Torrington career fair focusing on school project

Lance Reynolds

TORRINGTON – A career fair at Torrington High School on June 26 will provide city residents and students an opportunity to learn more about jobs connected to the $159.5 million Torrington Middle/High School project.

The fair also will allow the city school district and Greater Hartford-New Britain Building Trades Council their first opportunity to actively recruit residents who may be interested in helping construct the grade 7-12 school they approved last November. It will take place inside the THS gymnasium from 9 a.m. to noon and feature boilermakers, carpenters, ironworkers, sprinkler fitters and more.

Last week, the City Council voted 3-2 to enter a 10-year project labor agreement with the Building Trades Council, a union that represents about 30,000 construction workers statewide.

Project and union officials highlighted the PLA outside THS on Wednesday, a day after school officials announced the project’s state reimbursement rate has increased from 62% to 85%. That increases the state’s cost to about $135.6 million and lowers the city’s share to $23.9 million.

A PLA goal is for the Building Trades Council to recruit 48 to 60 THS students per year for its apprenticeship programs through 2031.

There will be four separate apprenticeship programs per year, with 12 to 15 students enrolled, said district Business Director Ed Arum, who serves as co-chairman of the building committee.

“Even if we only have 48 students, that’s 480 students at the end of 10 years who will be working a union job that brings money to Torrington,” Arum said. “The students, who will be adults in 10 years, will be residents, hopefully buying houses, and their children will be going to the new school.”

The Building Trades Council will continue to host career fairs each spring, starting next year through 2031.

They will be open to all city students, including those who attend Oliver Wolcott Technical High School, said Joe Toner, executive director of the council. THS students, though, will receive priority for the apprenticeships, he noted.

The apprenticeships align with the district’s college-and-career pathway program, which exposes high school students to the local business scene via hands-on learning experiences. Union officials will collaborate with administrators involved in the hi-tech manufacturing pathway, Toner said.

Superintendent Susan Lubomski called the apprenticeships a “dream come true” because they will help keep interested alumni in the city.

“We don’t want our students leaving, trying to go and find jobs somewhere else,” she said. “They can be right here, revitalizing the community. That’s what all of this is about.”

A preapprenticeship program will give lower-income residents three to four months of work experience in the city before they’re enrolled in apprenticeships, Toner said. That program also will allow residents opportunities to gain safety and lift certifications, he said.

A key goal is for area residents to make up about 55% of hired construction workers, including 30% from Litchfield County and 25% from Torrington, Toner said. More than 200 city families are affiliated with the Building Trades Council.

If that goal is met, the city could get back $9.6 million, Toner said.

Once the estimated 284,295-square-foot school is built, residents and students who become union members will get to work on other Building Trades projects statewide, Toner said.

School construction is scheduled to start in May 2022 and end before the 2024-25 school year begins.

“We made a commitment to the town for 10 years,” Toner said. “We are going to fulfill the commitment, and we are going to turn Torrington back to its roots – a blue-collar, union town.”

Milford schools eye $84 million in improvements, and 'hefty price tags coming up,' official says

Saul Flores

MILFORD — The city’s public schools are considering spending up to $84.7 million on capital improvements over the next five years, according to the school system’s 2022-26 Capital Improvement Plan.

The plan does not have any money attached to it, and is typically used as a planning aid to anticipate the school system’s needs over the next five years, said Chief Operations Officer James Richetelli at the board’s meeting this week.

“The plan aids the board and aids the city in planning for projects in the future, especially regarding the finances,” said Richetelli. “The dollar amounts are not exact estimates because these are big projects many of them, and they require the assistance of professional consultants to develop precise estimates.”

The schools are required by the city charter to create five-year capital improvement plans , and the state also reviews the plan for projects for which they city and school leaders anticipate applying for state reimbursement.

At the top of the list is the partial roof replacement at Joseph A. Foran High School, estimated to cost $3.5 million and listed for the 2021-22 fiscal year.

Another priority project is the expansion and renovation of Live Oaks Elementary School, anticipated for the 2023-24 school year at an estimated cost of $15 million.

Renovation of Harborside Middle School is on the list for 2024-25 at an estimated $23 million.

Richetelli said the planned improvements to Harborside would give it parity in facilities with the city’s other middle schools.

“The project will bring Harborside up to the (level of the) additions, renovations and upgrades that we’ve done first at East Shore and West Shore,” said Richetelli.

“At Harborside, there will be dedicated art and music areas as well as a bolstered science lab, similar to the projects we’ve done at East Shore and West Shore,” he said.

Aside from the larger renovation projects, Richetelli detailed system-wide efforts to improve the HVAC, ventilation, boilers and masonry, estimated at $1 million.

“All of our schools are or will be reaching the life expectancy of their mechanical systems like HVAC, ventilation and boilers,” said Richetelli. “We need to keep up with what some would consider the bones of the school.”’

Among the other, less intensive projects that are anticipated for the short-term include traffic and safety improvements at Orchard Hills Elementary, estimated at $1.8 million.

Richetelli said more parents drove students to school rather than sending them on the bus, creating traffic issues.

Another 2021-22 project included on the list is the creation of a dedicated space for the Child Learning Center Program space at Jonathan Law High School, estimated at $1 million. Richetelli said there is a program at the high school, but there is not a dedicated space for it and dedicating a space could create a new career path and provide additional daycare and pre-K for Milford families.

The final new improvement project proposed for the 2021-22 year is athletic facility improvements and upgrades at Law and Foran high schools. The schools have already spent about $4 million on the athletic fields at the two schools, but Richetelli said that wasn’t enough to be where they need to be with the athletic facilities.

“The tracks at Foran and Law are in real need of being replaced,” said Richetelli. “At Foran, there are probably two lanes that we would close off in a track meet because we don’t believe those two lanes are safe for runners.

“There are many other needs for the athletic facilities, and I remind the board that all of these facilities are used by the general community at large,” he said.

School board President Susan Glennon asked whether there is an average amount of money annually spent on the schools and if some high-priority projects might not get funded.

Richetelli said that was a concern.

“Yes, that is our fear. We have some hefty price tags coming up, so there’s going to be some big asks already,” he said.

Glennon followed up by asking if it were possible that not all the capital improvement projects listed for 2021-22 would be funded. Richetelli confirmed it was possible.

“These smaller things add up this year,” he said.

Following the discussion the board unanimously approved the Capital Improvement Plan for 2022-26, with an amendment earmarking $2 million for central air conditioning in 2021-22 and 2025-26.

Hamden has 2 deteriorating bridges. Here's what the town plans to do about it.

Meghan Friedmann

HAMDEN — A bridge that crosses Belden Creek via Woodin Street suffers from “significant cracking” and has a reduced weight capacity, according to a town memo.

Another span, on Willow Street over Willow Brook, is rated as “poor” in a state inspection report and is limited to one-way traffic.

But with the help of a state grant, the town is seeking to resolve both issues by replacing the first bridge and decommissioning the second.

The state Department of Transportation on June 1 conditionally approved a grant that would fund half the estimated cost of the two projects. If approved by the town’s Legislative Council, the town would put up the rest of the money, about $286,500 to replace the Woodin Street bridge and $172,999 to decommission the Willow Street structure.

Ongoing issue

The Willow Street bridge has been a concern since 2002 and the Woodin Street bridge has had known issues since before 2011, according to memos from Town Engineer Mark Austin, who said funds for bridge repair projects are limited, both in terms of town resources and available grant money.

Hamden has been tackling problem bridges in order of priority, starting with projects on Skiff Street, Davis Street, Brooksvale Avenue, Johnson Road and Hillfield Road, according to Austin.

He said the Woodin Street and Willow Street projects should be next.

Because they both are operating at reduced capacity, neither structure currently presents a threat to public safety, Austin said.

DOT spokesman Kevin Nursick confirmed in an email that the Willow Street bridge does not pose a safety threat.

Because the Woodin Street bridge is town-owned and the state does not typically inspect it, he deferred questions about its safety to the municipality.

Hamden also owns the Willow Street structure, but the state conducts regular inspections because it is part of the National Bridge Inventory, according to Nursick, who shared a 2020 inspection report giving the bridge’s superstructure a rating of three on a scale of zero to nine.

The lowest-rated component of the bridge — in this case, the superstructure — determines its overall rating, according to Nursick, who said three is considered a “poor” rating.

Zero is the worst rating and indicates a bridge should be closed, he said.

The 39-page inspection report singles out concrete T-beams on the bridge’s underside as a primary concern.

“The overall deterioration of the fascia (external) concrete T-beams is the issue,” Nursick wrote in his email. “They have extensive spalling of the concrete with exposed rusted reinforcement.”

Austin likened “spalling” to the erosion of concrete.

“A spall is where the concrete kind of flakes off,” he said.

The town plans to decommission the bridge due to a “very limited traffic volume,” per Austin’s memo. He said traffic would be redirected to nearby side streets, with a wooded area starting north of the bridge and ending at the opposite side closed to vehicles.

“We hope, in the future, to use it as a walking path, but not under this current grant,” Austin said.

The Woodin Street bridge has its own challenges.

Though the state does not regularly inspect it, the DOT did complete a screening report in 2016 noting efflorescence at the site.

Nursick’s email defined efflorescence as “the leaching of salts from the concrete” and indicated that small amounts are normal.

“Efflorescence that continues and becomes more extensive over time is indicative of problems, which may include excessive water intrusion and possible contamination from deicing materials,” he continued. “These issues can result in the breakdown of the concrete material and corrosion of the reinforcement material (metal rebar).”

Austin put it another way: it’s as if the concrete is eroding from the inside. A white dust appears, indicating water intrusion, he said.

Though the problem is “in the early stages, it’s coming to the point where we need to work on it,” he said.

A 2015 weight rating report caused the town to limit the Woodin Street bridge’s capacity, per Austin’s memo.

“The load that it was originally designed for has been lessened,” he said. “In other words it’s not as strong as it used to be.”

Orders to accept the state bridge grants and fund the remaining project balance passed the Legislative Council’s finance committee this week. Austin said the cost had been included in the capital request for the coming fiscal year.

The orders still require approval from the full Legislative Council.

If all goes as planned, Austin expects construction to take place in 2023, he said.

Supporting housing at the Danbury Fair mall, restaurants on downtown parking lots are 'big ideas' for city

Rob Ryser

DANBURY — Rezoning the Danbury Fair mall to allow housing, and targeting downtown parking lots to encourage shops and restaurants are “big ideas” leaders should consider in the city’s new master plan, a consultant urged this week.

“Maybe the mall is able to continue as it is, but the trends we are seeing nationally would suggest that they need to adapt in some way … and we need to be sure zoning is supportive of whatever may occur at that property in the future to keep it active and viable,” said Francisco Gomes, a consultant working with Danbury leaders to develop a zoning plan for the next 10 years. “If you look at an aerial (photo), there is a decent amount of surface parking downtown — (t)hat is always a very obvious place to look for new housing and new retail and new restaurant space.”

The consultant’s recommendations came during a 90-minute Zoom discussion about updating Danbury’s zoning to encourage economic growth, and to preserve the city’s open space and suburban character. An overdue public engagement campaign for the master plan is set for September — one month after leaders are scheduled to compete the research phase and begin to draft new land use rules.

“We are the seventh largest city in Connecticut, but you go into Tarrywile Park or (Candlewood) Lake and you can’t believe you’re in an urban environment,” said Sharon Calitro, Danbury’s planning director and a key member of the group overseeing the master plan update.

Calitro stressed the balance between progress and conservation had to be struck in the city’s historic Main Street district, in the heart of the downtown corridor.

“We have been careful to craft our regulations about a height restrictions, so we don’t overpower our historic district, which is on the National Register of Historic Places,” Calitro said. “We have to protect the historical integrity in the district and also incentivize people to have that density downtown.”

One way to encourage more economic development downtown is to make it easy for developers to convert parking lots into shops, restaurants, and apartments.

“[T]o leverage that opportunity, you have to address the parking needs with something other than surface parking,” Gomes said. “You have one (parking garage) on Main Street and the other one near the ice rink and the train station. The question is, where does the downtown stand with its parking needs?”

The city, which highlighted the parking lot opportunity in a recently completed transit-oriented development study, is courting developers to invest in a municipal parking lot on Liberty Street. City Hall believes the lot is ideal for a multi-story building with shops on the ground floor.

One element Danbury can’t control in its master plan is downtown landowners’ visions, a city leader said during the discussion.

“I just wish some of the downtown landowners had a little more vision, a little more imagination — to look at a building or to look at an area and say, ‘What can we do here to bring the whole area together, to make it flow better?’” said Arnold Finaldi, chairman of the city Planning Commission and a member of the master plan review group. “I just hope there is some of that downtown, because I think downtown will benefit from it.”

On Danbury’s booming west side, owners of the Danbury Fair mall have not signaled to the city plans to follow Milford’s Connecticut Post Mall, which has proposed to reinvent itself with 500 apartments and 450,000 square feet of commercial and office space.

Last week, a senior property manager for Danbury Fair said the mall was attracting new businesses to fill vacancies left by the COVID-19 crisis.

Danbury’s consultant said the city should be preparing for a scenario like the Connecticut Post Mall.

“Some malls are beginning to redevelop to incorporate housing on the site and I think this will be one of the big ideas we are likely to address,” Gomes said. He added leaders needed to “figure out if there is anything the city should be doing to support the future of this site.”

Whole Foods looks to open new store in South Windsor

Luther Turmelle

Upscale grocer Whole Foods is hoping to expand its presence east of the Connecticut River.

The Texas-based retailer, which is subsidiary of e-commerce giant Amazon, is eyeing a spot in the Evergreen Walk lifestyle center in South Windsor. Whole Foods received a preliminary approval on June 8 for its plan to building a 50,000 square foot store along the western edge of the lifestyle center.

If the retailer’s site plan is approved later this year, Whole Foods would move into space formerly occupied by Highland Park Market, which closed in June 2010.

The Whole Foods would also take space currently occupied by an Old Navy store and Sakura Gardens, which is a Japanese restaurant, according to Michael Maniscalco, South Windsor’s Town Manager. Those two businesses would relocate to other parts of Evergreen Walk.

“Having a grocery store will help the other retailers there,” Maniscalco said Thursday. “The idea of having that consistently returning customer base is very beneficial.”

Although Whole Foods has eight locations in Connecticut, only one — the retailer’s store in Glastonbury — is located east of the Connecticut River to serve Hartford’s eastern suburbs. The retailer is scheduled to open its ninth location in Avon this fall.

If Whole Foods gets the approvals it needs to open in Evergreen Walk, it will have plenty of competition. South Windsor has a Stop & Shop, an Aldi and a Geisler’s Supermarket, and there is a Trader Joe’s in Manchester less than a mile from where Whole Foods wants to build.

“There’s over 100,000 people in the regional trade area and the way people shop today is a lot different than the way they used to,” Maniscalco said. “People don’t do all of their grocery shopping at one store.”

The town manager said he views Whole Foods’ plans for a store at Evergreen Walk as part of a renaissance at the lifestyle center, which opened in 2004. Maniscalco said Greenwich-based Charter Realty & Development took over management of the property about a year ago.

“They were really aggressive: They came in and laid out the types of challenges that Evergreen Walk is facing and what they could do to address that,” he said. “Evergreen Walk is a high class retail establishment that used to be filled with a lot of great retailers.”

Nearly a third of the gross leaseable area in Evergreen Walk is currently vacant, according to Charter Realty & Development’s web page. But Burt Flickinger, managing director of New York City based Strategic Resource Group, said the arrival of Whole Foods at the lifestyle center will really revitalize it.

“A whole bunch of other retailers are going to want to locate there,” Flickinger said. “Whole Foods has some of highest retail sales per square foot in the industry. They typically produce $970 per square foot and the numbers at South Windsor could be even higher.”

Developers target downtown New Haven for 92 new apartments in historic building

Mary E. Oleary

NEW HAVEN — A tanking commercial office market is not theoretical for these developers.

They bet big that converting a large portion of an iconic early 20th century building on the Green to apartments is the right investment.

Jacob and Josef Feldman of MOD Equities, which bought the 8-story building at 129 Church St. six years ago for $6.9 million, are proposing an adaptive reuse of the 1912 structure.

The brothers would keep a retail presence on the ground level and about nine commercial spaces on the first two floors, with 92 apartments on the third through ninth floors in a transit-oriented development.

Jacob Feldman said it has been a struggle to bring in more office users over the years, but they “took a big hit” during the pandemic when most of the month-to-month small law and professional tenants worked remotely.

Keeping it all commercial is not sustainable.

“We had to come up with a solution quick. This is an historic building — it can’t sit empty or bad things start to happen,” Jacob Feldman said.

MOD Equities planned to make its presentation to the City Plan Commission Wednesday night but pitched its plans to a receptive Downtown Wooster Square Community Management Team.

Jacob Feldman said they will upgrade the mechanical systems as part of the renovation to set it up for the next 50 to 100 years.

The conversion will increase the residential presence along Church Street, which already has apartments at the Eli, the Union, 900 Chapel Residence Court and CenterPointe.

The plans are to keep the historic elements with almost no changes to the exterior of the building, which is located next to the federal courthouse on Church Street between Chapel and Elm streets. They will use historic tax credits to cover part of the investment.

The new tenants would be able to walk to downtown amenities, as well as the New Haven State Street Station and the Wooster Square neighborhood, the owners said.

The plans call for 12 residential units on the third floor; 13 on each of the fourth through seventh floors; and 14 on the eighth and ninth floors. The apartments will be a mix of studio, one-bedroom and two-bedroom units.

According to the proposal submitted to the city, there is a rooftop on the third floor, not visible from the street, where the owners plan to create some 3,334 square feet of open space. The amenities would include a fitness center, game room, community room and lounge.

Jacob Feldman said they would incorporate the original doors, terrazzo floors and brass elements in the renovated building. There will be a residential entrance and a separate commercial entrance.

Forty-six parking spaces are required in connection with the development, but with the provision for at least 12 indoor bicycle spaces, the required number drops to 42. The company is in negotiations with the New Haven Parking Authority to lease those spaces.

Jacob Feldman did not think the current Brazilian restaurant on the first floor is likely to reopen; it is the third restaurant the space housed since they bought the building.

He told the management team that their business model, which is to invest in older buildings, is always to be competitive with the hundreds of new apartments currently under construction only blocks away in Wooster Square.

“We always try to be a much better value,” he said. Feldman said lumber prices are going down, “so that is a good thing.”

Smart reuse?

While converting to residential uses was not part of their original thinking when they bought 129 Church St., Feldman said they had to adjust “and figure out the next best thing to do.”

Community management team Chairman Ian Dunn said it looks like a “smart re-use and doing it in a way that honors the character of the building.”

A big concern of the management team was employment of residents by the contractor, as well as including affordable units in the mix.

In response to a question from Elsie Chapman about the hiring of minority contractors, Jacob Feldman said often they get a list from the city for their contractor to work off of.

“We always try to use minorities when possible and in this particular situation where it is still in the pre-construction phase, we really haven’t priced out contractors ... but when we do get to that stage, that is definitely first and foremost,” Josef Feldman said.

Jacob Feldman said they always try to have rents that are 20 percent to 30 percent less expensive than developers working on new construction where there are more amenities. “It is more of a boutique-style building,” he said, where they have to build smart to keep the rents lower.

Lana Melonakos-Harrison said it looked like a “really good project,” but she would like to see a certain percentage set aside as affordable.

Jacob Feldman said moving forward when they purchase new buildings, they are excited about the proposal for inclusionary zoning that New Haven is considering that has incentives to make those affordable units attractive.

Presently, Jacob Feldman said “we are not in this really powerful place right now. ... We are in sort of savior mode now; trying to move as fast as we can as every month” is difficult.

Josef Feldman said he knows affordability is important to New Haven and “we really did try to exhaust all our options and the more we went back to it, it really didn’t pencil out.” He noted the value of inclusionary zoning in the near future.

Dunn said generally the city wants to encourage the smaller developers to build and hold onto their properties in the city, as they look to upgrade zoning rules.

“We don’t want to cater to the big, nameless real estate investment trusts that are just designed to make money for shareholders. But we do want to want to cater to people who are looking to build out our city and build out infrastructure in our city that will exist for a long time,” Dunn said.

Jacob Feldman said he was contacted by the city’s consultant on the zoning changes and “I was encouraged and excited. ... It has to be a public-private sort of partnership.”

He said “ultimately, a guy like me, my hands are tied ... If the bank doesn’t give me any money, we can’t do any projects.”

The proposed incentives tied to inclusionary zoning hopefully bridge the gap to allow for affordable units, he said.

Josef Feldman said they are not “fly-by-night developers only interested in flipping a property.”

He said they started 10 years ago buying a single-family house. “We really started our business organically from the trunk of our car. ... It has been a long fun ride. ... We are here for the long run,” he said.

Anstress Farwell, who heads the New Haven Urban Design League and has been a longtime tenant in the building, said the new plans “are very sound and that comes from someone who will be displaced from her beloved fourth-floor office with the view of the courthouse and the lions that spit water out in thunderstorms. It is a very special space.”

Farwell suggested some units could be designed for handicapped tenants — one per floor. “It is an important value to keep in mind,” Farwell said.

Jacob Feldman said they hope to break ground in six to eight months.

He said they are continuing to work on finishing renovations to 575 Whitney Ave., which involves converting the former Church of the Redeemer to apartments.

Also, scaffolding soon will be going up at 105 Court St. at the intersection of State Street. That plan calls for renovating office space at the English Building to 39 apartments — a project that had been delayed during the pandemic, but which the brothers hope to complete by 2022.

Canton board rejects Route 44 development plan

Tom Condon

The wooded traprock ridge that greets westbound motorists entering Canton is saved, for the moment.

The town’s Planning & Zoning Commission on Wednesday rejected an application by developer Mark Greenberg to blast and excavate part of the ridge line to build a 20-dispenser gas station, electric vehicle showroom and convenience store.

“We’re very happy with the decision and really appreciative of the commissioner for all the thought and time that they put into this lengthy application,” said Jane Latus, who heads Canton Advocates for Responsible Expansion, a local land-use group that opposed the project.

The commission determined that the ridge line on Route 44 was a scenic and cultural asset for the town as well as a state resource, and that the removal of 120,000 cubic yards of rock was inconsistent with the town’s plan of conservation and development.

The controversial proposal, aired at a series of public hearings over the last several months, drew hundreds of opponents and only a handful of supporters and offered a window into specific aspects of land use and regulation in the state. Many said the project would ruin the scenic entrance to the town and was out of scale with other structures along the road. They also raised the possibility that blasting could induce pollution from a nearby state Superfund site to migrate and pollute area wells, or could cause area wells to lose capacity. Experts disagreed on whether this would happen.

Greenberg, who insisted that his proposal was “perfectly safe,” said Thursday that he plans to file a new application to develop the site.

He said that while it was premature to describe his new concept in detail, he said it would be a “less intensive use” and “less invasive” of the traprock ridge. “I will try to preserve the rock face to the best of my ability,” he said.

He had said earlier in the week that he planned to appeal if his application was denied. He said Thursday he would hold off on that decision until he reads the final record.

Danté Bartolomeo to succeed Kurt Westby at CT Department of Labor

Mark Pazniokas

Kurt Westby is retiring by the end of the month as the state commissioner of labor and will be succeeded by his deputy, former state Sen. Danté Bartolomeo of Meriden, Gov. Ned Lamont said Thursday.

The Department of Labor’s ancient computer system was overwhelmed a year ago when Lamont imposed strict limits on commercial and social activity due to COVID-19, sparking an immediate and record spike of nearly 600,000 unemployment applications.

“He led a team that got $8.5 billion in unemployment benefits disbursed across six programs – some of which were established only weeks prior. He has my utmost respect, and I wish him the very best in his well-deserved retirement,” Lamont said.

Westby, a former union leader, is a holdover from the administration of Gov. Dannel P. Malloy. Westby joined the DOL as a deputy commissioner in 2016, then became commissioner in 2018. He was reappointed by Lamont upon taking office in 2019.

Bartolomeo has been an especially visible deputy, making her succession expected. Her nomination must be confirmed by the General Assembly.

“I thank Danté for agreeing to step into this leadership position,” Lamont said. “Since day one she has been committed to the department’s mission and programs. I have no doubt that she can quickly transition into her new role as commissioner.”

Groton overlooks oral school developer’s history of bribing public officials

David Collins

When Groton Town Manager John Burt was asked in April about reports implicating the developer proposing one of the most massive projects in the town's history — a mixed-use commercial project with 700 to 850 housing units — in a 2004 New York City bribery scandal, the town's chief executive officer said, incredibly, he was unconcerned.

"We looked into it. I had a long discussion with (him.) He answered all the questions I had satisfactorily," the town manager told The Day.

Developer Jeffrey Respler, in his own interview with The Day at that time, denied the accusations, said they were untrue and claimed his lawyer had advised him to take the plea deal offered to stop the investigation and move on with his business.

But in a court hearing in 2004, Respler made detailed admissions under oath to a series of crimes, including bribing public officials with cash, that should give any municipality dealing with him reason to pause, or at least investigate beyond the "long discussion" with the developer that town manager Burt said put him at ease.

It is striking that Groton officials would shrug off the troubling criminal history of public malfeasance of a developer who would have such an enormous impact on the town. But what is even more alarming to me is that he was selected in the first place by both the town and the state Department of Economic and Community Development as the preferred developer of the abandoned, state-owned Mystic Oral School property.

Town manager Burt said in a memo early last year that there would be a shovel in the ground in 2021, but so far not a single application for the project has been filed.

The state actually signed in 2019 a purchase and sales contract allowing Respler to buy the property, with its existing buildings and some 40 acres of land, for $1. And while the contract begins with a description of the large project the developer is planning, it makes no demands of him whatsoever to do any of the development once the $1 purchase is complete.

Certainly no one in the town or the state DECD, in vetting the person they were going to give 40 acres of land in Mystic to, did the simple Google search which apparently led a lawyer hired by neighbors of the property to the New York City bribery scandal.

Worse, it's hard to imagine they even checked out his work as a Connecticut developer, since one of the three housing developments he cited in his resume, an almost 11-year-old, 69-house project in East Windsor, is practically stalled, with only 14 units constructed. Respler had to get the town to renew the project permits last summer because they were expiring at the end of 10 years.

There is nothing in the credentials Respler presented to the state and town to indicate he has ever done anything on the scale of what he is proposing for Mystic or that he has ever built any of the kinds of mixed-use development he has suggested, including a micro hotel, offices, a market, recreation center and commercial space.

After spending some time learning about Respler and what he is proposing for Groton, including significant but still undefined tax incentives, I have a lot of questions. But town manager Burt refused to speak with me for most of the week, saying he would only respond to written questions submitted by email. I didn't take the town manager up on his offer to submit questions in writing because I knew I would have too many follow-up questions and it wouldn't be a fulsome way to discuss such important issues, without the conversation of an interview. I tried for three days, but he wouldn't take my calls.

Burt wrote Thursday morning to say he would try to arrange a phone conference with planning officials when their schedules allow. I told him I was on a deadline and he wrote back to say his staff would not be available until next week.

I was also refused access to the files pertaining to the project at the town's planning office. Reviewing public files is something I have routinely done at planning offices in municipalities throughout eastern Connecticut during my many decades as a reporter. It was startling to be denied them.

The town has put some documents relating to the project online. But that is very different than the kind of material, correspondence, notes and memos that are included in files that municipalities routinely make available to the public, either reporters or interested neighbors.

I find it especially troubling that Groton has tried to put a clamp on public documents pertaining to a project being proposed by someone who admitted before a judge, in his words, to giving a New York City official "a benefit in the form of United States currency for the purpose of influencing (his) opinion, judgement, action, decision or exercise of discretion as a public official."

Indeed, the four charges to which Respler pleaded guilty in that court session included not just one but two incidents of bribery, with bribes totaling $40,000, as well as crimes in which Respler paid someone to falsely use his plumbing license on official documents and filed false statements with the city that said he was paying workers appropriate wages.

Respler also admitted that he sold a property in Long Island City to a plumber's union for $1.9 million — $400,000 above its market value — after agreeing to give a kickback of $10,000 to the business manager of the union.

The plea agreement included Respler making significant restitution, including $360,000 to the plumber's union for the fraudulent building sale and $300,000 to a trust to reimburse workers' lost wages. He also forfeited $75,000 to the state of New York. The $10,000 in bribes related to three contracts worth $7.2 million that Respler's plumbing company had with the city to install water meters.

The investigation, which netted three other arrests, including city officials who took the bribes, was done by the City of New York Department of Investigation and the prosecutions were supervised by the attorney in charge of the New York State Attorney General's Organized Crime Task Force.

When I spoke to Respler on Tuesday, I asked him why he told The Day in April that he had nothing to do with paying bribes, didn't promise a kickback in the sale of a building and never improperly paid his employees, despite an elaborate admission to those crimes he made in court. I read some of his testimony to him.

"No comment," was all he said, after a long period of silence on the line.

I wonder what he told Burt in their "long discussion," after which Burt told The Day: "I have all the faith in Respler Homes and Mr. Respler."

I found another answer by Respler to something I raised in our conversation to be strange.

I asked him why he lists himself on his LinkedIn profile as the CEO for 13 years of a company called Advanced Construction Technologies, since principals of that California business, with 29 employees, told me they have never heard of him. Respler's LinkedIn profile uses the company's distinct logo.

Respler said the company in his profile is defunct, one he started many years ago but never used, at a time when he intended to go into the geothermal and solar business. He said he hasn't tended his LinkedIn profile for a while and could not explain why his listing shows a company and its logo that he has no association with. Of course, if his own company with that name is defunct and was never used, one wonders why he would list it at all.

In his proposal to the state to develop the oral school property, Respler lists his primary developer credentials as three housing projects in Connecticut, including the unfinished one in East Windsor, as well as a 154-unit project in Berlin and another with 92 units in Beacon Falls. I visited all three. The small project in Beacon Falls appears largely finished and much of the Berlin development is built with homes occupied and site work underway on the makings of a new phase.

The lack of progress on the project in East Windsor is very evident, where the one section of completed road drifts off into an unfinished cul-de-sac, with weeds growing around the installed sewer lines. Other sections of road for the nearly 11-year-old development are not cleared.

East Windsor files on the Respler project, which planning officials made promptly available when I asked, show the records of the extension of permits the developer had to request because they were expiring. 

Some residents in the dozen or so homes whom I spoke with said they are frustrated with the slow progress and some of them complained about the developer not being responsive to problems with the completed houses brought to his attention.

Respler told me more of the East Windsor development is not finished because the houses are custom and he only builds them as they are sold. He said he has addressed problems from homeowners while the houses were still under warranty, but some people have come to him with complaints long after their houses were finished and sold.

When I asked about his lack of experience building the kind of development he has proposed in Mystic, with a market, restaurant, hotel and office space, he said once you've built a house, you can build other things.

The purchase and sales contract for the oral school and 40 acres of the site was overseen and signed Nov. 7, 2019, by state Economic and Community Development Deputy Commissioner David Kooris, who has since left state government but remains chairman of the Connecticut Port Authority board and has managed the state's remake of State Pier in New London.

The contract with Respler sets out a $1 sale of the property but makes no demands of the developer that he do anything specific with it. It refers only generally to plans he has for the property. There are a series of contingencies pertaining to permits for the proposed development, contingencies the contract allows Respler to waive.

DECD attorney Chris Kurker-Stewart told me, when I asked, that it is possible that Respler could waive the contingencies meant to protect him and ask for a closing on the $1 purchase, without being required to do anything he has promised.

But the lawyer told me in a follow-up email that the contract is "premised" on the proposed plans by Respler and that it is unlikely he would seek to simply buy the property for $1.

"The scenario you posit would pose a significant risk to Respler, as he would be reneging on everything proposed and supplied to the town and state thus far," Kurker-Stewart wrote. "Additionally, any single-family development would still require town approval, unless he were to build only one or two homes, which would presumably negate any financial justification."

I wish I could buy 40 acres in a desirable part of Mystic for only $1 and worry only about how many houses I could build in compliance with 2-acre zoning.

A contract without any substantial conditions is only one of the state's gifts to Respler. It also has leased the property to him for $1 for the period before the closing, up to three and a half years, and has assigned him the annual income, now $66,224 and rising at 3% a year, from the cellphone companies that maintain a tower on the property.

The developer is supposed to spend the money to secure the property and keep out vandals, but there is no provision for the state to recover any of the cellphone tower rent not spent. The town signed a subsequent agreement with Respler, ensuring that he won't have to pay property taxes to the town as a result of the lease.

The town signed a development agreement with Respler in February 2020 that included a series of anticipated milestones. It appears few of them, as laid out in a memo from town manager Burt from the month before, have been achieved 16 months later. The agreement also strangely pledges the town's assistance in helping the developer deal with federal and state authorities.

Burt said in his memo that planning, design, engineering, regulatory and legal approvals would all be obtained in 2020 and there would be a "shovel in the ground" in 2021. No approvals have been obtained and in fact there has yet to be a single application.

The Town Council has supported the town's coddling of Respler, with all nine councilors signing an op-ed that ran in The Day March 1 celebrating what the councilors said are "so many positive facets" of the project. And yet neighbors in that part of town seem united in their opposition, given the protest signs that appear on most lawns in the area.

Councilor Lian Obrey complained in a council meeting this month about angry and rude emails she has received from residents about her support for the project.

It seems to me that Obrey and her fellow councilors should listen more to their constituents and less to the developer's cheerleaders on the town payroll.

This is the opinion of David Collins.

Groton’s Project Oceanology receives $950,000 from offshore wind partners

Greg Smith

Groton — Offshore wind partners Ørsted and Eversource continued to make good on promises of local partnerships Thursday, with an award of $950,000 to Groton-based Project Oceanology.

The money is aimed at enhancing and expanding the marine science nonprofit’s STEM-based programming for kindergarten through 12th grade, with a focus on climate change, sustainability, energy generation and offshore wind.

Thursday’s announcement was made at Project Oceanology’s waterfront headquarters at the University of Connecticut’s Avery Point campus, with one of its two research vessels within view of the gathering of local and state officials.

Project Oceanology Executive Director Jim McCauley said the focus will be on serving economically disadvantaged and underserved communities, something the organization already does by targeting Alliance Districts — low-performing, high-needs schools — such as New London, Groton and Norwich for its programs.

The funds will be distributed over four years starting this fall and are to be initially used to develop and design programs at nine southeastern Connecticut schools: three elementary, three middle and three high schools. More schools, which have not yet been identified, will be added each year for a total of 18.

Project Oceanology is expected to additionally provide teachers with professional development sessions to help develop fundraising capabilities and help sustain the programs for the long term.

“Our commitment to Revolution Wind is we’re going to build over four years and reach out to the Alliance school districts and try to recruit those schools and teachers to bring their classes to the programs,” he said. “Over the four years we’re going to reach thousands of students in Southeastern Connecticut.”

Revolution Wind is the offshore wind project planned for construction off the coast of Rhode Island that will provide 304 megawatts to Connecticut and 400 Megawatts to Rhode Island. State Pier in New London will be used for staging and preassembly of wind turbines for the project.

David Ortiz, Ørsted’s head of market affairs for New England, said the $235.5 million State Pier modernization project is projected to create 460 local construction jobs while providing a boost to the local economy. He said there will be more than 100 more wind-related jobs for longshoremen, preassembly technicians, crane operators, electricians, welders and quality inspectors.

“All of this activity together is going to really benefit southeastern Connecticut,” he said.

Ørsted and Eversource already have announced partnerships with Groton-based ThayerMahan, Waterford-based Sea Services North America and last week announced a $1.25 million grant to Mystic Aquarium to support internships, youth programs, animal rescue work and an ocean wind energy exhibit.

“As we continue our work to grow the offshore wind industry in Connecticut, we are eager to work closely with local communities and partners to support educational and workforce development initiatives,” Michael Ausere, vice president of business development at Eversource Energy, said in a statement. “Project Oceanology’s collaborative, experiential learning approach was a perfect fit for us, and we look forward to expanding access to this unique program for local students.”

State Sen. Heather Somers said she was pleased Ørsted and Eversource followed through on promises to be good community partners and recalled a visit from a representative from Ørsted predecessor Deepwater Wind in 2018.

“We explained to him all the great things Project O does and is able to provide, especially for children who have never experienced the water, who don’t know anything about marine life. They have an opportunity through their school systems to visit and get a taste of it,” she said.

For more information on Project Oceanology, visit www.oceanology.org.

CT sets energy storage goal of 1,000MW by 2030

Zachary Vasile

Connecticut has officially set a goal of developing 1,000 megawatts of energy storage assets by 2030.

SB 952, signed into law by Gov. Ned Lamont on Wednesday, gives the state Department of Energy and Environmental Protection broad authority to encourage the development of energy storage technology, including the power to issue requests for proposals and select new projects, provided they are cost effective. The act also instructs regulators to begin a proceeding to develop and implement energy storage programs connected to the electric distribution system.

Included in the law are interim targets of 300MW by Dec. 21, 2024 and 650MW by Dec. 31, 2027.

Energy storage capability is seen as key to increasing reliability, as storage units, such as batteries, can funnel power to homes and businesses if connection to the grid is lost or compromised by an event like a storm. The technology could also play a role in encouraging the adoption of renewable energy forms by saving up electricity generated from solar panels and turbines and redeploying it when the Sun is not shining and the wind is not blowing.

Lamont has set a goal of making Connecticut’s power resources 100% carbon-free by 2040, which will likely make the state increasingly reliant on solar and offshore wind generation as fossil fuels are gradually abandoned.

Filling the Labor Pool — Post-Pandemic, Construction Industry Wants Workers to Jump in

Lucy Perry

Emerging from the coronavirus pandemic, contactors are struggling to fill crews. Construction employment dropped by 20,000 from April to May, the third decline in the previous four months. That's further challenged the industry, which for years has faced a stagnant labor pool.

President Joe Biden is pushing two major bills to boost both infrastructure and the supply chain, but some in the industry believe these programs may increase workforce burdens.

In a labor report, the Associated General Contractors (AGC) noted that BLS statistics put worker numbers at 225,000 below the pre-pandemic peak of February 2020.

Nonresidential construction employment shrank by 21,800 in May and was 260,000 below the February 2020 level, reported AGC chief economist Ken Simonson.

"A total of 642,000 former construction workers were unemployed in May, a sharp decline from May 2020 but the second-highest May level since 2014," he wrote.

The industry's unemployment rate in May was 6.7 percent, compared to 12.7 percent in May 2020.

For total construction, hourly earnings in April averaged $32.59, 8 percent more than the average for the nonfarm private sector.

But over the past two years this premium shrank by 2.2 percentage points from 10.2 percent in April 2019.

This implies that "the financial attractiveness of construction may be diminishing as other sectors that are expanding faster raise pay to attract more workers," said Simonson.

The premium diminished the most for employees of heavy and civil engineering construction firms (minus 4.5 points, from 16 percent above the private-sector average in April 2019 to 11.5 percent in April 2021).

Citing BLS data, the AGC reported there were 357,000 job openings in construction, seasonally adjusted, at the end of April.

Hires in April totaled 335,000 or 4.5 of the employment total for the month. "Apart from the pandemic-depressed 3.1 percent rate in 2020, the rate was the lowest for April in the 21-year history of the series," said Simonson.

The job openings rate (4.6 percent) was the second-highest total for any month since the series began in December 2000, he added.

Recruiting Headaches

Recruiting construction workers can be more expensive than keeping them on the job.

"Many young employees know little about the industry," said Blair Chenault, CEO of construction software provider Flashtract.

In a blog on his company's website, Chenault wrote that long-term workers have been the backbone of the industry.

"As these workers reach retirement age in droves, younger workers aren't stepping in to fill the available positions." Younger workers believe the construction industry is unstable, he said.

Another big reason: The encouragement to seek higher education equals discouragement from manual jobs like construction.

Plus, construction comes with safety hazards that make proper training a vital part of the industry, he wrote.

"Training long-term employees is well worth the cost and time, but new employees can be unpredictable," said Chenault. "Losing trained employees is expensive and leaves fellow workers carrying an extra burden on the job site."

Presidential Pains

The White House's plan to alleviate supply-chain disruptions could create other burdens.

While boosting labor numbers and training, the proposal would increase the cost of doing construction business, believes the AGC.

Association officials want the Biden administration to address rising materials costs and growing labor shortages.

Stephen E. Sandherr, the association's CEO, said Biden's supply-chain program "would limit the ability of workers and employers to fill needed construction positions."

He believes that imposing mandated hiring percentages, inflexible labor agreements and artificially high pay rates will cut the number of firms and workers available for infrastructure and other construction programs.

"The construction industry is experiencing widespread and growing problems with the cost and supply of materials," said Sandherr. "These challenges will make it more costly and difficult to achieve the administration's goals for infrastructure, renewable energy and affordable housing."

Solutions to Stay Afloat

Baywork, a San Francisco area coalition of water agencies, has created apprenticeship programs to get students that experience while they're in school, reported Hechinger.

"Utility managers believe this approach will solve some staffing problems."

Some agencies in the area have agreed to hold community college classes at their plants. It cuts down on students' commute times and provides practical experience.

Oakland's Dublin San Ramon Services District is offering plant tours and job fairs to boost interest in water jobs.

"We have to market these jobs and make sure high-school kids who are smart consider it," said Levi Fuller, district wastewater operations superintendent.

Gender and diversity, as well, plague construction sectors. Brookings found that more than 82 percent of power plant workers are white. And, 82 percent of infrastructure workers are men.

"A more diverse workforce would help fill jobs, but it will take broader steps to complete the slew of infrastructure projects proposed by the administration," wrote Hechinger.

A "few relatively easy fixes" the article lists include allowing Pell grants to pay for short-term college vocational programs.

Recruiting Tips

Chenault of Flashtract warns that all industries will vie for the attention of transitioning job seekers.

Companies in the construction industry will need new techniques for recruiting and retaining. Here are his tips:

Expand recruitment tactics and meet potential employees where their job search exists.

"As people return to the job market, they may not even consider construction without prompting," he wrote. "Job seekers comparing industries will be eager to learn about income opportunities, as well as benefits and advancement opportunities."

Improve conditions for current employees, the window into what the work experience is like within a construction company.

"Now is the time to reduce cumbersome job tasks and eliminate slow payment issues that have been known to plague the industry," said Chenault.

Create open streams of communication with employees to ensure you're doing everything you can to make your employees feel connected and appreciated.

"Happy employees serve as brand ambassadors to job seekers around them, he wrote.

Recognize difficulties for employees returning to the job market who may be working through a tough time financially as they emerge from the pandemic.

"Employers will face a different situation when it comes to reaching payment agreements for new employees," said Chenault. "Take time to reexamine your company budget to allocate funds to attracting and retaining long-term employees to the company." CEG