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