Waterbury OKs developer's wetlands plan for Amazon warehouse on 'virgin land'

Alexander Soule

Officials with the Waterbury Inland Wetlands Commission approved developer Bluewater Property Group's plan to build an Amazon fulfillment center on the Naugatuck line, after hearing opposition from a handful of residents with environmental concerns.

More than 50 people turned out for the hearing at Waterbury City Hall on Wednesday night, with the Naugatuck Inland Wetlands Commission having scheduled a similar hearing for Thursday.

In Waterbury, a handful of area residents took the opportunity to criticize the plan for the impact the 650,000-square-foot warehouse would have on the environment and wildlife like box turtles, during both construction and regular operation.

Located on a wooded hilltop in the Waterbury-Naugatuck Industrial Park just off Route 8, the Amazon facility would support between 500 and 1,000 jobs depending on seasonal needs, along with construction jobs as the fulfillment center gets built. Several members of Connecticut State Building Trades unions attended in a show of support for the project.

"The people who will be employed obviously will be in this community," said Joshua Garofano, a Bluewater vice president who spoke at the hearing. "They'll go to all the supermarkets and the gas stations and ... the mom-and-pop businesses."

Naugatuck Mayor Pete Hess has projected that taxes from the Amazon fulfillment center would add about $2.5 million in revenue for each city. 

But area residents pressed Inland Wetlands Commission officials on Wednesday to consider the impact on nearby residential neighborhoods, and on some 15 acres of wetlands and water runoff from the 105-acre parcel.

"This is a major impact to the city of Waterbury," said Christopher Casey, a retired paramedic, funeral home director and commissioner of the Waterbury Fire Department who lives near the site. "It's virgin land. I played in there when I was a kid."

Inland wetlands commission hearings were tabled last month in both Waterbury and Naugatuck to allow city consultant Tighe & Bond to analyze a site plan filed by Bluewater Property Group, a 1,200-page document that had been prepared by Langan Engineering of New Haven. Waterbury city planner Bob Nerney said that Langan and Bluewater had incorporated several suggested changes by Tighe & Bond to meet city requirements for the project.

Samuel Leisring, chairman of the Waterbury Inland Wetlands Commission, told CT Insider that he was uncertain of any next steps for the city if his counterparts in Naugatuck turn down the application.

"I would assume it goes back to the drawing board," Leisring said.

Trumbull residents approve constructing a new Hillcrest Middle School with over 13,000 "yes" votes 

Shaniece Holmes-Brown

TRUMBULL — Residents can look forward to the construction of a new Hillcrest Middle School after a majority of residents voted to approve it Tuesday.

Unofficial results from the Registrar of Voters Office show the town's referendum ballot question get over 13,000 "yes" votes. The Hillcrest project costs approximately $142,375,000.

"I was very excited to learn that the Trumbull community showed overwhelming support for the new Hillcrest Middle School," said Superintendent Martin Semmel Wednesday afternoon. "This has been a collaborative effort with our elected officials, our staff, our parents and our students."

The town website announced the approval Wednesday afternoon.

"The Town Council has already created a building committee to plan and oversee the project. The building committee can now commence work on the project," the post said.

Democratic Registrar of Voters Jean Rabinow shared the unofficial totals of votes to-date — 13,268 residents voted yes and 6,628 residents voted no.

Rabinow said those numbers exclude absentee ballots and other ballots that were being hand counted at the time.

She said tabulators in District 2 hit a snag around 1:30 a.m. Wednesday, when a small number of ballots weren't processing. As a result, around 250 ballots needed to be hand counted.

"We’ve had problems with the sheet feed, when the ballots get stuck or you can’t push them in," she said. "But we’ve never had a problem when the ballot looks ordinary, it’s properly filled out by the voter and the machine just won’t accept it."

Rabinow said the number of hand-counted ballots doesn't affect the project's approval because of how high the margins were.

"The 250 ballots they’re counting right now is a very small percentage of the total ballots," she said. "When you consider we’ve already gotten close to 20,000 votes in on that question, it’s a very small percentage."

Rabinow said the registrar's office never had an issue with tabulators not accepting ballots that were properly filled out until the tabulators at District 2's polling location at Booth Hill Elementary School showed issues.

"There was something that prevented all those ballots from being read," Rabinow said. "We’ve got to get to the bottom of this because we can't let it happen again."

Democratic Town Committee Chair Ashley Gaudiano shared her excitement for the project to be underway.

"The Democratic Town Committee took a stance on this and urged voters to vote "yes," recognizing it's truly a not a partisan issue, but an issue that is so critical and central to the well being of our children in this town," she said. "... I’m really grateful that people again across party lines decided to prioritize this investment."

Semmel said he's ready for the project to start and appreciates the support of the residents.

"We know that the Trumbull community supports education and this vote is another indication of that strong support," he said. "We look forward to taking the next steps in this process and creating a wonderful new learning environment for our students." 

Jeff Wyszynski, principal at Hartford-based Tecton Architects. designed Trumbull's District Master Plan, which breaks down structural issues among all 13 schools and lists each one by order of greatest need. 

Hillcrest Middle School was selected as the first building that was in the worst physical state.

The question on the ballot said "Shall the $142,375,000 appropriation and bond authorization for the planning, design and  construction of a new Hillcrest Middle School be approved?"

Earlier this year, First Selectman Vicki Tesoro announced that Rep. Sarah Keitt helped secure a 44 percent reimbursement rate from the state, which drastically decreased the cost of the project to taxpayers. As a result, the town has to pay around $82.5 million. 

Madison Middle School was formerly Trumbull High School in 1960, according to records from the Trumbull Historical Society.

Semmel said, since Madison Middle School was originally designed as a high school, it has more suitable amenities than Hillcrest does, like more space for an auditorium and more classes.

Thus, affording Hillcrest the opportunity to see much needed building with necessary improvements the current building lacks, such as a fire protection system, more space for classrooms and an auditorium.

Principal Bryan Rickert said the 117,000-square-foot building has reached its end and said he's done all he can to make the building work for both his students and staff.

Rickert previously said, "Our students deserve it, our families deserve it and our teachers deserve it. I can't wait to see what our students can do once our teachers have all the resources they need to provide an even greater opportunity for this 21st century we’re in." 

Bristol issues RFP for ‘prime development property’ near ESPN

David Krechevsky

Bristol officials announced Wednesday that the city is accepting requests for proposals from developers and others for the sale and development of a remediated brownfield property located across the street from ESPN’s campus.

The property, at 894 Middle St., encompasses three contiguous parcels owned by the city. Combined, the parcels make up an approximately 15-acre site.

The city acquired the site several years ago and completed an environmental assessment and remediation activities with assistance from the state, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and Naugatuck Valley Council of Governments. 

The property formerly was the site of a metal reclamation operation. It was recognized as a brownfield property in recent years, and remediation work on the PCB-contaminated property was completed with a $1.3 million grant from the state Department of Economic and Community Development (DECD) and matching funds from the city.

The undeveloped property is in a high-profile location with access to Interstate 84 and Route 72. In addition to ESPN, there are five hotels within 2.5 miles of the site, and the Lake Compounce amusement park is directly adjacent to the rear.

The city said it invites proposals that enhance economic development through the “best use” of this site. It is specifically interested in commercial/industrial prospects that will “enhance the local economic base through a redevelopment project that meets high standards of design, exhibits high market feasibility, offers employment opportunities, and that can offer other benefits to the community.”

It added that, due to the nature of environmental remediation, residential use for the property is “not appropriate.” The city instead encouraged proposals for commercial development, which can include logistics/warehouse, manufacturing, recreation/tourism, retail and more.   

Submissions will be accepted between the hours of 8:30 a.m. and 4:30 p.m. Monday through Friday.

A non-mandatory pre-submission meeting will be held on Tuesday, Dec. 3, at 11 a.m. at the intersection of Middle Street and Enterprise Drive (the northeast corner of the property) to allow for an opportunity to meet with city staff and discuss the property.

One or more qualified proposals will be selected, and representatives will be invited for an interview with city officials, they said. Should the first selection be unable to complete an agreement for any reason, the city said it reserves the right to pursue other developers.

Submissions will be accepted via email, shared file service, or USB drive by the purchasing department until Jan. 7, 2025 at 11 a.m. Any submissions received after that date and time will not be considered. 

Information about the property and the bid process is available here.