100-year-old bridge over state Route 34 in Oxford, destroyed in flood, could reopen in late October

Ken Dixon

OXFORD — It will take until the end of October – and about $1.2 million dollars - for the state Department of Transportation and its emergency contractors to build a temporary bridge to replace the 100-year-old span that was destroyed in the fatal Aug. 18 storms and flooding, and finally get traffic moving again along one of Connecticut's major traffic corridors.

That was the determination this week of the team of DOT engineers supervising the massive rebuilding of the 1924 bridge that was wiped out at the intersection of state Route 34 and Loughlin Road here, where the raging Eightmile Brook destroyed houses upstream, leveled a stand of forest and sent debris into the Housatonic River just south of the Stevenson Dam.

So, for another seven weeks or so, the thousands of cars that have used Route 34 as a daily north-south path between New Haven to Newtown will continue to use detours. The good news is that the new redesign of the two-lane bridge will likely prepare the intersection for the next major rainfall.

"In my 30 year career I have never seen devastation this bad from a storm event," said John Lee, the DOT's district engineer. "As soon as we get this bridge done we’ll be temporarily back to normal." Lee, James Zaharevich, the project engineer and Kayla Krijgsman, chief inspector, met a pair of reporters on Wednesday afternoon to describe the problematic site at the bottom of Loughlin Road, where the T-intersection with Route 34 was devastated by the usually slow-moving, meandering brook. "This was an aberration of a storm," Lee said.

The trio of engineers, looking over the dozen or so contractors from the Plainville-based Manafort Brothers construction company operating bulldozers, excavators and dump trucks, recalled a scene of natural carnage during the storm that dumped as much as 14 inches of rain on sections of Oxford, destroying homes, businesses and infrastructure in this town, Southbury, Newtown, Seymour and other parts of Southwestern Connecticut, causing hundreds of millions of dollars in damage.

There is currently no time estimate for the eventual construction of a permanent span with steel beams setting on the new concrete abutments. Designs are being handled by agency workers in the DOT's Newington headquarters. 

Lee said the DOT was lucky that Manafort Brothers is a big enough company to come in on short notice. Over the last month or so, the company has worked seven-day weeks under the state's emergency contract. While the bridge over the Eightmile Brook is the longest span in the aftermath of the August storms and the project is more-complex than most others, Lee said the toughest flooding site was on Georges Hill Road in Southbury, near Kettletown State Park, where 11 families were stranded, but DOT maintenance crews were able to repair the road within days.

Lee said the flash flood and piled-up debris forced water over the top of the roadway, which it washed away. Eightmile Brook has numerous tributaries between its main containment areas including Lake Quassapaug in Middlebury and Papermill Pond in Southford Falls State Park in Southbury.

Zaharevich said that while DOT crews closed the road to traffic right after the storm, it took a week to get the contractors on site to start cleaning the  truckloads of debris. While the property around the intersection had been forested before the storm, there are now just bare, rock-stewn banks. The water went high up the banks, taking away part of Loughlin Road, making the site more problematic.

The state DOT has reopened 27 to at least partial or local traffic.

About 1.5 million tons of storm-related debris has been removed.

Twenty road reopenings involved major reconstruction efforts.

Remaining closed state roads include:

 * State Route 67 from East St to the parking lot west of Great Hill Road in Seymour. It could be reopened by September 30.

 * State Route 67 between both entrances to Community House Road in Southbury. It could be reopened by October 11.

* State Route 34 from Coppermine Road to Loughlin Road in Oxford.

* The Waterbury Branch of Metro-North will remain closed for at least another two months because of storm-related track washouts.

"It is very steep and we had the challenge with relocating the power lines, because you’re not allowed to run the machinery within 10 feet of power lines," said Zaharevich, describing how Eversource moved a utility pole across Loughlin Road.

 Manafort Brothers Inc. first cleared away the piled up trees, brush, pieces of upstream homes and the failed bridge itself. Krijgsman described how the company then used earth-moving equipment to bring in and unload layers of soil and large stones called riprap to get the bed of the brook closer to normal along Loughlin Road, part of which was washed away as well. Krijgsman looked down at a bulldozer operator working the stream bank at a 30-degree angle.

"They're building up the slope of Loughlin here because half the road fell into the water," Krijgsman said. "The water came up and took out the entire area. Half of the shoulder is gone." The contractors have already poured cement for a massive footing on the north side of the brook and recently finished a form for one on the south side that will support both the temporary span as well as a permanent bridge.

The outdated, 24-foot arch bridge will be replaced by an 83-foot temporary span to allow traffic back, while the DOT finishes plans for a new permanent bridge. "That’ll be able to handle a lot more water," Zasharevich said. "Basically, it's going to kind of look like an Erector Set," Lee added. "It'll be 30-feet-wide so it’ll have two lanes of traffic on it. Once the bridge is built we’ll set it in place, then we’ll build the roadway around it leading up to it so it’s passable. Once that’s done and we have all of our safety appurtenances in, we can open the road temporarily."

Across the stream, on the side of Route 34 heading up to the dam, is a souvenir of the former bridge that lasted 100 years: The chunk of concrete, weighing hundreds of pounds, with "1924" etched in it. 

$100M mixed-use development eyed for Enfield’s riverfront

Hanna Snyder Gambini

Two prominent local development companies are setting their sights on redeveloping part of the Connecticut riverfront in Enfield with more than 300 residential units, retail and a waterfront park.

Lewis Brown and Gregory Vaca of HGRE Ventures, a partnership between Avon-based Honeycomb Real Estate Partners and GRAVA Properties of West Hartford, presented preliminary plans to the Enfield Town Council this week for the Enfield Station development – a $100 million, two-phase project that would bring more than 300 residential units to the riverfront section of Thompsonville.

The first phase would create a four-story residential building with upwards of 165 market-rate apartments, a portion of which would be affordable.

Key to the development, which is planned for a 3.24-acre brownfield site at 33 North River St., is its proximity to Enfield’s new multimodal transit hub where work on the future Amtrak Hartford Line station is expected to begin next year.

The development property is the former Bigelow Carpet manufacturing plant, which has been underutilized since the mid-1970s, suffering from years of neglect and contamination, the development team said.

While Vaca and Brown have not yet submitted a formal site plan application for the project, they have been meeting with town officials on the development. 

Earlier this week, the town council authorized Enfield’s town manager to seek a brownfield remediation grant for up to $4 million from the state Department of Economic and Community Development for site cleanup, an early step in the redevelopment process.

Previous environmental work on the site identified contaminants that will need to be remediated, said Vaca, who is founder and president of Grava. 

Brown, who is a principal and managing member of Honeycomb, said the development’s design “emphasizes its commitment to creating an accessible and engaging community space … with direct access to the Connecticut River, enhanced by a public river walk and waterfront amenities.”

The development team also includes Newman Architects, with preliminary designs reflecting the historic mill style, keeping with the character and heritage of the Thompsonville neighborhood and enhancing the area’s historical charm, the team said.

Also part of the area revitalization is a rebuilding of a pedestrian bridge that connects Enfield with the town of Suffield over the river.

The Enfield Station project “exemplifies Transit-Oriented Development by providing high-quality housing community near a major transit hub, and this development will support the state’s goals of expanding housing options and improving transit accessibility, while revitalizing and returning to the community a beautiful stretch of Connecticut riverfront,” the development team said.

The developers are working on a purchase-and-sale agreement with owners of the North River Street property, and will also seek to acquire an additional parcel, currently owned by Eversource, for the project’s second phase.
 
Phase two will include another building similar in size and design, roughly 150,000 square feet, with 150 to 160 apartments and likely some commercial space, ideally a restaurant with river views, Vaca said.

Vaca said the team will pursue other public funding options as well as private financing, but that it’s too early to determine which grants they might seek.

Brown and Honeycomb’s portfolio includes the conversion of the old West Hartford Inn into The Camelot affordable housing project, and The Monarch affordable housing project in New Haven. 

Vaca is in the process of building another transit-adjacent development, the Founders Square project in Windsor Center, with a mix of apartments and retail near the train station.

CRDA head Freimuth, key player in Hartford-area redevelopment, announces plans to step down

Michael Puffer

Michael Freimuth, a champion of redevelopment efforts in Hartford and East Hartford, announced Thursday his will step down as executive director of the Capital Region Development Authority next June.

Freimuth, 69, has led the quasi-governmental agency since its launch in 2012, playing a pivotal role in creating an impactful engine of economic development in Hartford.

Under his guidance, the agency has provided low-interest gap financing and tax breaks that have led to the construction of about 3,000 new downtown Hartford apartments, with 2,500 more in the pipeline. He has been the steady, affable and widely respected hand at the helm of a 12-person agency with an outsized impact.

“My mission, years ago, was to knit back together a connection between the city and state on development, with a focus on downtown housing,” Freimuth said. “Since then, I think we have achieved a lot of that.”

The agency’s role has expanded to include work on housing developments across Hartford -- not just in its center -- as well as in East Hartford and, to a smaller degree, in Newington and Wethersfield, Freimuth noted. It manages the XL Center arena and Connecticut Convention Center in Hartford; the stadium at Rentschler Field in East Hartford; and 17,000 parking spaces.

The agency’s efforts have helped transform vacant and deteriorating office buildings into in-demand market-rate apartments. It has supported construction of a 270-unit apartment building on a parking lot next to the minor league Dunkin’ Park baseball stadium in the city’s north end, with more apartment buildings slated for other lots around the stadium. The CRDA is also advancing plans to build a 1,200-household neighborhood, complete with retail and restaurants, on about 20-acres of vacant and parking lots south of Bushnell Park.

“Our task now is to cobble together resources to get projects done and oversee them as they get started,” Freimuth said. 

Freimuth’s career in finance and economic development stretches back about four decades. He headed economic development efforts in Stamford under then-Mayor Dannel P. Malloy before taking a job as commissioner of development in New Rochelle, New York. After two years, Malloy, then governor, recruited Freimuth to apply for leadership of the newly created CRDA.

Freimuth said a few factors are feeding into his retirement decision. There’s a desire to move away from the daily grind. He has also seen two friends in their 60s die shortly after retirement. So, Freimuth has decided to take a break and spend more time with family and on hobbies.

 “Hopefully, I will have a little sabbatical,” Freimuth said Thursday. “I think I just need to reset my bearings.”

The CRDA Board of Directors, on Thursday, approved a nine-month extension of Freimuth’s contract, which was to expire Oct. 1. That, Freimuth said, will allow enough time to find a successor and for a transition period.

Freimuth, who lives in Fairfield, said he plans to spend more time with his three grandchildren, as well as on carpentry and hiking. He said he might even take up golf again. He expects he will take up part-time consulting on development within a year. 

Brookfield gets green light to remediate blighted site, build 60 apartments downtown

Sandra Diamond Fox

BROOKFIELD — The town has earned the green light from the state to remediate a contaminated former dry cleaners that has been an eyesore for many years.

The vacant property, at 20 Station Road, is set to be cleaned up and then rebuilt into 60 apartments with 20 percent designated as affordable, said Allan Rothman, developer of the project. The site is at the heart of Brookfield's Four Corners downtown and is seen as key to breathing new life into the area. 

In 2022, the state promised to invest $1.2 million into the project, but progress had stalled in recent months because the developer had said it wasn't financially feasible. But now, the state Department of Labor has waived a requirement that the developers' workers be paid a "prevailing wage," allowing Rothman to move ahead.  

“I got a letter from the Department of Labor. They ruled ... that it was completely clear for us to start planning the demolition and remediation of 20 Station Road,” said Greg Dembowski, Brookfield community development specialist, in regard to a letter he received Sept. 3.

A prevailing wage rate is “the average wage paid to similarly employed workers in a specific occupation in the area of intended employment,” according to the U.S. Department of Labor. Rothman has said he would have had to pay his workers "much higher" than the market rate if he were required to pay the prevailing wage rate.  

"It's very good news. The Department of Labor agrees to be sensible,” said Rothman, of Unicorn Contracting Corp. in Cold Spring, N.Y.. “We’ll be subject to market wage. We can get regular rates from people and not inflated rates."

The owner of the development, Brookfield Village Station Road, LLC, will be turning the property into a single building of 60 one- and two-bedroom apartments. Twelve units will be designated as affordable, Rothman said.

The Four Corners part of town has undergone a huge transformation in recent years, with dozens of new apartments coming in, along with new businesses including new ice cream stores and a Food Emporium grocery. The number of new units has concerned some town leaders, who are considering a moratorium on new development. 

At 20 Station Road, the town must clean up the dry cleaning chemicals that contaminated the site before Rothman can begin construction. 

Dembowski said Oct. 7 is the “target date” to start drilling to take water samples of the property. He said the existing structure will eventually be demolished.

"That’s going to take a demolition permit that the town has to issue because there is hazardous materials like asbestos in the building," he said. 

After the building is demolished, the site will be remediated.  "(We) remove all the contaminated soils," he said. 

Once the site is cleaned up, Rothman will take over with the development of the project. Construction is expected to take about 14 months, he said. 

Shelton P&Z approves specialty grocer, denies apartments at Fountain Square

Brian Gioiele

SHELTON — A specialty grocer is on the menu for Fountain Square, but the Planning and Zoning Commission still has no taste for apartments at the Bridgeport Avenue site. 

The commission, at its meeting Wednesday, approved Highview Commercial’s request to remove the already approved office building and hotel, replacing it with a 13,500 square foot building to house an as yet unnamed grocery store. 

But the decision denied the developer’s third request for apartments — this one calling for 100 units — on the site, which is now home to Chick fil-A, Panera, Jersey Mike's, Crumbl Cookies, Sugar Llamas, among others, with future openings planned for Cava, Playa Bowls and Mercato Italian Kitchen & Bar. 

"We are pleased the commissioners approved the specialty grocer,” said Dave Gunia, senior vice president of development with Highview Commercial.

Gunia said he could not name the grocer at this time but stated that plans call for them to open by next summer.

Highview Commercial had sought to amend the present Planned Development District designation on the site to construct a four-story, 100-unit apartment building toward the rear of 801 Bridgeport Ave. as well as the building for the grocery store. 

The commission chose to split its decision, with the apartments again denied. 

The commission had already denied separate apartment plans, one calling for 145 units and another for 170 that was filed under the state’s affordable housing statute 8-30g. The developer appealed both denials, and those appeals are still pending.    

"We disagree with their opinions as residential development is being safely integrated with commercial shopping centers nationwide,” Gunia said, “and we believe our site and the passive location of where we propose to construct it is ideal.” 

Gunia said there would be no appeal of this denial. He said the company plans to file a fourth apartment application, this one following the state’s 8-30g guidelines. 

"We are working on our submission and should be making our application soon,” Gunia said. 

The commission has been unified in its stance against apartments on the site 

“We have always said an apartment building on this site is not desirable,” commission Chair Virginia Harger said. "While there are those who speak of a nationwide trend to incorporate residential into a retail landscape, that retail landscape is usually at a dying mall. Fountain Square is a newly established shopping center which still has the potential to be highly successful, but the developer continues to pursue and file applications to modify the original approval to allow permitted uses that we feel are not suitable."

The new plan included fewer apartments, with 16 studios, 48 one bedroom and 36 two-bedroom units. The plan was for 10 of the units to be affordable.   

The commissioners' concerns included the impact on traffic and limited parking for the upper section of the development, which would house the apartments and the grocery store and the lack of suitable pickup location for school buses transporting children to and from the proposed apartment building. 

The proposal called for 158 spaces being set aside for the apartments, with each unit being allocated one space. 

The remainder would be used by those units with multiple vehicles and guests. Developers stated there would be additional available parking throughout the complex, which the commission felt would intrude on parking areas needed by shoppers for other tenants.

Fairfield First Selectman Urges Public Opposition to ‘Unsightly’ Utility Projects

Sophia Muce

FAIRFIELD — Town leaders are calling on residents to help protect the town from upcoming utility projects.

In a Tuesday newsletter, First Selectmen Bill Gerber urged residents to share their concerns about project impacts like clear cutting, habitat removal, disturbances to private property and “unsightly” transmission poles with the state Department of Energy and Environmental Protection as the agency prepares a study of the Connecticut Siting Council. 

“We can make a difference when we stand together and use our voices to create change. I’ll be sending an email. I hope you will, too,” Gerber wrote. 

The call to action comes as Fairfield continues its legal battle against the council following a controversial project by United Illuminating to relocate aging transmission equipment along the Metro-North rail line in Fairfield and Bridgeport. Surrounding residents, business owners, preservationists and officials vehemently opposed the company’s proposed clearing of about six acres of trees and about 19 acres of proposed easements on nearby properties. 

About a year later, the council, which reviews utility projects, created and approved a compromise which would increase easements and tree clearing without a detailed site plan. The decision heightened local environmental concerns, kickstarted a costly appeal case and sparked new legislation.  

“The Connecticut General Assembly took an important step towards correcting unfair bias toward the utilities and the way this project was approved with the passage of House Bill 5507. That bill will change how decisions are made in the future and will take the needs of Connecticut residents into account in a much more significant way,” Gerber said. “Now it’s your turn.”

Passed by the state legislature in May, the bill attempts to improve oversight of utility projects by lowering legal costs for towns, strengthening council membership and bolstering DEEP’s involvement on the council.

The legislation also requires the department to publish a draft study on Nov. 14 examining the council’s ability to balance the need for utilities and the need to protect the environment, public health and safety. DEEP is required to evaluate the council’s membership, approval criteria, relationship with municipalities and response to public concerns.

On Wednesday, DEEP communications director Will Healey said the department has been working on the study since June and is required to consult with state agencies including the governor’s office, the Department of Economic and Community Development, Department of Housing, Department of Public Health and the council prior to publication.

According to Healey, state staff will hold a public meeting discussing the draft on Nov. 21 and publish the final report by Dec. 31. He said the department was provided no additional resources to conduct the study.

As the report moves along, Fairfield also pushed forward with its appeal case last week.

‘Undesigned’ and ‘unvetted’

Just a month after the council rejected and replaced UI’s original $225 million plan, Fairfield, Bridgeport, nonprofit Sasco Creek Neighbors Environmental Trust Inc., Southport Congregational Church and BJ’s Wholesale Club filed separate appeals of the decision in state Superior Court. The filings have since been conjoined into a single docket naming the town the key plaintiff.

While the initial plan to install new 100- to 135-foot monopoles south of the railroad would have required easements on historic properties like the Southport Historic District and Mary and Eliza Freeman Houses in Bridgeport, the council’s proposal — dubbed the Hannon-Morissette alternative — would move the project north of the line. The change would also increase costs by about $67 million and require 22 acres of tree clearing and seven acres of easements.

Attorneys representing Fairfield filed a 35-page brief on Friday, taking aim at a supposed lack of evidence, consultation and analysis in the council’s decision.

Submitted last year, UI’s application for the southern plan included a more than 200-page description of the project along with an ecological assessment report, photo simulations, cultural resources report, project maps and opinions from more than six state and federal agencies. 

However, Fairfield argued that because the approved alternative is “undesigned” and “unvetted,” neighbors are unsure of the size and locations of the new monopoles, the methods of construction, the impacts on scenic, historic and recreational values or which abutting properties will be impacted. 

“Due to this complete lack of evidence, the Council could not possibly have engaged in the statutorily required balancing of need versus environmental impact,” the town wrote.

UI spokesperson Sarah Wall Fliotsos previously told CT Examiner that the company does not expect to have a completed design for the alternative until summer 2027.

Fairfield, which has asked UI to instead bury its lines underground, also claimed that the council violated due process rights in its approval. 

Throughout the yearlong application process for the southern plan, officials like Sen. Richard Blumenthal, Rep. Jim Himes, State Sen. Tony Hwang, R-Fairfield, and State Rep. Jennifer Leeper, D-Fairfield, submitted comments in opposition. Multiple project neighbors also intervened in the process, allowing them to take part in six council hearings and directly question UI project staff. However, the town argued, officials and residents had no opportunity to vet the new plan as they are entitled to ahead of its approval.

“[N]one of the northern abutters have had any opportunity to contest the yet-to-be-designed northern route, and many of those abutters may now be facing permanent easements on their properties, as well as the potential installation of massive monopoles in their backyards,” the town said. “Even now, because it is unknown where the monopoles would be located along the Northern Overhead Route, it is impossible to know which abutters to the north would be directly affected.”

While neither the council nor UI have published a final project map, owners of northern properties like the Wakeman Boys & Girls Club’s Southport location have previously said they are concerned for the future of their houses and businesses. According to UI’s standard easement form, the company would have the right “at any time and from time to time” to construct and reconstruct its equipment, fill, excavate and remove any structures obstructing their work at private properties within the project area.”

According to UI, the company must upgrade its 60-year-old equipment to avoid structural failures, reduce service delays and prepare for future demand. But Fairfield argued that, without studies or maps, the public need for the alternative is unclear.

In a news release following the submission of the brief, Gerber said the council failed to balance the “alleged public need” with the environmental impacts of the project as it is required to do. He told residents that Fairfield would follow through with the appeal.

“We are committed to fight for the rights of our community. Ratepayers, as well as residents, have a right to understand and weigh in on the impacts of potentially having new giant monopoles erected in their backyards,” Gerber said.