Wanting ‘to be heard,’ Ansonia residents file court complaint over rock crushing

Michael P. Mayko  ANSONIA — A Westwood Road resident took the city up on its suggestion and filed a Superior Court complaint to stop rock crushing at Burns Construction.

A hearing has been set for Dec. 8 in Milford Superior Court to determine if the city’s Zoning Board of Appeals acted improperly in refusing to grant residents a hearing during the Oct. 19 meeting. It requests the court order the board to hear the complaint.

During that meeting, Corporation Counsel John P. Marini told the Board they have no jurisdiction and the proper complaint venue for the residents was Superior Court.

“We respectfully disagree with the Corporation Counsel’s position that the appeal had to be dismissed for lack of jurisdiction,” said Kevin J. Curseaden, a lawyer for Andrew Mark, who lives on South Westwood Road and whose family for decades owned the former Mark Hardware on Main Street. Mark is a member of Westwood Association, a group of neighbors who sought the Zoning Board of Appeals’ help to limit rock crushing on the Burns site.

“We also strongly disagree with the fact that the decision was made by Corporation Counsel without the Zoning Board of Appeals hearing any evidence at all or allowing people to speak, and not decided by the Zoning Board of Appeals,” the lawyer said.

West Side residents claim the noise, dust and fumes from rock crushing at Burns Construction in the city’s Woodlot has impacted their lives. They filed a petition with nearly 100 names and video with the Zoning Board of Appeals.

Association members also say that rock crushing operations have been prohibited in the city since June 4, 1998, and that on Oct. 2, 2002, the city’s then-zoning code enforcement officer ordered Complete Construction, which used the site, to discontinue such work.

Complete Construction has since gone out of business and sold the 58-acre site to Burns Construction in 2019. The site is near the vacant Ansonia Copper and Brass complex.

Curseaden said the “rock crushing use has been prohibited on this site by two different local boards including the Zoning Board of Appeals in the past. It should not be allowed now based on a unilateral decision of the Zoning Code Enforcement officer.”

As a result, he said, he discussed the issue with his clients and they decided to contest the Zoning Board of Appeals decision in court.

“The neighbors must be allowed to be heard and the matter must be decided on the merits,” Curseaden said.

Barry Knott, a Stratford lawyer who represents Burns, told Hearst Connecticut Media Group after the Oct. 19 meeting that his client is complying with the city’s zoning, noise and contamination regulations.

“What Burns is doing is completely legal,” Knott said. “They are located in an industrial zone and that use is permitted. The Zoning Code Enforcement officer, the Town Planner and the City Attorney all agree that it is a permitted use.”

Curseaden said the neighbors were not only not allowed to contest the rock crushing operation at a public hearing but also were never given notice that such an operation was approved.

“It’s too bad the city weighed in on the side of Burns, against residential taxpayers,” he said.

Report: Pandemic pares CT’s growing clean-energy industry

Matt Pilon Clean-energy jobs have grown in recent years, but the events of 2020 are expected to pare back that progress.

That’s according to a new study -- The Connecticut Clean Energy Industry Report -- jointly produced by several state energy agencies, utilities and other officials.

According to the report, there were more than 44,000 clean-energy jobs in the state as of 2019, representing a gross state product of $6.5 billion. That job count was up 9.1% from 2015. 

While the number of jobs in the industry was estimated to surpass 46,000 this year in Connecticut, the COVID-19 pandemic led to 6,500 clean energy job losses, and now officials expect there to be 40,668 jobs remaining by year’s end, the report said. That would be a decline not only compared to 2019, but also compared to 2016.

“While COVID-19 has impacted our progress, it has not weakened our resolve,” said Eric Brown, chair of the Joint Committee of the Energy Efficiency Board and a vice president with the Connecticut Business & Industry Association. “Through the Energize CT initiative, we are committed to building a vibrant, resilient, and growing clean energy industry for Connecticut that can withstand future pandemics, budget pressures or other unforeseen challenges.”

The bulk of the state’s clean-energy jobs, about 80%, are related to energy efficiency services, while the second-largest segment is clean-energy generation, including nuclear and solar workers, according to the report. Other sectors that fall under the report’s definition of clean energy include alternative transportation, clean grid and storage, and clean fuels.

The study was produced by the Connecticut Green Bank, the Department of Energy and Environmental Protection, the state’s Energy Efficiency Board, Eversource, and utilities owned by Avangrid. BW Research performed the employment analysis.

The study also found a lower degree of difficulty reported by clean-energy employers in filling job openings.

“While it’s good to see hiring challenges faced by clean energy employers are lower than those experienced nation-wide, there is still plenty of opportunity for job growth in the sector in Connecticut,” said Lonnie Reed, chair of the Green Bank’s board of directors. “As we continue to strive to bring energy efficiency and renewables to all of society, we will need to create job opportunities across all demographics.”

The store, which will include a gas station, will be located at 1220 Tamarack Ave., neighboring a group of medical buildings and offices. It would be located west of LA Fitness and Evergreen Way and north of a senior living facility, as well as a drainage basin that runs from Buckland Road to Plum Gulley Brook.

Costco representatives have said the goal is to break ground on the project in March and open in November 2021. Bidding on the construction job would take place in January.

Chairman Bart Pacekonis said the plan was approved based on the conditions that a crosswalk is installed at Cedar Avenue and Evergreen Way, and there are set hours for the gas station to be open. Those operating hours are 6 a.m. to 9 a.m. Monday to Friday, 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. Saturdays, and from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. Sundays.

At Wednesday’s meeting held via Zoom teleconferencing, several members of the commission expressed concerns about the retaining concrete wall leading to the entrance of the Costco project, hoping to make it more aesthetically pleasing.

“It does not look attractive at all,” said Commission member Kevin Greer. “It looks like a poor concrete wall. You have to build it to our standards.”

Mark Marchisano, a representative of Costco, said the company would investigate the issue.

Birch Hill resident Damian Humphrey sent a letter to the commission asking why a Costco was being considered with the closing of a Sam’s Club in Manchester less than two miles away.

Referring to Humphrey’s letter, PCZ member Kevin Foley asked why the store would not become a Sam’s Club.

“Because we are Costco,” Marchisano said. “We are a high-quality retailer. We do not go into a location unless we are in it for long-term. Our operators are amazing, and they become part of the community. They will do their best to make sure they are offering the best quality product to keep in business.”

Alan Lamson of FLB Architecture & Planning Inc., which represents Costco for the project, said at this time they are not planning on providing electric-vehicle charging stations at the site.

“Customers are not there long enough to charge their vehicles,” he said, also referring to the cost of installing the stations.

This was a disappointment to several commission members.

Commission member Stephen Wagner referred to it as a “huge, missed opportunity.”

However, commission members were pleased that the lighting surrounding the store would not leave the site.

Pacekonis said today he wished Costco officials success in building the store and hoped they would be “long-term occupants.”

Coronavirus pandemic opens window of opportunity for Hartford’s XL Center arena renovations: bunker suites and a new ice maker

Kenneth R. Gosselin  HARTFORD — With a pandemic keeping the Hartford’s XL Center closed until next fall, the Capital Region Development Authority is pushing ahead in January with a long-delayed, often-debated renovation of the sports and entertainment arena in the heart of downtown.

The extent of the renovations will depend when the State Bond Commission releases some or all of the $65 million approved for the $100 million project in the last session of the legislature.

CRDA does have about $22 million in its coffers to get started. The focus of project -- slimmed down from $250 million a few years ago -- will focus on adding more premium seating and concessions in the lower half of the arena, plus upgrades of aging electrical systems in the 45-year-old venue.

The idea is the boost the arena’s attractiveness as it competes for events and reverse operating losses that have dogged the venue for years, about $2 million annually.

“We will step through a renovation as fast as those funds are made available,” Michael W. Freimuth, CRDA’s executive director, said. “So, we’re designing it to be built in components, and we’re going to get a couple of them going at the turn of the year.”

How much of the renovation will be completed when events return to the arena isn’t clear. But on a walk-through Monday, Freimuth said he hopes the lower half of the XL Center will reopen with more loge seating, club space and bunker suites.

All are more attractive than general seating and command higher prices with their own food and drink service and, in the case of club seating and bunker suites, party space and restrooms. This also would relieve some of the often long lines in the concourse.

Bunker suites are on floor level and the other lower level premium seating are now preferred in modern arenas to the skyboxes of the 1970s because they bring fans closer to the action. The bunker suites would be carved out of an area now occupied by the arena’s old ice-making system. That system and the rink are near to being completed in a $10 million upgrade.

It is likely a few suites would be built at first to test demand for them. Eventually, there could be a dozen or so of them, Freimuth said.

The plans are moving ahead with big questions still remaining about the potential acquisition of the atrium and retail space off Trumbull Street. The space, owned by Northland Investment Corp, is seen as critical to expanding the congested concourse, adding much-needed restrooms and more concessions.

Adding life to the atrium and the long-vacant retail spaces along Trumbull would recall an earlier time before Northland’s ownership when the space was part of a mall with clothing shops and restaurants. In CRDA’s vision, the atrium becomes an extension of the arena, which also would help enliven the street outside.

CRDA expects to hold public hearings on its upcoming arena renovation plans in December. Such a move can be seen as a possible step toward an acquisition of the Trumbull Block. CRDA has set aside funds for an acquisition, but Freimuth declined to disclose the amount.

For years, CRDA and Northland have been at odds over the value of the space, known as the “Trumbull Block." There was a move by CRDA in 2018 to acquire the 50,000-square-foot space by eminent domain. CDRA later backed off.

Freimuth declined to comment on whether CRDA would again raise the eminent domain issue, but it is possible if a deal cannot be struck with Northland.

The renovations have been scaled down from a much grander, $250 million vision that included adding a second concourse. The price tag that proved too rich a few years ago when the state was dealing with a spiraling budget deficit.

While there was still plenty of pushback from Republican lawmakers at investing another $65 million in the aging venue, the plan won backing in the legislature.

The opposition was symptomatic of the controversy that has surrounded the renovation in recent years. The renovations became a political lightning rod for what critics called runaway borrowing by the state during the administration of former Gov. Dannel P. Malloy.

The arena’s detractors say further state investment in a money-losing venture is not worth it, and the state shouldn’t be in the business of running an arena. But the arena’s supporters say that ignores the hundreds of thousands of dollars in taxes the XL contributes annually to state coffers: the arena’s place as an employer of as many as 400 during an event; and its role in region’s economic health.

The last major renovation was in 2014 at a state taxpayer-funded cost of $35 million and intended to keep the arena going until its longer-term future could be determined. Three years later, the legislature and the bond commission backed another $40 million to make repairs, buy the Trumbull Block, and seek outside investors to essentially take over the arena, an effort that drew little interest.

The $22 million, plus the funds to buy the atrium, are what remains of the $40 million.

Hartford Mayor Luke Bronin called on the state to release the funding approved by the legislature.

“What CRDA is proposing is not a fancy, bells-and-whistles makeover,” said Bronin, a CRDA board member. “It’s the bare minimum to keep this facility operational and competitive.”

Bronin and other advocates for a renovation see the arena as integral to the revitalization of downtown -- already dealt a setback in the pandemic -- and a key regional attraction. He said it just makes “common sense” to use the shutdown for the project.

“There are so many restaurants, hotels and other businesses who depend on this facility and to make them suffer a ‘one-two’ punch of a pandemic shut down followed by construction when we could have gotten it all done at once would be unforgivable," Bronin said.

Gov. Ned Lamont, a Democrat, indicated his support for the project last year, but also has pledged to cutback borrowing. His spokesman, Max Reiss, said no funding for the XL renovation is scheduled for the next bond commission meeting, on Dec. 11.

The pandemic has complicated earlier planning because, to reopen, the arena must not only have state-of-the-art security but health safety measures in place. Potential measures include screening patrons but also new food handling protocols and traffic flow in the concourse.

The project has a high-ranking ally in legislature in state Rep. Matt Ritter, D-Hartford, the longtime majority leader who was named Speaker of the House last week.

Ritter said the renovation remains a “major priority" for him. The financing for the project does not have to rely solely on “general obligation bonds,” which are paid off by tax and other revenue collected by the state.

Financing also could include “revenue bonds" which are paid off by revenues produced by a project. In the case of the XL, Ritter said, that could be from higher revenue from a renovated arena. It could include sports gaming, often mentioned as a possibility for the arena, and increased concession sales, among other things.

“We’re trying to put together a plan of financing, if you will,” Ritter said. “But I can only tell you this, for people that know me, this project will get done.”

“For fans and for people that want to see the UConn women playing Baylor in front of 15,000 people in an updated arena and people who want to see the UConn men play Georgetown with Coach Hurley, I will never let that go,” Ritter said.