Enfield approves $511M school plan as Southington rejects $86.7M project, unofficial results show
Voters in Southington
rejected an $86.7 million school
construction proposal on Tuesday's general
election ballot, while Enfield voters
approved a $511
million school project, according to unofficial results from the Secretary
of the State's website.
“The approval of the building project referendum
demonstrates a shared community belief and commitment to providing our students
with safe, modern and engaging learning environments that will serve them well
into the future,” Enfield school Superintendent
Steven Moccio told CT Insider on
Wednesday morning.
“This approval is more than a facilities project; it is an
investment in our students, our staff, and the long-term strength of
the Enfield community,” he said.
Enfield’s school referendum received 4,338 yes votes and
4,049 no votes, according to unofficial results from the Connecticut Secretary
of the State’s Office.
The district is expected to consolidate from six
elementary schools into four, closing Enfield Street School and converting
Eli Whitney into Eagle Academy.
In the Enfield
referendum, voters were asked to authorize $511 million for the pre-K to 5+
Eagle Academy project, which includes:
$105 million for a new Hazardville Memorial Elementary
School;
$114 million for a new Prudence Crandall Elementary School;
$109 million for a new Edgar H. Parkman Elementary School;
$122 million for a new Barnard Elementary School; and
$61 million to convert Eli Whitney Elementary School into
Eagle Academy.
The referendum also authorized the town to issue up to $89
million in bonds or notes. The project’s remaining costs will be covered by
state grants and other available funds.
Although the total cost of the project is $511 million, the
town’s estimated share would be $89 million after state reimbursement,
according to the district.
Moccio said the town will submit the certified results of
the referendum to the state, along with additional information that will be
updated in the construction grant. After that, the town will move forward with
creating a building committee for the project.
The Enfield project is expected to be completed in two
phases. Hazardville Memorial, Prudence Crandall and Edgar H. Parkman elementary
schools would be scheduled to open in fall 2030. Henry Barnard Elementary
School and Eagle Academy would follow, with construction beginning in 2028 and
completion expected by 2032, according to officials.
The next step for the project is designing the buildings for
the first phase, which will take place between 2026 and 2028, with construction
beginning in 2028. The second phase design would run from 2028 to 2030, with
construction expected to begin in 2030.
“Our students deserve the very best opportunities to learn,
grow and succeed. And I am beyond grateful for the support shown by Enfield
voters and for the thoughtful conversations that took place throughout this
process,” Moccio said. “Special thanks to the various committee members that
worked with the architects to find a solution that positions the district for
our current and future needs.”
Failed referendum in Southington
As of Wednesday morning, unofficial referendum results
showed 9,971 no votes and 8,819 yes votes for the school project in
Southington, according to Superintendent
Steven Madancy.
The totals did not include absentee ballots,
but Madancy said Wednesday that the margin was too wide to be overturned.
In Southington, the town asked voters to approve an
ordinance to fund an
elementary facilities plan, which would have included the construction of a
new Kelley Elementary School, upgrades at South End Elementary School and the
closure of Flanders Elementary School, with the building repurposed for
municipal and community use.
The referendum would have authorized up to $86,675,560 in
bonds and notes to finance the project. The cost of the project would have
been $86.4 million, with an estimated town share of $33.9 million to $39.7
million, officials had said.
When the Southington Town Council approved the referendum
date and question in April, council members discussed how the school buildings
were in dire need of repairs.
With voters rejecting the referendum, Madancy said the Board
of Education will reconvene to consider the next steps. The options could
include developing a different construction plan by looking at the various
scenarios for an alternative that hasn’t been explored.
One possibility could be bringing the same proposal back to
voters in another referendum, he said.
“There is a lot that needs to happen,” Madancy told CT Insider. “We need
to look at the current situation and the immediate needs that are in those
buildings because now there’s not an imminent project.”
Any immediate work done on the schools would not be
reimbursable from the state and would be expenditures from the town, he
said.
“Our responsibility to our students and community remains
unchanged. While the voters have spoken on this specific plan, the challenges
facing our aging facilities and the need for modern, safe learning environments
have not vanished,” Madancy said. “We listen, we respect the voice of
taxpayers, and we will take this feedback to reevaluate our path forward
together.”
In addition to Enfield and Southington, several districts
had school infrastructure questions on the ballot. Middletown had the
largest project, with voters approving a $30.4 million appropriation and bond
authorization for districtwide improvements, according to unofficial results.
The project includes roof replacements and rooftop
air-conditioning units at six schools; HVAC control systems at seven schools;
oil tanks and boiler systems at two schools; and safety and security upgrades
at all schools.
Data center pauses are spreading in Connecticut. A statewide moratorium could be next
Several communities have already paused or stopped approving
data centers, but a proposal is heading to the General Assembly this session
that could create
a statewide moratorium.
Why Connecticut’s 2011 October snowstorm was so destructive
The proposal from state Sen. Bob Duff, D-Norwalk, is still
taking shape, but he said there is “a tremendous amount of concern by residents
of the state about these new AI data centers.”
Duff said lawmakers should use the 2027 legislative session
to examine the facilities’ effects on electricity, water, infrastructure costs
and noise, then decide what rules should apply.
“I think at this point we would start probably with a
moratorium on all data centers,” Duff said in an interview with CT Insider. “We
just need to contemplate all of those things in the legislative session and
come up with rules of the road or not.”
House Republican Leader Vincent Candelora, R-North Branford,
said he believed a proposal for a full moratorium is "politically
motivated," though he said statewide data center regulation could
have bipartisan support.
"I think we've got to be more prescriptive about
it," he said. "There is a reality that data centers are needed.
People love their phones. They love AI. They love ChatGPT. I don't think
you need to take a sledgehammer to this issue, especially so much of our
economy is based on data and data storage. It has become a a national political
football."
Duff said the scope would need to be worked out, but he
would consider revisiting tax breaks for data centers passed in 2021 and
setting rules for future projects.
“Nobody, when we did the original bill in 2021, contemplated
AI data centers,” Duff said. “They weren’t even a thing.”
AI data centers tend to be in hyperscale
data centers, which are very large facilities, typically owned by a major
technology firm, cloud provider or telecommunications company and built to
handle enormous computing and storage demands, according to the U.S. Department
of Energy.
“AI data centers are so much bigger; they use so much more
electricity,” Duff said. “The water usage, the same concerns that Connecticut
residents have as we’re seeing around the country.”
There are several proposals for data centers being
considered across Connecticut, though they are described in public
materials as smaller, locally powered facilities.
In
Bristol, the Inland Wetlands Agency approved
an application with stipulations for a data center at 234 Riverside Ave.
The city’s notice describes a two-story, 7,279-square-foot building; Mayor
Ellen Zoppo-Sassu has described it
as a roughly 15,000-square-foot “micro-cloud” facility with a 4-megawatt fuel
cell. The wetlands approval does not cover all local permits, and the project
still needs site-plan and building approvals.
In
Colchester, CMMD LLC has presented a concept for two data centers on about
17 acres at 42 Old Amston Road, each powered by a 4.99-megawatt fuel cell. The
company has discussed the proposal with town officials but had not filed a
formal application as of Oct. 21. It intends to seek a zone change first.
Several Connecticut towns have already adopted moratoriums
or bans.
West
Haven approved a one-year moratorium in June. Trumbull
adopted a two-year moratorium on new data centers in September, exempting its
existing facility. New
Haven enacted a 12-month moratorium, with an exception for its existing
quantum-computing hub. East
Lyme adopted an indefinite ban in October, before any local project had
been announced.
Other towns have considered pauses without adopting them. Ellington’s
Planning and Zoning Commission authorized the town planner to begin the
process for a one-year moratorium application. Beacon
Falls officials directed staff to research a moratorium after residents
asked for one. Harwinton
officials discussed a possible moratorium after receiving inquiries.
In Cromwell,
the commission rejected a proposed one-year moratorium while a developer was
promoting a data-center campus; the developer says it has not yet filed a site
plan.
Duff said the state cannot consider the issue town by town
because the region’s electric grid is interconnected.
“Even if there’s one of these in another state in our
isolated grid, that still impacts us,” he said.
Duff said he expects lawmakers to hear from residents and
industry representatives before settling on a policy.
“I would feel confident that we would be able to come out
with something that is good for the state of Connecticut and one that is not a
drag on businesses, but also protects residents of the state,” he said.
Norwich considers next move after voters again reject police station project
Conor Linskey
Norwich — The city is planning its next move after voters on
Tuesday narrowly rejected a $55 million plan to create a new police
headquarters.
The city had proposed to renovate the former Chelsea Groton
Bank building at 300 Main St. but voters rejected then plan 4,838-4,607.
Residents here have now rejected a plan for a new police
station on three occasions, in 2012, 2023 and 2026. The cost of the project
increased with each vote, going from $33 million in 2012 to $44 million in
2023, and then $55 million on Tuesday.
The difference this time is the city purchased the bank in
2024 for $800,000 with plans to renovate and expand it into a police station.
Police Chief Patrick Daley said Wednesday afternoon that
while the plan is to put the new headquarters in the bank building, the city
would consider its options.
“It was a very close vote, I think one percent or so
difference,” he said. “But that’s the second time we’ve been within one
percent. So, obviously we need to look at our messaging and see where we came
up short. The need’s real. It’s not going away. And prices aren’t going to get
cheaper. So, we have to look at what we can do differently.”
To get the project approved by voters, Daley believes there
needs to be more citizen involvement. To that end, he said, there needs to be a
public forum where the city shares the costs of the project and then evaluates
what is feasible.
“We have to look at cost cutting,” Daley said. “Do we change
the scope of the project? What does it involve? ... People were concerned about
the cost. What can we do to get that down, if possible? I don’t know if it’s
possible.”
Mayor Swarnjit Singh said Wednesday he hopes there will be
another vote to approve the project but he was unsure about when that would be.
Like Daley, Singh said he believes the department greatly needs a new station.
“The need was identified even in the 2014 report by the
police station committee, and the need is still there,” Singh said. “As a
mayor, I would like to take that need to the finish line.”
The current 47-year-old police station on Thames Street has
insufficient storage and interview space, no room for female officers to change
and numerous other problems, including water damage from a leaky roof that
threatens computer equipment, and mold.
Deputy Police Chief Thomas Lazzaro said the new headquarters
will be double the size of the department’s current headquarters on Thames
Street. The department plans to use the additional space for a community room,
which local organizations could use for events. The expanded footprint would
also allow for more training sessions for outside police agencies as well as
city police.
For now, Daley said, the former Chelsea Groton Bank building
will continue to be a community resource available for meetings and training.
Regulators approve up to $1.15B in new borrowing for Eversource as interest costs climb
State utility regulators on Wednesday approved Eversource’s
request to borrow up to $1.15 billion for its Connecticut electric utility
through the end of 2027, at a time when rising interest rates are driving up
what the company pays to borrow.
The Public Utilities Regulatory Authority’s decision allows
Connecticut Light and Power Co., which does business as Eversource, to issue
bonds or unsecured notes, in one or more batches, with maturities of one to 30
years.
Eversource plans to use the money for capital projects and
to pay off $500 million in bonds that come due in March 2027, according to its
application. Those bonds carry a 3.2% interest rate.
The replacement debt will cost more. As of late September,
Eversource estimated that a new 10-year bond would carry a rate of about 5.98%.
That was up from 5.15% when the company prepared its application, as Treasury
yields climbed.
Eversource expects to spend $2 billion on capital projects
in Connecticut in 2026 and 2027. It plans to cover that spending and the
maturing bonds with about $1 billion in cash from operations, the new long-term
debt and $350 million in short-term borrowing, according to the application.
The borrowing is expected to raise the utility’s overall
cost of capital from 7.04% to 7.2%, according to the decision. The company told
regulators it expects to keep its current credit ratings.
The approval doesn’t guarantee Eversource can pass its
borrowing costs on to customers. Utilities can recover only costs that
regulators find prudent, or reasonably incurred.
PURA said it will make that call later, when Eversource asks
to include the debt costs in rates. Any costs the authority rejects would fall
to the company and its shareholders instead of customers.
The decision comes as PURA weighs Eversource’s first
Connecticut electric distribution rate case since 2018. The company filed in
July for a $727
million annual rate increase and a final decision is expected in mid-2027.