Tweed gets $2.5 million for new terminal at New Haven Regional Airport

Mark Zaretsky

NEW HAVEN — The Federal Aviation Administration has awarded Tweed New Haven Regional Airport a $2.5 million grant toward the cost of building a new 75,000-square-foot terminal on the East Haven side of the airport, airport officials announced Thursday.

The money will be used for the design of the terminal, an airport spokesman said. The terminal is part of a controversial broader expansion plan.

The project, currently estimated at $165 million, also includes lengthening the airport's runway, adding additional parking and building a new entrance off Proto Drive in East Haven.

The new terminal will include six gates, a security screening area, new baggage handling systems and holding room areas designed to accommodate current and future aircraft that might use the airport, officials said in a release.

The grant was announced the day after East Haven and the Save The Sound environmental organization appealed the FAA's "finding of no significant impact," or FONSI, and acceptance of Tweed's environmental assessment for the expansion project.

An airport spokesman said the grant was contingent on the FAA issuing the no significant impact findings but the appeal doesn't halt the project within the FAA. 

"It's literally a parallel track within the process," said the spokesman, Andrew King. "The project moves forward as the appeal moves forward."

Save the Sound Senior Legal Director Roger Reynolds said that the FAA's "failure to study the true impacts on the community is an environmental injustice to the surrounding neighborhoods."

East Haven Mayor Joe Carfora, in his letter announcing East Haven's appeal of the FAA's FONSI, strongly suggested that more discussion of the issues associated with expansion and an environmental impact statement are needed.

"Nothing that was presented by this decision is fair, safe or equitable," Carfora said. "It in no way addresses the host of issues that a project of this magnitude presents to our community."

The grant was enabled by passage of the 2021 federal Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, which included $5 billion in funding for competitive grants to improve the aging infrastructure of airports across the nation. Several officials thanked U.S. Rep. Rosa DeLauro for her work getting the money.

"These grants are intended to support the development of airport terminal projects that prioritize safety, sustainability, and accessibility," the airport said in the release. 

The expansion plan and the FAA's investment makes "an important step forward" for Tweed which currently has an outdated, undersized terminal that is subject to flooding, the release states.

"The new terminal will address these issues, providing a much-needed upgrade to facilities and ensuring the airport continues to serve as a vital hub for transportation and economic development in southern Connecticut," it said.

"We are incredibly grateful for this federal support of Tweed, and all of Southern Connecticut," said Matt Hoey, chairman of the New Haven Airport Authority, in the release.

The authority leases Tweed from the city of New Haven, which owns it. The airport straddles the New Haven-East Haven border, with much of it located within the town's boundaries.

"The FAA approved the project plan in December, and this grant shows their continued support for a modern airport that can fully serve the needs of passengers," said Hoey, also first selectman of Guilford. "A carbon-neutral terminal will significantly enhance the overall passenger experience, reduce impact on our neighbors and allow us to follow the science into a sustainable future at Tweed New Haven Airport."

New Haven Mayor Justin Elicker called the grant an "important and meaningful" step for Tweed's development.

"New Haven is a growing city and this new terminal will help improve the travel experience for the thousands of residents and visitors who are utilizing the airport every day to fly to the Elm City and to visit over 21 different destinations,” Elicker said.

Jorge Roberts, CEO of Avports LLC, the Goldman-Sachs-owned company that manages the city-owned airport under a 43-year sublease agreement, said they were honored to be part of Tweed's transformation.

"We have just begun to invest over $100 million in Southern Connecticut and appreciate this support of a sustainable future at HVN," Roberts said in the release. "This project is about creating a better travel experience for our passengers, fostering job growth in the community, and following science into the future."

"We're ready to turn this vision into reality and usher in a new era of sustainable airports,” he added.

Siting Council Approves Transmission Lines to Run North of the Metro-North Line

Sophia Muce

State officials significantly modified a $225 million United Illuminating transmission line project in Bridgeport and Fairfield on Thursday, upsetting local opponents and considerably delaying the company’s plan.

While UI’s proposal called for the removal of aged transmission lines along the Northeast Corridor and to construct new monopoles primarily south of the Metro-North railroad line, the Connecticut Siting Council voted to require the company to instead build its new infrastructure north of the rail line.

Two members of the Siting Council suggested the plan as a way to lessen impacts on the surrounding houses, businesses and environment, while also strengthening the company’s infrastructure. Dubbed the Hannon-Morissette alternative, it passed with four council members in favor, one opposed and two abstaining.

Members of the local and federal delegations including Sen. Richard Blumenthal, Rep. Jim Himes, Fairfield First Selectman Bill Gerber, Bridgeport Mayor Joe Ganim and a number of state legislators were largely opposed to the original proposal, which called for 19.25 acres of easements, about 7 acres of tree clearing and 102 new monopoles from Southport to downtown Bridgeport. 

The council estimated that the new plan would significantly reduce the amount required clearing, easements, and impacts to historic properties south of the railroad including the Southport Historic District and Mary and Eliza Freeman Houses in Bridgeport, but opponents say they are still not satisfied with the compromise.

In a Thursday news release, Gerber acknowledged the new alternative is less impactful than the company’s original plan, but he said he’s still concerned by the lack of details provided by the council and United Illuminating.

“Since UI has not yet designed this alternative route, property owners to the north have not been provided any notice of potential impacts on their properties, let alone a right to participate in the Siting Council hearing. Property owners could be facing significant impacts on their properties without any due process rights,” Gerber said.

While UI submitted hundreds of pages of maps, designs and analyses of its south-side plan, the company has yet to design the new alternative, meaning the height and location of the monopoles are unknown.

Earlier this week, Siting Council Executive Director Melanie Bachman declined to comment on the Hannon-Morissette alternative when asked for the details of the plan by CT Examiner.

Gerber maintained that there should be no easements across “sensitive areas” north of the tracks and the monopoles should stay at their current height of 85 feet rather than UI’s proposed 100- to 135-foot poles. But the best option, he said, would be to move the lines underground. 

Gerber, the city of Bridgeport, and the Sasco Creek Neighbors Environmental Trust have asked the utility to bury the lines. UI officials say that the underground option is too costly and is not supported by the Connecticut Department of Transportation.

Cost estimates for the underground option differed dramatically between the applicant and opponents. UI estimated it would cost about $1 billion to install the project underground, but the town estimated $200 million for an underground double-circuit configuration. SCNET estimated $182 million.

The sole council member who opposed the project altogether, Quat Nguyen, said earlier this month that he could not, in good conscience, approve the plan without a sufficient cost analysis.

Also in the Thursday news release, SCNET co-founder Andrea Ozyck said she shares the same concerns as the town, and questioned whether the decision was in line with the council’s charge.

“The Siting Council’s responsibility is to balance the need for reliable and cost-effective utility services with the environmental and ecological impacts,” Ozyck said. “Yet there’s no way for the council to know what the impact is, because there is no engineered plan. So they’re approving a plan without knowing the impacts.”

According to UI officials, the council decision will delay their initial estimated service date of May 2028.

Company officials told CT Examiner on Thursday that they will now reenter the design process for the council’s plan, which could take between nine months to one year to complete. They said the process will be followed by surveying, geotechnical engineering, permitting and community outreach phases, so they cannot yet commit to a new timeline.

But UI Vice President of Projects Jim Cole said the company is committed to following through on the new plan.

“Significant work lies ahead to design and implement the selected alternative, and UI is committed to keeping municipalities, commercial and residential customers informed every step of the way while working individually with abutting homeowners and impacted businesses,” he said.

While many opponents have questioned the motivation for the project altogether, Cole backed the need to replace the more than 60-year-old equipment and meet projected electrification demands for New England customers, which they expect to double by 2050.

The Ganim administration did not respond to a request for comment.

CT company makes plea for state contract after claiming wrongful termination

Ken Dixon

A West Haven company is making a plea to be considered for hazardous waste-cleanup work after it claims being wrongfully terminated a few years ago during a state investigation into contract steering that has not implicated the firm.

AAIS Corp. charges that it is now barred from other state and local work and has become ancillary damage in a wide-ranging state and federal investigation into contracts. The company was ordered off the property of the old Cedarcrest Hospital, a former psychiatric hospital in Newington, leaving hazardous material scattered around the property.

"Since AAIS was removed from the state contract nearly two years ago, our company has been prevented from getting hazardous material abatement projects that employed hundreds of skilled workers and sustained the company for decades," Glen Mulrenan, VP of Spectrum Environmental, LLC, of which AAIS is a division, said on Friday.

The state Department of Administrative Services confirmed that AAIS was fired from the Newington job site, where it had been responsible for asbestos removal and has been paid a total of $1,992,511 for their work. Although the company left the hospital property in January of 2023, the last payment to AAIS was made in September for $373,307, the company said on Thursday, adding that some payments were delayed for as long as two years during DAS audits.

Leigh Appleby, communications director for the DAS, said Friday night that AAIS was terminated from the contract "for convenience" but is free to bid on state work and other contracts.

"For example, they can still do work as a prime contractor or as a subcontractor," Appleby said. "They were only removed from one state procurement contract.  AAIS can compete for the hazmat contract when DAS next advertises for a new version of that contract.  The current contract is set to expire July 30, 2026. I would also add that there is nothing barring any political subdivision from going through a competitive procurement process with vendors outside of state contracts."

The hospital project is one of several that DAS and federal authorities investigated for possible contract steering, including school construction projects supervised by Konstantinos Diamantis, a former member of the state House of Representatives who has since retired and whose employee grievance was dismissed.

An attorney for AAIS said this week that the cleanup of the hospital property was about halfway finished and that it would cost the state another $550,000 and that the DAS is "scapegoating" the company. The hospital closed in 2010.

"The simple facts are that AAIS was unfairly terminated from the contract, and that each purchase order that DAS awards without its participation in the bidding process is an exercise in mismanagement," wrote Michael J. Donnelly of the Hartford firm of Murtha Cullina, in a letter to Michelle Gilman, commissioner of the DAS, dated Feb. 1. "It is important to note that throughout our interactions with DAS, AAIS has never been informed of any allegations that it acted improperly in connection with the award or performance of any of the jobs in question."

The letter says AAIS understood Gilman's position as a new commissioner, appointed in February 2022. "However, DAS, under your charge has had sufficient time to wrap its arms around the situation, and it is time that DAS stops scapegoating a Connecticut business and wasting Connecticut taxpayer’s money." 

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Donnelly said that "multiple" audits by both the DAS and the state Comptroller's office cleared AAIS of wrongdoing, and the fact that the September payments eventually went to the company is testament to its successful work remediating asbestos.

Groton’s Former Landfill Eyed for $4M Solar Project

Cate Hewitt

GROTON — The former town landfill is slated for a 5 megawatt solar array which could help generate both energy and income for Groton.

If approved, the $4 million project by West Hartford-based solar developer Verogy that was presented to the Town Council on Tuesday would provide Groton with about $200,000 in lease payments or payments in lieu of taxes each year for 20 years and earn Eversource electrical credits through virtual metering to town buildings.

The landfill, located on a 166-acre parcel at 685 Flanders Road, was closed in 1995 and capped in 1998, according to public works documents.

The first step in the project, scheduled for discussion in a special meeting on Feb. 27, involves securing council approval of an option agreement with Verogy, which would allow bids to be submitted to the Non-Residential Solar Renewable Energy Solutions program and the Statewide Shared Clean Energy Facility program. The deadlines for these submissions are March 4 and March 14, respectively. 

Town consultants Robert Klee, of Klee Sustainability Advisors LLC, and Sam Dziekan, of CSW Energy LLC, will serve as managers on all project phases until it goes live. 

“It’s a blind bid competing with projects all across Eversource territory, based pretty much solely on price,” Klee told the council. 

According to Klee, the NRES program had 25 bids and 11 winners last year, while SCEF had 22 bids and 11 winners. 

“The takeaway is the only half or less of the bids won,” he said.

In the event that Groton does not win any bids, Klee said the project can’t proceed this year and the town would have to try again next year. 

“These projects do not go forward without the incentive. The incentive helps fund and finance the solar arrays,” Klee said. 

Should the town can secure a SCEF bid, Klee said the project could move forward with a 20-year lease on the property and substantial benefits to the town. Meanwhile, the NRES program, which provides Eversource credits, can be extended by an additional year if the town opts to rebid. 

Councilors questioned how the town and taxpayers would be protected if Verogy were to withdraw, declare bankruptcy, engage in criminal activity, or sell to a buyer unwilling to agree to previous stipulations. 

Public Works Director Greg Hanover told the council that the town attorney was reviewing the option agreement for protections. If Verogy wins its bids, he said, then there will be an additional long-term agreement with the town.

Klee said it was common for companies in the solar industry to perform various roles. 

“[Some] companies originate projects, some construct them, and hold them … for roughly seven years and then often sell them to long-term operations and maintenance entities in the solar world. Some hold for the entire 20 years. That would be contemplated as part of the long-term agreement on how those transfers would happen,” Klee said. 

Of the seven proposals received, Hanover said, Verogy offered the best value and protections for Groton, as well as the most competitive bids for the NRES and SCEF incentive programs. 

Verogy’s proposal also included the highest allowances for interconnection costs to the Eversource grid and a “reasonable and realistic” project schedule of three years for design, permitting and construction, according to Klee. 

Dziekan said Verogy was chosen in part because it’s considered a reputable company with experience in building similar projects.  

“The executive team has successfully installed over 350 commercial and industrial solar projects,” Dziekan said. “They currently have 110 megawatts in various stages of development, and their pipeline for earlier stages of development is another 200 megawatts of solar. And additionally in 2022 and 2023, Verogy was named the number one solar contractor in the state of Connecticut by Solar Power World.”

If the town enters into the option agreement with Verogy and the company is successful with winning bids, Klee said, then the town will enter into a long term, 20-plus-year contract for the construction of solar at the landfill and for allocating electricity to town building accounts. 

The contract will be subject to all necessary town approvals and include removing the solar array at the end of its 20-year life, he added. 

After further discussion, the council voted unanimously to recommend that Town Manager John Burt sign the option agreement at the Feb. 27 meeting.

Foxwoods turns 32, announces what’s in store for 2024

Brian HaMashantucket ― Foxwoods Resort Casino this year plans to upgrade its high-limit table games room, open a new 30-seat slots bar and launch renovations of The Fox Tower hotel rooms, the casino’s president and chief executive officer announced Thursday while celebrating Foxwoods’ 32nd anniversary.

Two new food and beverage options also are on tap, one aimed at the sweet tooth and the other a supper club with a Boston flavor.

Jason Guyot, facing hundreds of onlookers gathered outside the Rainmaker Expo Center, said Foxwoods was continuing a transformation begun some 18 months ago, including the openings last summer of Gordon Ramsay’s Hell’s Kitchen, a Wahlburgers restaurant and the Pequot Woodlands Casino, a 50,000-square-foot gaming area off the Grand Pequot Concourse.

Guyot said the Mashantucket Pequot Tribe was investing more than $20 million in the upcoming improvements outlined Thursday. They include:

Makeovers of a high-limit table games room, as well as construction of a new bar and renovations of a table games area in the Grand Pequot Tower. The 30-seat bar, accompanied by 25 slot machines, “will be the grandest bar we have ever built at Foxwoods,” Guyot said.

Renovations of The Fox Tower’s 823 hotel rooms, a multi-year project set to begin this summer. The work is to encompass “a sleek, contemporary design with gold accents,” according to a Foxwoods’ news release.

The opening in April of celebrity pastry chef Zac Young’s Sprinkletown Donuts & Ice Cream. Young, who attended Thursday’s event, is known for his appearances on Food Network and Bravo. He opened Sprinkletown Bakeshop at Foxwoods in 2021.

The opening in May of Grace by Nia, “a modern day supper club and live music lounge,” whose first incarnation debuted last summer in Boston’s Seaport neighborhood. Founder and namesake Nia Grace, a community leader in Boston, also appeared at Thursday’s event. Her club will be located adjacent to Foxwoods’ High Rollers bowling alley and lounge.

Rodney Butler, the Mashantucket tribal chairman, also spoke at Thursday’s celebration, noting that Foxwoods’ evolution actually began 37 years ago with the opening of a high-stakes bingo hall that became Foxwoods Resort Casino in 1992.

Butler said nearly 200 tribal members are employed at Foxwoods, which he said continues to serve as an economic engine for the region and the state.

While Foxwoods changes inside, the largest private construction project currently underway in the state continues to rise outside on land adjacent to the casino: the Great Wolf Lodge at Mashantucket, a $300 million indoor water park resort.

Guyot said that project is on track to open in 2025.

3 reasons why contractors need craft training to stay competitive

By NCCER

The impacts of industry-wide challenges like the construction workforce shortage are experienced daily by contractors. Developing craft training is one way to alleviate that pressure, and while this may seem like an indirect solution, there is increasing evidence that these programs pay off in competitiveness and profitability.

The following are just a few of the reasons why 41% of firms are boosting their spending on training and professional development programs.

Recruitment and Retention

Despite being particularly adept at overcoming daily challenges, contractors often find attracting skilled craft professionals to be a daunting task. Navigating material delays, budget limitations and rapid project deadlines is familiar territory but recruiting and retention isn’t always a top priority.

One often overlooked method of fostering employee engagement is through skills development and recognition. Craft training and credentials are a source of pride for their recipients. A report that explored the return on investment of manufacturing credentials states the following reasons why employees value them:

They receive knowledge and training used in their current job.

It leads to being hired, receiving promotions and facilitating career growth.

It impacts their ability to do their jobs.

Competitiveness often depends on having a skilled team at the ready, so employee satisfaction and retention are critical during a workforce shortage. Craft training and credentials make companies more appealing to new entrants and existing craft professionals.

Productivity and Profitability

Every company, regardless of sector, can benefit from increased efficiency and quality of work. These factors directly affect revenue by decreasing project costs and improving client satisfaction. The immediate results of craft training have been thoroughly documented in reports such as Construction Industry Craft Training in The United States and Canada and include: decreased turnover, decreased absenteeism and improved safety. The longer-term effects are increased productivity and decreased rework. The well-known RT 231-11 report by CII estimates such benefits as follows:

Estimated effects of investing 1% of the total project budget for wages/labor into craft training:

These outcomes correlate with a better-trained and more efficient workforce. Projects that stay on-time, within budget and are well-executed lead to satisfied clients and repeat business.

Competitive Advantage

Many owners have requirements in their requests for proposals that ensure the companies have workforce development in place. Craft training, along with credentials and certifications, provides an additional level of confidence and is used as proof of a qualified workforce. To bid on some projects, contractors must have a plan in place that demonstrates how they will fulfill those requirements.

A perfect example of project requirements comes from the recently enacted Inflation Reduction Act. It ties several apprenticeship requirements to a significant tax incentive for many energy-related projects. As a result, many owners are now mandating contractors meet those requirements to be considered for those contracts.

With benefits to the contractor, the employee and, ultimately, the client, the value of training the construction workforce is very apparent. Craft training and upskilling should be part of every contractor’s workforce development toolkit. Furthermore, a standardized credentialing program supported by industry reduces the resources required to implement craft training programs. Contractors who use the same standard contribute to the overall growth of the talent pool and improve the skills of the workforce overall.

To explore more about the ROI on craft training and credentialing, see our recent white paper: Future-Proofing the Construction Workforce: The Value of Training and Credentials.