Fairfield’s finance board approves additional $300K grant for wastewater treatment project

Josh Labella   FAIRFIELD — The town is one step closer to accepting an additional $300,000 for the wastewater treatment plant hardening project, which aims to make the site more resistant to coastal flooding.

The Board of Finance unanimously approved a resolution to accept a Community Development Block Grant-Disaster Recovery at a recent meeting.

Town officials reached out to the state — which administers the grant for the federal government — to request more funding after contaminants were found at the plant during construction on the project, said Brian Carey, the acting director of the Public Works Department.

“The state was able to come up with additional funding for us in the amount of $300,000,” Carey said. “So, we’re just back in front of the Board of Selectmen and Board of Finance at this time to get the agreement signed so that we can acquire that (funding).”

In February, First Selectwoman Brenda Kupchick said the project would cost a total of $7.4 million but $3.33 million would be funded through a grant from the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development.

Carey said workers noticed oily water coming in from one of the excavations about six weeks into the work, which started in March and April. The water was tested and showed petroleum and PCBs.

“We actually ended up having to do soil testing, and the extent of that has just grown over time as we’ve discovered that there’s PCBs pretty much throughout the northeast corner of the site and, then, sporadically through the rest of the site,” Carey said, who has previously stated the contaminants are unrelated to the fill pile scandal.

The town is working with its licensed environmental professional, Tighe and Bond, as well as with the Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection and U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to come up with a remediation plan, Carey said.

Carey said the town is currently excavating areas where the sheet wall and storm water infrastructure will be placed as part of the project. He said there will need to be further investigations in the future to identify the degree and extent of contamination, so the town can remediate it.

“The PCB contamination that we are finding is most likely due to the historic operation of the treatment plant,” Carey said. “The highest levels that we’re finding at the site appear to be where they, historically, did their sludge drying operations on the northeast corner of the property.”

Carey said the hardening project is still under budget, but the town is running into issues with the amount of material buried on the site.

“Between stumps and rocks and everything else that was land-filled throughout the site... we’ve had to go in and over-excavate those areas in order to drive the sheets,” he said, noting that added costs to the project.

Carey said the project is about a third of the way done. He said the town is hoping construction will go more quickly now that it has a handle on the environmental issues.

“We’re looking, probably, at best case scenario, working through the better part of December into January before we’re completed with the project,” he said.

Vice Chair Christopher DeWitt, who lead the meeting, reiterated that it does not appear the contaminants are related to the fill pile.

“This is just contamination just from years of dumping stuff and being all the things that that parcel of land was in its prior history,” he said, asking Carey if he agreed.

Carey, who has previously said the land was the location of a Nike Site up until the 1950s, said local manufacturers were pumping and discharging processed wastewater into the sewer without treatment prior to the Clean Water Act.

“As that sludge dries, they basically put it out and spread it out and allowed it to dry,” Carey said. “Then they would use it as fill or whatever on other parts of the property. That is most likely the source of the issue. It is not a Julian issue. The areas that were being excavated as part of this project are not sites that have not been disturbed in decades of the operation of the plant.”

When asked about the cost associated with remediation, Carey said the cost overrun in the context of the project is about $300,000 and was covered in the initial contingency. He noted any further upgrades to the plant would require a full investigation of the site.

Windsor Locks moves forward on downtown marketplace development proposal

Joe Chaisson  he Windsor Locks Board of Selectmen on Tuesday adopted a mission statement for a downtown marketplace that would go hand-in-hand with the new train station expected to be built next year.

First Selectman J. Christopher Kervick explained during Tuesday’s meeting that accepting a mission statement for the proposed development is the first step in the “implementation” process.

“I know it could be viewed as a relatively modest step. We’re not really looking to answer all the questions at this point, we’re really seeking to just get the ball rolling,” Kervick said. “But even though it’s modest, it’s also symbolic. Really, it represents the community embracing this concept.”

The mission statement read:

“The mission of the Connecticut River Valley Public Market at Windsor Locks Station is to create a powerful regional engine for economic, community, and agricultural development that takes advantage of Windsor Locks’ historic location adjacent to the Windsor Locks Canal and the Connecticut River and its position as a key rail stop between Hartford and Springfield and the home of the second-largest airport in New England.”

It continues, “The market should be filled with successful and distinctive owner-operated private businesses and public events that represent the unique character and culture of the Connecticut River Valley region. It should increase visitation; provide a net benefit to our citizens for fresh and prepared food; fine local, handmade crafts; entertainment, and education.”

The project will temporarily be titled the Connecticut River Valley Public Market at Windsor Locks Station.

Kervick introduced Aaron Zaretsky, whom he labeled as “the nation’s preeminent public market expert.” Zaretsky is a private consultant who studies public markets nationally and internationally. Prior to that, Zaretsky served as the executive director for Pike Place Market in Seattle for 15 years.

Zaretsky explained that he initially expressed doubt about a market in Windsor Locks.

“When Chris first approached me about a public market in Windsor Locks, I was pretty skeptical. Windsor Locks doesn’t have a huge population, and about one of every three feasibility studies that I do come to a negative conclusion,” he said.

“But the more I looked at it, and the more that I understood that within 12 miles there is about 300,000 people between Springfield and Hartford — that Windsor Locks was a transportation hub both by rail and by air. When we did the feasibility study it was really clear that it could be tremendously successful.”

After the meeting, Kervick said Zaretsky’s feasibility cost $30,000, paid for by a state grant. Kervick also said a business plan for the project was completed in August, which cost $85,000, paid for with money raised by the Tax Increment Financing district.

Zarestky said the project would create 400 new jobs, nearly 100 entrepreneurial opportunities, and several million dollars in tax revenues.

“It could be a major cash cow for Windsor Locks,” he said.

Roughly 20 residents spoke during the public input section, with all but a few expressing support for the proposed development.

Selectman Scott A. Storms asked Kervick how he intends to make sure more residents become aware of the project, suggesting a public hearing.

“I want to make sure our citizens are engaged and are a part of the decision making, and this isn’t something decided by a small group of people,” Storms said.

One resident said the idea was extraordinary, while another said the project would be a great influence to surrounding towns.

Kervick said the project will head to the Planning and Zoning Commission “soon.”

With a goal to ‘de-concentrate poverty,’ Bridgeport Housing Authority slowly modernizing properties

Brian Lockhart   BRIDGEPORT — Seven years after demolition began on the aged Marina Village public housing site in the South End, a new — and much smaller — replacement is rising up at Park Avenue and Johnson Street.

The long-planned, $27.1 million Windward Commons development is the latest public-private effort to modernize the Bridgeport Housing Authority’s stock of archaic low-income properties.

But in doing so, Marina Village went from about 36 buildings with 400 total units to a new, 54-unit, mixed-income development, 11 of those market-rate.

“One of the goals of all housing authorities and of the city is to de-concentrate poverty,” said Jillian Baldwin, who started work in mid-June as the new executive director of the authority, rebranded Park City Communities a few years ago.

So Marina Village came down and its 782 tenants were relocated. But, Baldwin said, they received tenant protection vouchers — essentially rent subsidies that traveled with them as they were moved into other, scattered rental housing properties not necessarily owned by the authority.

“This tool helps in the de-concentration strategy,” Baldwin said. “We’ve seen the impacts of socioeconomic issues that can be associated when developments are high concentration, high density with economic challenges.”

The 27 acres where Marina Village was built was also prone to flooding, which was another reason officials wanted to build something that took up less land.

David Ghio, the authority’s director of planning, development and modernization, said new regulations required Windard Commons be elevated 8 to 10 feet.

“The area you see being developed has been elevated on the Park Avenue and Johnson Street corner and a large portion of the structural fill came from (Marina Village’s) crushed and recycled concrete masonry,” Ghio said.

The private developer is JHM Group of Stamford which, Baldwin said, will have “day-to-day management of the properties.” And while the authority has invested over $2.7 million in the project, which also received significant state and federal funding, and will continue to own the land, the redevelopment arrangement essentially takes much of Windward Commons off of the cash-strapped authority’s books.

“Affordable housing in the city and elsewhere, we see our best results when we engage in public-private partnerships in this way,” Baldwin said.

JHM Group previously built the mixed-income Crescent Crossings, which opened in 2017 atop the site of the former Father Panik Village. Some Marina Village residents were moved there.

The visions for Crescent Crossings and Windward Commons date back to earlier in the decade when Mayor Bill Finch was in power, and since then there has been regular turnover in the authority’s director’s office. Baldwin said she has been scrutinizing those “very old, very thick” deals, as well as proposals for other authority acreage, to see if they need updating.

“It’s important we tap into the market to get the most competitive pricing and development partners whose mission strictly aligns with the authority’s,” Baldwin said. “It’s important we look at our redevelopment efforts strategically across our entire portfolio.”

Baldwin said the authority’s existing contract with JHM calls for the developer to construct some additional housing, but nothing beyond Windward has been finalized.

JHM did not return requests for comment.

Meanwhile Baldwin is moving ahead with an inherited effort by her predecessor, James Slaughter, and Mayor Joe Ganim’s administration to shutter, demolish and rebuild the 270-unit Charles F. Greene homes, known for its obsolete, unsanitary and unsafe buildings.

Ghio last week submitted the initial application to decommission what residents call “The Greenes” to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, which oversees housing authorities across the nation.

Baldwin said she would like to have begun relocating those tenants “yesterday” but acknowledged the entire planning process must be a methodical one.

D'Amato Construction grows out of current facilities, looks to move headquarters

Brian M. Johnson  BRISTOL – D’Amato Construction has grown beyond its current facilities and is looking for new options for a headquarters, including possibly relocating to Plainville and renovating the former White Oak property.