CT has $138.5 million set aside for school air quality. Why are there no plans to spend it?
Alex
Putterman, Jacqueline Rabe
Thomas,
Connecticut will not offer a third round of school air
quality grants due to "funding constraints," the state says, despite
$138.5 million remaining in a fund intended for that purpose.
Created in 2022 after years
of advocacy to improve school air quality amid the COVID-19 pandemic,
Connecticut's HVAC grant program has so far distributed
$178 million to local school systems for new ventilation systems and
other improvements, allowing districts to update infrastructure that
was, in some cases, decades old.
Still, the money spent through the program represents less
than half of what state lawmakers have allocated for it over recent years. Some
of the money once intended for air quality projects has since been redirected
for other uses, while much of it simply remains unspent.
Following one round of funding in spring 2023 and another
earlier this year, Connecticut's Department of Administrative Services
emailed superintendents and other stakeholders in August informing them there
would be no additional grants.
"I know many of you have been waiting on details
regarding the third round of the grant program for fiscal year 2025,"
Commissioner Michelle Gilman said in the email, obtained by CT
Insider. "At this time, a third round of applications and awards is not
scheduled due to funding constraints."
Gilman promised her agency would push during the coming
legislative session "to include the program as a permanent category within
the school construction grant program," which would allow districts to
access air quality funds more regularly.
Asked this week about the decision not to distribute more
grants, a Department of Administrative Services spokesperson repeated
Gilman's assertion about funding constraints. A spokesperson for Connecticut's
Office of Policy and Management said "additional allocations must be
balanced with other capital needs" and said the state is constrained
somewhat by a cap on bonding.
Records
from the treasurer's office show the state plans to issue hundreds of
millions in general obligation bonds for other priorities over the coming
months.
Joe DeLong, executive director of the Connecticut Conference
of Municipalities, said he hears fewer complaints about school air quality than
he used to, a possible sign the grant program has met districts' needs. Still,
he said he suspects there would be more applicants if the state offered another
round of funding.
"I'm sure that there probably would be," he said.
"But I don't know how many."
During the most recent round of school air quality grants,
the state rejected 17 applications spread across six districts, either because
districts could not secure local funding by the state's deadline or because the
state determined they lacked the proper paperwork, such as professional cost
estimates. Those projects together would have cost $28.4 million in state
aid, state records show.
DeLong said he'd strongly support an effort to include air
quality projects within the state's broader school construction grant program,
which he said is "really what should have been done to begin with."
Including HVAC system replacements under the school
construction program — as roof replacements are, for example — would make money
available for all qualifying projects, without restrictions based on
availability of funds. Efforts to bring air quality under that program have
made little progress in recent years, however.
Leslie Blatteau, president of the New Haven Federation of
Teachers, said she's frustrated the state hasn't distributed more money for air
quality projects. Despite receiving nearly $3 million to upgrade HVAC systems
at a pair of schools, New Haven continues to have buildings that are sweltering
in warmer months and frigid in winter, she said.
"We have buildings in New Haven that need HVAC repairs,
and then I see that the state of Connecticut (has)
billions of surplus, billions of rainy-day fund, and they're saying that
there are budget constraints," Blatteau said. "It doesn't add
up. It doesn't make sense."
Connecticut's air quality grant program began in 2022, after
years of back and forth between advocates, local officials and Gov. Ned Lamont,
who initially
objected to spending state money on school HVAC upgrades, even as the
COVID-19 pandemic magnified
concerns about air quality in Connecticut schools.
In early 2022, a review conducted by the state Department of
Education found that only
40 percent of school facilities for which responses were submitted had
central air conditioning for their entire building and only 53 percent had HVAC
or high efficiency boilers no older than their expected useful life.
Once Lamont eventually came
around on the idea of an air quality grant program, the legislature
authorized $75 million in funding for the 2023 fiscal year, plus an additional
$75 million in federal money. Lawmakers later allocated another $150 million
each for fiscal years 2024 and 2025, making $450 million in total.
The state released $56 million in grants during the
program's first round in 2023 but drew
criticism for denying districts over minor mistakes in their
applications and for failing to distribute the money equitably among wealthy
and poor school systems. Earlier this year, the state announced another
$122 million in grants to 48 districts, including some that were denied the
first time.
The legislature later clawed back the $75 million in federal
funds to use for other purposes.
As of August, the air quality fund had a balance of $150
million, state
documents show. Last month, the state authorized $11.5 million from the
fund for the University of Connecticut construct and install individual
classroom air filters, bringing the total available in the fund to $138.5
million.
Blatteau said she considers air quality essential in
providing students a suitable education.
"Children will learn best when the conditions are
appropriate for learning," she said. "At a minimum, there should be
an expectation that the rooms where kids are learning and where teachers are
teaching are safe, welcoming, well-maintained spaces where temperatures are
appropriate for human beings to be in."
Aquarion closes section of Route 106 in Wilton to install water main that also serves Norwalk
WILTON — A section of Route 106 will be closed on
weekdays as Aquarion Water Co. installs
a critical new utility pipe.
The closure between Old Boston Road and Old Kings Highway
in Wilton began
Monday and is expected to last for three to four weeks, according to the
town's Department of Public Works. Road work will occur from 7 a.m. to 5:30
p.m. Mondays through Fridays, the department said. One lane of alternating
traffic is permitted through the intersection during the closure, according to
Public Works.
Aquarion is finishing the installation
of a 36-inch water main that will replace two aging 18-inch cast iron
pipes, the company said. These 1905 South Norwalk Electric & Water pipes
supply drinking water to a "significant" portion of Norwalk, Aquarion
said.
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"Given the pipe age, material and limited availability
of 18-inch diameter pipe and fittings, failure of these pipes during or after
construction of Aquarion’s project presents an unacceptable risk,"
Aquarion said in an October statement.
Architectural firm to pay back $600K in New London community center overruns
John Penney
New London ― A prominent city-based architectural firm has
agreed to pay nearly $600,000 to cover cost overruns ― ranging from site work
to crew toilets ― at the new community center after its subcontractor failed to
secure crucial state permits in the early stages of the project.
The City Council on Monday approved a settlement that calls
for Silver Petrucelli + Associates to pay $585,000 for “work not done by its
subcontractor, Stadia Engineering Associates, Inc.”
The permitting issues delayed the start of the project by
six months, with crews finally breaking ground in July of 2023.
The settlement money will be used to replenish a community
center project contingency account, said Felix Reyes, the city’s director of
planning and economic development. He said the project’s $40 million total
expected price tag was not affected by the delay costs.
Stadia Engineering, which operates from a Vauxhall Street
office in New London, bills itself as a full-service survey and engineering
consultant firm whose portfolio includes work at Mohegan Sun and Mystic
Seaport.
In addition to land surveying and environmental planning,
the company handles a variety of construction-based work, including those
related to pollution control plans and permitting documents, according to its
website.
Change order documents from the Downes Construction Company,
which is overseeing the entire construction project on the Fort Trumbull
peninsula, list several instances of unplanned spending due to the failure of a
Stadia engineer to obtain a state flood management certificate along with storm
water and wastewater discharge permits.
The extra costs are described by Downes as being the result
of “design miscoordination.” Change orders beginning in November 2023 and
running through this past summer list several instances of unplanned costs,
from winterizing the site and re-trimming overgrowth to increased labor and
material prices.
A June 4 change order notice requesting $476,195 listed
$382,469 in extra staff costs due to the construction delay. Among those costs
were $25,000 for storage containers; $15,000 for a field office trailer;
$12,000 for toilets; and $1,200 for water and coffee.
Downes said it “worked diligently to reduce the impact of
the delays through resequencing of work” and other strategies.
The company stated the project is expected to be
substantially completed by April 24, 2025 with site improvement and landscaping
finished by May 30.
A copy of the proposed settlement, which is not finalized,
was not available Tuesday.
The project’s initial $30 million price tag, approved by the
council in 2021, jumped by approximately $10 million as more detailed cost
figures emerged, with the gap later filled with a combination of state and
federal funding. The city was also awarded a $1.2 million grant through the
state’s Brownfield Remediation program for pre-construction site work.
The community center, which will house a two-court gym,
fitness center and eight-lane pool, along with office and community space, is
scheduled to open in July 2025.
Norwich to buy bank building, seek voter support for $49 million police station
Claire Bessette
Norwich ― The City Council voted 6-1 Monday night to
purchase the Chelsea Groton Bank building on Main Street for $800,000 with a
plan to seek voter support in November 2025 to renovate and expand the building
for a new police station.
Monday’s vote, which followed a lengthy council discussion
and a contentious public hearing, involved only the purchase of the bank
property at 300 Main St. and parking lots at 13 Arcadia St. and 17 Arcadia St.
The meeting was peppered throughout the night with angry
comments back and forth between several residents and council members.
After the hearing, Police Chief Patrick Daley said the
architectural firm Hughes & Cronin of Old Saybrook has estimated the cost
at $49 million to renovate and expand the building, the least expensive of
three potential sites reviewed for the project. The design is expected to meet
the department’s needs for the next 50 years, Daley said.
Daley pledged to hold regular public meetings over the next
11 months to explain the project and receive public input on the plan before
the planned referendum next November. He said the city also will pursue state
and federal grants to offset the local taxpayers’ cost for the project.
Alderwoman Shiela Hayes cast the lone dissenting vote. Hayes
questioned why the city needed to purchase the building nearly a year before
the police station referendum. She asked how likely it would be that the
building would be sold to another buyer before the referendum.
She also questioned what the city would do if residents
reject the police station.
“It is about the building,” Hayes said, “not about
supporting a new police station.”
City Manager John Salomone said the bank lowered the price
from the initial $1.4 million asking price to $800,000 if the building could be
sold before Dec. 31. Salomone said that price is only good through Dec. 31.
The bank plans to relocate its administrative offices to its
facility in Groton and will seek leased space downtown to open a new bank
branch.
Salomone acknowledged the process is a bit unorthodox. He
said he is very confident the city could find a developer to purchase the bank
building if residents reject the police station. Owning the building would give
the city control over what is developed there in the future.
Residents worried about rising taxes
During the public hearing, angry residents complained the
police station proposal will come in the wake of sharp tax increases last July.
Nicholas Casiano, a recent Republican state representative
candidate, complained the proposal comes after huge bonding measures, including
the $385 million to build new schools and $145 million to bond the city’s
pension debt.
“And now this,” Casiano said.
He said property taxes keep rising as the council continues
to increase spending and bonding large projects. Referring to comments by
police that the department heating system is faulty, Casiano said residents are
forced to lower the thermostats in their homes, because they cannot afford high
taxes.
“I got a text from woman this morning asking, ‘Who’s going
to pay for this police station after all the working people have left?’”
Casiano said. “We have a larger and larger tax burden on fewer and fewer
people.”
Resident Joanne Philbrick expressed frustration at
repeatedly trying to obtain information about the police station project and
other measures and running into roadblocks. A frequent critic of the council,
Philbrick complained that aldermen refuse to look at her when she speaks at
meetings.
Later, the meeting decorum broke down several times as
speakers shouted at the council, tried to speak on items not on the agenda and
tried to re-address the police station issue after that vote had taken place .
Mayor Peter Nystrom repeatedly attempted to assuage speakers
or to enforce council protocols.
“How in the hell are any of you not ashamed of yourselves,”
resident David Attis said during the bank public hearing.
Nystrom defended the council for taking bold actions in
recent years to acquire the dilapidated former YMCA property on Main Street and
securing developer, Mattern Construction, to build its new headquarters there,
to support a developer for the Reid & Hughes building on Main Street after
decades of failed attempts and to purchase the blighted and long-vacant Marina
Towers building that at Norwich Harbor.
“This council had the nerve to do things,” Nystrom said.
Mixed-use redevelopment proposed for iconic Republican American newspaper HQ in Waterbury
Featuring a 245-foot-tall clock tower adorned with
gargoyles, the roughly 70,000-square-foot brick headquarters of The Republican
American newspaper in the center of Waterbury is among the most recognizable
buildings in Connecticut.
Now, the family-run company that owns the Meadow Street
property and newspaper is proposing to transform the iconic, century-old
building into a mix of 38 luxury apartments, office space and retail,
potentially including a high-end restaurant. The daily newspaper would continue
to occupy 10,000 square feet of the building.
City officials say the project by the American Republican
Inc., which is helmed by newspaper publisher William B. Pape, will complement
other ongoing transformations of historic downtown buildings into a mix of
apartments and commercial space. It also fits well with the city’s years-long
efforts to redevelop dozens of underutilized and polluted industrial acres
along nearby Freight Street.
“We’re thrilled with the proposal that came through,”
Waterbury Economic Development Director Joseph McGrath said. “It’s going to be
a total asset to the mission of reviving downtown and making Freight Street
accessible to development.”
The current plan, McGrath said, would have the family that
owns the newspaper continue to own the redeveloped property.
The American Republican Inc. has teamed up with Parker
Benjamin Real Estate Services LLC, a Farmington-based investment and real
estate services firm with expertise in renovation of historic properties.
Parker Benjamin was involved in the transformation of an
1860-vintage nut-and-bolt factory in Farmington into the Upson Market Place,
which includes luxury residences, shops, galleries, restaurants and offices. It
also worked on the transformation of an 1852-era mill complex in Winsted into a
mix of shops, galleries, eateries and offices.
Parker Benjamin has been working with city and state
officials quietly for more than a year to prepare the estimated $12 million
proposal. The project team has spent more than $100,000 advancing plans.
Now, the Waterbury Development Corp. is asking the city’s
Board of Aldermen to endorse an application for $250,000 in state grant funds
to pay for detailed architectural and site planning. The request is scheduled
to go before the board on Dec. 9.
The city would be applying for funds through the state’s Community Investment
Fund 2030 grant program. This state legislator-led initiative launched in 2022
with a mission to invest up to $875 million in development projects in
distressed communities over five years. Applications for the latest round are
due Dec. 13.
According to a draft application, the development team is also seeking state
and federal historic tax credits to fund development. There have been meetings
with city staff regarding zoning compliance, as well as with the State Office
of Historic Preservation concerning the historic implications of the
project.
Completed in 1909, the “Union Station” building was designed
in the Renaissance Revival style for the New York, New Haven and Hartford
Railroad Co., according to the Society of Architectural Historians. The tower’s
design was adapted from the 14th-century Torre del Mangia tower in Siena,
Italy.
As railroad ridership declined following World War II, the
building was slated for demolition, according to the Society of Architectural
Historians. The Pape family purchased it in 1952 and retrofitted the building
to house their growing newspaper organization, according to the society.
Today, the Republican American building sits along a
commuter rail line running between Waterbury and Bridgeport, and right next to
a passenger train platform. Officials see this as a perfect opportunity for
transit-oriented development.
Woodbury’s Transylvania Road set to reopen after flooding collapse
STEVE BIGHAM
WOODBURY – Heavily traveled Transylvania Road could reopen
as early as Friday after having been closed since a section of it collapsed 15
weeks ago during the historic flooding Aug. 18.
Workers were paving the new section of road Tuesday and
guardrails were scheduled to go up Thursday, weather permitting.
A busy secondary route between Southbury and Woodbury,
Transylvania Road was one of dozens of heavily damaged roads in the wake of the
flooding. Southbury’s Old Field Road is the only other road that still has a
closure.
Woodbury public works Director Rich Lamothe said repairing
Transylvania Road took longer than expected due to a lengthy permitting process
that included both the state Department of Environmental and Engery Protection
and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.
Lamothe also noted the project required more engineering and
design work because the damaged section acts as a dam between a wetlands area
and nearby Raney Pond, which lies at the foot of Woodlake condominium complex.
First Selectman Barbara K. Perkinson said the U.S. Fish and
Wildlife Service also has been involved with the project because of the
protected bog turtles in the area.
Woodbury sustained an estimated $1.1 million in flooding
damage, though Perkinson said she’s not expecting to receive the full 75% from
FEMA.
Southbury, facing an estimated $91 million in damage, is
expected to receive up to 75% reimbursement.
Old Field Road remains closed because a pair of culverts
failed. A project to rebuild the road already was in the engineering phase
before a section of the road was destroyed. Southbury officials said they are
moving ahead with the project just as they would have had there not been any
flooding. The road is expected to reopen in the spring.