October 7, 2025

CT Construction Digest Tuesday October 7, 2025

Drainage worries resurface with Norwalk's plan for $125M rebuild of West Rocks Middle School

Ignacio Laguarda

NORWALK — When a new athletic field was installed at West Rocks Middle School in Norwalk in 2020, heavy rain caused a mudslide into the yards of neighborhood residents, which is why some are raising alarm bells at the plan to build a new school at the site.

"I think you're going to have a lot of pushback on where you're trying to site it and where the staging will be," Common Council member Heather Dunn said during a meeting of the council's Land Use & Building Management Committee on Oct. 1.

Dunn, who represents the district where the school sits, said residents of the abutting Sunrise Hill condominium complex are likely to bring up the drainage issues. Many of them, she said, still have "very hard feelings" about the previous flooding.

The tentative plan is to build the new West Rocks on the location of the athletic fields and construct new fields on the spot where the school currently sits. That means that the new three-story school would be closer to the condos.

"I do not understand why we're pushing a building up against a very densely populated area without the buffer, the fields," said Dunn, who added that she opposes the current configuration of the planned new school.

Committee Chair Barbara Smyth said there are real concerns from residents about water runoff from the site. However, she said building a school at the location would be a good opportunity to address those issues.

"This is the opportunity to truly address the drainage problem there and make things better for the people who live there," Smyth said.

Michael LoSasso, principal with the Bridgeport-based architectural firm Antinozzi Associates, said there are statutory requirements to mitigate runoff from the property with the new school building.

A public meeting on the school project is scheduled for Oct. 7 at the school from 7 to 8:30 p.m.

The new West Rocks Middle School, projected to cost about $125 million, would open in the fall of 2030, with work scheduled to begin in the spring of 2028. The state would pay for 60% of the work.

The project will be part of the the 2026-27 capital budget request, meaning it still needs approval from local boards.

The Norwalk Board of Education commissioned a districtwide feasibility study of all the city's school buildings in 2021. West Rocks, which serves grades 6 through 8, was determined to be the most in need of improvements as the nearly 70-year-old structure was nearing the end of its anticipated lifespan. 

The current school has a floor area of 100,508 square feet, and the new structure is expected to be 121,838 square feet. The new West Rocks is expected to serve a student population of 720, and would offer five classrooms at each grade level, with a 24-student capacity for each space. The current West Rocks has an enrollment of 635 students.


Fairfield, Bridgeport residents lead rally against UI monopole project

Ken Dixon

BRIDGEPORT — A landmark South End church was the rallying point Sunday afternoon for Fairfield and Bridgeport residents who want a proposed $300 million United Illuminating Co. power line project to be buried underground instead of strung across 7.3 miles through residential backyards as well as religious and commercial properties.

About 180 people filled the sanctuary of the Shiloh Baptist Church in a sometimes rowdy secular revival meeting, concerned that if the Connecticut Siting Council approves the plan later this month and its 102 towers - called monopoles - UI could force the take over of more than 19 acres of property from historic Southport east into Bridgeport's South End and downtown.

The Rev. Carl McCluster, pastor of the 85-year-old church, pointed out a red-and-yellow line of tape that runs from the Broad Street sidewalk, on to the church property and up along the building, illustrating his fear that current UI plans to obtain property rights, called easements, might eventually result in tearing down the section of the church that contains his office as well as the furnace and air conditioning equipment.

"That would be unusable, under the easement," he said. "We bought it, we paid for it, we own it, it's ours and you can't have it. If anybody thinks they're going to walk over the sacrifice that these people made to have this building and this spot, you're going to have to pry my cold dead hands off the front of this building before you can have it. We're not going to let them land grab out of our hands."

UI spokesperson Sarah Wall Fliotsos said in a statement that it is "becoming increasingly clear that the intervenors are not interested in good faith efforts to find a viable, cost-effective solution.”

“The escalating rhetoric from the intervenors is concerning but not surprising, as skepticism of the intervenors’ preference to add half a billion dollars to Connecticut electric bills with an underground alternative continues to grow," she said. "In line with Governor Lamont’s repeated calls for negotiation on this plan, we stand ready to work with other parties to discuss possible solutions that balance the interests of the local community with all state residents who will bear the costs of a more expensive solution, as evidenced by our repeated outreach to the intervenors and their attorneys."

While residents and advocates have spoke about fears of buildings being demolished, UI has previously stated it does not have plans to take people's homes nor demolishing them. Instead, it is looking for easements.

McCluster spoke of how the South End has been the home of a "diaspora" of new U.S. citizens, from Black people moving from the South during the Great Migration, to Italians and Portuguese, to now, South Americans.

"You are here now and we are here now and we are here to stay," said McCluster, pointing out fellow local church leaders who make up the South End Pastors Collaborative. "People have suffered to build this community into what it is and the full right and privilege to participate in what is to be. No one can determine for us what our community is going to be."

McCluster pointed out the potential strength of unified action in opposition to UI. "Has anyone ever figured out that if we work together, Fairfield and Bridgeport, we can get a while lot more done? We form the largest metropolitan area in the state of Connecticut, together." His son Matthew McCluster led a song he wrote for the occasion with a chorus of "Bury the poles," a group chant that filled the church sanctuary.

"Fairfield and Bridgeport together, we are going to fight this," said Fairfield Selectman Christine Vitale, sharing the podium with Bridgeport Mayor Joe Ganim. "It's a fight that we are not giving up and we will take any action we need to take in order to make sure that these lines are buried, ideally, but we're willing to come to the table looking for alternatives," she said. "If there's an alternative out there that protects our communities, we are willing to listen and work for solutions."  

 Ganim described UI officials as less-than polite during an attempt by the city and town to persuade UI to bury the 115 kV line. "The city's not going to get stepped on, rolled over, pushed aside," said Ganim, pointing to recent burying of similar high-voltage lines in Stamford and Greenwich. 

Ganim recalled the recent meeting with UI executives in Fairfield's Independence Hall Town that ended badly. Ganim said UI met the elected officials with attitude of "disdain" and "arrogance" that was insulting at a moment when the town and city leaders were trying to solicit compromise. "We're not going to let this go away," Ganim said, predicting that Bridgeport may eventually seek legal action if the project wins approval from the Siting Council on October 16.

Steve Ozyck, a Southport resident and co-founder of the Sasco Creek Neighbors Environmental Trust, Inc., said four church properties would be impacted: two in Bridgeport and two in Fairfield. He stressed that power lines are needed, but questioned whether they have to be removed from the catenary equipment above the tracks.


Groton Scrambles to Cover $6.7M Seawall Cost Overrun After Missing Out on State Funding

Amy Wu, Ally LeMaster, 

GROTON — City officials are scrambling to find a way to reimburse millions of taxpayer dollars after dipping into the capital fund balance to pay for a more than $6.7 million overrun of seawall construction. 

Groton City’s plan to cover the multimillion dollar cost for what Mayor Keith Hedrick called a “re-engineering” of the replacement Shore Avenue seawall through a state grant, collapsed on Sept. 30 when it was not chosen for a state Community Investment Fund grant. 

Hedrick said what initially started out as a $4.1 million project to replace a “failing” seawall has ballooned to project that will cost at least $10.7 million. 

BL Companies, a Hartford-based engineering firm, originally bid to reconstruct the seawall for $2.7 million. But after construction on the project began in March 2024, the planned work required a significant overhaul.

A closer look at BL Companies’ original proposal for the seawall showed that one of the three soil samples for the project did not show bedrock — crucial for the seawall as it provides stability and anchoring. 

Despite this, the project moved forward until the city hired Trumbull-based GZA GeoEnvironmental to undertake a complete re-engineering of the project, according to Hedrick. 

Since the re-engineering of the seawall started, Hedrick said the added work has added $6.6 million to the project costs — but records show the city has asked for $9.8 million to complete the project, a $3.2 million discrepancy.

Hedrick said there is no deadline to reimburse the town’s capital fund, but that paying back the money would be critical to preventing other projects in the pipeline from being placed on hold.

“That means other projects may not get funded in the future that we were setting money aside for,” Hedrick said, but he declined to name projects other than a plan to purchase a new firetruck.

Financing upfront 

For about a decade, the city has discussed replacing the more than 350-foot-long seawall, which town of Groton historian Jim Streeter estimates was built around 1880. 

Pictures provided to CT Examiner before the replacement of the seawall show large and deep cracks in the wall. 

Although the city did not conduct a study to test the seawall’s viability before replacing it, Hedrick anecdotally noted the wall’s decay. 

“When you go down there, and you lay on the ground, and you stick your arm up there, you can’t touch anything, that means there’s a gap between the sand and the bottom of the roadway and the seawall, and at some point, with the erosion from the tide, it’s going to take enough soil away that there’s nothing to support the roadway, and the roadway would collapse,” he said. 

The state initially gave the town a $2.7 million grant to replace the seawall. Hendrick said the town also used $1.4 million of American Rescue Plan Act funds toward the project. 

Construction on the seawall began in March 2024. 

In January 2025, State Sen. Heather Somers and State Rep. AundrĂ© Bumgardner proposed legislation that would have authorized $9.7 million in state bonding to pay for seawall repairs — a measure that died last legislative session. 

Then in April 2025, the City Council approved roughly $3.3 million from the city capital fund balance to pay a construction company for work on the seawall. That July, the council also authorized $3.4 million to be taken from the same fund for the wall. 

 “The project is currently being paid for by the city and we’re looking for monies to reimburse the city for expenditures,” Hedrick said. 

Earlier this year, Groton applied for a $9.8 million grant from the Community Investment Fund — a $875 million pot of money given to underserved communities — but the project was not chosen for funding. 

In a statement to CT Examiner, Town Manager John Burt said there are no plans to reapply for the grant. But while Groton has not yet learned why the project was not chosen for funding, Burt surmised that it was the high cost.

Hedrick said he was exploring ways for taxpayers to secure reimbursement, including by state bonding.

But even as the project has gone over budget by millions of dollars, Hedrick underscored the importance of replacing the seawall. 

“The ultimate downside risk in postponing construction on this retaining wall was that it would fail, and the utilities that are in, then, and therefore the roadway would fail, and then, therefore, the utilities that are in the roadway would collapse, and we would introduce raw sewage into the Long Island Sound. And that’s not on anybody’s bucket list. Nobody wants to do that,” he said.

Hedrick noted that the seawall “was never intended to restrict flooding.” The priority was to protect Shore Avenue and the utilities within the vicinity.

Contacted on Thursday, the city’s finance department still had not responded to questions regarding the amount of money left in the city’s capital fund balance in time for publication on Monday evening.

Before drawing down $6.7 million for the seawall, the capital fund balance sat at $8.5 million in 2024, according to the last available audit released by the city. 

In addition to reimbursing taxpayers, Hendrick said the city may need to pay back an undisclosed amount of money to Groton Utilities. 

“We are borrowing money for the seawall itself. If there’s extra money available, then we may reimburse Groton Utilities for some of the expenses that they’ve incurred. My focus is on reimbursing the capital fund from the City of Groton,” Hedrick said.

What’s next?

Deputy Mayor Gwen Depot said her plan was to pursue a project postmortem and analyze the root causes of any problems that occurred. 

“It’s our responsibility to the residents, especially since they are asking for it,” Depot said. 

While she awaits more documentation on the project, Depot said if there is project overspending, “the city should provide an explanation to residents on how we can prevent it from happening again.” 

“We will do an investigation later,” Hedrick said. 


Kosta Diamantis trial starts with prosecutors outlining alleged bribes

Andrew Brown and Dave Altimari

The bribes to Konstantinos Diamantis, the former head of Connecticut’s school construction office, were delivered to him in a variety of locations, according to prosecutors.

The cash payments were dropped off at Diamantis’ house in Farmington, exchanged in a bathroom at the Capitol Grille in Hartford and were passed along to him in a Dunkin’ Donuts across from the government office building where he worked, prosecutors said.

During opening arguments of his criminal trial in U.S. District Court in Bridgeport on Monday, federal prosecutors painted Diamantis, a former state deputy budget director, as someone who was eager to profit from his public position and “begged, pleaded and threatened” school contractors to pay him bribes.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Jonathan Francis spent nearly half an hour during the opening day of the high-profile criminal trial laying out the case against Diamantis and previewing some of the evidence and testimony that jurors will see during the trial.

Bottom of Form

Diamantis was charged last year with more than 22 federal counts of bribery, extortion, conspiracy and lying to federal investigators following a multiyear investigation.

The prosecutors told the jurors that they would prove that Diamantis solicited bribes from construction firms in return for his exerting control over the state’s multibillion-dollar school building program, which he oversaw for more than six years.

They quickly followed those arguments by providing a preview of several text messages, emails and voicemails in which Diamantis and the school construction contractors discussed how much was expected to be paid.

“Just so you both (know). I’m very good at what I do and always do what I say,” Diamantis wrote in one of those text exchanges. “And I always usually work at 5 percent of total. Just FYI.”

“I shouldn’t have to beg. He owed me 77 2 months ago,” he added in another.

Diamantis, who was fired from his job as state deputy budget director in 2021, sat silently at the defense table taking notes as prosecutors laid out the case against him.

Meanwhile, Diamantis’ defense attorney, Norm Pattis, declined to deliver any opening statement to the jury.

The first witness

The first witness that prosecutors called to the stand quickly put the criminal allegations into full focus for the jurors.

Over and over, John Duffy, the former vice president of Acranom Masonry, stated in front of the jury that he and his boss, Sal Monarca, paid bribes to Diamantis. And in return, Duffy explained, Diamantis secured work for Acranom on the state-funded school projects.

Prosecutors walked Duffy, who is Diamantis’ former brother-in-law, through a set of text messages and emails that allegedly showed Diamantis using his influence to ensure Acranom won a $3 million contract for the masonry work on the Weaver High School project in Hartford.

“Please make sure vote tonight goes for us. Talk to your guy,” Duffy wrote to Diamantis in one exchange.

In response Diamantis wrote: “I already did.”

“Thanks bro,” Duffy replied. “U should be president.”

The jurors also got to hear Diamantis’ voice in a recorded voicemail, in which he allegedly pressured Duffy for another bribe after Acranom won a contract for the Birch Grove Elementary project in Tolland.

In the voicemail, Diamantis argued that Monarca broke the deal by delaying the alleged bribery payment. And Diamantis said that he needed the money from Acranom immediately in order to pay for his younger daughter’s tuition and daughter’s wedding.

“You can tell your boy he f***ed me big though cuz now I don’t know which way I’m gonna turn,” Diamantis said on the voicemail message.

Diamantis told Duffy in a later text message that he owed a bunch of creditors and added, “(Monarca) has singlehandedly ruin my life and my daughter’s wedding because I trusted him.”

Duffy’s text messages also showed how Diamantis continued to hound the executives from Acranom for more money in return for his continued assistance on Connecticut school projects.

“He’s all about full time consultation and annual fee,” Duffy texted Monarca at one point, referring to Diamantis.

“We paid him 35k,” Monarca, the owner of Acranom masonry, replied.

In another message, Duffy referred to Diamantis as a “vulture” and complained that he wouldn’t stop contacting him to ask for more money.

“(He) wants something tomorrow. He has to pay bills. All this BS every other day for two weeks,” Duffy wrote.

In the messages, Diamantis often came off as someone who was desperate for money and he frequently cried poverty to try to convince the contractors to pay up.

“Johnny, I’m drowning,” Diamantis wrote to Duffy during the Tolland school project. “I need you to make (Monarca) keep his word ASAP.”

Duffy, who already pleaded guilty to bribery last year, calmly testified about his dealings with Diamantis during the trial Monday.

But prosecutors also forced Duffy to admit that he initially lied when he was first questioned by federal investigators about the alleged bribery.

Duffy told the jurors that he only acknowledged the alleged bribery after being confronted with the mountain of text messages that were obtained by prosecutors.

“I saw a number of texts that proved what really happened,” Duffy told the jury.

Prosecutors claim that Duffy was not the only person who sought to cover up their actions.

During the opening arguments, Francis also told the jury that they would get to listen to several recorded interviews in which Diamantis allegedly lied to investigators about accepting money from Acranom and another contractor, Construction Advocacy Professionals.

They also highlighted a text message in which Diamantis instructed Duffy to delete their written conversations.

“Erase this shit,” he wrote.