CT Construction Digest February 1, 2023
New London looks to state legislators to ensure full reimbursement for school demo project
Johana Vazquez
New London ― In 2020, the city began work on the $108 million reconstruction and expansion of New London High School.
But last year the state said it would not reimburse the city for more than $4 million in demolition and abatement work after it failed to seek public bids for that portion of the project.
City officials maintain they were doing what was recommended to them by former members of the Office of School Construction Grants & Review, which was to choose a firm from a list of pre-approved state contractors.
Local and state officials are now confident that the General Assembly will pass a bill in the current session to ensure the city will be reimbursed for the $4 million.
Mayor Michael Passero said Tuesday that his impression is the city does not have to pay the $4 million. He added the situation calls for a legislative fix.
“It was not a problem created by the city. The city cannot be expected to pay,” he said.
The state is reimbursing the city 80% of the costs of most of the project and 95% of a $10 million portion added in 2019.
Passero said the city was not directly involved in hiring AAIS Corporation, the West-Haven-based demolition contractor, in 2020. He said the Office of School Construction directed Newfield + Downes, the construction manager for the project, to take the demolition contract off the list of work set to go out for public bid and to instead hire a company off the state-approved bid list. There were 25 other construction packages that did go out to public bid.
In a March 5, 2020 email to Diana McNeil, the city’s senior manager of the project, Tom DiMauro of Newfield + Downes confirmed the demolition work would be purchased off the state bid list.
DiMauro said he was in contact with now-deceased Mike Sanders from the Office of School Construction, who worked under Konstantinos Diamantis, the former leader of the program. In the email, he said Diamantis “is recommending/favoring this option and will be very supportive.”
Other towns and local leaders have accused Diamantis of encouraging the same in their local school projects. Diamantis has denied instructing any school district to choose a specific contractor for demolition and abatement work.
Following the bid selection, the city’s School Building and Maintenance Committee as well as the City Council approved the demolition contract.
Brian Doughty, a member of the Board of Education and School Building and Maintenance Committee, said the situation was often discussed at the committee meetings. He said it was incredibly disappointing to hear the possibility of not getting reimbursed.
“I felt like we went about this contract the correct way through guidance from the state and now the state is in a sense washing its hands of the situation, although they appear to be giving us guidance moving forward,” he said.
Doughty said the city and school district found out about the denial for reimbursement in June 2022 through a letter from the Department of Administrative Services. He said the department has vouched it would support legislation to “essentially rectify the situation.”
State Sen. Martha Marx and state representatives Anthony Nolan and Christine Conley introduced a bill in the General Assembly in early January that states the city will “be provided assistance at the full reimbursement rate for abatement and demolition work performed during the period of 2020 to 2023.”
Nolan, re-elected for his third term in November, said he doesn’t think its fair the school is in this situation for listening to recommendations by the state. He said the legislators plan on talking with other districts facing a similar situation.
Marx said she is confident the bill will be successful.
Despite complications with reimbursement, construction on the project has never stopped.
The DAS in an email suggested the city stop construction and look for another vendor. But Doughty said the project was too far along in construction and in its contract with AAIS. He said it would cost more to go through the bidding process and hire a new contractor.
Doughty said the project is still on schedule and the school should be completed sometime in the fall of this year.
CT commissioner grilled about school construction audit
Andrew Brown
Michelle Gilman, who was nominated for a full term as commissioner of the state Department of Administrative Services, was grilled Tuesday by lawmakers who are unsatisfied with a recent audit of the state’s controversial school construction program.
That program, which is overseen by DAS, landed in the center of a federal grand jury investigation last year after questions were raised about how millions of dollars in state grants were awarded to local school building projects.
Gilman, who was first nominated to serve as DAS Commissioner last year, was appointed to that post after the federal investigation came to light.
On Tuesday, she was questioned by lawmakers on the Executive and Legislative Nominations Committee during her nomination hearing about how she and the agency have responded in the wake of the federal investigation to address concerns from municipalities that rely on the program to refurbish or build schools.
To showcase the agency’s response, Gilman pointed to an independent audit that was recently completed on the school construction program. That audit examined records for 111 different school projects that received grants between 2018 and 2021.
Gilman, who was eventually confirmed by the committee on an 8-2 vote, assured legislators that under her leadership the agency was moving to “rectify the wrongs” with those projects.
“We’ve taken a number of steps to restore trust in that program,” Gilman said, “And we recognize that it may be some time before there is full trust and confidence in that program.”
Several Republicans and one Democrat, however, pressed Gilman about the scope of the audit and questioned whether the 23-page report would actually correct the most serious issues exposed last year.
Local officials from several towns alleged in the wake of the federal investigation that Konstantinos Diamantis, the former director of the school construction office, pressured them to hire specific contractors for their school projects. Those allegations included contracts for construction administrators, general contractors and demolition and remediation companies.
Yet despite those allegations, Gilman and the other leadership at DAS did not instruct the independent auditors to speak with local school districts or to explore whether Diamantis sought to steer any contracts to specific companies. Instead, the audit focused narrowly on the paperwork and processes that the state uses to manage the individual school projects.
Diamantis, who stepped down from his posts in state government in late 2021 amid multiple investigations into his conduct, has denied any wrongdoing.
Even so, several Republican legislators who took part in the hearing Tuesday said they did not understand why the state did not instruct the auditors to speak with the town attorneys, school superintendents and local elected leaders who claimed they were pressured by Diamantis when he ran the program.
“Why not get right to the heart of the matter?” asked Sen. Henri Martin, a Republican from Bristol, one of the towns that was allegedly instructed to hire a specific demolition and abatement company that was recommended by the state.
Gilman told lawmakers that municipal officials were not questioned because the scope of the audit was focused on reviewing the documentation that the state collects after each school construction project is completed.
She also suggested it would be inappropriate for the state to look into matters that were potentially being investigated by the FBI and a federal grand jury.
That explanation didn’t stop the flurry of question from state lawmakers, however.
“Many of us legislators feel that we’ve evaded the real issue,” said Sen. Heather Somers, R-Groton.
Somers said it was vital for DAS to investigate what happened with school construction contracts in the past, especially since the state borrows billions of dollars to fund those projects.
House Minority Leader Kevin Kelly, R-Stratford, pointed out that Gilman could have changed the focus of the audit if she wanted to, and he questioned whether the roughly $240,000 that the state spent on the report was worth it.
“You defined what you wanted to look at. But you are not looking at what we would like to look at,” Kelly said. “Whenever the federal government investigates conduct and issues subpoenas, it’s not a good day.”
Rep. Tammy Nuccio, R-Tolland, was even more blunt about the situation. She said DAS could not expect the independent auditors to get at the root of the problem if they weren’t allowed to ask the right questions.
Nuccio, who is a financial analyst, said there was a phrase for that in her industry. “Garbage in, garbage out,” she said.
Nuccio specifically referenced the Birch Grove Primary School project in Tolland, where local officials alleged they were told to hire a specific construction administrator and general contractor for the project without any bids.
Those allegations can’t be investigated by looking at state paperwork, Nuccio said.
The Republican lawmakers asked Gilman whether she would consider, or support, expanding the scope of the audit to examine past interactions between municipalities and the state school construction office.
But Gilman told lawmakers that she had no plans to commission that type of analysis or to delve any deeper into the past work of the school construction office.
Even so, Gilman said DAS continued to encourage the leaders of municipalities and school districts to come forward with any issues they encountered in the past.
As an example, Gilman cited New London, where local officials were recently told the state will not pay for roughly $4 million in demolition and abatement work for a new high school project.
The state is refusing to cover the cost of that work because New London did not solicit competitive bids before it hired its demolition contractor, as state law requires. Local officials have alleged, however, that they were following the advice of Diamantis when they hired a contractor preselected by the state.
Gilman told lawmakers that she expects other issues like that to pop up as the new leaders of the school construction office continue to review recently completed school projects.
“There have been other schools that have come forward with similar contracting issues, where they may have been directed to use different processes and procedures than are outlined in our regulations and statutes,” Gilman said.
“We are certainly working with those districts, and I expect more to come forward,” she added.
Plans for 216,000-sq.-ft. Waterbury medical office complex move forward
Michael Puffer
A developer floating a proposal to build a 216,000-square-foot medical office complex between a busy retail-lined street and a neighborhood in Waterbury won a key land-use approval last week.
The city’s Zoning Commission, meeting Jan. 25, approved a petition by 84 Vistas LLC to change the zoning of 40.2 acres from residential to arterial commercial. It is a victory for the partners behind 84 Vistas, whose plans for the property had been thwarted for years by legal challenges coming from a nearby residential neighborhood.
This approval, if it stands unchallenged in court, will allow for commercial development, following staff review of as-of-yet unsubmitted plans to ensure they conform to the new zoning. Any adverse wetlands impacts may also require a public hearing before the city’s Inland Wetlands and Watercourses Commission.
The developer paid $210,000 for the property in 2015, according to assessing records. It lies between the Reidville Drive retail corridor to the north; Interstate Lane to the east; the busy, residential-lined Prospect Road to the west; and a thickly settled single-family neighborhood to the south.
As it sought a zone change, 84 Vistas submitted a conceptual design showing a campus of four buildings ranging in size from 26,400 square feet to 100,000 square feet.
This isn’t the first time 84 Vistas has won a zone change for this property, however. The Zoning Commission first approved a change to commercial use in 2016, at a time when 84 Vistas shared its intention to pursue a large-scale retail complex.
A judge overturned that zone change following a legal challenge by an area resident.
City Planner Robert Nerney said the crux of that reversal was the court’s finding the property did not have adequate frontage, despite the city’s willingness to grant an easement through city-owned property onto Interstate Lane.
The court found the easement did not constitute adequate frontage, Nerney explained. That challenge was overcome last year, Nerney said, when the city agreed to sell 84 Vistas a 7-acre property along Interstate Lane.
The zone change approved last week maintains a 50-foot buffer from residential properties, Nerney said.
Medical offices are not anticipated to be heavy traffic generators and could serve as a “transitional buffer” between the heavier retail development of Reidville Drive and the neighborhood to its south, Nerney said.
Stratford bridge under construction, official says
STRATFORD — A worker suffered serious injuries Tuesday morning after she fell through a hole in the Washington Bridge, plummeting as much as 50 feet to a construction barge below, according to the fire department.
Firefighters used ropes to rescue the 55-year-old woman who was placed on a fire boat and taken to the hospital by an ambulance once they reached shore, Stratford Assistant Fire Chief Robert Daniel said.
The Occupational Safety and Health Administration is investigating the fall, Stratford police said.
The incident happened shortly before 8 a.m. Tuesday on the bridge, which spans the Housatonic River, connecting Boston Post Road in Stratford to the Devon section of Milford.
The woman fell through an approximately 3-by-5-foot hole in the bridge, according to Daniel. It was unclear if anything was covering the hole when the woman fell.
Daniel said the woman, who is an employee of the contractor repairing the bridge, fell 40 to 50 feet to the barge below. She was found "in a pretty tight area," of the barge, he said.
He said the woman was alert and oriented after the fall.
Firefighters moored a boat alongside the barge and requested paramedics for advanced life support, Daniel said. The woman was treated and stabilized before firefighters extricated her from the barge and got her on the rescue boat.
She was then transported to the shore where an ambulance took her to Bridgeport Hospital.
The Department of Transportation has contracted out the rehabilitation of the bridge, a nearly $20 million project that's expected to be completed this June.
Daniel said the high-angle rope rescue was "very uncommon," but the department had trained so most of its members are able to utilize it.
“They used their training this morning," he added.
North End field upgrade begins with demolition, fence removal in Meriden
Michael Gagne
MERIDEN — Two separate projects to improve sports fields and outdoor recreation facilities in the city’s north end are now moving forward.
One of those projects is a roughly $2 million upgrade to the North End Field Little League complex at 234 Britannia St. That facility currently includes fields used by the Jack Barry and Ed Walsh leagues, which combined to form Meriden Little League.
When completed, the North End complex will have two turf fields — a baseball diamond along with a new softball field.
The other project, northwest of the existing fields, will convert a neighboring full-size basketball court into a half-court with the addition of a new playground next to it.
On Monday, city crews began demolishing the structures around the ball fields, including removing their fencing and back stops, explained Chris Bourdon, city director of parks and recreation.
The demolition also calls for the removal of the existing concession stand at the corner of Britannia and Tremont streets. “That’s going to be part of the softball field moving forward,” Bourdon said.
Residents whose properties abut the field received notices from the city regarding the demolition work. That was part of the permit issued to allow the demolition, Bourdon explained.
“We had to send letters as part of the permit. But we have no plans to touch anyone’s private property or buildings,” Bourdon said, acknowledging the notifications may have prompted some confusion among residents.
In October 2021, Meriden Public Schools officials announced the complex would be among a group of athletic fields in the city that would be upgraded with new turf surfaces, through the school district’s American Rescue Plan Act monies.
Officials previously stated the upgrades would require less maintenance than the current field, allowing for consistent playability, especially following inclement weather.
Officials planned to complete the project in 2022. But it did not proceed, because responsive bids from contractors for the project exceeded its budget by around $500,000. Officials said the project scope was revised and re-advertised.
“So we took stuff out of the bids,” said Michael Grove, assistant school superintendent for finance and operations for Meriden Public Schools. Grove described the process that followed as “a little bit of value engineering.”
It is being funded through $1.8 million of the school district’s ARPA funds, along with another $400,000 from the city, Grove explained.
“This time, the city and the board are partnering together on the North End Field,” Grove said.
Mayor Kevin Scarpati wrote in an email the city took action during a recent City Council Finance Committee and following council meeting to allocate that $400,000 to “make up the difference in funding.”
“We are still working at bringing costs down, but I believe the City funding was transferred from funds that were remaining as part of an open bridge project that had been completed and had bonded money remaining,” Scarpati wrote.
To reduce costs, parks department staff will complete the demolition of above ground features at the park. “So the fencing, backstops, things of that nature,” Bourdon said Tuesday. “... Right now, we started on the fencing and bleachers yesterday.”
Meanwhile, the basketball court and playground construction will be funded through other grant monies received by Trinity Financial, the developers overseeing the construction of a mixed-income housing development at 85 Tremont St. Officials did not provide a timeline for that project.
Officials expect contractors to begin the field reconstruction work in April. Those fields won’t be available for Washington Middle School’s spring athletic season. However, officials expect the work will be completed by September, allowing those fields to be used by the public during the fall sports season.
Grove said Washington Middle School’s teams will have other fields to play on this spring. They will be bused to the fields by Edison Middle School and at the Dunn Sports Complex.
Scarpati described the ongoing projects as part of a “greater North End neighborhood redevelopment.” He added that the Board of Education and Trinity Financial are partners in what he described as a “community project.”
Holly Wills, president of the Meriden Council of Neighborhoods, described city officials as having been “very communicative, very open with” North End residents about the process.
“Projects like this always improve the overall neighborhood and quality of life,” Wills said of the fields project. “It’s great to see that the city is investing funds into this neighborhood to improve it.”
In addition, the developers of the Tremont Street project, have also been in contact with the North End Neighborhood Association regarding that project.
“They are looking forward to neighborhood input,” Wills said.
In the same week when some New Britain homeowners were organizing opposition to a proposed cannabis-growing center in their city, Bloomfield authorized one in that town with no public pushback at all.
Bloomfield’s planning and zoning commission unanimously approved a nearly 46,000-square-foot cultivation center Thursday night, with members mostly complimenting Fine Fettle for planning to build it.
At a hearing, seven people submitted letters of support and nobody either wrote or spoke in opposition. Fine Fettle promised an elaborate security system for the facility and pledged to seek local candidates for at least some of the new jobs.
Fine Fettle Chief Operating Officer Benjamin Zachs quickly did away with two common objections to indoor marijuana farms: The risk of offensive odors to neighbors, and the possibility of future conversion to retail sales instead of commercial production.
“We use carbon filter scrubs, we pressurize the air within our cultivation rooms, we also generally vent out through multiple places so there’s no condensed spot,” Zachs told the commission. “The cultivation of the plant is very different than consumption: There’s no burning of anything. All of our product is packaged in a self-contained area and then held in a DEA-regulated vault.”
Project architect Tim Crosby said the only smell comes during the plant’s flowering phase, when oils known as terpenes are produced.
“When there’s a large-scale flowering going on, there will be a Febreeze-like system. It won’t mask the odor; there’s a mist that attracts terpene odor molecules and takes them out of the air,” Crosby said.
“Modern odor control for cannabis facilities has come a long way. We can’t say 100 percent there’ll be absolutely no odor, but odor control is being done successfully at most of the facilities in the United States. It’s at the top of the list of issues to be dealt with,” Crosby added.
Zachs repeatedly said the building will be used only for commercial production, but Commissioner Katie Blint asked for clarification about whether retail sales would be added later. Zachs’ answered simply “No.”
A marijuana-growing center proposed in New Britain has drawn fire from some residents who fear odors as well as traffic from retail sales. The proposal goes to a hearing Tuesday night by the city’s zoning appeals board.
Fine Fettle runs medical dispensaries as well as recreational marijuana outlets, but at the Bloomfield site will only grow, process, package and ship commercial quantities of marijuana to sell elsewhere, the company said.
The building will be put up on former farmland along Mosey Road, close to Home Depot.
Fine Fettle plans to pave parking spaces for 67 cars, and designate space on the land for another 31 if there’s future hiring.
“We’d like to have the opportunity to expand the parking if the employment situation grows,” representative David Ziaks said.
Zachs said the plan is to have 40 to 90 workers in various shifts.
“Those jobs range from cultivation technicians and assistants, lab scientists and chemists,” he said.
Fine Fettle intends for at least half of its hiring to come from a field of minority applicants, and also will try to emphasize local candidates for production jobs as well as subcontractors during construction.
“We hope this is an economic driver for the town,” Zachs said.
Commission Barry Berson asked if anyone at the hybrid hearing wished to speak, but got only one question from the public about bike parking. Fine Fettle said it would provide facilities for workers who commute by bike.
“We don’t seem to have many people in this audience,” Berson said after a protracted silence.