Norwalk under contract with 4 of 6 properties next to SoNo School construction site

Kalleen Rose Ozanic

NORWALK — With demolition complete and excavation underway at the incoming South Norwalk School, the city is working through acquiring the six properties abutting the construction site.

Alan Lo, Norwalk’s building and facilities manager, said that the Hatch and Bailey Co. building, which the site formerly housed, has been demolished, allowing for the excavation process. 

“The property is, from the bottom to the top, about a 70-foot difference in elevation,” Lo said. “And there’s rock outcropping in different areas.”

Contractors are nearly halfway done with the process of controlled blasting to more easily excavate, Lo said.

Controlled blasting uses explosives to remove “material along the final slope face” of a site, according to the Federal Highway Administration.

Lo said that, at first, “controlled blasting” is language that may frighten residents, but that is a safe process.

“All you hear is ‘boom,’” he said. “Then, that’s it.”

Controlled blasting was also featured in past construction to Ponus Ridge STEAM Academy, Lo said.

Following the completion of excavation, Newfield Construction, the project’s contractor, will begin setting the site’s footings, foundation, and begin grading and installing drainage.

“We’re on schedule,” Lo said, noting that he will make a report to the school board next April indicating whether the construction is progressing enough for the school to welcome students for the fall 2025 semester.

The project is currently slated for completion in August 2025.

As excavation continues, the city is making progress on the acquisition of six properties abutting the South Norwalk School construction site— for which the Board of Estimate and Taxation approved $2.9 million in special capital appropriations in August. 

“The City of Norwalk is under contract with the owners of 28 Oxford St., 32 Oxford St., 36 Oxford St. and 38 Oxford St,” said Michelle Woods Matthews, communications director for the mayor’s office.

That leaves another two properties.

“The City continues to make good faith efforts with the owners of 16 Meadow St. Ext., and the 1.13-acre S. Main Rail Corridor to negotiate the acquisitions of those properties,” Woods Matthews said.

The city has construction plans for the school that differ based on whether or not the six acquisitions come through, Lo said. While the school can operate without space from the six properties, Lo said, “what we have wouldn’t function as perfectly as we’d like it to” without them.

With the six properties, Lo said, the school would have a better parking and drop-off set-up.

For the school’s construction alone, Newfield Construction can charge the city at most $51.8 million, a guaranteed maximum price that the Common Council approved in February.

The new state-of-the-art school will fill a hole in the South Norwalk community that has existed since the late 1970s, when Norwalk Public Schools shuttered Nathaniel Ely School on Ingalls Avenue as part of desegregation efforts, a joint statement from the NPS and the city of Norwalk said.

The South Norwalk School will be the first in the neighborhood in over 40 years,

The $78 million project has a state reimbursement rate of 60 percent — putting a $31.2 million burden on the city and its taxpayers.

Garrett Eucalitto's drive for success began in pool at Torrington High School.

Peter Wallace

Connecticut Department of Transportation Commissioner Garrett Eucalitto has an hour to spare last Friday afternoon while waiting in Washington for a train taking him back to Connecticut for the weekend.

His two-day meeting, scoring research projects from across the nation and around the world, ended early.

So, despite the meeting’s possible news value, this phone conversation breaks the norm of media contacts quizzing him about its conclusions and potential impact on Connecticut’s roadways, bridges and railways.

Instead, it’s an effort to break through Eucalitto’s self-described “policy nerd” role into the real person whose path led him from award-winning long-distance Torrington High School swimmer in 1999 to the head of Connecticut’s DOT as of January 2023.

Swimming is the catalyst because Eucalitto joins three other former Torrington athletes – brother Matt Eucalitto, Haley Kasenetz and Harold Pollick – in the Torrington Hall of Fame’s class of 2024 in an induction banquet scheduled for April 28 at the Green Woods Country Club.

“I was never the best swimmer, but I put in the work,” Eucalitto laughs while crediting coaches Lisa Traub at Torrington and Barry Parenteau at Division I College of the Holy Cross in Worcester for his swimming accomplishments.

Either way, Eucalitto was a three-time All-NVL swimmer in high school, with specialties in the 500 freestyle and 100 breaststroke and senior captain of his Crusader college team.

He was also a high school Academic All-American choice of the National Interscholastic Swim Coaches Association.

All the early markers…credit to others, leadership, hard work…blend in retrospect as high qualifications for his current “dream job.”

But, when Eucalitto left Holy Cross with a B.A. in political science and Boston University with a Master’s in international relations, “I never knew what the next step would be,” he says.

Still, long-distance swimming armed him with helpful traits.

“I learned to prioritize my time management,” he says.

“The 500 helped build a sense of when to kick it into gear and when to pull into yourself.

“Now, in the midst of really long nights and days, the memory of double practices before and after school helps me focus on a slow, steady pace to get through them.”

Years ago, with an interest in East Asia foreign relations, the first step was a blur.

“I knew I had to go to Washington for any chance at a job like that,” he says, but “job” was soon the key word.

Answering an ad, Eucalitto signed on as an unpaid aide in Joe Lieberman’s Senate office opening envelopes and sorting through emails.

That changed quickly in his next six years in Lieberman’s office, but lessons from Lieberman did not: “The focus was on public service; every correspondence should get a response. Try to make a difference but stick to your values and beliefs. Support your candidate for office, but which candidate you support is your choice.”

Eaucalitto’s path became clearer.

“I became (Lieberman’s) assistant for appropriations, transportation and infrastructure advocacy for Connecticut,” he says. “I loved it.”

Six years of enthusiastic work under Lieberman turned into a career highway, pun intended.

His next job in Washington was Transportation Program Director for the National Governors Association.

“It broadened my horizons and my understanding of how engineers think,” he says.

Gov. Dannel Malloy tapped Eucalitto for his next job: Undersecretary for Comprehensive Planning and Intergovernmental Policy for the Connecticut Office of Policy Management.

“I knew nothing about state government,” he says, before spending the next five years immersed in the subject.

In 2020, former DOT Commissioner Joe Giulietti brought Eucalitto in as Deputy Commissioner. When Giulietti retired at the end of 2022, Eucalitto was Gov. Ned Lamont’s easy choice to replace him.

“I thought Deputy Commissioner was the dream job. This is the dream job,” said Eucalitto.

“Many days, I’m overwhelmed,” he says now. “If I wasn’t, I wouldn’t be putting 110 percent into the job.

With some 700 jobs yet to fill, the goal is to build the Department to 3,647 people to complete 5.4 billion dollars’ worth of planned capital construction projects in the next five years.

“If it seems like we have construction projects everywhere, you’re right,” he said, “but temporary pain is longtime solutions.

“Some of the time, the projects are stuck; our job is to unstick them,” he says.

“Roadwork everywhere” is the visible part of the job. Many current or long-term solutions for “unsticking” come behind the scenes with advance planning and communication with overlapping agencies.

Wrong-way drivers and work zone safety come high on the list.

“We are one of the most densely-populated states in the country,” Eucalitto says.

“A big part of our job is to ask what we can do to make public transportation safer and easier?”

Near-term answers come from things like better wrong-way alert systems and work zone cameras for enforcement.

Longer-term ideas can come from meetings like this one in Washington.

“We know how to handle winter storms, but rainfall counts have become unpredictable,” he says.

In the winter, part of the job is communication with power companies to prioritize specific local roads where power outages have occurred.

Climate change produces research ideas like adding friction to roadways to help tires stick to the pavement.

Ongoing problems from impaired drivers lead to research on vehicles that can sense impairment.

In Washington last Friday, Eucalitto’s train arrives on schedule.

In swimming terms, it may be a chance to pull down into himself for long nights and days to come.

Torrington fans at this month’s Hall of Fame banquet will look at his long-ago 500-yard freestyle accomplishments, secure in the record that a slow, steady pace, occasionally kicked into high gear, will see the long jobs done.

Proposed solar project in Hamden could save West Haven $500,000 in energy costs

Austin Mirmina

HAMDEN — An Avon-based developer wants to build a solar farm in Hamden that would zap West Haven's energy bill by a total of $500,000 over the next two decades, officials said.

Lodestar Energy is seeking approval to build a 1.5-megawatt solar farm on about eight acres of undeveloped, wooded land on Denslow Hill Road, according to an application submitted to the Connecticut Siting Council, which has authority over the siting of power facilities and other types of infrastructure. The parcel is privately owned.

The solar farm would have more than 2,700 photovoltaic panels that convert sunlight into electrical energy, among other equipment, the application states. Lodestar would run electricity produced by the panels to an overhead circuit on Denslow Hill Road that is part of United Illuminating's distribution system, according to the plans. Three new utility poles would be installed to help carry the power from the solar farm to the existing UI pole and overhead circuit.

The energy produced at the solar farm would be "sold through a net metering agreement to the City of West Haven at a discount to offset their energy costs," the application states. Under the agreement, UI would provide a bill credit to West Haven for the renewable energy being generated at the solar farm, said Rick Spreyer, Mayor Dorinda Borer's chief of staff. The city would not directly receive the power.

According to Spreyer, the city is projected to save more than $25,000 a year in energy costs over a 20-year span.

Lodestar was awarded a contract to develop the solar farm under the Non-Residential Solar Renewable Energy Solutions Program. Launched by Eversource and UI in 2022, the clean energy program is designed to encourage customers in underserved and environmental justice communities to participate in developing the state's renewable energy industry, according to the state Department of Energy and Environmental Protection.

West Haven, an environmental justice community, is participating in the program as a municipal sponsor, Spreyer said.

Hamden, though, does not have that designation, according to DEEP, and will not benefit financially from the solar farm, said Sean Grace, Mayor Lauren Garrett's chief of staff. Grace said the town would like to negotiate an agreement with Lodestar that would allow it to collect some sort of credit.

And while the town looks to work with the company on a possible credit, Hamden residents are voicing reservations about how the land abutting their properties would be affected.

Rachel Gima said she worried for the wildlife that would be displaced from the project, including the family of white-tailed deer that regularly stroll their lawn, as well as the turkeys, cardinals, blue jays and mockingbirds. The dense forest, Gima said, was one of the reasons her family chose to purchase a home on the street.

"It's very concerning to hear they're justifying the eight acres of land that they are taking away essentially from the animals who have lived there forever with the notion that the carbon is going to offset the trees," Gima said. "That's one piece of it, but the larger piece of it is the land that is going to be taken away."

"It's going to reduce the resale of our homes in the future as well as the peace and quiet that we bought the houses for," said Lorraine Posack, whose Denslow Hill Road home abuts the forest where the facility would be built.

Lodestar would have to remove 7.9 acres of trees to build the solar farm, though the company stated in the application that the project "will not have a substantial adverse environmental impact to the immediate and surrounding area." 

Representatives from the company did not return requests for comment.

According to the plans, the solar panels would reduce carbon dioxide levels at a faster rate than the surrounding forest and offset the loss of the trees. The company states that recovering the amount of carbon emitted from the cleared trees would take less than 40 days.

Lodestar also states in the application the project is "not expected" to negatively affect wildlife in the forest. However it notes that construction "may affect" the population of northern long-eared bat that were found to live in the wooded area.

As a result, Lodestar has proposed to restrict tree clearing to the bats' "inactive period" of Nov. 1 to April 14. The company said it would also install four "bat boxes ... to support bat habit for roosting and pup rearing season." Baby bats are called pups, according to DEEP.

Lodestar said in the application that it expects to begin building the solar farm in the second quarter of 2025 "or upon approval from the Siting Council." Construction would take about six to nine months, according to the plans.

The facility would have a life span of at least 20 years, Lodestar said in the application. After that, the company would remove the equipment and recycle or dispose of the materials, it said.

The deadline for the public to submit comments to the Siting Council on Lodestar's petition is May 12 and the council has until Oct. 9 to render a decision, according to a schedule posted on its website.

Why Connecticut's 'highway to nowhere' may never be finished

Andrew DaRosa

That is what former United States House of Representatives member and Army Col. Robert Simmons had to say about the infamous highway while talking to voters in 2000. 

Though the comparison is antiquated, the sentiment remains as the highway in eastern Connecticut remains unfinished.

For more than 50 years, Route 11 has earned the nicknames of "Route 5 ½" and "highway to nowhere" due to its notoriety of being an unfinished highway. While construction for building the highway began in the '60s, plans to finish the highway have started and stalled on numerous occasions. 

Currently operational, Route 11 measures approximately seven miles in length and has two major junctions — Route 82 in Salem and Route 2 in Colchester. The road was originally planned to connect that part of the state with the Waterford's shoreline. However, nearly eight miles of land that was aimed to build a second half to the highway remain unused, according to the Tri-State Transportation Campaign. There are also parts of the road that remain unused and sit abandoned. 

It is unlikely that the project will move forward and the Connecticut Department of Transportation (DOT) will "focus resources in other areas," said Samaia Hernandez, a spokesperson from the DOT. Hernandez referenced the 2007 Environmental Impact Study conducted by the Federal Highway Administration as to why plans will most likely never move forward with the extension of Route 11.

"Through that National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) process, there was extensive public input and numerous environmental studies completed that revealed the magnitude of potential environmental impacts to a variety of resources, such as wetlands, endangered species, historic sites and cultural resources," Hernandez told Hearst Connecticut. 

History of Route 11

First opening in 1972, the highway was constructed between Route 2 in Colchester and Route 82 in Salem with future plans for expansion to Interstate 95 and Interstate 395 in Waterford. 

Due to congestion issues on Route 82 and 85, the idea of extending the highway were revisited in the mid '80s as well as the late '90s, but nothing came of those talks. With the building of the two major casinos in the area — Foxwoods Resort Casino and Mohegan Sun — the DOT started a Major Investment Study in 1997 which sought to ultimately create a "short list of alternative strategies" for the Route 11 corridor.

The following year broadened the study to act as a dual Environmental Impact Statement process. Following results from the survey as well as hearing with the public, the Federal Highway Administration granted the Connecticut DOT permission to move forward with a Final Environmental Impact Statement which wouldn't be published until 2007.

In 2004, the project was approved for a U.S. Department of Transportation's Interagency Transportation Infrastructure Streamlining Task Force — established through an executive order under President George W. Bush as a means to expedite major transportation projects.

Following the release of the Final Environmental Impact Statement, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) became concerned over the environmental mitigation plan, further stalling the project. The government's concern stemmed from fauna and wildlife species in the area, including the New England cottontail.

The animal's fecal pellets were studied in the area at one point in order to better understand the species' vulnerability; this led former communications director for Simmons, Joseph Bell, to pen an opinion piece in The Day in 2012 alleging that the study was among the number of ways that the federal government interfered in the expansion of Route 11. 

An effort by Governor Dan Malloy to revive the project in 2011 included a DOT financial study, which ultimately stalled out. Five years later, the Federal Highway Administration published a notice in the 2016 Federal Register indicating that work to extend Route 11 would cease. A "magnitude of potential environmental impacts" were cited as the driving reason behind the project cancellation. 

Plans for a renumbering of Route 11 were announced in 2023 by the DOT, marking the most recent work related to the highway. This renumbering is set to take place in 2028.

Growing Interest in Construction Careers Among Younger People Means Jobs Filled, Deadlines Met

LUCY PERRY

The face of the skilled craft trade industry is getting younger. Literally.

More younger people than ever before are entering the construction industry and driving down the average age of tradesmen and women. As more construction workers retire, the industry's labor needs are growing exponentially. But Gen Z workers drawn to the specialty trades may fill those venerable shoes.

Vocational training and apprenticeship programs in the skilled craft trades are filling up with younger people launching their careers in construction. The high cost of a four-year degree has something to do with it. But for many Gen Z workers, the job resiliency offered by the industry is appealing.

As a result, enrollment in vocational programs rose 16 percent in 2023, reported the National Student Clearinghouse. And the median age of workers in many specialty trades, including carpentry and HVAC maintenance, fell from the mid-40s to the high 30s.

That makes Robb Sommerfeld smile. Co-founder of the National Center for Craftsmanship, he likes that more students are attracted to this career field.

"We're finally seeing a more than subtle change within our society," said Sommerfeld, whose organization provides vocational training at high schools.

Rewriting False Narratives

For many years, young people have been "nudged" away from construction careers for various reasons, starting with parental guidance. Seeking to understand the stigmas, Sam Pillar had the company Jobber survey Gen Z workers about their impression of a career in construction.

He said many people think less of blue collar work. "This misguided stigma is ridiculous and puts the future of our homes and our economy at risk," he said.

After surveying 1,000 people aged 18 to 20 for its Blue-Collar Report, Jobber found that parents play a large role in perpetuating this stigma. These parents "are heavily influencing their children to attend a traditional four-year college," Pillar said.

The good news is that there are signs that what high-school graduates envision for their careers differs from the ideals of their parents.

In fact, 75 percent of Jobber survey respondents said they are interested in exploring vocational schools that offer paid, on-the-job training.

There's a lack of understanding among young people about the earning potential of certain trades. The survey majority didn't know that tree maintenance, landscaping, residential cleaning and plumbing businesses can earn over $1 million per year.

Interestingly, nearly two-thirds of respondents want to start a business at some point, and 11 percent already have.

"Whether they realize it, home service businesses provide the entrepreneurial opportunities that Gen Z is looking for," said Pillar.

He also found that Gen Z is aware of AI's potential to automate a range of jobs. Job security was identified as the most important factor for selecting a career.

"It seems that concerns about taking on and managing student debt are impacting their career decisions," said Pillar. "When looking at AI, 56 percent of respondents believe that ‘blue-collar' jobs have more job security than ‘white-collar' desk jobs."

For years the construction industry has tried any number of plays to tackle a critical labor void. The tide may be turning. Four-year colleges were the attraction in the early 2000s when the recession forced Millennials to wait out the job market and take on the burden of student debt.

But with the current hot jobs market, many younger workers are calculating the odds in favor of stronger career fields. Construction is at the top of the list. In fact, a New American survey found that 54 percent of Gen Z-ers believe a high-school diploma is sufficient to gain a well-paying stable job, reported Axios.

And 46 percent of parents said they'd prefer their kids to pursue alternatives to four-year college, found a Gallup study.

Construction trade careers are seen as more resilient to the rise of AI than white collar alternatives, said Axios.

Nick Largura of Superior Construction told the news service that the pool of 18- to 25-year-old workers is growing.

"That is the pivotal moment when people are really trying to figure out what they want to do," he said. "And if you can show them a promising future in that time, you can really make a difference."

Largura makes two points: Construction, like many other trades, is an industry that isn't going anywhere despite fears that AI will wipe out jobs across sectors.

Also, "you get to see a physical product at the end of the day as a result of your work" in the construction field.

Sommerfeld of the National Center for Craftsmanship believes with so many people retiring, it's hard to say if the Gen Z trend will continue growing.

"It's still a matter of educating our country that, ‘Hey, these jobs are out there,'" he said.

Largura would agree: "I by no means think the work is done, but the momentum is there."

Samantha DeAlmeida of the ABC of New Jersey also is a firm believer that Gen Z is playing a big part in the future of the construction industry.

In an article for roi-nj.com, she said the picture for filling the 441,000 job openings tracked by the BLS this spring is a bright one.

"The construction industry is one of the biggest, fastest-growing industries in the country," said DeAlmeida. "And it's continuing to see an unprecedented demand for skilled employees."

A recent article in the Wall Street Journal reported that the number of carpenters grew over the past decade, and their median age fell from 42.2 to 40.9.

Likewise for electricians. The ranks of that specialty trade grew by 229,000 workers, while the median age fell by 2.9 years.

The data also shows other skilled trade careers, including plumbing and HVAC occupations, are also trending younger, said DeAlmeida.

"Here in New Jersey, enrollment in vocational-technical schools has grown by about 23 percent over the past two decades," she said.

And nationally, the ranks of students studying construction trades also rose 23 percent, according to the Wall Street Journal.

She believes skilled trade jobs are a better fit for those who enjoy working with their hands, are entrepreneurial and don't want the four-year wait to start.

Even better, the demand for trade work continues to grow at unprecedented levels.

"Right now, there is a strong demand for high-paying jobs in infrastructure projects, the construction industry and real estate," said DeAlmeida.

Riding Wave of Interest

To capitalize on that demand, the ABC of New Jersey launched its Apprenticeship Training Program three years ago.

"We saw the critical need to educate more skilled trade workers that was not being met in New Jersey," said DeAlmeida.

ABC-NJ's apprenticeship program provides paid, on-the-job training and classroom-based theoretical education in 15 skilled craft trades, she said.

Working with local schools and businesses, the association provides pre-apprenticeship construction readiness training, or CORE.

The NJ ABC also can help prospective apprentices get hired with one of more than 1,300 member companies.

And upon successful completion, craft workers are eligible to be recognized at the journey level in their trade and receive a certificate of completion.

"Trade work provides high salaries, fulfilling careers and the opportunity to run one's own business," said DeAlmeida. "We need to have more conversations with our high-school students to show them the different ways to enter this promising field of trade work."

The ABC of New Jersey isn't the only organization trying to attract the Gen-Z worker to the construction industry. On a national level, NCCER also is at work.

The National Center for Construction Education and Research was named a 2023 DeWalt trades grant recipient for career and technical education (CTE) efforts.

Recognized for its High School Builder Program, NCCER was presented with a DeWalt Grow the Trades grant.

The grant program aims to help close the skilled labor gap by supporting nonprofit organizations that are skilling, reskilling and upskilling tradespeople.

According to DeWalt the program awards funding and tool donations annually as part of a larger $30 million commitment over five years.

NCCER was one of 70 organizations projected to skill and reskill more than 55,000 people in 2024.

"CTE programs provide a pathway for students to learn skills that will make them immediately employable," said Melissa Perkins, NCCER director of philanthropy and partnerships.

NCCER's High School Builder Program brings CTE education to new communities where there are exponential growth opportunities, she said.

With generous partners like DeWalt, "we will help close the skilled labor gap and change lives…through high-paying and in-demand careers."

The High School Builder Program is growing the national talent pipeline and making a local impact, according to the tool manufacturer.

With an estimated 20 students per school and annual growth, this initiative is expected to add 10,000 students into the talent pipeline in its first year alone.

"DeWalt is immensely proud to support NCCER," said Frank Mannarino, president, Power Tools Group, Stanley Black & Decker. "Funding educational programs and non-profits like NCCER connects more people to training, resources and opportunities that will lead to successful careers in the trades." CEG