O&G takes steps toward boost in energy efficiency

Kurt Moffett  Torrington-based O&G Industries, one of the state’s oldest and largest construction companies, is helping to pave the way toward greater energy efficiency.

At its 60-acre site on Bogue Road in Harwinton, O&G has invested more than $800,000 over the past year in equipment and system upgrades that should significantly reduce the amount of energy its asphalt and concrete plants use.

The improvements included new asphalt storage tanks with additional insulation and a more efficient heating system; upgraded rotary dryers used in the asphalt mix process; new burner and fan controls; and more efficient motors, damper controls and lighting systems.

Paul Balavender, O&G’s general counsel, said the upgrades are projected to reduce annual electric use by 12% and natural gas consumption by 30%. He said the upgrades are not mandated by state or federal regulations.

“This is a voluntary initiative,” Balavender said. “These aren’t compliance issues. These aren’t mandatory, regulatory upgrades. It’s really an opportunity to make the plants more efficient, use less fuel, spend less money on power and produce less carbon.”

Balavender said he was notified by Lauriero Engineering a couple of years ago of a presentation that Eversource was putting on regarding energy efficiency. After attending that, he met with representatives from Eversource and Lauriero to coordinate an energy use assessment at the Harwinton facility in late 2018.

Eversource Energy, the state’s largest energy company, helps pay for the engineer who analyzes sites for energy efficiencies.

“Eversouce will pay the first half of the engineering costs,” Balavender said. “If you find and do enough things at your site, there’s incentives for them to pick up the second half of the engineering costs as well. We probably have $220,000 in incentives on an $800,000 bill.”

But he said it is too soon to know whether O&G’s customers will benefit long-term from lower costs due to O&G’s reduced energy consumption.

Eversource spokesman Mitch Gross said O&G has also implemented efficiency upgrades at its locations in Waterbury, Torrington, Beacon Falls, New Milford, Southbury, Danbury and Stamford. In total, the upgrades are expected to “cut lifetime carbon emissions by more than 28,000 tons – the equivalent of removing more than 5,600 cars from the road or powering 3,000 homes for a year.”

At its Beacon Falls facility, O&G replaced outdated lighting fixtures with LEDs and system controls, Gross said. The company also added three solar panel installations: a 1.3-megawatt array at its quarry in Southbury, rooftops of the company’s fleet maintenance facility in Torrington and mason supply showroom in Bridgeport.

“The 3,762-panel array is coupled with a 280-kilowatt energy storage system in Southbury that will help to augment supply during peak demand cycles and will produce the energy equivalent necessary to power 150 homes,” he said.

O&G plant manager Tony Blanchard said further savings are expected from upgrading exhaust fans, switching over from electricity to natural gas and repairing air leaks.

“Air leaks are the biggest energy loss you can think of,” he said.

O&G has eight concrete plants and seven asphalt plants, plus three mining sites.

Owners of homes and businesses, plus renters, can search for energy efficiency programs at energizect.com. The programs are funded through customer utility bills.

Glastonbury architectural firm chosen to lead Torrington school project

Lance Reynolds  TORRINGTON – An essential feature of the new Torrington Middle/High School will be its flexible classroom spaces that help deliver students a 21st century education and greater collaborative opportunities.

SLAM Collaborative, a Glastonbury-based architectural firm, has been selected as the architect for the $159.6 million school, which residents approved last month.

The building committee last week picked SLAM after interviewing three other firms that also submitted requests for quotes: JCJ of Hartford, Kaestle Boos Associates of New Britain and Perkins Eastman of Stamford.

Ed Arum and Mario Longobucco, building committee co-chairs, ruled Perkins Eastman out after interviews on Nov. 24, leaving the building committee to choose from JCJ, Kaestle Boos and SLAM. Kaestle Boos proposed the highest cost at $7.2 million, JCJ at $6.7 million and SLAM the lowest at $6.5 million.

Building committee members said they felt SLAM is the firm most adept at creating classroom and building spaces to help expand the district’s college-and-career pathways program, a major goal for the grade 7-12 school.

SLAM stood out because of its staff, said Board of Education Chairwoman Fiona Cappabianca. She said she believes the committee will be able to get the most out of SLAM with its educational consultants, project estimators and programmers.

Gary Eucalitto said he agreed.

“We need someone like (a programmer) on call all the time because it’s a first for everybody in this room,” he said. “Somebody needs to be able to tell us ‘This construct we think will give you what you need for the size of the pathway rooms.’ I didn’t see anyone else doing that.”

SLAM has worked on dozens of school projects throughout the state, including Canterbury School in New Milford; Hopkins School in New Haven; John G. Gilmartin Elementary School in Waterbury, and Frederick Gunn School in Washington, Conn.

The building committee will interview candidates for the project’s owner’s representative Tuesday. Interviews for the project’s construction manager are expected before the new year. Once they are selected, they will work with SLAM and the building committee on a schematic design, construction documents and permits.

Construction of the 268,641-square-foot school, which will cost the city $74.6 million after an $85 million state reimbursement, is slated to begin in March 2022 and finish before the start of the 2024-25 school year.

“This is a huge investment for Torrington,” Cappabianca said. “This building has to be amazing. It’s got to be something that everyone is happy we spent this money on, and it’s going to last a long time.”

Major development approved for downtown New London

Greg Smith  New London — Cambridge, Mass.-based Oaktree Development has secured local land-use approval for the latest in a string of multi-unit residential developments being built or under design in the city.

The Planning and Zoning Commission on Thursday unanimously approved a site plan for two multistory buildings with 173 apartment units between Bank Street and Shaw’s Cove. The buildings are considered Phase 2 and 3 of Shaw’s Landing at 400 Bank St., a development completed in 2006 that now contains 35 condominiums.

City officials expect that, if built, the homes will add much sought-after foot traffic and disposable income into the downtown and provide a boost to local businesses.

Mayor Michael Passero said Oaktree was among the first developers he had reached out to five years ago to help realize his economic development goals while in office.

“It’s a big moment tonight I think for the city,” Passero said. “These developers have put in five years' worth of tremendous effort and showed a devotion to the city and the vision we have for this city.”

Parking was the most controversial element of Oaktree’s application and discussion had continued through three different commission meetings. The commission on Thursday approved a waiver of 60 spaces because the development fell short of the required 167 parking spaces. In the initial plans submitted to the city, Oaktree listed 116 spaces on surface lots and in two under-building garages.

Oaktree was negotiating with the city to lease spaces in the municipal parking lot but instead sought the waiver. Zoning regulations allow for developments in the Central Business District to meet parking requirements by using available spaces in the city’s municipal parking lots.

Commission Chairman Barry Levine said the commission has regularly waived parking requirements in downtown because the lack of available parking spaces would otherwise stymie development. He credited the developer with taking on the cost associated with a small and challenging parcel to develop.

“I have looked at this empty, barren space for years,” Levine said. “Infill development is challenging. I am in favor of this and I am hoping and I am expecting the density it brings ... is going to result in people. You need people to have economic activity. I’m tired of hearing our downtown is so down in the mouth.”

The city sold the parcel at 330-400 Bank St. to Oaktree in the late 1990s as part of the Shaw’s Cove Urban Renewal Project. With the existing development agreement expired, the city is hashing out terms of a new agreement that would need City Council approval.

Downtown property owner John Johnson was among others to voice concern about the density of the development, the increase in traffic and existing downtown parking issues. He suggested the developer redesign the project to include more parking.

“This is too dense a project,” Johnson said. “I don’t understand why anybody on the commission doesn’t seem to think so. Think about this — 50 units per acre. It’s insane. That’s New York City density. And we are not New York City.”

Planning and Zoning Commission alternate member Luis Cotto Perez, who did not have a vote, said it didn’t make sense to offer a waiver when Oaktree could simply incorporate more parking into its design.

Oaktree President Arthur Klipfel had explained that the national trend for these types of developments was fewer cars and a need for fewer parking spaces. With the apartments being marketed to younger professionals, such as Electric Boat employees, Kilpfel said he expected many of the residents would be walking or biking. He also said the lack of a waiver would undermine Oaktree’s effort to create a green space, along with amenities such as a pool, in the courtyard of the development — to the benefit of new and existing residents of Shaw's Landing.

New residents also would have the ability to privately obtain permits in the municipal lot from the city if needed, Klipfel said.

Felix Reyes, director of the city’s Office of Development and Planning, called the impact of this development “tremendous,” especially when combined with other projects in the pipeline that include a 98-unit complex and Bank and Howard streets and another 203-unit building planned for Howard Street.

Don’t squander State Pier opportunity

Tony Sheridan  The Day’s editorial on Nov. 30, “Bridge, museum must be treated as one” concludes with an essential point in response to Georgia’s threat to edge in on the National Coast Guard Museum: “Don’t let divisions allow someplace else to steal a project intended for New London.”

I am concerned that New London runs the same risk of losing its early and advantageous foothold in offshore energy if disagreements around State Pier improvements persist.

Major players in the offshore energy market have put the historic port of New London on the world stage with the exciting opportunity to be part of the green energy movement. This opportunity will fuel 400 new construction jobs as part of the State Pier redevelopment in the coming years, followed by wind-energy construction jobs thereafter. This project would provide long-term economic development and diversification. Ripple effects of these high-quality jobs and the activity at the port will be felt economically across the region and state.

All of this is contingent on making overdue and costly upgrades to the substandard capabilities of State Pier. This project adds the needed heavy-lift capabilities that will equip the port for wind energy projects as well as increase the region’s cargo capacity for decades to come. An agreement of the state, port operator Gateway Terminal, and joint venture partners Eversource and Ørsted will guide the redevelopment of the pier with a combined public-private investment of $157 million. Leveraging these private dollars makes this enormous undertaking feasible. Given limited state resources, this level of investment would not happen without private-sector partnership.

It is a complex project governed by a multifaceted agreement that involves and affects many entities. Moving forward, a project of this scale necessarily hits some unanticipated bumps. Missteps have been made and corrected along the way. This opportunity, however, cannot be squandered in the face of these obstacles. Overwhelmingly, it promises exceptional economic growth for the region and places Connecticut squarely at the forefront of the new green economy, helping the nation and state to meet new environmental standards.

The Chamber of Commerce of Eastern Connecticut board of directors has unanimously approved a resolution in support of the State Pier redevelopment project as it uniquely positions the region to enter this burgeoning green industry, offers high-quality, much-needed jobs in the aftermath of the pandemic, and builds future economic development opportunities for our region’s strong manufacturing, construction and technology sectors.

The Chamber board strongly encourages all parties involved to proceed without delay to capture this extraordinary opportunity for New London and the region.

Tony Sheridan is the president and chief executive officer of the Chamber of Commerce of Eastern Connecticut.

Crucial phase of Groton Utilities’ water treatment plant completed

Groton —  A "crucial phase of Groton Utilities’ water treatment plant construction project” has been completed and water is now being clarified and filtered within the plant, according to an announcement.

The City of Groton and GU, along with the state Department of Public Health's Drinking Water Section, held a virtual celebration on Nov. 30 to mark the completion of the third of five phases. The plant is slated to be completed in spring of 2021.

“It's quite an accomplishment,” said Lori Mathieu, chief of the Environmental Health and Drinking Water Branch of the DPH. “We're so pleased to be able to celebrate this today ... this is an extraordinary project (to complete) during normal times, but it's incredibly extraordinary during the time of (COVID-19)."

Cam Walden, supervising sanitary engineer from DPH, said the project "was considered the state’s number one priority for its Drinking Water State Revolving Fund," the release stated. The $54 million project was the largest funded through that fund, and the first to receive state grant money — $15 million — from the DPH Public Water System Improvement Program.

“The project will greatly strengthen the drinking water infrastructure in this region of Connecticut for the next several decades,” Walden said.

Rick Stevens, manager of the Groton Utilities' Water Division, narrated a prerecorded video of a virtual tour of the new plant, according to the release.

City Mayor Keith Hedrick thanked all participants, especially the GU staff. “The employees are the men and women who started the project, and they're going to continue it," he said. "And we're going to have a state-of-the-art facility because of them that will meet water standards now and into the future.”

Construction on the new plant, which replaces a 1938 facility, began in 2017. The main dissolved air flotation building, where primary filtration occurs, is approximately 20,000 square feet, according to the release. The new plant can process up to 12 million gallons of water per day, exceeding the earlier plant. Two new elevated water storage tanks can both hold up to 1 million gallons of water in reserve.

GU supplies water to approximately 45,000 people in an area that includes the City of Groton, Town of Groton, Noank, Groton Long Point, the Mohegan Tribal Authority, Montville and Ledyard, and the Aquarion Water Company’s Mystic division, the release states. Emergency interconnects are available to the Southeastern Connecticut Water Authority, Norwich, New London, Waterford and East Lyme. Pfizer, Electric Boat and the U.S. Naval Submarine Base are among its larger clients.

Construction on Windsor Amazon fulfillment center underway

Zachary F. Vasile  Journal Inquirer   he steel skeleton of a future Amazon fulfillment center is rising from the former tobacco fields on the northern edge of Windsor.

Construction work at 1201 Kennedy Road hummed along Thursday morning, with crews hauling materials from a roadside staging area about a quarter mile to the building site. The multistory structure is now visible from vantage points along Interstate 91 and Route 20.

In an email, Town Manager Peter Souza said the project’s developer expects the complex to be “substantially completed” by the fourth quarter of 2021, though disruptive winter weather could affect that timeline. Amazon has not yet said when it will begin hiring workers to staff the center, Souza added.

Amazon’s public relations department did not immediately respond to questions concerning the facility’s projected opening date.

The e-commerce giant, which has its corporate headquarters in Seattle, has said the Kennedy Road operation will create about 1,000 new jobs within two years, and all employees based there will start off making $15 per hour with health benefits.

In June, the Town Council unanimously approved a three-year property tax abatement worth about $8.8 million for the building.

The abatement is scheduled to expire at the end of fiscal year 2025, at which point projected tax revenue likely will total about $5.4 million annually.

At the time, Souza said Amazon would make an effort to hire local residents for full- and part-time positions at the Kennedy Road center and support area organizations and programs.

Windsor already hosts an Amazon warehouse at 801 Day Hill Road, which employs over 250 residents. Town leaders cited that boon to local job-seekers in approving the tax break for the Kennedy Road parcel.

Amazon is also in the process of converting a vacant industrial building on Helmsford Way into a package distribution center. 

The building formerly housed Arrow Value Recovery, which refurbished and repurposed unwanted electronics such as computers, printers, mobile phones, servers, tablets, and other devices for large industrial clients.

West Hartford authorizes luxury apartment plan after sometimes-fiery five-hour hearing

Don Stacom  WEST HARTFORD — A long night of arguments from sometimes irate neighbors ended with West Hartford’s town council authorizing a luxury apartment complex on Berkshire Road.