Revolution Wind generators arrive in New London

Dana Jensen

New London ― The first generator components, or nacelles for the Revolution Wind offshore wind farm arrived at State Pier in New London early Wednesday.

The nacelles were delivered by the general cargo vessel Frauke, which sails under the flag of Antigua and Barbuda.

Revolution Wind, a joint project of Eversource and Ørsted that uses State Pier as its turbine-assembly headquarters, announced in May that it had hit the first milestone along the way toward creating clean power for more than 350,000 homes in Connecticut and Rhode Island. That month, the project began installing its first turbine foundation about 35 miles off the Connecticut coast between Block Island and Martha’s Vineyard.

The project when fully operational will produce 400 megawatts of offshore wind power in Rhode Island and 304 megawatts in Connecticut. By comparison, the Millstone nuclear power plants in Waterford produce a combined 2,100 megawatts annually.

Revolution Wind is considered to be the first multi-state offshore wind project in the United States. It is the second offshore wind project to be marshaled in New London, after the completion of South Fork Wind earlier in the year, and the first to provide wind power directly to Connecticut.

slated for site of New London church collapse 

John Penney

New London ― A non-profit group specializing in creating affordable housing in the region is poised to purchase the former First Congregational Church property in New London, the site of a massive January steeple collapse that led to the demolition of the building.

The Eastern Connecticut Housing Opportunities (ECHO) group will pay $125,000 to Engaging Heaven Ministries for the 66 Union St. property, with the sale expected to be finalized on Tuesday, ECHO President Julie Savin said on Wednesday.

On Jan. 25, the 173-year-old church’s iconic steeple collapsed, severely damaging the structure and prompting the emergency demolition of most of the building. Savin, whose leased offices at 165 State St. are just two doors down from the former church, recalled the unfolding chaos that day.

“We were one of the first ones at that scene,” she said.

Nobody was injured in the church steeple collapse, the cause of which has not been determined.

Savin said her group entered a purchase and sale agreement in April with the Florida-based Engaging Heaven Ministries, which bought the church from the First Congregational Church in 2015 for $250,000 under a monthly mortgage agreement.

Savin said her group “definitely” plans to build apartments at the site, likely supplemented with commercial space ― and possibly move its offices there ― though those plans are still in the conceptual phase. There would be both market rate and affordable units.

“We’ve always wanted to establish a permanent presence in downtown New London,” she said. “After (the collapse), we had casual conversations about securing the lot. It’s been a dream of ours to provide new housing opportunities in that area.”

Savin said her group is in the process of applying for state funding for the housing project. But before any construction can begin, the mountain of granite blocks, wood and other debris must be cleared from the property.

A forbearance agreement set to be presented Monday to the City Council states that the rubble must be removed by Nov. 1, though Savin has a more ambitious clean-up timeline.

“We’ve gotten bids for rock removal, as well as for the removal of the remaining annex building,” she said. “My hope is to very quickly get to work on that process and avoid any long-term street disruption. Getting it all removed by the end of the summer would be ideal.”

Savin said she expects to incorporate some of the church granite into the new construction.

“What we put up isn’t going to be a Gothic-style building, but we want what we create to be respectful of the old building and its architecture,” she said.

The sale is contingent on the cooperation of both the city and First Congregational Church members, who were still using the church as a worship space and community meals at the time of the collapse.

The city in February, impatient with the pace of Engaging Heaven representatives in paying their share of emergency demolition costs, placed a $245,000 lien on the property.

Mayor Michael Passero said Wednesday a proposed forbearance agreement gives the new owners two years to pay off the lien.

“We’re fully supportive of ECHO and its plans, and it wouldn’t have been possible for them to buy that property if they had to cover that lien right away,” Passero said. “We know we’re going to get paid and we understand the value of what they plan to put on that property to the city.”

Passero, whose City Hall office overlooks the church rubble pile, praised the timing of the imminent sale.

“If this collapse happened at a different time in the city, not in this era of renewed development opportunities, that property could have been left sitting for years,” he said.

Attempts to reach Engaging Heaven officials on Wednesday at the group’s Florida headquarters were unsuccessful.

Cathy Zall, co-pastor of the First Congregational Church, said her congregation is finalizing a similar forbearance agreement that would give ECHO two years to pay the remaining $250,000 in mortgage payments owed on the property.

When the lien, sale and mortgage costs are totaled, ECHO will pay approximately $620,000 for the church property over a period of two years.

Zall, executive director of the New London Homeless Hospitality Center, said the property will pass into deserving hands.

“There’s so much good about this,” she said. “ECHO is sensitive to what was there before, as well as to the need for more affordable housing. This feels like a good use of the property.”

ECHO specializes in rehabilitating single-family homes in the area and offering them to first-time home buyers. They also oversee 199 affordable rental properties in Norwich, New London and Groton.

The group earlier this year celebrated the opening of 28 affordable housing units at the Bayonet Apartments in New London with another 36 more expected to open soon.

Norwich receives $4.4M to stop wastewater from flowing into its rivers

Claire Bessette

Norwich ― Norwich Public Utilities hopes to stop millions of gallons of rainwater-created sewage discharges from flowing into the Shetucket River after receiving a $4.4 million grant and loan.

The state Department of Energy and Environmental Protection announced the funding Tuesday, listing Norwich’s ongoing $200 million sewage treatment plant upgrade among the top priorities for its $500 million allocation from the federal Clean Water Fund.

NPU will receive $4.4 million ― 50% in the form of a grant and 50% as a 2% loan ― to insert liners into some of the city’s oldest sewer pipes. NPU hopes to line about 28,000 feet of sewer pipes that date from 1885 to 1950.

The old clay, brick or concrete pipes have deteriorated or become clogged with sediment over the decades, said Larry Sullivan, NPU’s water division integrity manager. The pipes have become porous, allowing rainwater and groundwater to infiltrate them. In some cases, the pipe bottoms have worn away completely.

When the city is inundated with rain, millions of gallons of combined rainwater and untreated wastewater dump into the Shetucket River, which flows into the Thames River and eventually to Long Island Sound. About 99% of the discharge is rainwater and 1% untreated sewage, according to information provided by NPU.

The success of a new pipe liners that keep out rainwater and groundwater is evident in Greeneville, NPU officials said. NPU lined 6,000 feet of pipes in the urban neighborhoods in 2018.

In 2018, 66 inches of rain resulted in 31.2 million gallons of overflow discharged to Shetucket River. In 2023, 63 inches of rain resulted in 9.5 million gallons of overflow discharged to Shetucket River, NPU spokesman Chris Riley said.

NPU General Manager Chris LaRose said NPU hopes the $4.4 millon will be enough to line the remaining 28,000 linear feet of aging pipes in Greeneville. The project is expected to be put out to bid in late 2025, with construction starting in early 2026.

Another benefit of the new technology is in its name: “trenchless technology,” which requires very little digging and much less traffic disruption, LaRose said.

A heated plastic, coated with an exterior of felt and fiberglass, is blown into the pipe, like a balloon, until it completely lines the pipe. The felt and fiberglass layer hardens, forming a new pipe within the old structures.

The project area will run from the streets surrounding St. Joseph Cemetery, down Golden Street, Central Avenue, North Main Street and many connecting side streets.

Riley said NPU will continue to seek funding to eliminate additional overflows into the Shetucket and Thames rivers.

LaRose said after Greeneville, the next priority areas will be Laurel Hill-Route 12 and Thamesville-Route 32 areas and side streets.

Without the federal Clean Water Fund grants and loans, NPU was pursuing the upgrades slowly, budgeting $500,000 per year for the work.

“The projects on the Priority List will reduce the frequency and severity of sewage overflows,” DEEP Commissioner Katie Dykes said in a news release announcing the funding awards, “and provide more enhanced treatment of excess nutrients that will improve the water quality of our rivers and the Long Island Sound.”

Southbury’s River Road set to reopen Monday after last fall’s collapse

STEVE BIGHAM

SOUTHBURY – River Road is set to reopen to traffic Monday after having been closed since this past fall after a 200-foot section collapsed into the Housatonic River below.

Workers this week were busy shoring up the roadway which runs along the river on a narrow stretch tucked in between the shoreline and a steep hillside.

Its closure back on Oct. 5 has created a bit of an inconvenience for residents living in the somewhat isolated area, which is home to several houses, Mitchell Farm, satellites and further down, the Shepaug Dam, one of two dams that form Lake Zoar, a section of the Housatonic Rover.

River Road’s closure, on the Silver Bridge side, left Purchase Brook Road as the only other access way into the area, a steep drive up into the Purchase section of town that amounted to a 5 to 6 mile detour.

Beginning Monday, the town plans to close Purchase Brook Road for a major culvert replacement project, making the reopening of River Road even more pressing.

Voters approved the appropriation of $600,000 for the emergency repair work along River Road in June.

Town officials say the work currently being completed is only a temporary fix with millions of dollars worth of more extensive roadwork still required to permanently repair the entire road.

Southbury First Selectman Jeffrey A. Manville said early estimates to rebuild River Road are between $10 and $20 million, or even higher. The hope, he said, is that Southbury will receive assistance from, for example, the Federal Emergency Management Agency.

Southbury Public Works Director Blake Leonard said the scope of the temporary fix has entailed stabilizing the slope failures with engineered stone, removing existing pavement, adding new drainage, installing a structural retention system on the uphill side, repacking subsurface material, and installing new pavement and guardrails.

The town is taking on the project with the support of Cardinal Engineering of Meriden.

Leonard said the town is working closely with the Southbury Inland Wetlands Commission, as well as First Light Power, the Connecticut Department of Environmental and Energy Protection and the Army Corps of Engineers.

Leonard said it remains uncertain if the temporary fix will allow for one or two lanes of traffic.