North Haven plans to borrow additional $3 million for Sackett Point bridge project
Brian Zahn
NORTH HAVEN — A $12 million, four-year project to replace Sackett Point Road Bridge, which connects North Haven to Hamden over the Quinnipiac River, is essentially complete, North Haven town officials said.
However, inflationary costs have brought the project over its budget, requiring town officials to allocate an additional $3 million in bonding toward paying it off.
State and federal authorities are reimbursing the town for 90 percent of the now-$15 million project. The town passed its first resolution to borrow the initial $12 million 16 years ago in 2008, knowing that the bridge would become structurally deficient in the coming years. By 2018, the state Department of Transportation rated the bridge as structurally deficient.
"Over the course of 16 years with cost escalations, those escalations turned out to be $3 million more than the bond appropriation," said First Selectman Michael Freda at a Board of Selectmen meeting last week. The town will receive $2.7 million in reimbursement for the additional $3 million to pay off the remainder of the project, he said.
The additional borrowing resolution passed the Board of Selectmen unanimously last Thursday, as its members expressed contentment at the project's near completion.
Second Selectman William Pieper said his understanding from a presentation at a previous Board of Finance meeting is that the bridge is "basically done."
"No one is happier than me. I'm on Sackett Point every day," said Third Selectman Sally Buemi.
Despite the board's approval, the resolution must now go before the Annual Town Meeting on Sept. 23 at 7 p.m. in the North Haven High School auditorium.
Freda said the duration of the bridge replacement project is partially due to delays. He said that in the past 18 months, a truck crushed a sewer pipe on the bridge and the Department of Energy and Environmental Protection stopped construction for about four months because of fish migration underneath the bridge. He said there were also times when construction paused due to weather.
"There were a lot of delays on this project," he said.
Plans unveiled for Hamden youth center at dilapidated middle school on Newhall Street
HAMDEN — Ernestine and Cleveland Bromell cannot step outside their home without feeling slightly disgusted by what they see.
The image that greets the husband and wife as they exit their front door is the town's run-down former middle school building on Newhall Street, which has fallen into disrepair since closing in 2006. Several fires have erupted at the vacant school complex during that time as well.
"It’s an eyesore looking at that middle school over there," Ernestine Bromell said. "We wish they would tear it down and clean it up. It’s bringing down our neighborhood."
Seeing the dilapidated building everyday, with its shattered windows and graffitied brick walls, "makes us feel terrible," Cleveland Bromell added.
The demolition of the former Michael J. Whalen Junior High School building in southern Hamden remains without a definitive timeline, officials said. But the town is moving ahead with plans to renovate the school's freestanding gymnasium into a youth, arts and recreation center – the first step in Hamden Mayor Lauren Garrett's vision to transform the property into a "community campus."
The new, two-story recreation center will feature a gymnasium, weight room, black box theater, study lounge, kitchen and several rooms for various programming, among other amenities, according to preliminary plans from Hartford-based 7 Summits Construction and Farmington-based Friar Architecture, who were selected as the contractors for the project.
The center's total cost is about $10.84 million, which Hamden will pay for using federal American Rescue Plan Act funds.
The contractors are expected to submit an official proposal to the Legislative Council in October, officials said. If approved by the necessary stakeholders, the project's construction would begin in August 2025 and be completed in October 2026, plans show.
Some residents living in Hamden's Newhall neighborhood said the recreation center would uplift their historically underserved community and provide children with a much-needed creative outlet. Others said they supported the idea but worried that a facility designed for youth would bring more mischief to the area.
Lelia Adams, who lives nearby, said the center would "keep a lot of kids off the street" and steer them away from trouble.
She pointed to the press box at Rochford Field across the street, where she said children had smashed its windows and converted the space into a hangout spot. She added unhoused individuals also spend time in the structure, which sits above a defunct Hamden police substation.
Adams, who has lived in her home on and off for 52 years, remembered playing inside the former middle school's gymnasium as a high school student. Another school on Newhall Street also doubled as a recreation center and offered after-school programming to local youth, she said.
"I enjoyed that we had a place to go for all ages," Adams said.
Sean Grace, the mayor's chief of staff, said the town envisions pairing the recreation center with another building that would replace the former middle school as part of the community campus project. An assessment performed on the school's academic building showed it was in "much worse shape" than the gymnasium and needed to be torn down, he said.
Though a demolition date for the school has not been set, Garrett said she is "hopeful" contractors can start knocking down the academic building next summer. BL Companies, an engineering firm based in Meriden, has been hired to plan the school's demolition, Garrett said.
The former middle school's auditorium and cafeteria were knocked down in 2018, but the academic building and gymnasium are still standing.
One neighbor said she supported the idea but questioned the location because she worried it could cause crime in the area. She said the renovations of Rochford Field and Villano Park in 2014 brought increased foot traffic to the area, leading to an uptick in crime. Her car has been stolen from her driveway twice since then.
The Bromells also said they worried a youth facility next door would bring "problems" and disturb their tranquil community.
"It’s nice to live in this neighborhood; it’s been quiet and peaceful," Cleveland Bromell said. "We don’t want anything to come in here and make it worse."
The former middle school property was among those in Newhall that underwent remediation starting in 2010 to remove contaminated soil that had been dumped during the first half of the 20th century by area manufacturers, most notably Winchester Repeating Arms in New Haven. The state Department of Energy and Environmental Protection conducts annual soil testing at the school's property, and those tests "all have come up clean," Grace said.
Now, the town has hired Haley & Aldrich, a Hartford-based environmental consultant, to evaluate the remaining Newhall homes that were built on the landfill and affected by the industrial contamination.
Legislative Council member Rhonda Caldwell, whose district includes Newhall, said Hamden needs to prioritize fixing residents' foundations over building the community campus.
"People's homes are sinking; they’re taking on water like you wouldn’t believe, and nobody seems to be hearing them," she said.
Some of the homes in Newhall are awaiting first-time repairs, while others that were part of the original cleanup have experienced setbacks that need to be addressed, Caldwell said.
"The community campus is a great idea, don’t get me wrong, if the community wasn’t suffering in other ways," she said. "It’s sad that these homes are not being prioritized like everything else."
Garrett, though, said the Newhall foundations are "certainly a priority" and that project is "moving along at a faster pace than the community campus is right now."
Previous plans for the former middle school, built in 1956, called for apartments and recreational facilities that would be open to the community, which residents overwhelmingly supported over the years. But those plans fell through after seven years in the making because town leaders felt the developer's proposal did not meet the community's needs.
State bridge project complicates Bridgeport soccer stadium plan
Brian Lockhart
BRIDGEPORT — Besides the need for more public financing, construction of a proposed minor league soccer stadium on the lower East Side faces another wrinkle in the form of possible interference from a nearby state infrastructure project.
The Connecticut Department of Transportation and Mayor Joe Ganim's administration confirmed a vacant municipal parcel that would serve as a public park and gateway into the future sports venue will for two years be a staging area for a new $30 million bridge.
"Connecticut DOT will be using a portion of the property for the upcoming Stratford Avenue Bridge replacement project," Josh Morgan, that agency's director of communications, said in an email. "The location will provide staging of equipment and material, as well as provide access to the bridge."
Morgan said the DOT has obtained a temporary property easement for access to the acreage, former home of the now-demolished AGI rubber factory, and the land will revert back to Bridgeport at the state project's conclusion.
The challenge for stadium developer Andre Swanston, his Connecticut Sports Group and the city is that the bridge work is scheduled to begin next spring and conclude by the end of 2026 They had hoped to open the soccer stadium for the 2026 season. If and how that latter goal can still be met if the AGI land, which needs to be cleaned of environmental contaminants before being redeveloped for Swanston's purposes, is otherwise in use is the question.
"At this point we're just in a question of logistics," said Thomas Gaudett, Ganim's chief administrative officer.
He noted the bridge work has been in the works for some time and is not "out of the blue."
"Does it (the bridge project) complicate things? Sure," Gaudett acknowledged. "But we've had this conversation. Everyone knows it's an issue. And we're all hoping to play nice to get everything accomplished."
Announced a year ago, Swanson's vision is to launch a minor league soccer team, Connecticut United, and stadium here, followed by a major league venue and other attractions. The main construction would occur on privately-owned land on Kossuth Street where the now-shuttered Shoreline Star off-track betting facility operated. But the city offered the adjacent AGI property as an important complement to the development.
Initially Swanston was aiming to have the stadium open by next year. Connecticut Sports Group however on Aug. 30 announced that had been delayed until 2026.
Swanston has been awarded some public financing — $16 million in combined grants for environmental remediation/site preparation — but still needs additional substantial public investment. For that reason, and because the parties are still working out the details necessary for the release of the initial $16 million, the move from 2025 to 2026 was not surprising.
Connecticut Sports Group in its Aug. 30 statement had only said the delay will "enable us to complete much-needed infrastructure work around the stadium site and continue to build out our talented staff." Swanston in a social media post this week got more specific and cited the DOT's project as one of the main reasons for the timetable change, but was not critical of it.
"This much-needed infrastructure investment will make the bridge safer for all auto, boat, and pedestrian traffic," Swanston wrote. "We’re working with the DOT and City of Bridgeport to mitigate the effect their work will have on stadium construction logistics and timeline." Connecticut Sports Group did not elaborate when asked for comment, referring back to Swanston's statement.
Gaudett similarly described the Stratford Avenue Bridge replacement as an overall positive for the city and the soccer plan, noting the new infrastructure will better accommodate the current and anticipated increased traffic to the lower East Side. The long-gestating Steelpointe redevelopment across from where the stadiums are proposed currently boasts a Bass Pro Shops outdoor retailer, a Starbucks coffee shop, a new marina with Boca Seafood restaurant, and ground has been broken on as many as 1,500 apartments there.
Opponents of proposed Brookfield gas compressor expansion bolstered by new study on health risks
Sandra Diamond Fox
BROOKFIELD — Bolstered by new research outlining the potential dangers of the project, town and state officials are engaged in an all out effort to pull the plug on plans to expand a natural gas compressor station located near many homes and just 1,900 feet from Whisconier Middle School.
The expansion would result in increased emissions of and exposure of local residents to toxins, including carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide, carbon monoxide, sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxides, according tgo the study, which is called “Potential Impacts of the Expanded Iroquois Compressor Station in Brookfield, CT.”
“Exposure to these toxins in the air can cause lung irritation, difficulty breathing, increased risk of respiratory conditions like asthma, and aggravation of other respiratory or heart conditions,” said the study, which was prepared for the Sierra Club by Beth I. Weinberger of Thimble Creek Research and Sherry Van Lange of Eco Essential Solutions.
The study says the facility “should be over a mile away from residents,” Nick Katkevich, northeast field organizer of the Sierra Club, a nonprofit environmental group, said in summarizing its key takeaways.
“But in the Brookfield facility, there’s hundreds of residents that live within a half a mile of the facility — and there’s also the middle school. So I think it just reiterates our concerns about this project and the health impacts of it,” he said.
With the new information from the study, which was released in July, Brookfield needs Gov. Ned Lamont and state Energy and Environmental Protection Commissioner Katie Dykes to take a stand against the expansion, he said.
“They’re ultimately the decision-makers in the final permit needed for this project and they should reject the permit,” Katkevich said.
The Iroquois natural gas pipeline, which runs from Canada through New York and Connecticut and under Long Island Sound, began operations in 1992. When Iroquois proposed a compressor station for the pipeline in 2006 for Brookfield, residents objected, saying it would be a risk to the health and safety of neighbors and the staff and students at Whisconier.
Despite the objections, the compressor station was built on an 80-acre site at 78 High Meadow Lane in Brookfield in 2009. With the new plan to expand the capacity there, “residents have the same concerns today,” Katkevich has said.
Brookfield First Selectman Steve Dunn said Iroquois requested additional time, which the state granted, to submit more documentation the state had requested on the expansion plan.
After the documents are received, Dunn said, "the state then will either issue a conditional approval or deny the application. If they issue a conditional approval, they will then hold a hearing, at which interested parties may testify."
After that, the state would “consider all comments and make a final decision whether or not to give a final approval" to the plan, he said.
'Reliable gas service'
In addition to the planned Brookfield expansion, Iroquois is also planning to install cooling equipment to its existing plant in Milford and add compression and cooling equipment at existing stations in Dover and Athens, N.Y., according to the company's website.
All the changes will be constructed within the existing compressor station properties. Iroquois estimates the cost of the projects in all of the towns would be $272 million, according to its website.
In an interview, Ruth Parkins, director of public and government relations for the expansion project at the Iroquois Pipeline Operating Co. in Shelton, said Iroquois is now awaiting approval of its air permit applications from New York and Connecticut.
The New York State Department of Environmental Conservation held a public comment hearing in January 2023, and a written public comment period was open until late February 2023, she said. “We anticipate a NYDEC decision will be reached in the coming months."
She said Iroquois anticipates a public informational hearing will be scheduled in the next few months.
Parkins said Iroquois needs to expand the compressor station in Brookfield to provide more natural gas to its customers to heat and power their homes and businesses.
Earlier this year in a letter to the New York State Department Of Environmental Conservation, the New York Public Service Commission “determined that the expansion project ‘is necessary to ensure Con Edison’s and National Grid’s continued provision of safe, adequate, and reliable gas service to customers.'"
During a storm in December 2022, Consolidated Edison Co. of New York “came within hours of experiencing large-scale outages,” Parkins said.
“As a result of that near tragedy, the New York Department of Public Service has indicted their strong support for the approval and construction of the (expansion) project to avoid similar emergency situations in New York City in the future,” she said.
Parkins also pointed out that Brookfield has enjoyed tax benefits due to the compressor station.
“Iroquois is one of the town’s top taxpayers, generating hundreds of thousands of dollars in tax revenues annually, and that the (project) is estimated to generate an additional $2.4 million in annual tax revenues to the town,” Parkins said.
Tammie Fiske, Brookfield's assessor, said Iroquois is the town's second highest taxpayer for personal property and the sixth highest per the town’s combined list of real estate and personal property.
In 2024, Iroquois paid the town $545,728 in taxes — $451,300 for the compressor station and $94,428 in other property taxes, Parkins said. Since the station began operations in 2008, it has paid about $8.6 million in taxes.
As to the health concerns raised by residents and officials, Parkins said Iroquois’ facilities meet all EPA ambient air quality standards and operate in compliance with federal and state regulations.
'Bring health risks'
The embattled expansion plan involves two steel pipelines that enter and exit the Brookfield natural gas compressor station: The Algonquin pipeline, built in 2008, comes in from the southwest, and the Iroquois pipeline, built in 2009, comes down from the north.
Iroquois wants to more than double the capacity of the compressor station to receive an additional 125 million cubic feet per day of natural gas, according to an operating permit filed with DEEP.
The new facilities would all be constructed within the existing properties, with an estimated total cost of $272 million, according to the company's website.
But the researchers who wrote the study agreed with Dunn that the expansion would not directly benefit Brookfield residents and “will most certainly” produce more emissions, which will disperse and “bring health risks” to communities.
“It does not supply natural gas to their homes. It does not reduce the cost of natural gas to the residents. They will however, bear the risk. …The expanded compressor station in Brookfield and the (project) will contribute even more greenhouse gases than the original compressor station. (Those gases) will … have impact upstream and downstream. It will have environmental, financial, social costs,” the study said.
State Sen. Stephen Harding, R-Brookfield, who lives a mile-and-a-half from the compressor station, said he strongly opposes the plan.
“I will continue to urge DEEP to deny any permitting as it relates to the approval of this expansion,” he said, adding that the new study raised even more concerns for him.
“People in Connecticut, particularly our neighbors, are subjected to the health hazards and the public safety hazards, yet receive literally zero benefit from this,” he said.
“If you’re representing the interest of the people of the state of Connecticut that receive zero benefit from this, from a standpoint of right and wrong, strictly for the people of the state, it should be an easy answer. And that’s 'No.'’
Locals give cool reception to massive Waterbury-Naugatuck Amazon warehouse proposal
Michael Puffer
Adevelopment group aiming to build a nearly 3-million-square-foot Amazon warehouse on the Waterbury-Naugatuck line received a largely chilly response during a neighborhood information session Tuesday evening.
Bluewater Property Group arranged for Tuesday's public information session at Gilmartin Elementary School in Waterbury, shortly after it submitted applications for wetlands permits for its 183-acre development site straddling both communities.
Leaders of Bluewater’s project development team spent about an hour summarizing the project and responding to a string of concerns raised by frustrated area residents.
“It’s going to be a disturbance to the neighborhood,” said Barbara Murray, a Waterbury resident who lives in a neighborhood just to the north of the development site. “There is going to be light. There is going to be noise.”
Residents raised concerns about light pollution, noise, traffic, displacement of wildlife and impacts to property values. Several also asked about possible damage to their homes from blasting required to develop the steeply sloped and rocky site.
Bluewater representatives assured attendees they would follow local noise and light regulations and take an array of measures to mitigate impacts. The development site will be wrapped by a noise barrier fence and there will be a minimum 150-foot buffer between the development and nearby residences.
Bluewater staff said there will also be a roughly 30-acre conservation easement and no infringement on wetlands. They said they would remove invasive plants and plant native ones to improve water quality.
Pressed by one resident, Bluewater Vice President Joshua Garofano said he is open to ensuring a bond is in place to compensate homeowners should there be any property damage during construction. A contractor needs to be hired before details can be ironed out, he said.
“Will I work with you to do it? One hundred percent,” Garofano said. “Happy to. I just need a contractor, somebody to speak to, to get that far. We are not that far yet. But we can certainly bond our earthwork – our earthwork contract on this job. It’s certainly big enough for that.”
Most of the 183-acre development site is owned by Waterbury.
Former Waterbury Mayor Neil O’Leary worked with Naugatuck Mayor N. Warren “Pete” Hess to secure access to the property through Naugatuck, jumping a hurdle that had held up development of the area for decades. A search by local officials for a development partner turned up Bluewater.
Bluewater Vice President Christina Bernardin said Tuesday the development will add about $150 million in new taxable value, although she acknowledged a tax deal reducing that yield is possible. She also said the development will result in 500 to 1,000 new jobs.
The roughly 120- to 130-foot tall robotic-assisted logistics warehouse would take about two years to build, Bluewater representatives said. Bernardin said Bluewater has built similar facilities in Charlton, Massachusetts and Johnston, Rhode Island.
Bluewater will also seek upgrades for roadways and intersections near its development, including the widening of the offramp of a Route 8 southbound ramp to two lanes, and a “complete reconstruction” of the intersection of Sheridan Drive and South Main Street in Naugatuck.
Bluewater staff received a friendlier response from residents during brief, informal conversations immediately following Tuesday’s presentation. Several locals expressed the absence of hard feelings, as well as sympathy for the slight grilling the developers received.
Not everybody who spoke up during the question-and-answer portion of Tuesday's meeting was in opposition.
Paul Kondash, a member of Waterbury’s Inland Wetlands and Watercourses Commission, said he has heard an overwhelmingly positive response from the public.
“All I hear is: ‘Amazon is coming, Amazon is coming, Amazon is coming – I can’t wait,’” Kondash said. “I just have one brief question for you: Can you start construction tomorrow?”