Redesign of downtown Naugatuck excites developers

ANDREAS YILMA

NAUGATUCK — Pennrose Regional Vice President Charlie Adams said the real estate development company’s “sweet spot” is working with a municipality on a shared vision and the transit-oriented development (TOD) project to transform downtown Naugatuck is one of them.

Back on July 21, the Board of Mayor and Burgesses chose Pennrose, a real estate development company with its headquarters in Philadelphia, and the Cloud Company, a Hartford-based firm, to develop 7.75 acres at the corner of Maple Street and Old Firehouse Road, also known as Parcel B.

Pennrose’s regional office in Boston would be working with the borough for the project.

The project will connect the existing downtown area to the TOD project on Parcel B. Parcel B adjoins the Waterbury Branch Line adjacent to the location of the new train platform to be relocated by the state Department of Transportation. The state DOT has allotted funding for the relocation of the Naugatuck train station from Water Street near The Station Restaurant to Parcel B. This also comes after improvements and expansion of service to the Waterbury branch line of the Metro-North Railroad have taken place.

Naugatuck Economic Development Corp. President Ronald Pugliese said he and many other people in the borough are excited for the project. Parcel B has been vacant for at least three decades, he added.

“Parcel B will change a piece of the unused property to a beautiful, beautiful transit-oriented development,” Pugliese said.

The NEDC is a quasi-public agency that oversees economic development efforts in the borough.

Another feature in the redesign will include the addition of retail and commercial buildings.

According to Adams, the buildings will have ground floor retail and units for renting.

Developers would also maintain Water Street as one means of entering and exiting the site. The road already partially runs parallel to the Waterbury Branch Line along Parcel B. Parking would still be included but it wouldn’t be the sole focus, Adams said.

“The idea is not to emphasis cars or parking,” Adams said. “It’s really to emphasize the buildings.”

Adams said one of the things developers tried is to not have the buildings be “cookie cutter” but to really form the buildings in ways that pull people into the site. The site will have over two acres be designated for open space. Buildings will be setback 10 to 20 feet from the sidewalk to create space and a courtyard in between buildings, he added.

“One of the things we really focused on with our landscape architect is wellness,” Adams said. “Really making it a place where there could be active recreation, some social recreation and passive recreation as well.”

Adams said the first thing developers tried to do is think about how they could make this a gateway into the community while thinking about some of the historic elements from an architectural perspective.

Plans and designs for Parcel B are still being worked out as the Land Use department hasn’t received any formal site plan applications for Parcel B.

“Naugatuck is doing very well in economic opportunities,” Pugliese said.

State DOT to ‘reassess’ controversial Route 82 roundabouts

Claire Bessette

Norwich ― The state Department of Transportation will pull back a widely criticized plan to reconstruct a 1.3-mile stretch of Route 82-West Main Street with six roundabouts, a median divider and single traffic lanes in each direction.

A statement by the DOT Friday said the agency remains “fully committed to moving forward with the safety improvements project on Route 82 in Norwich,” but will “reassess the project design” based on input from the public during a June 23 presentation.

“CTDOT values community input and believes the safety and travel benefits intended through this project can be achieved while addressing the feedback that will allow us to have a viable project,” the DOT said in the statement.

State Sen Cathy Osten, D-Sprague, whose district includes Norwich, issued a news release Friday “welcoming” a decision by DOT to reevaluate the controversial plan.”

She cited several meetings she and state Rep. Kevin Ryan, D-Montville — who also represents Norwich — have held with DOT project officials to discuss the project and concerns.

“Representative Ryan and I have been working with the DOT for months now on this project, because we always believed, based on our discussions with local residents, that it was far too broad,” Osten said in a news release. “So, we're thrilled that the DOT is now re-evaluating it.”

"Norwich City Council members asked Senator Osten and I to do what we could to communicate the concerns of the council and city residents to the DOT,” Ryan said in the news release, “And we did that. Now the project is being re-evaluated. That's a big win for Norwich and for local businesses."

The $45 million, two-phase project received broad criticism locally, with “No 6 Roundabouts” signs joining election campaign signs in front of city homes and businesses.

The $20 million first phase from Asylum to Dunham streets, with three planned roundabouts and the acquisition of five commercial properties, was slated to start construction in 2025.

Collaborative effort

Norwich City Council Democrats took credit for the move Friday morning, saying it came after several meetings led by Osten and Ryan, with the four-member majority Democratic council caucus, Democratic Council President Pro Tempore Joseph DeLucia said Friday.

“This exemplifies the impact that collaborative political leaders can have when they offer reasonable input and bring more than complaints and threats to the table,” DeLucia wrote in a text message to The Day. “Our caucus also would like to thank the DOT and the engineers on this project for their willingness to hear our concerns and work with us to find reasonable solutions that everyone can live with and that make the road safer.”

But Republican Mayor Peter Nystrom said he had been discussing the issue with Osten “for months” and had called the DOT commissioner’s office to express the city’s objections to the proposal.

“She told them that the plan was too heavy-handed,” Nystrom said. “The outcome, the six roundabouts, the businesses lost, the way the project would have gone forward, was just too much.”

Nystrom said he’ll ask whoever is elected to the state legislature in November to seek an economic impact study by the state to accompany any proposed revision to the Route 82 plan.

Nystrom said DeLucia’s statement issued Friday morning was “absolutely devoid of reality,” and credited Osten for the DOT’s pause in the project.

The project became political in September, when the DOT project team required a city resolution agreeing to accept maintenance control of the future sidewalks, roundabout centers and striping of the proposed 5-foot-wide proposed bicycle lanes.

A second resolution asked the city to accept the conversion of the short, dead-end Crane Avenue from a private to a public street.

On Sept. 6, the council passed the two resolutions with 4-3 votes, with the four Democrats in favor and Republican Mayor Peter Nystrom and two Republicans opposed.

The day after the Sept. 6 vote, Nystrom and Republican Alderwoman Stacy Gould and Alderman Grant Neuendorf sent a letter to Democratic Alderman Swaranjt Singh Khalsa saying his vote in favor gave “the appearance of impropriety,” since the project would have called for the state to acquire one gas station on West Main Street. Khalsa owns Norwichtown Shell, about 4.2 miles away from the site on the opposite end of town.

Khalsa asked for an advisory opinion from the Norwich Ethics Commission, which voted 4-0 on Oct. 19 that Khalsa’s vote was not a conflict of interest, since the City Council resolutions did not involve property acquisition of the gas station.

The commission included a caveat that in the future, all city officials should recuse themselves in any votes that directly call for acquiring of property that could include a competing business to any business in which they have financial interest.

Brookfield delays opening of new elementary school due to supply chain issues

Trevor Ballantyne

BROOKFIELD — Supply chain issues will delay students and teachers' move into the town's new elementary school. 

Officials announced the postponement this past week, saying they will not know for weeks when the new Candlewood Lake Elementary School will be ready. 

In August, Superintendent John Barille had laid out a plan for students at Huckleberry and Center elementary schools to move into the new 139,000 square-foot facility, built to accommodate more than 1,000 students and 200 staff at a cost of $78.1 million.

Projecting the school would be finished “come late November, December,” Barille said Huckleberry students and staff in grades two, three, and four would then move in to the building Jan. 3, with Center students and staff starting at the new building at the start of the next academic year.

Speaking at the Brookfield Board of Education meeting Wednesday, Paul Checco, the chair of the Municipal Building Committee, said the project was "moving along," but the school would not be ready for students by the new year.

“We have asked the construction manager for a list of deliverables for that date, and in looking at that, and with some material delays…we would be moving the kids out of a school into something that is lesser finished," Checco said.

The driving factor behind the material delays come as a result of Armstrong Flooring, a major U.S. flooring manufacturer based in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection earlier this year.

With Armstrong going under, the school district moved to another manufacturer, but Checco explained the loss of supplier has created a “ripple effect” in the market as other manufacturers experience increased demand — making it difficult to predict when the flooring could be ready for instillation.

“Sheet rock is up, place is being painted, ceiling tile is going in, but without a finished floor it still looks largely unfinished,” he said.

Board of Education Chair Bob Belden said a review of a four-page checklist of items to be completed prior to the school move-in date is made up mostly by flooring related activities.

“It’s not just the Armstrong flooring, it’s all the types of flooring, it’s the terrazzo tile, or the carpet tiles, the vinyl flooring, the gym flooring — it’s just flooring, flooring, flooring — but it’s significant,” Belden said.

The second biggest item, he added, is landscaping, which means courtyards and playgrounds would not be ready because of the work not being possible in the winter months.

Belden added that Checco pitched the idea of moving students into the school, “with a polished concrete floor, now think ‘Costco’ and our reaction was ‘no way,’” Belden added. “We want everyone to feel really good when they move into this school.”

Belden said a new move-in date has not yet been set because of the uncertainty over when the flooring supply might arrive, adding that he asked the project’s construction manager, Danbury based O&G Industries, “to please, get us firm move-in dates and firm commitments so we can make some decisions.”

The school will ultimately accommodate all pre-kindergarten through fifth grade students in Brookfield — including fifth grade students and staff at Whisconier Elementary School, who currently learn in portable classrooms.

“We are in this awkward position right now saying it’s not going to be Jan. 3 because that’s not the right environment to put our kids into but we don’t know what date we can tell people,” he said. “And we need to get the Huckleberry kids moved into that school because if we don’t get that done earlier enough, we won’t get the rest of the kids in by September (2023).”

“It’s a deep breath moment,” Belden added.

'We cannot disappoint' the kids

It is not the first time that supply issues have delayed the school project. In November of last year, officials announced three-to-four-month delays in the delivery of essential roofing materials.

“In true construction form, nothing ever goes right according to plan,” Checco said, referencing the previous completion push back.

“At the end of the day, no one is going to remember if its four months later, or six months later than you wanted it to me, they will remember if it’s wrong,” he added.

Superintendent John Barille noted this year's “entire district calendar” had been built around the original school move-in date but said there would be no plans to change to the winter vacation dates.

The superintendent turned to Checco, “looking for one assurance.”

“There is a group we cannot disappoint, I can be disappointed all day long, but my job is to solve problems, the fourth graders — I hear what I think is really good news in terms of even though there is a delay we are still going to move in this academic year — the current fourth graders must be fifth graders next year at Candlewood Lake.”

Checco noted parallel plans to take down the modular classrooms at Whisconier were still on track, “the fourth graders that are in Huckleberry, just like the second and third graders, will be going into the new school.”

The superintendent added he would provide an update to the school community “sometime in the next few weeks” with new move-in date.

Repair work starts on Trumbull mall parking garage closed since February

Amanda Cuda

TRUMBULL — Work has finally started to repair damage done to the Westfield Trumbull mall parking deck more than 10 months ago that closed portions of the upper and lower levels.

On Tuesday, Trumbull building official Robert Dunn said that he had spoken with a contractor that morning who had plans and a permit application to install "a temporary shoring system for the Westfield Mall Red Garage."

The upper deck and part of the lower deck of the Red Garage, near the mall's Target store, have been closed since mid-February, when a chunk of concrete fell through the deck, creating a large pothole. Dunn said, once the temporary shoring system is in place, it should enable "the closed sections of parking under the garage to reopen." 

On Thursday, Westfield officials issued a statement that the garage could at least partially reopen within weeks.

"Westfield Trumbull management confirms that work has started in the Red Garage that will allow additional parking spaces on the lower level of the garage to be reopened," the statement read. "We hope to complete this in advance of the holiday season."

A mall spokesperson clarified that work began on the parking garage Thursday.

The chunk of concrete originally fell through the upper deck on Feb. 13. At that time, a security guard said that roughly 50 cars were parked in the area affected by the damage and the cars’ owners were asked to move. A mall spokesperson later said that no one was hurt in the incident and no cars were damaged.

Earlier this year, town residents and town officials alike expressed frustration at how long it was taking for there to be progress on fixing the garage. 

In August — about six months after the original incident  — First Selectman Vicki Tesoro issued a statement saying that, though she was empathetic that repairs of this scope take time "customers have been inconvenienced for months and the problem does not reflect well on our mall.”

Around that same time, the mall began offering alternative parking areas to Target customers to help make up for the lost parking.

The fact that work has begun to make at least some of that parking available again is positive, said Trumbull Economic and Community Development Director Rina Bakalar.

"It’s a step in the right direction," she said. "I think it will help out holiday shoppers, and Target shoppers specifically, but we would like to see a more long-term comprehensive solution."

Former Winsted school eyed for manufacturing, housing

Emily M. Olson

WINSTED — A former school could become the site of affordable housing in town, or a manufacturing facility along with some housing, depending on how selectmen decide what's best for the site.

The Board of Selectmen has received two proposals for the now-shuttered Batcheller Elementary School. Both involve housing, and one includes a food kitchen on the 32-acre site.

Batcheller closed permanently in June. The 201 Pratt St. property includes the old school building and a wooded area behind it. The building was used as a temporary shelter this summer for more than 150 cats that were rescued from a home in Winsted. But town officials want to sell the property, so that it can earn tax revenue.

Town Manager Josh Kelly said both  proposals would include affordable housing. One proposal, however, also would include food manufacturing; George Noujaim, owner of Noujaim's Bistro on Main Street, recently opened a wholesale food kitchen next door to the restaurant.

"It would be an extension of my food kitchen operation," Noujaim said. "I don't want to elaborate any more on it — it's too early."

The proposal would also include housing for employees and low-income families. Noujaim is offering $25,000. The property would go back on the town's tax rolls, Kelly said. 

The Northwest Senior Housing Corporation's proposal is for up to 32 units of affordable housing on the property. The agency, which owns and operates Winsted's Susan Perry Senior Housing, is offering $300,000 as a payment in lieu of taxes for the property.

Kelly said the proposal also includes a recreational plan for the wooded area behind the school, with help from the Winchester Land Trust.

Larry Hannafin, president of the housing corporation, said there are 12 families on a waiting list for the Susan B. Perry apartments, located near the old Winsted Health Center. "It's a beautiful facility, and we've got 20 units there," Hannafin said. "It's been full since we opened in 2012. There's such a critical need for affordable homes up here in this area. More housing at Batcheller would help meet those needs."

The challenges for each proposal involve zoning: Batcheller is in the middle of Winsted's single-family zone. Any application with the Planning & Zoning Commission would require a special permit. 

"We have this parcel in the middle of the town's single-family zone; some uses aren't allowed or require special permits, such as apartments," Kelly said. "Light manufacturing is not allowed, but there are regulations that can be changed to allow it. The affordable housing proposal needs a special permit. So from a zoning perspective, challenges face each proposal."

If Winsted were to accept Noujaim's proposal and it was approved by land use boards, the town would continue to receive annual property taxes, as opposed to a payment in lieu of taxes from the housing group. However, the town's recently adopted Affordable Housing Plan notes the growing need for housing.

At the suggestion of Selectwoman Candy Perez, the board has scheduled a meeting at the school at 11 a.m. Nov. 5, and intends to invite the two groups as well as any neighbors who are interested. "We can see what people are thinking about these two ideas," Perez said. 

She also said the board could try to get more proposals before making a decision. "These aren't bids," she said. "We don't have to take either one."

Selectmen also are sharing the proposals with the Planning & Zoning Commission. "If you have an interest in Noujaim's proposal, we should ask the PZC if they think it's possible," Perez said. "Otherwise, there's no point in having an additional conversation."

Building committee proceeds with smaller Southington library plan, makes cuts

Christian Metzger

SOUTHINGTON — The library building committee is moving forward with a smaller 24,000-square-foot plan and discussed further cuts to the design for the new building during a meeting the architects. 

Members of the committee were given a comprehensive cost breakdown of the project, and voted to determine what they wanted to keep from the revised library proposal and what could be cut out.

The committee is aiming to shave off as many dollars as possible for the new library building after the cost of the project exceeded the funding they were allocated in last November’s referendum. 

The revised schematic of the building was first presented to committee members during a special meeting late last month by the architects at Whiting-Turner Co. The final cost estimate was $18.67 million, higher than the $17 million in spending voters approved for the project last November. 

The community room and the outside hardscape areas will likely be going through the most significant alterations. One of the selling points of the community space in the new library plan was a fully retractable glass wall that would open up onto a wide outdoor hardscape area where people could enjoy the outdoors in the summer months when hosting large function events. The cost of the door was priced at $440,000.

That feature will no longer be incorporated into the plan, with the committee pursuing alternative, more cost-effective options. 

One of the major design goals of the architects when drafting the initial plan, to bring the outside inside, with extensive integration between programming and outside hardscape areas along with an open patio on the second floor and wide bays of windows to let in natural light. With the cost restraints, however, much of that original vision may be dialed back. 

While members of the committee still wish to have access to the outside, they debated whether a similar effect could be achieved with several doors, sliding sections, or using TV screens instead. Similarly, the hardscape area by the community room, the children’s reading area, and for the sign at the corner of the property will either be scaled back or removed. 

“The problem with an open door is that it’s not really bringing the outside inside, I think that’s a big part of the design feature,” Committee Chairman Jim Morelli said, expressing his disappointment with the removal of what he saw as crucial features of the library’s design. 

“We gave up a lot of ideas to save money. So it's all been about cheap it out, cheap it out, cheap it out. I feel like we're trying to dumb down this whole library. This to me was a feature that I thought we were going to try and retain.”

Currently the committee is pursuing alternative sources of funding for these features, such as fundraising, so that they might still be brought into the design in another form. The scope of their implementation is uncertain until the committee’s next meeting on Nov. 2nd. 

“It's really a dollar issue,” Vice Chairman Paul Champagne said, remarking on the downscaling of the building’s exterior features. 

Other discussed alterations that were considered for removal was at least one of the skylights on the second floor, all but the front-facing end caps on the bookshelves, and the pavers from the second floor exterior seating area. 

Several other parts of the project are also being rolled back. The technology package for the building was one such consideration, with the removal of the proposed vending machines for laptops from the plan. Committee members also seek to cut down on costs by moving over some of the old furniture from the old library into the new one.

While some notable features of the building are being kept in, such as the drive-in reception window and book drop off, committee members are considering keeping it unstaffed for logistical and budgetary reasons.

With the slashes to the budget currently proposed, there is the potential for a million dollars to be saved on the construction. 

In spite of the reduction of several of the building’s features, committee members were largely satisfied with the outcome of the meeting - with several cost-effective cuts made. One aspect that garnered approval was that virtually none of the interior programming spaces were downscaled.

“The only programming spots we looked at for not having are the exterior ones, all the interior stuff is intact,” Town Manager Mark Sciota said. With them pursuing alternate means of funding the exterior spaces, he said, none of the programming space could be cut at all. 

Architects had a booth during the final weekend of the Apple Harvest Festival earlier this month, and mentioned that residents seemed largely satisfied with their current plan and were understanding of the changes that needed to be made. 

With several major features put up as alternates, the implementation of certain parts of the current plan remain in flux. Designers and members of the committee are looking to come to a more solid determination of the project’s scope by their next meeting, which will be held on Nov. 2 at 6 p.m. at the Southington Library.