Middletown begins environmental testing at Return to the Riverbend sites
MIDDLETOWN — Environmental testing along the shoreline is
expected to continue through the spring as part of Middletown's plan to clean
and stabilize
the riverfront, officials said.
The city is using part of a $12 million Community Investment
Fund grant it received in 2022 to begin the geotechnical and design work needed
to clean up a trio of River Road properties.
The funding covers site work and demolition of the area and
kicks off the Return to the Riverbend project along the Connecticut River.
This phase of the project “is in order to finalize a
Remediation Act Plan and design two concepts for shore stabilization,” said
Middletown Economic and Community Director Christine Marques. “These activities
have commenced and will continue through the spring.”
The 10-year Return to the Riverbend vision includes the
sweeping redevelopment of 220 acres of land in Downtown Middletown — from
Harbor Park to where Silver Street meets River Road, along approximately two
miles of waterfront.
Highlights include new parks and walking trails; a
pedestrian bridge that crosses Route 9; multi-family housing, and events and
commercial space. Multi-phase construction is expected to span 10 years and
cost hundreds of millions of dollars.
The goal is to reconnect the community to the river, convert
underused and contaminated sites into vibrant public spaces, and advance
Middletown’s Return to the Riverbend master plan, according to engineering
consultant VHB of Rocky Hill.
The company is supporting the city in all technical aspects
of the project, including preparing specifications, cost estimates, and
assisting with contractor bidding and permitting, according to a November 2025
announcement.
“As a longtime resident of Middletown, seeing this project
come to fruition has been so rewarding,” said VHB’s Director of Environmental
Services Amy Vaillancourt when announcing the company’s involvement. “VHB has
been involved in reviving Middletown’s riverfront for many years, from securing
community investment grant funding to volunteering at the Connecticut River
Conservancy’s annual Source to Sea Cleanup. We’re proud to play a role in this
restoration effort, which will provide numerous community benefits for years to
come.”
The state funding covers the cost of remediating a property
outside of the floodplain for mixed use development; cleanup and demolition of
the three properties; engineering and design of public spaces, including
pedestrian and bike-friendly pathways; riverbank stabilization and resiliency
of shoreline, and flood mitigation, officials said.
VHB is also evaluating the former Jackson Corrugated
plant to prepare demolition plans and specifications. The demolition is
expected to be publicly bid late spring or early summer, Marques said. The
master plan calls for an outdoor concert venue near the old company.
Environmental testing is being done at the former Peterson
Oil company and at a decommissioned wastewater treatment plant, also on River
Road. Testing results will help finalize remediation efforts, officials
aid.
The initial public engagement phase for the master plan
involved community forums and workshops in 2020 and 2021.
In
2024, the city paid $3 million to purchase the one-acre Attention to
Detail auto shop to make way for the proposed, block-size Village at Riverside
mixed use development bordered by Court and Main streets and deKoven and
Dingwall drives.
About 600 parking spaces are expected to be created, along
with housing including 19 townhomes and 258 studios, one- and two-bedroom
units. There would also be a public square and various shops. The master plan
also calls for an outdoor concert venue near the old Jackson Corrugated site.
Details of the Return to the Riverbend Master Plan can
be found at middletownct.gov/1279/RETURN-TO-THE-RIVERBEND.
Plainfield commission postpones action on Costco zone change, again
Alison Cross
Plainfield — A decisive vote that could make or break
Costco’s proposal for a massive, 1.1 million-square-foot distribution
center on the Plainfield-Canterbury town line has been pushed back for at
least another month.
In a split-decision vote on Tuesday, the Planning and Zoning
Commission gave Costco a win by approving amendments to the town’s zoning
regulations that provide commissioners discretion to accommodate certain
lighting, setback and building-design needs of the project.
However, the commission stopped short of granting Costco’s
request for a zone change that would transform more than 200 acres of land into
an I-2 Industrial District that permits the construction of any warehousing and
distribution facility that passes a site plan review.
Commissioners voted 4-1 to continue deliberations regarding
the zone change to their next meeting on March 10. June Gagne, who cast the
sole dissenting vote against Costco’s text amendment request, also voted no on
the continuance.
Costco's applications have been on the commission's agenda since
Jan. 13. Zone changes and text amendments for the Canterbury portion of the
project were approved
by the Canterbury Planning and Zoning Commission on Jan. 8.
Costco’s plan to use Route 12 as the distribution center’s
sole access point for tractor-trailers hinges on the requested zone change,
which would convert nearly 150 acres of residentially zoned RA-30 land and 60
acres of I-1 Industrial land into an I-2 Industrial classification.
Under the plan, Costco would construct a driveway at the
site of the vacant Frank O’Connell Handcraft Museum Annex Building to connect
the distribution center in Canterbury to Route 12. The operation is expected to
add 1,287 new tractor-trailer trips to the road each weekday, according to
Costco’s traffic study.
The zone change would also clear the way for Costco to one
day add a second 1.1 million-square-foot distribution center on the Plainfield
side of the property. Costco representatives said the addition of that facility
depends on the company's growth. If it comes to fruition, the number of new
tractor-trailer trips on town roads each day would total 2,844.
Continued pushback
Costco representatives and town leaders — including First
Selectman Kevin Cunningham, former First Selectman Paul Sweet and Selectman
Michael Surprenant — have touted the project’s potential to grow tax revenue
and add 250 warehouse jobs and 129 temporary construction jobs to the local
economy.
At Tuesday night’s public hearing on Costco’s proposal,
residents continued to speak against the project and the new traffic,
pollution, noise and light it would generate.
Most of the speakers live near the proposed construction
site, which would abut the Tarbox Road, Margaret Lane, Louis Lane and Douglas
Drive neighborhood to the north and the Toper Road, North Street and South
Street neighborhood to the south.
“Costco has faced multiple lawsuits and quiet settlements in
how they handle the disposal of hazardous waste," South Street resident
Angela Fuller said, referencing information from a violation-tracking database
run by the organization Good Jobs First. "They've been fined by the EPA
for Clean Air Act violations (and) have several environmental review lawsuits.
Public data shows over a hundred penalty records since 2000, exceeding $98 million in
penalties and fines.”
“Our little neighbor has been here since the '60s. The
people in our neighborhood chose to build here or move here based on the rural
landscape, quiet atmosphere and great neighborhoods to raise our families, not
to profit or disturb the environment,” Fuller added.
During deliberations after the public hearing closed,
commission members appeared poised to reject Costco’s zone change, for all or
some of the five parcels included in the request.
Chairwoman Karla Desjardins said she would not be opposed to
rezoning parcels at 1197 Norwich Road and 407 Tarbox Road to I-2 Industrial,
given that 1197 Norwich Road is currently classified as I-1 Industrial and 407
Tarbox Road directly abuts it.
However, Desjardins said she would not rezone the remaining
three RA-30 residentially zoned parcels at 0 Howe Road, 0 Tarbox Road and 0
Pine Lane, which abut other residential zones.
“In everything we do, the goal is balance,” Desjardins said.
“We do have flexibility, because we are in our planning legislative mode and we
are looking to the Plan of Conservation and Development for guidance.”
Gagne reiterated that one of the goals of the town’s Plan of
Conservation and Development is “to provide the opportunity for all households
in Plainfield to live in a safe, sanitary, attractive home and neighborhood.”
“I don’t think any of this is going to help that goal,”
Gagne said.
CT secures about $190 million in earmarks from federal bills
Connecticut will receive tens of millions of dollars in
federal funding for local projects, marking the first time in a two years that
states will benefit from earmarked funding for infrastructure initiatives,
affordable housing development and education.
The state’s congressional delegation secured a combined
total of more than $190 million to support over 175 projects in their districts
and statewide. Dozens of towns and cities will see a windfall in federal
funding whether for fire house renovations, police training, boosts for museums
or transportation projects.
The funding — formerly known as earmarks — was tucked
into spending packages that Congress passed
in both November and February to
fund most of the government through September. Several of
Connecticut’s earmark requests, worth more than $10 million, however, are still
tied up in the embattled bill to fund the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.
Those seem unlikely to materialize amid ongoing negotiations.
During each annual appropriations cycle, lawmakers can make
requests to steer money to their states and districts. But those dollars don’t
become a reality if Congress can’t pass full-year spending bills and instead
rely on short-term continuing resolutions, which have become the norm in recent
years.
Earmarks included in fiscal year 2026 bills were delayed as
Congress worked through a tumultuous funding process in recent months that led
to two government shutdowns — a record-long one in the fall and another that
closed half a dozen agencies for a few days in January.
But congressional appropriators see it as a major feat that
they were able to return to a more regular process to fund most agencies
through the rest of the fiscal year. U.S. Rep. Rosa DeLauro, D-3rd District,
ranking member on the House Appropriations Committee, touted that bipartisan
spending agreements rejected
billions of dollars in proposed funding cuts by President Donald
Trump, particularly for health and social services.
Instead, appropriators were able to increase funding by $415
million for the National Institutes of Health, $66 billion for rental
assistance and $170 million for Head Start and child care.
“We put meaningful constraints on the Trump administration’s
ability to abuse the budget process — reclaiming Congress’s power of the purse
and reining in Project 2025 author Russ Vought,” DeLauro said in a statement
last week as the partial government shutdown ended.
Across Connecticut’s five-member House delegation, lawmakers
secured a total of $65 million for 64 projects, though many of those requests
were made alongside their Senate colleagues. The state’s biggest cities
historically benefit greatly, but the funding requests reach dozens of
municipalities in all corners of the state.
In the House, some of the projects were requested solely by
the member, while others can be a joint request with the senators from their
state.
Senate earmarks, meanwhile, are requested jointly by
Connecticut’s Democratic senators, Chris Murphy and Richard Blumenthal. They
secured more than $126 million in Senate-only funding across the spending bills
(not counting the ones made alongside a lawmaker in Connecticut’s House
delegation).
About $21 million will go toward housing-related projects in
Connecticut, with the vast majority for affordable housing development in
places like Bridgeport, New Britain, New Haven, Norwalk, Goshen and New London.
Universities across the state will also get a sizable boost
from the funding bills. The University of Connecticut’s small business
development center will receive $885,000 to help with “digital transformation”
of small businesses in the state. Southern Connecticut State University will
get $2.2 million to help with a “high-tech community and workforce development
hub.” And Central Connecticut State University will see $850,000 to similarly
benefit its workforce and innovation hub.
Earmarks, now known as community project funding in the
House and congressionally directed spending in the Senate, had faced a 10-year
ban. DeLauro, who was then-chairwoman of the House Appropriations Committee,
helped revive them in 2021 by introducing more limits and new rules aiming to
help with transparency. Earmarks cannot exceed 1% of total discretionary
spending.
Lawmakers and their immediate families must certify they
have no financial ties to their requests. State, local and tribal governments
as well as nonprofit entities can receive funding. But different rules apply
for the House and Senate. House members can request up to 15 projects, but
there is no cap on the number for senators.
Earmarks can be divisive. They can be mutually advantageous
for members of Congress and the people they represent. Others see them as
extraneous measures for pet projects that balloon congressional spending.
Politically, they are a way for members to tout the money
they are bringing back home, especially in an election year, by bestowing
recipients with oversized checks.
U.S. Rep. John Larson, who faces his first competitive
primary since he was first elected to Connecticut’s 1st Congressional District,
recently held a press conference with one of the recipients: Mothers United
Against Violence’s Victim Impact Project. The group has received $1.8 million
in federal funding over the past five years.
“The $500,000 in federal funding we announced today will
support their work to prevent violence before it happens while providing
families of victims and survivors with the support they need to heal,” Larson
said late last month. “The entire Connecticut delegation, led by Rosa DeLauro
on the House Appropriations Committee, will continue to deliver the critical
funding groups like Mothers United needs to keep our children safe and end the
horrific gun violence epidemic plaguing our nation.”
DeLauro highlighted her own earmark while talking
about reforms that U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or ICE,
could benefit from, like de-escalation training.
“I did a community project in my district. The University of
New Haven asked for $1.5 million for de-escalation training for municipal
police departments. De-escalation training is critically important,” DeLauro
told reporters last week from the U.S. Capitol. “We have four regional centers
for de-escalation training in the United States.”
One earmark request was rescinded last year amid
a federal investigation looking into state Sen. Douglas McCrory’s
involvement with entities that receive state and federal funding and his
relationship with Sonserae Cicero, who runs some of those groups.
SHEBA Resource Center, a nonprofit run by Cicero, sought
federal funding through the earmarks process a couple of times. She asked
Connecticut’s senators to make a request of $3.5 million for fiscal year 2026.
That money would have been used to help SHEBA convert a Hartford church she
bought for $10 into new offices.
After news broke last summer about the investigation, the
senators asked the Senate Appropriations Committee to no longer consider the
$3.5 million request. It was not included in the final spending bills, and
SHEBA received no federal funding.
Other earmarks sought by Connecticut, however, will be on
hold as Congress works through the final bill to provide full-year for the
Department of Homeland Security.
Another $10 million could flow to Connecticut if a DHS bill
is eventually approved. But that
looks unlikely with talk of another short-term bill or a possible
shutdown of the agency coming at the end of the week.
Here is a round-up of some of the approved earmarks by
Connecticut’s delegation:
U.S. Sens. Chris Murphy and Richard Blumenthal
Connecticut will see its largest earmarked funding coming
from a Senate request through the bill funding Military Construction, Veterans
Affairs, and Related Agencies.
The state will see $23 million for the submarine Pier 8
replacement at SUBASE New London in Groton. The bill also includes $7 million
for a project to modernize an aviation support facility for the CT Army
National Guard.
U.S. Rep. John Larson, D-1st District
In his Hartford-based district, Larson secured $3.1 million
for Bristol’s Fire and Police Department’s CPAT and ASHER Training Facility as
well as $2 million for trail improvements for Hockanum Linear Park and another
$2 million for infrastructure improvements in East Hartford.
U.S. Rep. Joe Courtney, D-2nd District
In his eastern Connecticut district, Courtney landed $2
million for the Connecticut Department of Housing to help with the expansion of
affordable housing at Country Place in Colchester to rehabilitate 194 units of
family housing. He also secured nearly $2 million for Mansfield to go toward
the second phase of a bike and pedestrian connection project.
U.S. Rep. Rosa DeLauro, D-3rd District
In her New Haven-based district, DeLauro was able to get
$2.5 million for Naugatuck to go toward a Connectivity & Transit Oriented
Development Project. Another $2 million in approved funding will benefit New
Haven with the redevelopment of Westville Manor.
U.S. Rep. Jim Himes, D-4th District
In the southwestern corner of the state, Himes secured $2
million for Stamford’s Housing Authority and Charter Oak Communities with its
redevelopment and construction of new units. Stamford will also get nearly $1.1
million for improvements in its stormwater management.
U.S. Rep. Jahana Hayes, D-5th District
In the sprawling district anchored in Waterbury, Hayes got
$1.5 million for Southbury Public Library and $1.7 million for Talcott Mountain
Science Center for Student Involvement in Avon.
From monorails to mega-malls: 5 unfinished or abandoned projects in Connecticut's history
Throughout Connecticut's history, ambitious plans have sometimes
fallen short.
Some projects advanced far enough to be built, only to be
abandoned before they ever served their intended purpose. Others unraveled amid
economic downturns, political wrangling or public outcry. From highways and
power plants to transit lines and shopping malls, these five projects reflect
moments when confidence outpaced reality.
Here's a look at the history behind those big ideas – and
why they failed to deliver.
'Tommy's Trolley'
It was the early 1970s, and Bradley
International Airport in Windsor Locks had a parking problem – one
that state officials believed could be solved by building a Disney-style
monorail of their own.
The "people mover," as it was called, didn't run
on rails. Instead, it traveled along a 7-foot-wide concrete track, shuttling
passengers about seven-tenths of a mile between a remote 1,500-space parking
lot and Bradley's terminal. The project was proposed by then-Republican Gov.
Thomas Meskill's administration as a way to put Connecticut at the cutting edge
of mass transit.
Built by the Ford Motor Co. for $4.4 million, the system had
two cars, each 30 feet long, that could carry more than two dozen passengers at
speeds of 30 mph.
Controversy quickly followed. Opponents questioned its
purpose, arguing it prioritized wealthy air travelers over the need to improve
mass urban transit. About 20 protesters picketed at the airport on the day
construction began, The
New York Times reported.
By the time the system was finished, Meskill had left
office. Democratic Gov. Ella T. Grasso, Meskill's successor and a
vocal critic of the project, estimated it would cost $250,000 a year in state
subsidies to operate.
The parking shortage it was designed to address also faded.
Airport officials soon realized drivers weren't even filling the existing
1,700-space lot closest to the terminal because they were drawn instead to
private valet parking. The concrete railway was mothballed and gradually
overtaken by weeds. As it sat unused, according to the Times,
someone posted a sign on the structure quoting Murphy's Law: "Nothing is
ever as easy as it looks."
Grasso explored selling the system but found no buyers.
Dubbed "Tommy's Trolley" – after the governor who championed it – the
system was dismantled in 1984 without ever carrying a paying passenger. Two of
the original white-and-blue shuttle cars were on display for years at the
Connecticut Trolley Museum in East Hartford. The museum's president, Andrew
Borst, said this week the vehicles have since been moved to the Shore Line
Trolley Museum in East Haven.
'The Stack'
"Tommy's Trolley" wasn't the only completed,
multi-million-dollar project built for a future that never arrived.
Soaring over Interstate-84 in
Farmington is a three-level stack of highway ramps known as “The Stack."
It was built in 1969 to connect I-84 with Interstate-291, originally planned as
a beltway around Hartford. A second interchange in Rocky Hill was designed to
link the beltway with Interstate-91. Environmental concerns and local
opposition derailed the highway project, leaving both interchanges
stranded before they ever carried traffic.
For more than two decades, the unused ramps loomed over the
roadway, their sweeping spans leading nowhere. At some point, a trespasser
mounted a homemade street sign on the Farmington structure bearing a snarky
verdict: "Neverpass."
That changed in 1992, when the state opened part of the
Farmington interchange to connect I-84 with the final section of Route 9.
The Hartford
Courant captured the occasion with an emphatic headline:
"FINALLY, THE INFAMOUS STACK IS BEING USED."
Even today, "The Stack" is only partially in use.
A spokesperson for the state
Department of Transportation said unused portions of the structure now
serve as a controlled setting for hands-on training and vendor demonstrations,
allowing the agency to "safely evaluate new equipment and stay current
with industry innovations that enhance safety and operational
performance."
Former NRG power plant
In 2011, as questions swirled about the future of
a power plant being built on Cathole Mountain in Meriden, an NRG executive
insisted the project would move forward.
“People have been wondering whether the Meriden facility is
going to happen or not," Lee Davis, then the company's Northeast regional
president, said at
the time. "I have to tell you, we’re extremely excited about the
prospects of building this out.”
Despite that optimism, the 544-megawatt, natural gas-fired
power plant never came to fruition, despite a road being built and equipment
brought to the site. First proposed in the 1990s as a major new source of
electricity for Connecticut's grid, the Meriden plant ultimately was abandoned
due to shifting energy demands and financial challenges.
The unfinished structures languished on the mountainside for years – regarded by many locals as an eyesore – before being demolished in 2014.
After the project was scrapped, the city, which owns the
roughly 300 acres surrounding the former plant, commissioned two studies in
2015 to evaluate options for redevelopment. The studies found that extending
utilities and improving access roads up the mountain would cost $13 million, a
hurdle that complicated future plans.
Officials also explored installing solar panels on a nearby
parcel once used to store construction equipment, but that idea was dropped
after the public expressed concerns about aesthetics and said the panels
would limit future development.
The former power plant site remains privately owned and its
long-term future is uncertain.
Danbury and Harlem Traction Co.
At the turn of the 20th century, Danbury was a rail
town.
The city had three rail lines – each with its own station –
connecting it to coastal Connecticut, New York and beyond, according to
the Danbury Railway Museum. As a premier
hub of the American hat industry, the city grew into a busy market center,
drawing visitors from across the region for commerce and its popular annual
fair, according to an article written
by transportation historian and Columbia University
employee Joseph Brennan.
During the nationwide boom in electric trolley or
"traction" lines in the late 1800s and early 1900s, the Danbury and
Harlem Traction Co. set out to build an interurban trolley from Danbury to
Golden Gains, N.Y., where it would connect to the New York Central Railroad's
Harlem Line. Supporters claimed the route could shave 15 minutes off the trip
from Danbury to New York City by creating a more direct link to the rail
network, according to the Ridgefield
Historical Society.
Tracks were laid from the Danbury and Bethel Street Railway,
which operated horsecars and electric trolleys, near the Danbury
Fairgrounds west to Ridgebury Center. Beyond that point, the land was graded
but rails were never installed, the Ridgefield Historical Society
notes. Although trolley cars made test runs along the line in
1901, "no regular service was ever established," the society said.
The company eventually went
bankrupt and was bought by the Westchester Traction Co., which
announced plans to complete and extend the route, The
New York Times reported in 1902. Those plans never materialized,
foreshadowing the broader
decline of trolley systems that would be replaced by buses and
personal cars.
More than a century later, traces of the unfinished trolley
line can still be found, including grading along what is now Old Trolley Road
in Ridgefield.
New Haven Galleria
In the late 1990s, Long Wharf in New Haven was set to become
a major retail destination.
Developers unveiled plans for a roughly $500 million
waterfront shopping mall near the junction of Interstate-91 and I-95. The
1.35-million-square-foot New Haven Galleria at Long Wharf was envisioned as a
glass-and-steel showcase, featuring nautical-theme "masts," an
all-glass food court and outdoor dining.
Developers said they had commitments from four major
department stores – Nordstrom, Macy's, Lord & Taylor and Filene's – along
with 200 specialty shops. Construction was expected to begin within months of
the 1996 announcement, with an opening targeted for 2001.
It never happened.
The project unraveled after a full-bore campaign by Westfield Properties, then the owner of the Connecticut Post Mall in Milford. Westfield filed more than a dozen lawsuits against the project and spent $1 million lobbying state lawmakers to stop it. The company also bought the 19.3-acre Sargent Drive property and the adjacent Pirelli Building for $20 million, effectively killing the planned mall.
"This was not going to be a Vietnam for New
Haven," then-Mayor John DeStefano Jr. said in 2000 after the city pulled
out of the deal. "It's not right for the city right now and it's time to
take a different path."
An IKEA
store eventually opened on the site, while the former Pirelli Building
was converted
into Hotel Marcel, billed as the nation's first net-zero hotel.
Now, Long Wharf is preparing
for another overhaul, as the city moves ahead with plans to rebuild
the park there and improve public access to the waterfront.