THE SUZIO STORY 125 YEARS OF FAMILY ENTERPRISE PHILANTHROPY AND SERVICE

The Meriden Historical Society is hosting an exhibit entitled "The Suzio Story - 125 Years of  Enterprise, Family, Philanthropy, and Service" at its Museum and History Center, at 41 West Main Street in Meriden every Sunday in October from 11:00 to 3:00

Featuring memorabilia and photographs from Suzio headquarters on Westfield Road as well as videos of interviews with past and present employees

Capturing the remarkable story of a 21 year old Italian immigrant, Leonardo Suzio, who grew Suzio York Hill into one of the most successful and enduring family-owned businesses in Connecticut history starting in 1898 

Including the role of 2nd, 3rd, and 4th generation Suzio members and Henry Altobello in the evolution and growth of the business from building (1910's) to road construction (1930's) to building materials (1955 - today)

Highlighting Suzio loyalty to its origin city Meriden, its employees, its vendors, and its community.

‘Everybody’s going to be impacted’: Fed shutdown would delay civil work

Julie Strupp

As House Republicans force a fight over federal spending, it’s looking increasingly likely that Congress will not pass bills that fund federal operations before the start of the new fiscal year, which would shut down the government on Oct. 1. Among a slew of negative impacts, a shutdown would hold up federally funded infrastructure projects, according to the White House.

The impacts will be wider-ranging that one might expect, according to American Society of Civil Engineers President Maria Lehman. In the current landscape of complex project funding, even builds that aren’t fully federally funded will be impacted.

“Most projects these days have lots of different funding sources, they maybe have local and state and federal, maybe a private component, maybe an authority,” said Lehman. “So [a shutdown has] a much bigger impact than it might have been in the past as far as the number of projects potentially that could get hit.”

Some vital government functions are exempt, but most federal agencies would be curtailed. For example, the U.S. DOT and other key federal agencies responsible for infrastructure would not be fully operational, meaning new federal projects would largely not get started, awards would be suspended and current projects could be put on hold, according to Lehman. Federal agencies are also unable to issue new guidance on how funds should be used.

That could impact new Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act work, such as the newly announced $7.5 billion in financing for water infrastructure and another $1.4 billion to fund 70 rail and supply chain infrastructure projects.

State DOTs, uncertain of future federal funding, may hesitate to authorize new construction projects over worries they won’t be reimbursed — that’s what happened in the 34-day 2019 shutdown triggered by a dispute over former President Donald Trump’s proposed border wall with Mexico, according to Lehman. She thinks this problem would be even more pronounced this time around, since many IIJA programs are new and agencies don’t have a historical precedent to use to gauge whether they’ll be reimbursed. 

“Because a lot of those [federal] programs are new, there’s even more anxiety about what the impacts might be,” Lehman said. “It’s kind of disheartening, because we were starting to really get some momentum on moving projects that were in a big backlog and moving them effectively and efficiently, and so this is just another bump in the highway to keep us from doing that.”

Wide-ranging impacts

In addition, workers at the Environmental Protection Agency and the Department of the Interior would be furloughed, preventing them from issuing necessary project documents.

That “could delay major infrastructure projects across the country due to a delay in EPA and DOI environmental reviews, which would affect multiple federal agency projects,” said the White House in a press release last week. “In addition, permitting could be disrupted.” 

The Federal Emergency Management Agency’s Disaster Relief Fund is nearly depleted and if it runs out during the shutdown, its ability to respond to disasters would be hobbled and long-term recovery projects would be delayed further as it awaits new appropriations, according to the White House.

The Federal Highway Administration will stay open and construction should continue without interruption for current projects because they use highway trust fund money, but rail and transit projects are a different matter, according to Lehman. Federal transit employees will be furloughed, so local transit and rail agencies will have to use their own funds to pay contractors, or shut down work altogether. Airport construction activity will also see shutdowns, depending on how the funding came in.

“This will cost money. Ramping down, ramping up costs money. That money has to come from somewhere, so your buying power just got eroded a bit,” said Lehman. “It is a system, and one chink is going to have a ripple through the whole thing … everybody’s going to be impacted on some level.”

Historically, Congress has relied on a continuing resolution to keep government offices functioning while budget talks are underway, but hardline congressional Republicans say any temporary funding bill is a non-starter, according to AP News. They are pushing for a shutdown until Congress negotiates all 12 bills that fund the government — a laborious undertaking that typically isn’t finished until December at the earliest. Despite movement Tuesday night in the Senate, a continuing resolution for short-term funding in the House is anything but a done deal.

The shutdown could hit the building industry in ways that are impossible to predict, Lehman said.

“The biggest thing that Congress has to grapple with is that markets hate uncertainty. And so, what happens to construction prices after this is over? What happens to contracting prices if companies got caught carrying costs?” said Lehman. “It’s going to cost us time and money, there’s no doubt about that. But what else is it going to cost us?”

Editor’s note: This story was updated with information about a tentative short-term funding deal in the Senate.

Battery storage facility coming to Torrington landfill?

SLOAN BREWSTER 

TORRINGTON – A Maine company is looking to build a nearly $100 million battery storage facility on property at the local landfill.

The facility, which would potentially hold between 100 and 150 megawatts of renewable energy, would be connected to the Eversource power grid and serve as a backup for power “to save for a rainy day when we have a capacity event,” Dale Knapp of Walden Renewables of Portland, Maine told the City Council last week during a presentation on his proposal.

Knapp wants to lease six acres at the landfill. In the initial six-year development period, the company would pay $5,000 a year while it looked into permitting and connecting with Eversource. After that, it would enter a 40-year lease at $6,000 per acre with a 2% increase per year.

“We’re targeting a small area that falls outside of the landfill cap,” Knapp said, noting he has walked the property.

If the plan is approved, Knapp said the city will pocket $1.47 million in lease payments by the end of the 40 years.

“It’s probably close to a $100 million facility,” he said, adding that the facility itself would be also taxable.

“It would be taxable as personal property,” Mayor Elinor C. Carbone said.

It was Knapp’s second visit to the council. The conversation started with a presentation in May.

Knapp promises the facility will bring jobs to the city and encourage economic development around the area. It will also help diminish the need for fossil fuel, he said.

“One of the things that is happening in New England now – and if you had told me 20 years ago it was going to happen I might not have believed you – is that there are times when we produce more energy than we consume,” Knapp said. “That’s kind of a new paradigm.”

The plant would hold some of that excess energy in lithium ion batteries. According to Knapp, the state’s Integrated Resource Plan targets the state to have 300 mw of renewable energy in storage by next year, 650 by 2027 and by 2030 aims for a gigawatt.

Currently, there are about 46 mw stored in the state, he said.

“This could account for, we hope, between 100 to 150 megawatts,” Knapp said.

He said existing vegetation would screen the facility and it would not be visible to the general public.

Knapp, in an email Tuesday, said while battery energy storage programs are in the process of being developed and implemented regionally, none as of yet have been constructed. Many are in the development and permitting phase, he added.

“We have not built a stand-alone grid resource to date,” he said.

While plans were for the council to vote on a motion to authorize the mayor to enter into a contract with Walden, not all the members were ready to go that far.

“Lithium ion batteries have been known to take up lots of fire,” member Armand Maniccia said.

Maniccia asked if there would be any other combustible material on the site, and member David L. Oliver asked who would be responsible for cleanup in the event of a fire or flood.

Knapp said the site would be designed to assure a fire would be contained and that the company would be responsible for cleaning any messes.

“If we build it and we’re operating it, we want to keep it that way so we have a vested interest,” he said.

Paul E. Cavagnero said there were still outstanding questions, including containment and decommissioning costs.

“We know these costs can escalate dramatically,” he said.

He also said he wanted to hear from the fire department to get their take on the potential dangers.

“This is too premature for me to vote on this particular agenda item,” he said.

The council agreed three to two to table the matter.

Director of Public Works Ray Drew, in a phone call Tuesday, said Facilities Manager Jamie Sykora, who is in charge of the project, plans to add the discussion to the council’s October 16 agenda.

Sewage treatment plant is a go in Norwich

Claire Bessette

Norwich ― After years of planning and design work, negotiations with state environmental officials, project changes and cost increases, the biggest utility project in city history is about to break ground.

The City Council last week authorized $199.2 million in bonding, secured solely by Norwich Public Utilities sewer revenue, to build a new wastewater treatment plant to replace the aging plant on Hollyhock Island. The manmade island sits in the center of Norwich Harbor, where the Yantic River splits into east and west branches as it spills into the harbor.

The project will be financed with 36% grant funding and the remaining 64% with a 20-year, 2% low-interest loan through the state Clean Water Act.

NPU has proposed a one-year, 12.1% rate increase for sewer service starting Nov. 1 to start covering the costs for the new plant. NPU General Manager Chris LaRose said the 36% state grant and favorable interest rate would help keep costs down, but NPU also is seeking additional state and federal grants to help reduce the loan amount.

“This is a difficult choice, but it is the one we must do,” Mayor Peter Nystrom said prior to the vote to approve the bonding ordinance. “It’s about the quality of the river. It’s also about securing, at this time, probably the best deal we’re going to get.”

Nystrom said normally, municipal utilities receive only 20% in grant funding, but NPU will receive a grant for 36%. NPU officials thanked the DEEP and Norwich’s state legislative delegation for securing the additional funding.

“When this is complete, we’ll have a very significant nitrogen reduction in our river,” Nystrom said. “And that’s to the benefit of all, the people in this room and future generations.”

Also last week, the state Department of Energy and Environmental Protection approved design and construction plans, NPU officials said Friday. NPU expects to sign a contract this week and give selected contractor CH Nickerson of Torrington the go-ahead to start construction by early November.

A groundbreaking ceremony is planned for late October.

The project will transform the NPU sewage treatment system, greatly reducing nitrogen pollution from the Thames River and Long Island Sound and the now frequent raw sewage overflows into waterways during major rainstorms.

When completed, the new plant will expand the city’s sewage treatment capacity from 15 million gallons per day to 20 million, allowing for increased economic development, utility officials said.

Part of the project includes spreading excavated material from the plant construction onto the city’s old landfill at the northern end of Hollyhock Island. The landfill, which never was capped properly, will receive a new cap when the project is completed and could become a future site for solar power generation.

“There is no way to underestimate the impact this project will have on the Yantic River, Shetucket and the Thames, and ultimately Long Island Sound,” NPU spokesman Chris Riley said.

The current plant was built in 1955 and upgraded in 1973. Equipment that was supposed to have a 20-year lifespan is still in use. The plant’s treatment systems fall short of current water pollution requirements, and NPU faced the prospect of fines for failing to comply with Clean Water Act regulations if the new sewer plant was delayed much longer.

Larry Sullivan, NPU water division integrity manager, said the environmental improvements will be realized in the fourth year of the five-year construction period.

Because the new plant will replace the existing equipment on the same grounds, the project will be series of construction and demolition, Sullivan said, while ensuring there is no disruption in sewage treatment service.

As one new component is built, its older predecessor will be demolished to make way for the next component.

“If you had a blank piece of land, we could get it done in two years,” Sullivan said.

Transit-oriented development could transform Fairfield County, if it’s affordable and environmentally sustainable

 Davis Dunavin

Fairfield Metro is one of the newest stations on the Metro-North’s New Haven line, having opened in 2011. The area around it is rapidly becoming a case study in transit-oriented development. This kind of development has been suggested as a solution to curbing climate change, while simultaneously helping connect residents more closely with their neighborhoods. Advocates say it cuts emissions, bringing residents closer to a train station as a central hub and relieving them from dependence on cars.

That’s a big deal for commuters in Fairfield County who rely on Interstate 95 — recently named the most congested stretch of interstate in the United States.

Advocates say transit-oriented development could be a good solution if done right. But in order for it to succeed, they say it’ll need to be both affordable and environmentally sustainable. Building in wetlands like the area around Fairfield Metro requires infrastructure that can mitigate the effects of climate change and reduce the impact of wastewater on a vulnerable environment.

Transit-oriented development and climate resilience

Gail Robinson is a real estate agent for the neighborhood of Black Rock, technically part of Bridgeport, the state’s largest city, but served by the Fairfield Metro train station across the town line. She’s also the president of the Ash Creek Conservation Association, and in that role, she’s one of the most vocal advocates for the environmentally sensitive wetlands that surround the train station.

WSHU met with Robinson at a coffee shop so close to the station that we could watch the trains go by on the tracks and hear announcements from the loudspeaker. Trains stopped and released crowds of commuters as we talk — most headed toward their cars at the station’s massive parking lot, but some set out on foot.

Robinson showed a printed dossier full of details on a flurry of similar-looking new apartment complexes that have been built or are under construction within a few blocks from the station with more proposed in both Fairfield and Bridgeport.

“It’s all generations moving in there,” she said. “All different ages, but it’s really popular with young professional people. They’ll spend $2,000-$3,000 a month on an apartment and not think twice about it.”

Ash Creek is the body of water that separates Bridgeport and Fairfield. She said, wearing her conservation hat, the ongoing developments concern her. One, for example, called the Crossings at Fairfield Metro, is being built just across Ash Creek Boulevard from the train station.

“It’s being built on a spit of land that’s directly on the Ash Creek tidal estuary,” she said. “We’ve been concerned for a while with that land.”

Ash Creek draws its name from the day the British burned Fairfield to the ground during the Revolutionary War, ashes from the fires settled in the creek. It’s also the last remaining saltwater marsh in Bridgeport.

“It’s only about four feet deep,” she said. “When the tide is down, it’s mostly a mud flat.”

Ash Creek faces the Fairfield Metro train station along the appropriately-named Ash Creek Boulevard. The land slopes up near the train station, rising away from the tidal marsh to an elevated street. A wide stretch of long, low, marshy trees span out from the creek up to the station. (There’s a walking trail back there, it’s beautiful, but its entrance is not well-marked from the street.)

“It’s out of the flood zone, because it’s up high enough,” Robinson said. “But over time, and particularly with storm surges, that land could get vulnerable.”

Then, Robinson adds, there’s the toll these new complexes will put on Fairfield and Bridgeport’s infrastructures. The Crossings at Fairfield Metro will add nearly 700 new apartments, meaning the town of Fairfield will have to put in a new sewer pipe. Robinson says both cities will have to strengthen their infrastructure to handle the new load.

“Can we handle it?” Robinson asks. “We’re in the process of having to replace an aging wastewater plant in Black Rock. And if all of this sewer water is going to that plant that’s aging and beyond capacity now, then what’s going to happen? Because when it gets a lot of rainfall right now … they have to dump the raw wastewater into Black Rock Harbor.”

The conservation group Save the Sound gave Black Rock Harbor a “D-” for its bacteria count in its most recent Long Island Sound Report Card last year.

“Bridgeport is a combined sewer overflow community,” said Bill Lucey, who holds the title of Soundkeeper with the group. “That means when it rains, the stormwater drains mix with the sewage mains. So what ends up happening if you have too much rain, the sewage treatment plants are legally allowed to open up the side tunnels and side culverts, and have raw sewage mixed with rainwater go right into Black Rock Harbor, for example.”

“People are dying for something reasonably priced”

Three new complexes have appeared near the train station in recent years — one to the north, one to the west, one to the south. All are easily within walking distance of the platforms.

The Crossings at Fairfield Metro is the largest of the proposed developments. One building is already under construction. Eventually, the sprawling complex will include nearly 700 apartments, a hotel, an eight-story concourse building and more than 40,000 square feet of office space. That’s based on an ambitious expansion of the project from the developers, Accurate Builders, in March.

Eighty of those units will be below market rate, a fact the developers highlighted as a way for the town to fulfill its requirements under 8-30g, a state law meant to encourage a minimum amount of affordable housing.

Eighty units is significantly more than is offered in other nearby new developments, Robinson said. Another four developments have been proposed, mostly in Bridgeport, and none have offered plans for any affordable housing. But she said those 80 units won’t solve the need.

“People are dying for something reasonably priced,” she said. When Robinson puts up a listing she considers “reasonably priced,” she said she gets about 60 applications. That tells her that 80 new affordable housing units isn’t enough to meet demand.

“Affordable housing” means the homeowner pays 30% or less of their income on housing-related costs, including mortgage or rent, taxes, insurance and utilities. Only 3% of all housing in Fairfield meets that definition as measured by the standards of 8-30g, far less than the 10% the state wants from all cities and towns. The average rent for a two-bedroom apartment in Fairfield is $2,800 a month. (By comparison, Bridgeport — which has a vastly lower median income — has about 20% affordable housing, by far the most of any municipality in Fairfield County. If you want a two-bedroom apartment there, it’ll set you back $1,800 a month on average.)

Some quick math: if you’re spending $3,000 a month on rent, the amount Gail Robinson said her young clients “don’t think twice about,” you’d better be making at least $108,000 a year as a household in order to live comfortably. That’s not factoring in utilities and other costs.

At the time that Fairfield Metro was under construction more than a decade ago, Metro-North also had plans for another new station on Bridgeport’s East Side, a relatively lower-income area. It would be called “Barnum,” after the circus founder and former Bridgeport mayor P.T. Barnum, who built up the city’s East Side. It was planned to open in 2021, but the project eventually stalled in 2019. (Advocates had said it would be an opportunity to support transit-oriented development in that area.)

“There’s a huge movement for transit-oriented development to be more affordable so that it can benefit the folks who have been historically more marginalized from city centers or even other neighborhoods,” said Nyla Holland, a researcher with the Urban Institute. “But transit-oriented development can also offer market rate rents, and have really high prices which can price out those with lower incomes and prioritize more affluent residents moving in.”

Holland said redlining and racist infrastructure practices have physically marginalized low-income communities out of city centers, where transportation hubs are traditionally found.

“Transit-oriented development has the ability to create greater access to employment, education, and more,” she said. “So those folks who have been excluded from that can access career opportunities.”

But she adds she’s too often seen a practice she calls “climate gentrification.”

“So you have climate friendly cities,” she said, “Cities that are prioritizing energy efficiency, transit-oriented development, and folks really want to move there. And they’re willing to pay the higher prices for rents that can price out those with lower incomes who would really benefit from living near transit hub.”

Holland said one way to solve this problem is to incentivize developers to include affordable housing in their plans, just like how Connecticut’s state law incentivized Accurate to include 80 affordable housing units. But not all communities, including Fairfield, have seen Connecticut’s affordable housing law as a solution.

Fairfield First Selectwoman Brenda Kupchick rejected the idea that only 3% of the town’s housing is affordable. She said that’s a shortcoming of 8-30g.

“We have a lot of two and three family units in Fairfield that landlords rent out,” she said. “They don’t count, we don’t keep track of them, because they’re not under our purview. But we know they exist.”

“There are properties we can do the exact same thing with”

Last week, the town of Fairfield marked a first: a groundbreaking for four new homes built by the Georgia-based nonprofit Habitat for Humanity. They went up in the Tunxis Hill neighborhood, which borders Bridgeport. The organization has built 281 homes in Fairfield County, but these were their first affordable homes in the town of Fairfield.

“It is not due to the lack of need for affordable housing in the town,” Habitat for Humanity of Coastal Fairfield County director Carolyn Vermont wrote in a letter announcing the groundbreaking, reiterating that only three percent of the town’s housing is affordable. “It is because we have never been able to obtain property on which to build.”

The town of Fairfield is providing the four lots, which will be developed through a 75-year renewing land lease.

At the groundbreaking, alongside Vermont and others from Habitat for Humanity, Fairfield First Selectman Brenda Kupchick said she grew up in the neighborhood and played in the woods around the houses.

“And when the owner of this property came to me and said, ‘First Selectwoman, we’d like to buy a piece of the Tunxis Hill Woods and knock down this house and build a house to sell,’ I said, ‘well, how about if we buy your property and we decide to do something different with it?”’

Fairfield established an affordable housing trust fund in 2018, which paid for the purchase of the property. The fund adds on a fee to permits for all housing and developments, allowing the town to then buy its own homes and sell them at affordable rates.

Kupchick said she wants to keep the project going across the town.

“There are properties in our town that we can do the exact same thing with,” she said at the Habitat for Humanity groundbreaking. “And to me, it’s not just giving affordable housing but actually an opportunity to build roots in a community, especially in a community as great as Fairfield.”

For example, she said officials are working with former Navy housing that was given to the town nearly 20 years ago. But she says she doesn’t see a need to prioritize affordable housing around train stations.

“My dream would be that we would have affordable units scattered throughout the entire town,” she said. “You can live in any neighborhood that you choose. So if you do have a car and you want to live farther away from the train station or the bus station, then you should be able to have that opportunity.”

Habitat for Humanity said the four houses mark a new opportunity for Fairfield. But four units may not satisfy the need at a time when real estate agents like Robinson say a single opening leads to 60 applications. And the Fairfield Metro station is a nearly 40-minute walk away, making this property less than optimal for transit-oriented development. But advocates say the model can be ported out across Connecticut and other areas with a lack of affordable housing.

State Senator Tony Hwang, also at the event, said the entire state has a critical housing need.

“We’ve got to get there,” he said. “This is four of hundreds that need to be built. But the solution is the model here. It’s a model of collaborative effort and creativity where local governments, state governments, private sector and federal government get involved to collaborate … It is not private developers looking at a market valuation. This is out of faith, love and a need in our community.”

Worried about wetlands and flooding, West Hartford residents aim to halt ex-UConn campus development

Michael Walsh

WEST HARTFORD — A group of residents has created a petition outlining their concern over the impact the proposed mixed-use residential development at the former University of Connecticut campus would have on existing wetlands and the town.

It's a response to West Hartford 1 LLC, the development group that plans to build 620 units of housing on the long-vacant site mixed with commercial space for a restaurant, cafe, spa and a grocery store on the property, which contains around 12 acres of wetlands.

The online petition, which has yielded nearly 700 signatures in the week since it was started, takes issue with how the developers would successfully build on and around those wetlands.

"The proposal includes too many parking areas and too few areas with decarbonizing large trees and grasses," the petition reads. "It replaces permeable surfaces with impermeable ones, exacerbates drainage and flooding problems for surrounding neighbors and threatens natural wetlands habitat."

Ruth Miller lives on Asylum Avenue near the University of Saint Joseph campus, just down the road from the former campus. Miller, who said she has worked in conservation in the past, predicts that building on the site at the proposed scale would cause significant problems to the area's watershed.

"The size and the scale, the bigger and the denser the scale is on lands that were originally wetlands, it’s going to be become less and less functional and it's going to shed water instead of absorbing it," Miller said on Monday, as more rain fell on a town beleagured by flooded streets, yards and basements.

Trout Brook Avenue and part of the former campus are included in West Hartford's long term plans to alleviate stormwater flooding through the installation of larger pipes, replacing culverts and by creating access to new outfall areas. But those plans could take years to complete.

"There’s really nowhere for the water to go," Miller said. "It’s going to be more and more cut off so it can’t take the groundwater like it did before. It’s just going to come back into the neighborhood. I know the town is worried about what climate change is bringing and this last year has been a killer. That is my main concern because I think we can make something better of this. It means looking into the future instead of the bottom line."

Gary Schulman, a pediatric dentist who lives on Braintree Drive, was an architect before changing careers and said he has some experience in applying for wetlands construction approval. He, like Miller, is concerned about how developers intend to build on the wetlands

"I don’t think they can mitigate it," Schulman said. "The site is at the depression between the adjoining hills. Everything flows down to that depression. It’s a fairly wet site. The site right now handles it okay... but that’s because 1800 Asylum is not very developed. There are buildings, but there’s a lot of open space in addition to the actual wetlands, so the site handles the flow that comes down the hills towards it. My concern from a wetlands point of view is that their proposal has a lot of impervious acreage."

Proposals for 1800 Asylum Ave. — the western side of the property — do call for the construction of six buildings plus additional townhouses that would line Asylum Avenue and Lawler Road. All of that would be surrounded by parking lots. Developers do intend to leave green space open, including a recreational lawn alongside Trout Brook Drive, a woodland trail behind the property, a wet meadow walk and a bridge traveling over the wetland pond central to the location.

Still, residents said they would prefer to see the development scaled back a bit, particularly the commercial aspects, which they said are redundant to what the town already offers, citing the town's own Plan of Conservation and Development that indicated that West Hartford already had enough grocery stores and personal care businesses. Developers previously scaled back the total number of parking spaces on the site when they removed a planned parking garage from the west side, bringing the number down from 1,900 to 1,387 parking spaces.

"Parking lots are ugly," said Christine Feely, who lived on nearby Haynes Road for two years before moving across town. "I was really shocked when I saw how many large structures they planned to put on the west parcel. To me, the west parcel is the most embedded into the residential neighborhood. It’s this huge development right there in this space that’s carved out from a very residential neighborhood."

Feely said she wouldn't mind seeing the spa and grocery store removed from the plans, which could invite more room for middle-density housing, she said, instead of four or five-story apartment buildings.

"There would be more units on the west parcel," Feely said. "I think you could get quite a few more people in there without your destination spa and your organic market. My vision is for it to have basically middle-density housing. You can get pretty good density without it being those big apartment buildings. I really think that could retain a neighborhood feeling much better and have a fair number of people there."

Schulman said he's glad to hear that the Trout Brook Trail will connect with the property — which his son uses to bike across town to the GastroPark with friends — but hopes to see it stretch further north, which he said would promote sustainability and encourage methods of transportation other than cars, something he fears this proposal isn't doing.

"We’re very concerned about this not being a development that protects or promotes sustainability, which the town wants, but it goes in the other direction and it's more cars and more parking lots," Schulman said. "[Trout Brook Trail] gives young people a chance to not use cars and get on their bikes and connect them to different parts of the town. That’s what we should be doing: allowing for green spaces to connect us in wonderful and interesting ways as alternative ways to car-based traffic."

Schulman, who attended a crowded neighborhood meeting on Tuesday night to learn more about the project, said that "presenters responded by explaining that the proposal will be massaged to answer some of those concerns." He also noted that since the campus has been quiet for six years now that many neighbors have grown accustomed to having no activity on site.

In a statement provided by the developers, the group said their plans "continue to evolve and improve" through subsequent meetings with the town and various committees.

"For over a year, we have had conversations with West Hartford’s land use, planning and economic development staff and six sessions with the Design Review Advisory Committee," the statement said. "We have also received thoughtful comments from the town’s wetland consultant which we continue to address through plan changes."

The group also said they won't be in a position to finalize their plans until a review with the town's wetlands agency, which they expect to happen in October. West Hartford's Town Planning and Zoning and Inland Wetlands and Watercourse Agency next meets on Oct. 2, though no agenda has been posted yet, so it's unclear if the development will be discussed that evening or at a later date.

"Each conversation, especially the feedback we have received from our neighbors, has improved our village concept so that it looks quite different from where we began," the statement said. "We expect to undergo a public hearing before the Inland Wetland agency in October. Only after that review is complete will we be in a position to finalize development plans for submission to the West Hartford Town Council."

Homewood Suites looking to build 125-room hotel in Cheshire

Luther Turmelle

The sprawling Stonebridge Crossing mixed use development at the intersection of Route 10 and Interstate 691 in Cheshire continues to expand on multiple fronts with plans for an extended stay hotel submitted to the town's Planning and Zoning Commission.

Homewood Suites by Hilton is seeking to build a four-story, 125-room hotel near the entrance to the 107 acre property. If the hotel plans for Stonebridge Crossing are approved by Cheshire officials, it will join eight other locations that Hilton's Homewood Suites brand already has in Connecticut.

The hotel is being proposed near the main entrance to the property off Exit 1 of I-691. Plans for the hotel show an indoor swimming pool as well as an outdoor putting green, a basketball court and outdoor kitchen with fire pits and seating areas.

Planning and Zoning Commission members will get their first chance to ask questions about the proposed development at a public hearing on Oct. 23.

Commission members on Monday heard from a Jacksonville, Fla.-based developer that is under contract to purchase the retail and restaurant components from Stonebridge Crossing. Regency Centers, which has Connecticut offices in Westport and Greenwich, is under to purchase the retail and restaurant component from  property owner TriStar Land Development, whose principles include former Town Councilman Paul Bowman, and a Cheshire limited liability company, Miller Nepolitano and Wolff.

Regency Centers is seeking to add 15,000 square feet of retail space to 136,000 square feet that had previously approved. Rebecca Wing, Regency's vice president of investment, said Regency "develops properties for the long term."

"We're excited about the possibility of developing a retail center that the town can be proud on Cheshire main street," Wing said referring to Route 10. She declined to identify any potential tenants, but told commission members that the company has good working relationships with both Trader Joe's and Whole Foods, which retail experts have long speculated were the two most likely candidates for the grocery store space that will anchor the 21.5 acre retail component.

In Connecticut, Regency's retail center portfolio includes Corbins Corner in West Hartford, High Ridge Center in Stamford and the Danbury Green retail center, all of which have Trader Joe's stores. Monday's zoning commission hearing was continued until Oct. 11.

Regency Centers acquired Connecticut-based retail center landlord Urstadt Biddle Properties in a $1.4 billion deal that closed in August.

The latest news about Stonebridge Crossing come two weeks after a joint venture involving Chicago-based investment management firm and a Fairfield residential development company purchased a 300-unit apartment complex that is currently under construction in Cheshire for $9 million, according to municipal land records.

Officials with Blue Vista Capital Management and Eastpointe LLC announced Sept. 13 that the deal had closed to purchase the complex. The property was also owned by TriStar Land Development and Miller Nepolitano and Wolff.

The apartment complex will include eight three-story buildings, and one four-story garden style apartment building. The complex will offer a range of studio, one, two and three-bedroom apartments to prospective tenants. It will also include a 7,500 square foot clubhouse with a fitness center, seasonal swimming pool, co-working spaces and an outdoor dog park.

Construction of some of the components of Stone Bridge Crossing started last year. When fully developed, Stone Bridge Crossing will include also town homes and senior housing.

Brandon Goetzman, managing principal and co-head of the equity group at Blue Vista said the acquisition reflects Blue Vista’s "strategy of developing high-quality multifamily in under-supplied markets backed by strong demand drivers."

The joint venture acquisition is the third involving Blue Vista and Eastpointe in Connecticut multifamily complexes. The two companies also developed The Pointe at Dorset Crossing in Simsbury and The Preserve at Great Pond in Windsor.

$2M renovation of North End Little League complex close to completion in Meriden

Mary Ellen Godin

MERIDEN — A roughly $2 million upgrade to the North End Little League complex at 234 Brittania St. is expected to be complete next month.

That facility currently includes fields used by the Jack Barry and Ed Walsh leagues, which combined to form Meriden Little League. When completed, the North End complex will have two artificial turf fields — a baseball diamond along with a new softball field.

The other project, northwest of the existing fields, will convert a neighboring full-size basketball court into a half court with the addition of a new playground next to it.

In February, city crews began demolishing the structures around the ball fields, including removing their fencing and back stops, explained Chris Bourdon, city director of parks and recreation.

The demolition included removing the concession stand at the corner of Britannia and Tremont streets to incorporate into the softball field, Bourdon said. He doesn’t expect the leagues or schools to replace the concession stand.

The project and artificial turf fields as well as other upgrades have turned a bleak section of the city into an attractive site, city officials said.

“We were given some input, through meetings with the mayor and the parks department and (Trinity Financial),” said Holly Wills, president of the Meriden Council of Neighborhoods. “We are very pleased to see an area in disrepair turned into a beautiful ball field that the children can enjoy. It’s a very positive move for the neighborhood.”

The fields will be used by the schools.

In October 2021, Meriden Public Schools officials announced the complex would be among a group of athletic fields in the city that would be upgraded with new turf surfaces, through the school district’s American Rescue Plan Act monies.

Officials previously stated the upgrades would require less maintenance than the current fields, allowing for consistent playability, especially following inclement weather.

After the recent soaking this past weekend, the artificial fields were suitable for play hours later, Bourdon said. It’s the first artificial turf baseball and softball fields in the city.

Officials planned to complete the project in 2022. But it did not proceed because responsive bids from contractors for the project exceeded its budget by around $500,000.

Officials said the project scope was revised and readvertised. “So we took stuff out of the bids,” Michael Grove, assistant superintendent for finance and operations for Meriden Public Schools, said last spring. Grove described the process that followed as “a little bit of value engineering.”

It is being funded through $1.8 million of the school district’s ARPA funds, along with another $400,000 from the city, Grove explained.

“This time, the city and the board are partnering together on the North End Field,” Grove said.

Mayor Kevin Scarpati stated in February that the city took action to allocate that $400,000 to “make up the difference in funding.”

To reduce costs, parks department staff completed the demolition of above-ground features at the park. Workers also completed an open-air dugout and revamped the parking area and added parking at the north end. The restrooms and storage building were brought up to code, Bourdon said.

Meanwhile, the basketball half court and playground construction will be funded through other grant monies received by Trinity Financial, the developers overseeing the construction of a mixed-income housing development at 85 Tremont St.

Scarpati described the project last spring as part of a “greater North End neighborhood redevelopment.” He added that the Board of Education and Trinity Financial are partners in what he described as a “community project.”

A dedication and ribbon-cutting are scheduled Oct. 26 at 4 p.m.