New Norwalk bridge over I-95 to open Monday months after fiery crash
NORWALK — The bridge on Fairfield Avenue over Interstate 95
will open Monday, seven months after its predecesor was critically
damaged in a fiery crash, officials said.
In a release, the office of Gov. Ned Lamont said city and
state officials would gather in Norwalk on Monday to announce the completed
restoration and reopening of the Fairfield Avenue bridge.
The bridge was demolished following a fiery crash involving
an oil tanker May 2, which compromised
the structural integrity of the overpass.
Lamont's office said the news conference will take place on
the bridge, which will officially open shortly after the event ends.
The crash happened after a sedan cut off the tractor trailer
on I-95 south, forcing the driver of the truck to swerve to avoid a collision.
In doing so, the back of the tanker was ripped open, spilling gasoline and
causing the fire.
Even though the old bridge was demolished
and cleared within 80 hours of the crash, the incident caused massive
traffic, delays and detours throughout the Northeast.
By June 1, engineers completed a design for the bridge, and
work had started by mid-summer.
In the release, Lamont's office put out Connecticut
Department of Transportation video showing a timeline of the construction of
the bridge.
Stratford weighs building $16.7M floodwall to protect riverside sewage treatment plant
STRATFORD — Local officials are weighing spending $16.7
million to build a large floodwall encircling the town’s sewage treatment
plant, an effort aimed at protecting the riverside facility from destructive
storms.
On Monday, the Water Pollution Control Authority voted to
authorize the project and the town council unanimously approved the first
reading of an ordinance issuing $16.7 million in bonds to fund the construction
work. The project is expected to start as soon as this spring and take about
two years to complete.
The treatment plant, which has the capacity to process up to
11.5 million gallons of sewage a day, sits in a flood zone on the banks of the
Housatonic River, making it especially vulnerable to rising sea levels.
The facility is shielded by a series of earthen dikes that
date to the early 1970s, but the protective barriers may not be strong enough
to withstand increasingly intense storms that inundate coastal areas.
David Barstow of GZA GeoEnvironmental, Inc., a
Massachusetts-based engineering firm hired to help lead the project, told the
Water Pollution Control Authority the wall would be 18 feet high at its tallest
point.
The yet-to-be-built structure would be about five feet
taller than the highest point on the existing dikes, ensuring the treatment
plant would be protected from flooding brought by a 500-year storm, Barstow
said.
“The plant currently handles most of the waste water for the
town,” Barstow said. “As you can imagine, if something happens to the plant
it's going to be a big cost impact to make the repairs.”
Town officials have long eyed increased flood protections
for the treatment plant, which could be forced to temporarily shut down and
stop processing sewage if a storm submerges the facility in floodwaters.
A permanent floodwall for the facility was among the
recommendations included in a
2016 coastal residency plan created to outline potential solutions to
the town’s growing flooding issues.
According to data from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, the
sea level of the Long Island Sound at Stratford is on the rise and is projected
to increase between 0.4 feet and 2.2 feet by 2065.
Barstow said the floodwall, which would be built out of
reinforced concrete and have an exposed height of four to six feet, would be
about 3,100 feet in length and would also incorporate parts of the dikes.
“We're looking to improve the existing dikes and reuse those
as much as we can to reduce costs,” Barstow said.
Barstow said his team is aiming to get authorization to move
forward with the project from the state Department of Energy and Environmental
Protection by March and start construction in May. He noted the work is
expected to take two years to complete.
Once the new perimeter is finished, the facility would be
accessible through a large floodgate that could be closed ahead of storms.
Barstow said the gate would employ steel braces stored on site to ensure the
barrier is watertight.
Town Engineer John Casey said the town plans to use $2.7
million in grant funding that was awarded in 2020 by the Federal Emergency
Management Agency for coastal resiliency efforts to help pay for the
floodwall.
The council is expected to revisit the floodwall project and
consider a second and final reading during its Dec. 9 meeting.
Norwalk developer plans 96-room hotel, 100 apartments at office tower
NORWALK— The Planning and Zoning Commission is considering a
proposal to build a 96-room hotel and 100 units of housing at an existing
narrow five-story
office building at 24 Belden Avenue.
If approved, the hotel would rise six
floors on the east side of the office building, which sits on one floor of
commercial space. The housing units would be built on the west side of the
office space.
According to the plans, the property occupies 1.43 acres of
land near the Norwalk River and comes with 290 parking spaces that would not be
changed. The addition of the two towers would require increasing the building's
footprint by about 2,400 square feet, but it would not encroach on the city's
coastal area management zone or present a flood hazard, according to city
officials.
The edge of the property lies approximately 35-feet from the
river, but no construction work is proposed in its vicinity, according to city
officials.
The 44,000-square-foot office tower would remain as is, as
well as the 30,000-square-foot ground level commercial space.
According to the application,
green roof-top trays would offset rainwater run-off. A traffic study also
concluded that the development would result in about 120 new daily motor
vehicle trips.
The project is being proposed by local
developer Jason Milligan of Milligan Realty.
Milligan, who owns 40 properties in the neighborhood, said
that he has had conversations with a national chain about running the hotel,
but declined say the name. His vision for the hotel would be a several day to
weekly stay for visitors coming to Norwalk on business or a
special occasion such as a graduation.
On the housing side, Milligan said, the apartments would be
smaller with fewer amenities to make them more affordable for students and
young professionals. Cost savings could be in the form of smaller cooking
surfaces and Murphy beds, he said.
"You aren't going to host Thanksgiving dinner at your
house," he said.
On the plus-side, Milligan said, the apartments would be
easier to afford, tenants would be able to walk or bike to nearby jobs, and the
park space would be an attraction.
"If you're a person that wants to be green, this is
your neighborhood," he said.
Milligan said that the cost of the project is expected to be
in the $30 million to $50 million range for both towers and that it could be
two years before either project is open. Approvals, he said, are probably three
months away.
He purchased the Riverview Plaza building earlier this year,
saying at the time that it had been largely vacant for a decade.
Milligan also earned approval for a 210-room
hotel project on Isaacs Street, but has recently
applied for revisions that he said he expects to be approved early in
2025. The original plan called for a 210-room extended stay hotel with five
live-work units. Milligan is seeking a change because national hotel chains are
not interested in managing a hotel with that many rooms, according to the
revised application.
The revised application calls for 119 extended stay hotel
rooms, 100 units of housing and five live-work units.
Milligan said he is confident that construction could begin
on Isaac Street in 2025 and that the doors could open in 18 months.
Bryan Baker, Norwalk's principal planner, said the next step
is for the city to hire a third-party architectural peer reviewer to review the
project for consistency with the Wall Street/West Avenue Neighborhood
Plan.
"Once that review is completed the application will go
to the redevelopment agency for a vote and then to the Planning and Zoning
Commission for a vote, " Barker said. "I would tentatively say that
the application may be on the January 22, 2025, Planning and Zoning Commission
agenda for a vote."
Barker added that since the application was submitted just
about a week ago his department is still in the preliminary stages of review.
Developer submits site plan for Old Saybrook Whole Foods
Members of Old Saybrook's Zoning Commission will get their
first look on Monday at plans that a Rhode Island developer has for building a
new Whole Foods Market on Route 1.
The hearing on
the Carpionato Group's plans for a 40,000-square-foot Whole Foods in Old Saybrook begins
at 7 p.m. on Monday. The application for the high-end supermarket includes a
larger makeover of the Oyster River Shopping Center, which is at the
intersection of Spencer Plains Road and Route 1.
The plans for the shopping center makeover include space for a 3,600-square-foot medical office and four retail spaces that are between 4,100 and 8,100 square feet.
The Carpionato Group's site plan for the project was
submitted earlier this week, which is more than a year after
Old Saybrook's Inland Wetland and Watercourses Commission approved plans
for the supermarket. Plans for the store were
first announced in August 2022.
Because homes and businesses in Old Saybrook use septic
systems to dispose of sewage, the supermarket and all of the other businesses
that are part of the Oyster River shopping center will be served by an on-site
leaching field. Edward Casella, an Old Saybrook attorney representing
Carpionato Group, told town officials as part of the site plan submission that
the septic system will be developed on three properties on Denmore Lane,
which is located immediately to the east of the shopping center.
The store, if approved, would be Whole Foods' first among
the well-heeled communities that are part of Connecticut's shoreline east of
New Haven. The average household income in the area that the Old Saybrook Whole
Foods would serve is $127,710, according to the Carpionato Group website for
the project.
Whole Foods currently has 11 stores in Connecticut and a new
location in Stamford is scheduled to open Dec. 12. Another store is under
construction in Cheshire as part of The Shops at Stone Bridge retail complex
off of Route 10.
Whole Foods also has a distribution center on East Johnson
Avenue in Cheshire.
Old Saybrook First Selectman Carl Fortuna Jr. was not
immediately available for comment of the Carpionato Group's filing on
Wednesday.
Burt Flickinger, managing director of the New York
City-based retail consulting firm Strategic Resource Group, said he expects
Whole Foods to add two or three more locations in Connecticut after the
Cheshire location is built and if the Old Saybrook location is approved.
"I think that they were pretty much done with their
Connecticut expansion, but with Stop & Shop closing stores in Connecticut
changed their minds," Flickinger said. Stop & Shop closed five
supermarkets in Connecticut last month.
Flickinger said Whole Foods locations have some of the
highest sales per square foot of any grocery chain. The average sales per
square foot per year of a Whole Foods store is $998. he said.
Nationally, grocery stores average $507 in sales per square
foot annually, compared with a retail industry average of $350, according to
Jones Lang LaSalle, a global real estate and investment management company.
Yale plans new dramatic arts building in downtown New Haven
Yale University is looking to construct a new seven-story,
188,300-square-foot dramatic arts building on school-owned property at the
corner of York and Crown streets in downtown New Haven.
The new building will be home to the David Geffen School of
Drama at Yale graduate school program and Yale Repertory Theater, as well as
the university’s undergraduate program in theater, dance and performance
studies, according to the application that was submitted to the City Plan
Commission.
The new building will include classrooms, offices,
production and technical shops for set, costume and lighting design, rehearsal,
classrooms and meeting spaces, along with a 100-seat studio theater, and a new
400-seat Yale Repertory Theater.
The building will also provide space for the Yale Dramatic
Association undergraduate student theater group.
Yale’s performing-arts programs are currently spread over
several buildings throughout campus.
The project will meet Yale’s standard for “Zero Carbon
Ready” and will
utilize a carbon-free renewable geothermal system, the school said.
The building will have a mechanical penthouse above, and
approximately 28,700 square feet of mechanical and below-grade space.
The project will take place in four phases beginning in
summer 2025, and be completed by summer 2029.
Yale University’s drama school got a big boost in 2021 from
a $150
million gift from entertainment industry magnate David Geffen. Yale has
used the money to make its drama school tuition-free.
According to the university, the Geffen School of Drama is
one of the only graduate-level professional conservatories in the world that
provides training in every theater discipline, from acting, to design,
directing, dramaturgy and dramatic criticism, playwriting, stage management,
technical design and production, and theater management.
More than 230 students across nearly a dozen degree and
certificate
programs are enrolled.
CT’s marquee stadium needs $63M in repairs. Why increased attendance is making a difference.