven Harbor.

For years, the city has been working on a major flood control project to shore-up the low-lying coastal area and a sweeping redesign called the Long Wharf Responsible Growth Plan.

The city is seeking $25 million in state grants to demolish the former Gateway Community College and enhance Long Wharf Park as part of the plan. Officials also are asking for $7.1 million from the state to build a cafe kiosk and public bathroom on the Green, along with a family playground downtown.

The plans, which the city began presenting publicly in 2021, call for the city to demolish the former Gateway building on Sargent Drive and replace it with the new location of Gateway's automotive trade school, which currently operates in North Haven.

The most recent plans, presented to the community in a public meeting back in February 2023, also call for construction of a new home for the APT Foundation, including its methadone treatment facilities, behind Gateway, replacing both the existing APT facilities at One Long Wharf and its existing clinic on Congress Avenue in the Hill section.

The project would redesign and raise Long Wharf Drive to make it more flood-resilient, build a community marina adjacent to the Canal Dock Boathouse and build a larger Long Wharf park that would be more pedestrian-friendly. It would include additional parking spaces and a dedicated, tent-covered area that would be available for picnics and while enjoying food from the nearby food trucks.

Fair Haven

The Fair Haven section is finally getting some attention.

A new LGBTQ-friendly affordable housing complex with 58 units, approved earlier this year, is going into the former Strong School at 69 Grand Ave. Meanwhile, a new, greatly expanded Fair Haven Community Healthcare home, also approved earlier this year, is going up in and around 374 Grand Ave.

The city is also working with a private developer to put a new 10,000-square-foot commercial-industrial building on the long-vacant site of Bigelow Boiler Co. on River Street, an industrial area near the Quinnipiac River.

West Haven

NEBCO

New England Brewing Co. has been seeking to relocate from Woodbridge to West Haven’s shoreline since 2021. 

The City Council previously approved an agreement for a developer to lease the city-owned land at 6 Rock St. — where the shuttered Savin Rock Conference Center is located  — and build a brewery and taproom for NEBCO to occupy. The developer would have served as the landlord of the newly built brewery, according to the agreement.

After lawsuits delayed the project, NEBCO proposed a new concept that would have greatly decreased the brewery's proposed manufacturing component. When the City Council expressed doubts, NEBCO decided to walk. 

Gov. Ned Lamont and West Haven's state delegation then stepped in to revive the project, and the State Bond Commission approved a $900,000 grant to aid the renovation efforts of the former conference center and bring the deal back on the table.

A new land lease agreement, which the City Council approved in October, is under review by the Municipal Accountability Review Board.

Chick's Drive-In

Chick’s Drive-In on Beach Street was an iconic beach eatery, offering hot dogs and fried food during the city’s heyday. The business was sold upon its owner’s death and torn down in September.

Since being sold, about half of the parcel has seen the construction of townhouse units, but something else appears to be happening at the site. The city recently approved the sale of two city-owned slivers of land to the developers so they can make development at the site easier. The project has been stalled somewhat by a city project to raise Beach Street to avoid flooding concerns.

Beach Street

It took millions in state funding and years of planning, but a raised Beach Street should be completed soon. Councilwoman Meli Garthwait, who now is an at-large but lives in the second district, said on Facebook that paving work on Beach Street should be completed in the spring.

Hamden

One of the town's first development projects to break ground in the new year will be an affordable housing complex at 2980 State St. Approved in September, the $26 million project calls for the construction of three apartment buildings with a total of 64 units and infrastructure improvements aimed at making the site's surrounding roadway more pedestrian-friendly.

Hamden Town Planner Eugene Livshits said recently that the project's developer, Regan Development Corp., has been readying the site for construction.

Plans show that 30 rentals will be one-bedroom units, 32 will be two-bedroom units and two will be three-bedroom units. According to the plans, 63 of the complex's units will serve households making 60 percent or less of the area median income. The other unit would be reserved for a superintendent who maintains the facility.

Another affordable housing project consisting of 31 townhouse-style units is in the works at 455 Sherman Ave. Livshits said the project's developer has made "really great progress" and that two of the residential buildings on the property are "almost essentially ready to be leased out." A third building is up as well, but needs to have interior work completed, the town planner added.

At least 30 percent of the development’s units are expected to meet affordable housing requirements, officials said previously.

East Haven

After years of setbacks, the town finally could see two major housing projects on Strong Street and Sperry Lane break ground in the coming year. 

The Strong Street development will include 69 detached single-family homes on about 17 acres, project officials said. The units will not have an age restriction or affordable component. Autumn View LLC, the project's developer, also received approval for a five-lot subdivision on Strong Street, bringing the total number of homes to 74.

Joseph Budrow, East Haven's zoning enforcement officer, said Autumn View has not yet been issued building permits for the project's construction phase. Only grading has commenced at the property, according to Budrow.

First proposed in 2007, the Strong Street project was approved by the town's Planning and Zoning Commission in July. Officials previously estimated the project would take about three years to complete.

On Sperry Lane and Foxon Boulevard, a developer got the go-ahead to build a housing project for residents 55 and older, with 378 units at the site of a former Girl Scout camp. But according to Budrow, construction on the project has not yet started. "All is quiet up on Sperry Lane," he wrote in an email.

Originally dubbed the Sperry Lane proposal, the most recent plans call for three residential buildings with 258 units and a fourth building with 120 assisted-living units. All of the units will be age-restricted and must have at least one tenant 55 or older, documents show. No resident may be younger than 18.

In addition to accommodating older residents, the project also will increase the town's availability of affordable housing, as the developer has agreed that 39 of the 258 non-assisted units — or 15 percent  — would be deemed "affordable" as defined by state law. 

Budrow said there has been "no movement" on the four-story, 21,000-square-foot luxury apartment building that will be located on 3.4 acres at 71 South Shore Drive in the town's Momauguin section. The building, to be called Mariner's Point Apartments, will contain 72 one- and two-bedroom, market-rate units, and feature a fitness room, rooftop deck and other amenities, plans show.

New Haven approves Yale Golf Course renovation, where up to 1,500 trees will be taken down

Mary E. O'Leary

NEW HAVEN — Everything old is new again as Yale University has received the city's approval for its golf course to closely revert to its 1926 design, which will also level up to 1,500 mature trees.

The project had already received state Department of Energy and Environmental Protection approval and now has a sign-off by the City Plan Commission for its site plan, sediment control and inland wetlands impact tied to the restoration on its 278-acre parcel in Westville. Yale is still awaiting approval by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.

The local discussion since last spring has touched on flooding concerns and pesticide use, but most directly, there was objection to the number of mature trees that will come down in an era of climate change and their role in carbon sequestration.

 The pesticide use and tree loss were ruled out for consideration as beyond the commission's scope. 

The staff report the commission adopted, however, said while Yale will be incorporating "many sustainability practices" into its maintenance routine, it was important to raise other  concerns.

Generally, it said the negative impacts of golf courses are well documented and cover such things as mowing, herbicide, pesticide and fertilizer use, as well as high volumes of water and loss of forested areas.

At the Yale Golf Course specifically, "the removal of mature trees (1,000 to 1,500 across the site), chemical usage, and water usage are still of concern and, while not under the purview of the City Plan Commission, are important environmental considerations to raise," the staff wrote.

Laura Cahn, who heads the New Haven Environmental Advisory Council, said that unlike other cities, New Haven does not have an ordinance that addresses the removal of trees except from city property.

Besides the tree issue, the most controversial component was construction of a temporary hauling road off Fountain Street through the Yale Nature Preserve, which will add to the damage of wetlands and close this resource during construction. It will run behind some 20 homes on Long Hill Terrace.

This aspect was also eventually approved by City Plan, after much discussion, rather than operating construction equipment to and from the site on narrow city streets.

The alder for the area, Amy Marx, D-26, had suggested holding off on final approval until residents could weigh in on an alternative to the temporary road.

Yale attorney Joseph Hammer did not object as long as the decision was made within a short period, as the university hopes to start work in two months.  

The commission members appeared interested in doing this but ultimately did not see a way forward after the staff had already vetted the hauling road and the university had met all the necessary zoning, sediment control and wetland requirements.

In several public meetings between Yale officials and the abutting residents, there was testimony that runoff from Yale's land was flooding their properties.

Working with the city, Yale has proposed infrastructure changes to stem this on Stevenson Road. City Engineer Giovanni Zinn also testified that improvements have already been done on Curtis Drive. Marx worried about damage to the backyards on Curtis Drive,  Long Hill Terrace and Stevenson Road.

City Plan did agree to allow interventor status for Cahn, who had to prove that the changes at the golf course could cause "unreasonable pollution, impairment or destruction of the public trust in air water or other natural resources of the state."

The commission let her make her case but found there was no expert testimony or quantifiable measurements to back up her concerns. The members characterized her claims as too generic. 

Victoria Chun, director of athletics at Yale, said her goal has always been to be "a great partner to our neighbors." An example was her decision to open the golf course to the general public rather than be membership-based.

The neighbors have also long accessed the course for walking and sledding. Chun said going forward, Yale will develop a 1.5-mile cross-country skiing trail when there is a heavy snowfall.  Residents can also walk along the paved path from the entrance to the clubhouse.

Sledding will still be allowed at specific areas, but not at the most popular ones around holes10 and 18 as that resulted in significant damage to the course, Chun said.

The positive impact of the course renovation includes the removal of invasive plants and conservation measures that will lessen the need for city water when ponds on the course are dredged to increase storage capacity and a new computer controlled irrigation system is installed. The renovation will upgrade tees, greens, bunkers and fairways, lengthen the course, realign the golf cart path and plant 35 acres of native grasses.

Chun said it is the only university golf course designed by Charles Blair Macdonald and Seth Raynor, and the restoration was critical to its functioning. "We have a treasure," she said. She said Yale will hire an arborist to inventory and develop a tree management plan.

The project will permanently impact 9.6 acres of wetlands/watercourse and 14.26 acres of adjacent upland area, according  to a review by the city's consultant, SLR International Corp., hired to vet Yale's application.

The city characterized Yale's mitigation plan for the loss of wetlands as "robust" as it creates, restores and enhances some 5.66 acres of wetlands. 

Commission Chairwoman Leslie Radcliffe said she could not understand the benefit of taking down so many trees. 

"One thousand to 1,500 trees is mindblowing to me," she said. "The disruption of the natural habitat to me seems a little bit extreme in order to be able to make it a nicer golf course ... What is the alternative?"

Jeromy Powers, associate director of planning, said the trees, over almost 100 years old, are encroaching on the golf course. "They are putting a lot more shade and inhibiting natural light on the golf course itself.  That is creating a kind of detrimental agronomic growing micro-climate."  

Powers said that leads to increased maintenance, watering and chemicals to maintain the golf course. Basically, he said he is talking about the health of the grass. He said this will allow Yale to maintain it more efficiently and sustainably. After the trees are cut down, the stumps will be leveled so as not to disturb the soil.

Scientific studies have found, however, that new growth is not as valuable as a carbon sink as are long-standing forests. 
 
The commission received three letters from the business community supporting the renovation as an important New Haven asset, including from the Greater New Haven Chamber of Commerce, which represents some 1,200 businesses. A petition from 85 residents throughout the city also backed Yale's plans. Six letters opposed them, and eight supported intervenor status.

Marx, who has been active on the issue since she found stacks of felled trees on the golf course last spring, thanked Yale for its involvement in five personal and community meetings on the topic, but she also made a "desperate plea" for an amendment to the plans to save some of the trees given the global climate crisis.

Referring to the SLR report, she asked for a cataloging of the mature trees that will be removed to determine the replacement value of the 1,806 gray birch, shagbark hickory, sugar maple, tulip tree, black oak and white oak trees that will be planted. 

She said her gut feeling is that roads, rather than wetlands, referring to the temporary road, are best for traffic.  She said her desire was to give the neighborhood a voice on this specific aspect of the plan. The SLR report favored the Conrad Drive entrance to the site in contrast to Fountain Street, which is a major thoroughfare with only two lanes, while the staff favored the temporary road.

The report said the hauling road off Fountain would enter the Yale Nature Preserve and wetlands north of the golf course, an area that "serves as an important visual and noise buffer" from the nearby Wilbur Cross Parkway. The SLR report also recommends particular care be taken around the vernal pools on the site and that the contractor be aware of the breeding season of amphibians.

 It mentioned that the state-endangered fairy shrimp is on the site, and there were questions about the endangered Northern Long Eared Bat.  

Powers said the project will commence in February and be completed in the fall of 2025, with the course reopening in the spring/summer of 2026. 

The construction period will be from February through January 2025, followed by a growing period to allow the turf and plantings to mature before play. He said the growing period will run from July 2024 through October 2025. 

During the restoration, the golf course will remain closed to the public for liability reasons. The temporary access road off Fountain Street will also be closed to the public during the 2024 construction work. After that, the temporary road will be restored to its previous condition in the Yale Nature Preserve, and access will reopen in 2025.  He said the trails in the western portion of the site will remain open but accessed from the Maltby Lakes area.

Powers said work will be done Monday through Saturday 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. and adhere to the city's noise ordinance.

Scaled-down Naugatuck apartment project still draws opposition

ANDREAS YILMA

NAUGATUCK — The developer for a proposed apartment project near Long Meadow Pond Brook has downsized the plan after residential backlash, but residents continue to show strong opposition.

Apartments at Long Meadow of Shelton initially proposed a 467-unit complex in eight buildings with 695 parking spaces, including 233 in garage spaces under buildings on 34.6 acres close to Long Meadow Pond Brook between Webb Road and Rubber Avenue. The area previously was a farm. The plan also called for townhouse units, a clubhouse and a pool.

SLR Consulting engineer Darin Overton, representing the applicant, revealed at a Dec. 6 Inland Wetlands Commission hearing two alternate and smaller proposals.

The first alternate has two apartment buildings instead of three, replacing buildings three through five from the original plan. There would be a reduction of 102 units for a total of 373 apartment units including the unchanged amount of townhouse units with 613 parking spaces, Overton said.

The second alternative proposal would call for a reduction of 114 apartment units for a total of 361 with 624 parking spaces but the wetland impacts would be greater than the first alternative.

Applicant James Cormier said he and his team listened to what people previously said, which caused them to significantly cut the density and change their initial proposed plan.

The commission previously received a request for a legal intervener from residents Chester Cornacchia and attorney Fred Dlugokecki. In the 1970s, the Millville Nursery owner used to take in rubber shards from Uniroyal and use it as mulch at the nursery, Cornacchia said.

But Cormier said a number of tests have been previously done on the property which showed no threat to people’s land.

“That information proves that the property and the tests on the rubber were not hazardous,” Cormier said. “So he and his adviser came up here and deliberately mislead everyone and the neighbors by telling them that we’re going to end up poisoning their wells because they said the property was contaminated.”

SLR professional wetlands and soil scientist Megan Raymond said the proposed plan has direct wetland impacts that are unavoidable, particularly for access.

“This is a high value wetland that we certainly take into consideration and prioritization in designing the plan. Though this area is high value, I would not paraphrase it as sensitive resource,” SLR professional wetlands and soil scientist Megan Raymond said. “Something can be high value without being particularly sensitive.”

Dlugokecki said the commission and the borough adhere to the regulations of the Inland Wetlands and Watercourses Act of 1972.

“We must preserve water courses, wetlands and natural resources and it’s such a priority to everyone, the rich, the poor, the middle income people because if we don’t preserve those natural resources in clean drinking water then affordable housing and other legitimate alternatives in public interest topics are largely irrelevant,” Dlugokecki said.

About a dozen and a half residents spoke, all in opposition of the proposed development.

Samuel Landsman, who lives on Webb Road, showed two videos of his property where after a large rainfall the wetlands area turns into a lake.

“This is what it looks like with significant rainfall. It really does become a lake. There’s a lot of water moving through here,” Landsman said.

Jim Woodfield, who has lived on Webb Road for his whole life of 72 years, said he spent thousands of dollars to have a new well put in for his house and thousands of dollars put in for 12 Webb Road.

“This guy is guaranteeing that our wells aren’t going to be polluted, but I bet you where he lives, he doesn’t have to worry about wells,” Woodfield said.

The commission continued the hearing to Jan. 3 at 6:45 p.m. at the Board of Education building.