Windfall grant for state building trades
It was great to see a $389 million grant come from the U.S.
Department of Energy to bring more offshore wind power to New England. These
funds will not only help to lower costs to ratepayers for future offshore wind
projects, but also create good paying jobs in southeast Connecticut, under a
proposal now pending before the state. The proposed Vineyard Wind 2 project
from developer Vineyard Offshore would make landfall in New London and tie into
the New England power grid in Montville, where one of the federally funded
transmission upgrades will take place.
Laying the 13-mile onshore cable between the two sites would
be a significant, multi-year construction project for up to 150 members of the
New London building trades. In its decision, which is expected in September,
Connecticut should select Vineyard Wind 2 to ensure these jobs come to our
region and move toward the clean, reliable, fixed-rate electric power we need
in our state.
Keith R. Brothers
Pomfret
SLOAN BREWSTER
TORRINGTON – On Thursday, students will return to school in
the old high school and in January, they will move to the new building.
A tour last Wednesday of the high school and middle school
construction sites revealed a building on the cusp of completion.
Rooms are painted, bits of furnishings are in, walls have
been tiled, lockers line hallways and many classrooms have been given final
cleanings.
With most of the big jobs behind them, crews have begun
working their way through punch list items, said Building Committee Co-Chair
Edward Arum and Superintendent for O&G Industries Brian Pracuta.
While the middle school will not be ready for another year,
a hallway off the main entrance will be used temporarily for locker rooms when
the high school opens in January.
The cafeterias of the two schools, which are separated by a
glass wall, are beginning to look like lunch rooms. Pracuta showed off high end
steamers, grills and skillets that cooks will use to prepare meals.
“It’s very nice stuff,” Arum said. “Because, you know,
eventually they’re going to serve 1,600 kids.”
Arum said the equipment should be functional by November.
Once it’s ready, they plan to test it to make sure it all works by cooking up
some chow for the workers.
During Wednesday’s tour, a noticeable transition was
apparent in the auditorium, where a scaffolding that was up during past tours
was down, exposing the slanted floor where seats are yet to be installed. The
stage is scheduled to be painted next week, Pracuta said. After that, riggers
will come in to install tracks for the curtain and backdrops.
Meanwhile, walls are scheduled for pre-drywall inspections
and field measuring is underway for the seats.
“That’s a science in itself,” Pracuta said, explaining how
seats will be various widths and arranged so audience members will have a view
of the stage and not someone’s head.
Pracuta pointed to an area of the wall where angled drywall
designs called “sails” will help deflect sound and then looked up toward flat
white lights called “clouds” covering the ceiling.
“We’ll have clouds up above and we’ll have sails on the
walls,” he said.
A food lab on the first floor contained a couple counters
and areas for sinks and was beginning to look like a food lab.
Second and third floor science rooms were filled with lab
tables, cabinets and counters; and bathrooms, while not yet connected to
sewers, looked complete with tiled floors, sinks, mirrors and stalls in place.
The third floor media center was awaiting carpet
installation. Walls of windows in the large sunlit room looked over the front
entrance and down toward the courtyard, where outdoor movies will one day be
shown on a large plaster wall. Down below crews prepared to lay sidewalks and a
lone worker made his way to a pay loader.
A career center not quite finished sits down the hallway
from the main entrance where a window opens to the office so visitors can be
checked-in before they are granted entry.
A third floor hallway looks onto three chillers installed on
a rooftop. While all three will likely never run at once, they are necessary
for backup, Pracuta said. Two will run when weather neccessatates.
Three heating units will be used in much the same manner,
seldom running in tandem but the extras on hand for when temperatures dictate.
Four elevators that will be in the school are yet to be
installed and the lower level, which will hold shop classes, is being dry
walled.
Ground was officially broken on the project in October 2022.
Initial plans for the 310,000-square foot school, which will
house students in grades seven through 12, were to complete the high school
portion by December 2024 and bring students in by February 2025. The project,
however, is ahead of schedule so students will be let into the high school in
January. Middle School students are expected to be let in by September 2025.
The state will reimburse 85% of the $179.58 million cost,
with the city responsible for the remaining 15%, Arum said.
Shortly after school closed for summer break in June, part
of the music wing at the old high school was knocked down so workers could work
in that area. This month they have been constructing a new roadway on Major
Besse Drive.
When school opens later this week, the high school music
department will use the media center for classes and practices that would have
been held in the razed wing, Arum said.
Major Besse Drive will be closed and only accessible for
construction traffic until Aug. 27. Public can access the property via Daley
Drive behind the school near the athletic fields.
Preston to hold public sessions on Poquetanuck Cove plans
Claire Bessette
Preston – With the Norwich Hospital cleanup nearly complete,
Preston is ready to take on its next big project.
The town has secured $3.46 million in state grants thus far,
has tentative approval for two additional $4 million grants and applied for $3
million more, all for a project to turn the Route 2A area in Poquetanuck from a speedway to nearby
casinos or shoreline spots into an inviting village atmosphere.
The town is ready to launch the first phase of the project
from Preston Community Park to Poquetanuck Cove, which includes wide walkways,
decorative lighting and crosswalks, traffic calming measures to slow down
vehicles, public parking areas and a kayak launch at the cove.
The state funding already secured by the town includes a $3
million Local Transportation Capital Improvement Program grant for construction
costs, a $400,000 state Community Investment Fund grant for design and planning
and another $60,000 from the Recreation Trails Program to enhance the project.
Phase 1 is expected to go out to bid for construction next
year. But first, the town agencies working on the project will hold three
public forums next week to hear ideas from the public on what they would like
to see included in the project.
The Conservation and Agricultural Commission will lead off
with a meeting at 7 p.m. Monday at Town Hall, 389 Route 2, for a presentation
by town staff on the status of the project and grants. They will take questions
and comments from the public.
On Tuesday, the Preston Planning and Zoning Commission will
meet at 7 p.m. at Town Hall with a presentation by town staff and the project
engineer, who also will take questions and comments from residents.
On Wednesday, the Board of Selectmen will meet at 6 p.m. at
Town Hall for a third presentation and question-and-answer session.
“The whole thing started because we wanted to slow the
traffic,” Town Planner Kathy Warzecha said. “We’ll have extra traffic signs,
crosswalks, maybe some beacons, a plaza area at Schoolhouse Road, so drivers
will see the different color and pattern and will slow down.”
The decorative walkway from Poquetanuck Village to the cove
is designed to be 5 feet wide, while the area from the Grant’s bed and
breakfast at 109 Route 2A to Preston Community Park will be 10 feet wide to
better accommodate bicycles.
Warzecha said staff will show maps and design plans, give
some options of features being considered and hear ideas from the public.
Afterward, project officials will finalize the designs and put the project out
to bid next year, Warzecha said.
Conservation and Agricultural Commission Chairman Gary
Piszczek said his commission’s biggest concern is with protection of
Poquetanuck Cove and public access to the cove.
The town has received tentative approval for another $4
million Transportation Alternatives grant that would help extend the village
project from the Preston Community Park to Lincoln Park senior housing. The
town also has learned it has tentative approval for another $4 million Local
Transportation Capital Improvements Program grant to extend the project to the
Route 2A-12 intersection. The project would include safety improvements to the
busy intersection across from the former Norwich Hospital/Preston Riverwalk and
extend the pedestrian trail to the riverwalk.
The town has applied for an additional $3 million Community
Investment Fund grant for design and engineering planning for that portion of
the project.
The cleanup of the former Norwich Hospital property is
nearly completed, and the town anticipates turning over the property to
Mohegan, the development arm of the Mohegan tribe, by the end of this year.
Piszczek said the conservation commission hopes to meet with
Mohegan officials to discuss ways to protect Poquetanuck Cove amid the future
development and to provide public access to the waterfront areas.