Revolution Wind generators arrive in New London
Dana Jensen
New London ― The first generator components, or nacelles for
the Revolution Wind offshore wind farm arrived at State Pier in New London
early Wednesday.
The nacelles were delivered by the general cargo vessel
Frauke, which sails under the flag of Antigua and Barbuda.
Revolution Wind, a joint project of Eversource and Ørsted
that uses State Pier as its turbine-assembly headquarters, announced in May that it had hit the first milestone
along the way toward creating clean power for more than 350,000 homes in
Connecticut and Rhode Island. That month, the project began installing its
first turbine foundation about 35 miles off the Connecticut coast between Block
Island and Martha’s Vineyard.
The project when fully operational will produce 400
megawatts of offshore wind power in Rhode Island and 304 megawatts in
Connecticut. By comparison, the Millstone nuclear power plants in Waterford
produce a combined 2,100 megawatts annually.
Revolution Wind is considered to be the first multi-state
offshore wind project in the United States. It is the second offshore wind
project to be marshaled in New London, after the completion of South Fork Wind
earlier in the year, and the first to provide wind power directly to
Connecticut.
slated for site of New London church collapse
John Penney
New London ― A non-profit group specializing in creating
affordable housing in the region is poised to purchase the former First
Congregational Church property in New London, the site of a massive January
steeple collapse that led to the demolition of the building.
The Eastern Connecticut Housing Opportunities (ECHO) group
will pay $125,000 to Engaging Heaven Ministries for the 66 Union St. property,
with the sale expected to be finalized on Tuesday, ECHO President Julie Savin
said on Wednesday.
On Jan. 25, the 173-year-old church’s iconic steeple collapsed, severely damaging the structure and prompting the
emergency demolition of most of the building. Savin, whose leased offices at
165 State St. are just two doors down from the former church, recalled the
unfolding chaos that day.
“We were one of the first ones at that scene,” she said.
Nobody was injured in the church steeple collapse, the cause of which has not been
determined.
Savin said her group entered a purchase and sale agreement
in April with the Florida-based Engaging Heaven Ministries, which bought the
church from the First Congregational Church in 2015 for $250,000 under a
monthly mortgage agreement.
Savin said her group “definitely” plans to build apartments
at the site, likely supplemented with commercial space ― and possibly move its
offices there ― though those plans are still in the conceptual phase. There
would be both market rate and affordable units.
“We’ve always wanted to establish a permanent presence in
downtown New London,” she said. “After (the collapse), we had casual
conversations about securing the lot. It’s been a dream of ours to provide new
housing opportunities in that area.”
Savin said her group is in the process of applying for state
funding for the housing project. But before any construction can begin, the
mountain of granite blocks, wood and other debris must be cleared from the
property.
A forbearance agreement set to be presented Monday to the
City Council states that the rubble must be removed by Nov. 1, though Savin has
a more ambitious clean-up timeline.
“We’ve gotten bids for rock removal, as well as for the
removal of the remaining annex building,” she said. “My hope is to very quickly
get to work on that process and avoid any long-term street disruption. Getting
it all removed by the end of the summer would be ideal.”
Savin said she expects to incorporate some of the church
granite into the new construction.
“What we put up isn’t going to be a Gothic-style building,
but we want what we create to be respectful of the old building and its
architecture,” she said.
The sale is contingent on the cooperation of both the city
and First Congregational Church members, who were still using the church as a
worship space and community meals at the time of the collapse.
The city in February, impatient with the pace of Engaging
Heaven representatives in paying their share of emergency demolition costs,
placed a $245,000 lien on the property.
Mayor Michael Passero said Wednesday a proposed forbearance
agreement gives the new owners two years to pay off the lien.
“We’re fully supportive of ECHO and its plans, and it
wouldn’t have been possible for them to buy that property if they had to cover
that lien right away,” Passero said. “We know we’re going to get paid and we
understand the value of what they plan to put on that property to the city.”
Passero, whose City Hall office overlooks the church rubble
pile, praised the timing of the imminent sale.
“If this collapse happened at a different time in the city,
not in this era of renewed development opportunities, that property could have
been left sitting for years,” he said.
Attempts to reach Engaging Heaven officials on Wednesday at
the group’s Florida headquarters were unsuccessful.
Cathy Zall, co-pastor of the First Congregational Church,
said her congregation is finalizing a similar forbearance agreement that would
give ECHO two years to pay the remaining $250,000 in mortgage payments owed on
the property.
When the lien, sale and mortgage costs are totaled, ECHO
will pay approximately $620,000 for the church property over a period of two
years.
Zall, executive director of the New London Homeless
Hospitality Center, said the property will pass into deserving hands.
“There’s so much good about this,” she said. “ECHO is
sensitive to what was there before, as well as to the need for more affordable
housing. This feels like a good use of the property.”
ECHO specializes in rehabilitating single-family homes in
the area and offering them to first-time home buyers. They also oversee 199
affordable rental properties in Norwich, New London and Groton.
The group earlier this year celebrated the opening of 28
affordable housing units at the Bayonet Apartments in New London with another 36 more
expected to open soon.
Norwich receives $4.4M to stop wastewater from flowing into its rivers
Claire Bessette
Norwich ― Norwich Public Utilities hopes to stop millions of
gallons of rainwater-created sewage discharges from flowing into the Shetucket
River after receiving a $4.4 million grant and loan.
The state Department of Energy and Environmental Protection
announced the funding Tuesday, listing Norwich’s ongoing $200 million sewage
treatment plant upgrade among the top priorities for its $500 million
allocation from the federal Clean Water Fund.
NPU will receive $4.4 million ― 50% in the form of a grant
and 50% as a 2% loan ― to insert liners into some of the city’s oldest sewer
pipes. NPU hopes to line about 28,000 feet of sewer pipes that date from 1885
to 1950.
The old clay, brick or concrete pipes have deteriorated or
become clogged with sediment over the decades, said Larry Sullivan, NPU’s water
division integrity manager. The pipes have become porous, allowing rainwater
and groundwater to infiltrate them. In some cases, the pipe bottoms have worn
away completely.
When the city is inundated with rain, millions of gallons of
combined rainwater and untreated wastewater dump into the Shetucket River,
which flows into the Thames River and eventually to Long Island Sound. About
99% of the discharge is rainwater and 1% untreated sewage, according to
information provided by NPU.
The success of a new pipe liners that keep out rainwater and
groundwater is evident in Greeneville, NPU officials said. NPU lined 6,000 feet
of pipes in the urban neighborhoods in 2018.
In 2018, 66 inches of rain resulted in 31.2 million gallons
of overflow discharged to Shetucket River. In 2023, 63 inches of rain resulted
in 9.5 million gallons of overflow discharged to Shetucket River, NPU spokesman
Chris Riley said.
NPU General Manager Chris LaRose said NPU hopes the $4.4
millon will be enough to line the remaining 28,000 linear feet of aging pipes
in Greeneville. The project is expected to be put out to bid in late 2025, with
construction starting in early 2026.
Another benefit of the new technology is in its name:
“trenchless technology,” which requires very little digging and much less
traffic disruption, LaRose said.
A heated plastic, coated with an exterior of felt and
fiberglass, is blown into the pipe, like a balloon, until it completely lines
the pipe. The felt and fiberglass layer hardens, forming a new pipe within the
old structures.
The project area will run from the streets surrounding St.
Joseph Cemetery, down Golden Street, Central Avenue, North Main Street and many
connecting side streets.
Riley said NPU will continue to seek funding to eliminate
additional overflows into the Shetucket and Thames rivers.
LaRose said after Greeneville, the next priority areas will
be Laurel Hill-Route 12 and Thamesville-Route 32 areas and side streets.
Without the federal Clean Water Fund grants and loans, NPU
was pursuing the upgrades slowly, budgeting $500,000 per year for the work.
“The projects on the Priority List will reduce the frequency
and severity of sewage overflows,” DEEP Commissioner Katie Dykes said in a news
release announcing the funding awards, “and provide more enhanced treatment of
excess nutrients that will improve the water quality of our rivers and the Long
Island Sound.”
Southbury’s River Road set to reopen Monday after last fall’s collapse
STEVE BIGHAM
SOUTHBURY – River Road is set to reopen to traffic Monday
after having been closed since this past fall after a 200-foot section
collapsed into the Housatonic River below.
Workers this week were busy shoring up the roadway which
runs along the river on a narrow stretch tucked in between the shoreline and a
steep hillside.
Its closure back on Oct. 5 has created a bit of an
inconvenience for residents living in the somewhat isolated area, which is home
to several houses, Mitchell Farm, satellites and further down, the Shepaug Dam,
one of two dams that form Lake Zoar, a section of the Housatonic Rover.
River Road’s closure, on the Silver Bridge side, left
Purchase Brook Road as the only other access way into the area, a steep drive
up into the Purchase section of town that amounted to a 5 to 6 mile detour.
Beginning Monday, the town plans to close Purchase Brook
Road for a major culvert replacement project, making the reopening of River
Road even more pressing.
Voters approved the appropriation of $600,000 for the
emergency repair work along River Road in June.
Town officials say the work currently being completed is
only a temporary fix with millions of dollars worth of more extensive roadwork
still required to permanently repair the entire road.
Southbury First Selectman Jeffrey A. Manville said early
estimates to rebuild River Road are between $10 and $20 million, or even
higher. The hope, he said, is that Southbury will receive assistance from, for
example, the Federal Emergency Management Agency.
Southbury Public Works Director Blake Leonard said the scope
of the temporary fix has entailed stabilizing the slope failures with
engineered stone, removing existing pavement, adding new drainage, installing a
structural retention system on the uphill side, repacking subsurface material,
and installing new pavement and guardrails.
The town is taking on the project with the support of
Cardinal Engineering of Meriden.
Leonard said the town is working closely with the Southbury
Inland Wetlands Commission, as well as First Light Power, the Connecticut
Department of Environmental and Energy Protection and the Army Corps of
Engineers.
Leonard said it remains uncertain if the temporary fix will
allow for one or two lanes of traffic.