New Wilton police station will meet PD's needs 'for generations' — pending Planning and Zoning's OK

Jarret Liotta

WILTON — As they gear up for their first presentation before the Planning and Zoning Commission Monday night, town officials expect a smooth approval process for the new police headquarters.

Sanctioned by voters last May in a town-wide referendum, the $16.4 million project would nearly double the size of the station at 240 Danbury Road to almost 19,000-square feet and, if approved, require approximately 20 months of construction.

"Following the public hearing on Monday, at a future meeting P&Z will meet to discuss the project and ultimately vote," explained Christopher Burney, director of planning, design & construction for Wilton, who is hopeful things will run smoothly.

"I am not aware of any issues that P&Z may bring up," he said.

"The design team has worked closely with the Wilton Police Department to put a project together that we believe meets the needs of the department for generations to come," Burney said. "We are hopeful that during the coming review process, the community and the Planning & Zoning Commission will share our enthusiasm for our design."

The current two-story station has served its purpose for 48 years. The Wilton Plan of Conservation and Development from 2019, however, found that the station had "several major deficiencies that need to be addressed," including inadequate infrastructure and insufficient space.

"Since the station was built, the size of the department has almost doubled, leading to overcrowding and a loss of operational and functional space," the plan reported, according to the 236-page special permit application submitted to the P&Z.

Thomas Conlan, Wilton's newly appointed police chief, has watched the need for a new station increase over the years since first joining the department.

"The current police building was built in 1974 for a 25-person, all-male police force," he said. "Today it serves 48 employees — 45 officers and three civilian staff — including eight women."

"The new building will be almost twice the size of the old one and will bring the department up to current policing and building code standards ... A new police facility will have a tremendous benefit to the department, as well as the town," he said.

Michael Wrinn, director of planning & land use management, said he expects the P&Z to examine the project plans objectively and thoroughly on Monday evening.

"They are very thorough in their review, so I am sure there will be questions," he said. "If the applicant can answer those, (it) should go smoothly."

Wrinn noted that the new construction will not create any additional traffic, was approved by voters and has a demonstrable need, all of which would ultimately encourage approval.

Burney said that the design leadership would be in attendance with him at Monday night's meeting.

"We are prepared to deal with any questions, recommendations and suggestions that may arise," he said.

"After we deal with any required changes and receive approval, we will finalize the bid documents and put the project out to bid," Burney said.

Conlan said that if all goes according to schedule, the hope is to break ground for the new building in late May or early June.

"With any project like this we do anticipate that there will be some disruption to access and parking around the construction area, but we are working closely with Mr. Burney on site logistics to try and make the process run as smooth as possible," he said. "We do not foresee any issues to the public accessing the current police building during construction." 

On behalf of his department, the new chief expressed his gratitude for the project.

"Obviously there is a lot of excitement among the department members to get this project completed and to move into the new building," he said. "We appreciate all of the support Wilton residents have given to this project."

Norwalk's Webster Street parking lot to be transformed into 500 apartments in $250M-$300M project

Abigail Brone

NORWALK — Within five years, the Webster Street parking lot will be reinvented into a 500-unit apartment complex with a 1,100-space parking garage, with a price tag of between $250 million to $350 million.

In an event Friday morning at office space of 50 Washington St., Gov. Ned Lamont met with local and state leaders to discuss plans to improve the Washington Street area.

In December, the state announced a $2 million grant to improve the Martin Luther King Jr. Corridor, remediating a nearly 5-acre plot in South Norwalk. Located at 55 Martin Luther King Jr. Drive, the 4.97-acre parcel is a city-owned parking lot. The grant was part of $24.6 million the state distributed to combat blighted properties. 

The remediation and redevelopment will be overseen by the Norwalk Redevelopment Agency and its executive director, Brian Bidolli.

The overall development costs, including construction of the apartments, will be between $250 and $300 million, while the remediation costs will be about $5 million, Bidolli said.

“Then we’re looking at about an eight-to-10-month period to actually structure the deal for the city and then about a 24-month construction period,” Bidolli said.

While the city requires 10 percent of apartments in a complex to be affordable housing, the agency is striving for 20 percent, Bidolli said.

“Phase one needs to be constructed so we can replace the parking to free up the development potential for the rest of the site,” Bidolli said. “The intent is to increase the amount of parking overall, across the board. We are going to be replacing the public parking, which is about 650 parking spaces, and then there’ll be a development program. The parking estimate is 1,100 across whole site.”

The first phase of the project is to assess and develop the parking garage portion of the parcel, Bidolli said.

“That’s what this environmental brownfield grant will be used for, the actual clean-up of the property to construct the parking garage,” Bidolli said.

As part of the project preparation, the city and Redevelopment Agency will begin conducting public outreach in March, to gauge interest and opinions, Bidolli said. At present, the project only includes the portion of the land owned by the city, but the public outreach will include speaking with adjacent landowners to determine their interest in being involved with the project.

In redevelopment plans designed by construction firm Quarterra, formerly known as LMC, the plot will include about 472 affordable mixed-income apartment units, 57,786 square feet of retail space and 25,000 square feet of office space, according to the governor’s statement on the funding.

The funding is released through the state’s Brownfield Remediation and Development Program, which is administered by the Connecticut Department of Economic and Community Development, according to the statement.

Lamont said remediation on properties in some of the state’s fastest-growing cities, like Norwalk, is about reusing existing land rather than adulterating green spaces.

“This is just example of how these puzzle pieces have to fit together as you keep the economy going, the state going, that we not only have workers, but we have a place for the workers to live,” Lamont said. “One last thing on brownfields, I know it’s not very sexy and I know the developers would just as soon go build in green fields, we don’t have that many green fields left. We are trying to protect our open spaces as best we can.”

The city is working and developing to ensure that people who want to move to Connecticut and Norwalk can, by increasing housing and housing affordability, said state Sen. Bob Duff, D-Norwalk.

“We like to say this is not a chicken and egg scenario,” Duff said. “Employers will not come to Connecticut if we do not have the employees willing to fill those jobs, and we do that by making sure we have a good transportation network, we have good schools, we have diverse housing for everybody.”

As floods worsen on Danbury’s Still River, Army Corps of Engineers returns to tackle the problem

Rob Ryser

DANBURY – Not since 1955 has the Still River washed out the city, making lakes of the airport, the fairgrounds and the rail yard, and putting parts of White Street under six feet of water.

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers put an end to that, sinking the Still River below downtown streets and into concrete sleeves with walls so tall that it’s easy to forget there’s water there at all.

But as the Danbury grows, so, too, does its flooding woes – especially in the upper reaches of the Still River corridor from the spot the Army Corps’ flood control measures stop at Rose Street to Lake Kenosia on the booming west side.

Since 2007, Antonio Iadarola, the city engineer and public works director, has tried to convince the engineers that flooding on Kenosia Avenue and West Street are connected to development damage to the Still River and its flood plain that could be fixed if the federal government would commit its resources.

But it wasn’t until Iadarola began collecting field data during storms to compile a comprehensive flood report for the Army Corps in 2021 that federal engineers took notice, and recently committed to a $1 million study.

“Every project that these (Army Corps) grants support has to have a real benefit that can be seen, and we were able to show the real magnitude of the flooding and pinpoint some of the activity we believe is contributing to it,” said Iadarola. “We are kind of ecstatic that we are in this program and have a partner that has more resources than anyone else.”

The two-year study, which requires the city to contribute $450,000, will recommend solutions, along with a cost-benefit analysis, that would set the stage for the Army Corps to implement flood control measures.

“The Sixth Ward has been suffering from the flooding issue forever,” said Paul Rotello, the City Council’s Democratic minority leader, shortly before a unanimous vote earlier this month to approve the contract with the Army Corps. “We would just like a little help so it doesn’t flood every time it gets cloudy out. If we could do that the people in the Sixth Ward would be immensely grateful.”

GOP Mayor Dean Esposito agreed, saying, “This is a long time coming.”

The Army Corps’ plan to study Still River flooding where engineers left off after completing flood control measures to prevent another 1955 disaster comes after the state completed work last year to stop the flooding on south Main Street at Elmwood Place.

Iadarola said the city’s Engineering Department traced the problem to a blocked culvert and submitted the evidence to the state, which until that point was convinced that the flooding problem was too expensive to fix.

"Being able to solve part of that problem gave me the incentive to keep moving with the Army Corps,” Iadarola said.

River hydraulics

The Army Corps study will focus on three key problem areas that Iadarola’s department believes are responsible for the flooding that has plagued the upper reaches of the Still Water basin.

The first focus area is where the Still River meets the Kissen Brook on Segar Street near the railroad crossing. The Still River snakes in a drastic way, which is not good hydraulics for storm drainage.

“Water likes to go as straight as possible, but here is it hydraulically restricted, so what happens is the velocity slows down and the water accumulates and overflows,” Iadarola said.

A second area of focus is on West Street approaching the downtown, near the rail bridge and a small strip mall.

“The river does a hard ‘S’ there where there used to be a pond, but it got filled in" by development, Iadarola said. “It's is a focal point to understand what can be done there, because that is one of the major arterial roads that leads into downtown Danbury, so it is a super critical area.”

Another area of flooding concern is a privately owned dam off Beaver Street constructed in the late 1800s or the early 1900s, harkening to an era in Danbury when homes and industries used the Still River as a sewer.

“An old factory used the dam to divert water through basement, where a turbine generated electricity for manufacturing power,” Iadarola said. "After studying it and capturing the data during flooding, we believe the dam is creating a backwater effect and flooding West Street.”

Iadarola said the data collection and investigation into historical events that have impacted the river make him hopeful that solutions can be identified to the decades-old problem of upper Still River flooding.

“We also have to be aware of  what happens when we fix it,” he said. “What is going to happen to the downstream section? We don’t want to just shift the flooding downstream.”

Branchville a more 'pedestrian friendly community'

Sandra Diamond Fox

RIDGEFIELD — The town just got the green light from the state Department of Transportation to go ahead with a years-long project to improve the walkability of the Branchville part of town. The work is set to begin in a few months.

The $2.3 million streetscape project involves creating a sidewalk that will begin at the Wilton-Ridgefield line, heading north on Route 7. It will continue north to Tusk & Cup Fine Coffee, to the intersection with Route 102. There will be a walking bridge over a brook. The sidewalk will continue north across the street. 

"The width of Route 102 where it meets Route 7 will be narrowed so you won't have to run out of breath trying to get across there," Ridgefield First Selectman Rudy Marconi said. "There'll be walking signs, crosswalks and the sidewalk will continue up to the Norwalk River. A sidewalk will continue all the way up Florida Road as well, with a crosswalk over to the Ancona Plaza."

The project also includes installing decorative lighting as well as the realignment of Route 102 with Route 7 with new traffic signalization and crosswalks at that intersection.

"This is about the future of Branchville and getting the infrastructure in place to actually begin a transit-oriented development that will have multi-family housing, a train station, bus service on Route 7," Marconi said. "It's an improvement, an investment in Branchville."

A grant for the project was obtained through the Transit Alternative Program, where the town had to match 20 percent — about $400,000, which was already approved by voters.

J Iapaluccio contractors in Brookfield are expected to do the work.

Marconi said with the project, he's trying to create a more "pedestrian-friendly community" in that area of town.

"Branchville has been the forgotten child for many, many years," Marconi said. "This finally is going to begin after many, many years of applications and studies. We're finally putting a shovel in the ground to make some improvements."

Bridge replacement, track crossing

The second portion of the project involves the design of a new bridge at Depot Road. 

"We're 90 percent complete in the designing phase for a new bridge, which is at the Route 7 and 102 intersection," Marconi said.

After that bridge is replaced, a new bridge will be constructed on Portland Avenue.

"A new bridge will go in there as well as a new intersection with a left turn lane and a thru lane, as well as a widening of the track crossing at Portland Avenue," he said.  

He said the plan is to begin that work this year and continue it over the next three to four years — "not necessarily on (Route) 7 but definitely with the bridge work."
 
"It's all to improve the train station, traffic movement, (and) pedestrian movement," he said.

He added the state has recently received, from U.S. Rep Jim Himes through the Western Connecticut Council of Governments, an announcement that a grant of $200,000 is being earmarked to study the feasibility of connecting Branchville to the Georgetown-Redding sewer plant. 

The goal of that grant is also for the purpose of revitalizing the Branchville neighborhood. 

Next steps

Once the contract is signed with the bidder, Marconi said he'll have more information as to the start date of the project.

A Transit Oriented Development study was done years ago and the project is necessary to develop Branchville for the future, Marconi said.

"It's looking at how do we keep cars off the roads, reduce the carbon footprint, provide transportation, the electrification of the Branchville line," he said. "All of it is how we provide housing and a living environment that is clean and enjoyable. That's the long-term vision for Branchville."

Millions more needed as thousands still have homes with deteriorating foundations

Eric Bedner

With an additional $100 million needed to entirely fix the state’s crumbling foundations, lawmakers are once again pushing for assistance for the thousands of homeowners still affected.

But a proposal that would eliminate millions of dollars in funding also is on the table.

One of the most significant proposed bills calls for more borrowing for the Crumbling Foundation Solution Indemnity Co., or CFSIC, the captive insurance company that has been fixing foundations, primarily in the northeastern section of the state.

While it is still early in the legislative session and there is not yet a dollar amount attached to the bonding bill, its sponsor, Sen. Jeff Gordon, D-Woodstock, said the final proposal could range anywhere between $50 million and $100 million.

That would be in addition to the $100 million in debt that has already been approved by the legislature, $25 million of which has been allocated, as well as nearly $12 million a year from an annual insurance surcharge deposited in the Healthy Homes Fund.

Gordon said he intentionally left the wording of his proposal vague, but wanted to make sure it was on the radar of the legislature’s Finance, Revenue, and Bonding Committee as well as the State Bond Commission.

“I want to make certain that we’re thinking strategically about trying to line up more money,” Gordon said.

The existing bonding that has been approved, combined with the insurance surcharge funding, is expected to bring in about $170 million by 2030, CFSIC Superintendent Michael Maglaras said.

With an estimated total of about 4,000 affected homes, “we think exactly another $100 million is what we need,” he said.

To date, more than 700 homes have been fixed, and Maglaras expects the 1,000 home mark to be hit by the first quarter of 2025.

“None of that happens at all if the Healthy Homes funds are tampered with,” he said.

Removing surcharge

Perhaps the most controversial proposal related to the crisis is a bill introduced by Sen. Robert Sampson, R-Wolcott, that would make a $12 annual surcharge on certain homeowner insurance policies voluntary.

A large majority of the funding goes towards repairing crumbling foundations, with the remainder going to lead paint abatement.

The most recent installment resulting from the surcharge provided $11.9 million to CFSIC.

Gordon said he’s well aware of the crumbling foundation crisis as his district includes parts of Vernon, Ellington, Stafford, Tolland, and Coventry — a section of the state hit particularly hard.

He’s also a member of the legislature’s crumbling foundation caucus and has recently been appointed as an ex officio director on CFSIC’s board.

“I think they’ve been doing tremendous work,” Gordon said of the captive insurance company.

While noting that more than 700 homes have been fixed, he said: “There’s a lot more to do.” He does not support cutting funding as Sampson’s bill would do.

“I believe that this is not a time for us to back away; it’s time for us to do more to keep the program going,” Gordon said.

Rep. Thomas Delnicki, R-South Windsor, agreed. “I certainly do not endorse or support that bill,” he said of Sampson’s proposal.

The Healthy Homes Fund, in which the $12 annual surcharge is deposited, is “a fund to help make people’s homes safe,” Delnicki said. “I understand where Rob Sampson is coming from, but I certainly don’t agree.”

Sampson did not respond to repeated requests seeking comment on his proposed bill.

If the $12 surcharge were to become voluntary, likely leading to it essentially being eliminated, “it will have a devastating impact on the program,” Maglaras said.

He noted that the timing of the Healthy Homes funding and existing state bonding being delivered to the captive insurance company prevents CFSIC from falling behind.

Other bills on table

Several other measures are in the works that aim to prevent the issue from reoccurring by requiring the quality of concrete used in residential structures to at least meet the standards for commercial structures.

Delnicki introduced one such bill.

“That’s a key and critical thing to take a look at,” he said. “We want to make sure that this problem never surfaces again, that we never have another home with a crumbling foundation again.”

While testing is now mandatory at quarries for pyrrhotite, the mineral known to cause concrete to deteriorate, Maglaras notes that not all concrete aggregate comes from quarries.

Other sources include non-quarry settings, such as when earth is moved in the building of highways.

“Leaving some source of aggregate behind untested is just playing Russian roulette,” Maglaras said.

While he said that he doesn’t want to make residential construction too restrictive, Maglaras does advocate for more quality control at the moment concrete is poured for a residential foundation.

Another proposal aims to prevent homes from being sold if their foundations contain pyrrhotite.

The bill, introduced by the legislature’s Insurance and Real Estate Committee, would require sellers to answer a series of questions, including whether they have any knowledge of problems with the property.

Information includes when the structure was built, how long the seller occupied the property, whether the foundation is made of concrete, if there is water seepage in the basement, and if there has been any testing or inspection done by a licensed professional related to the foundation.

If the foundation has been tested, the seller would have to disclose the testing method and provide a copy of the report to prospective buyers.

The seller also would have to disclose if there have been any repairs and what they were and disclose whether they have any knowledge of the presence of pyrrhotite in their foundation.

A real estate agent would not be allowed to complete the form on behalf of a seller.

A prospective buyer also would be allowed to have a foundation inspected by a licensed engineer to determine if there is any deterioration from the presence of pyrrhotite.

Delnicki wants to assure those with crumbling foundations that lawmakers will continue to push for legislation until the issue is completely resolved.

“We’re committed to helping the people who are the victims of crumbling foundations,” he said. “No one’s going to forget about it.”

How to retain workers when a megaproject comes to town

Robyn Griggs Lawrence

With trillions of dollars in new work coming online this year, contractors — already struggling to retain craft workers during a historic shortage — now face the challenge of competing with big projects that come to town with a lot to offer workers. 

This year, the $1.2 trillion Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act and the CHIPS and Science Act, which allocates $39 billion to build and expand semiconductor manufacturing plants, will create thousands of new construction jobs — on top of what Ken Simonson, chief economist for Associated General Contractors of America, called “an unusually large concentration of really large projects right now.”

“A remarkable number of multibillion-dollar projects are showing up in many states,” Simonson said. “In many cases, the owners of these projects, while not insensitive to cost, may have more flexibility and willingness to pay and offer a range of benefits that smaller companies can’t.” 

When projects compete for the top available labor, “it gets messy,” said Portland, Oregon-based Eric Grasberger, construction and design group chair of national law firm Stoel Rives. 

“In order to compete, the contractors on those jobs have to go to the owners and say, ‘We can’t get the labor, and we’re not going to get the labor unless you authorize an increase in the hourly wages, the per diem or both — or perhaps other incentives,’” Grasberger said.

To attract and retain workers, many local companies are finding more compelling benefits well beyond money. They’re offering everything from hot meals and heated bathrooms on jobsites to paid volunteer and educational opportunities that may even extend to workers’ families.

“They’ve got to sell something bigger than just a project, because typically those industrial projects pay a lot more per hour than your average contractor might pay,” said Greg Sizemore, vice president of workforce development, safety, health and environmental for Associated Builders and Contractors. “In middle-class America, it’s about selling the value, which is beyond just the dollar.”

In central Ohio, megaprojects are becoming the norm rather than the exception — a $20 billion semiconductor manufacturing plant for Intel, a $4.4 billion electric vehicle battery plant for Honda, data centers for Google and Amazon, and a biomanufacturing plant for Amgen are just a few.

The flurry of building activity means construction workers have the potential to make as much as $135,000 per year, said Dorsey Hager, executive secretary-treasurer of the Columbus/Central Ohio Building & Construction Trades Council.

Throwing more money at workers to keep up with megaproject salaries is not an option for many local contractors, but Dorsey said it’s probably not the most effective tactic anyway. In their efforts to hang onto workers, central Ohio construction firms are offering amenities such as free breakfast and lunch, onsite wellness centers, heated restrooms and changing areas and convenient paved parking, he said. 

Sizemore said tradesworkers used to ask just three questions when considering a job: how much it paid per hour, how many hours they would work and what the per diem was. 

“Now, the whole world’s changed,” he said. “We’ve got new people coming into the industry who are looking for opportunities to go to work for contractors that have a long-term value proposition that meets their needs — things like paid time off, maternity and paternity leave.”

Younger generations of workers are asking more questions about company culture, what types of projects they would be working on and even safety protocols, said Keyan Zandy, CEO of Skiles Group, a mid-size general contractor in Dallas. 

In his market, Zandy is facing competition from a host of massive industrial, infrastructure and residential projects such as a $3 billion 112-acre mixed-use development that recently broke ground near Dallas. The Mix — which will include 375,000 square feet of retail, a 200-room boutique hotel and a 400-room business hotel — will be under construction through 2026. 

Skiles Group makes a concerted effort to align workers with the firm’s core values and include them in all of the company’s activities, whether volunteer programs or company picnics, Zandy said.

“It’s about not treating your labor like they’re a secondary component of what you do,” he said. “That’s really the main thing—we should be doing everything we can to empower these people because if it weren’t for them, nothing would ever get built.”

While smaller firms might not be able to compete when it comes to salaries, they have the advantage of being able to offer workers more personal relationships with owners and senior management and possibly even meaningful ownership shares, Sizemore said. 

“It really is about making people feel like they’re a part of something as opposed to just working for Amazon,” he added.