Foundations laid for long-awaited New London community center

John Penney

New London ― After months of site preparation, the footprint of the city’s $40 million community center took shape Monday morning as crews poured tons of concrete to create the floors of the facility’s programming and gym spaces.

Over the course of the day, roughly 50 cement trucks delivered loads to the Fort Trumbull property where the material was discharged onto wire-gridded sections of ground.

“This is a big day,” said Andrew Anton, project superintendent for the Downes Construction Co., which is overseeing the work. “This lets a lot of other work take off, including the block and steel structural work.”

Members of the concrete team performed a busy ballet on Monday with one worker directing a gray stream of hose-fed concrete onto slab outlines while others waded into the ankle-deep slurry to tamp it down. Finishing crews wielding trowels and blades came up from behind them to smooth the viscous layer.

The day’s action was largely centered on the southern portions of the 58,000-square-foot center, which will include the gym, recreation office and classroom spaces, a community lounge and a kitchen.

Several feet away, more jets of concrete encased water pipes laid into a deep pit that will eventually become the pool.

Work at the site began in July, six months after the original start date. City officials said the delay was largely due to waiting for state permits, which required crews to conduct site exploration and clearing work during the winter.

City Office of Planning and Development Director Felix Reyes said the project is still set for a summer 2025 opening and is within budget. He said the site prep work at the former Navy Underwater Sound Laboratory property proved challenging.

“There were a lot of unforeseen geotechnical issues, specifically regarding the old building foundations that were still under the ground that were never removed,” Reyes said. “We initially had to guess what was there based on what historical documents were available. But now that we’re out of the ground, we’re going to see progress at a different speed.”

Anton said cinder blocks that will become part of the center’s interior walls are set to be delivered this week. He said steel framing and roof work will follow with construction planned to be complete by late summer.

Mayor Michael Passero praised the project’s progress as excavators continued their digging and filling work not far from the coastal ramparts of Fort Trumbull.

“I’ve been living with this project for 12 years and trying to make it happen,” he said. “This is a major step forward.”

Lawmakers Clash Over Proposed Changes to Construction Apprenticeship Hiring Rules

Robert Storace

HARTFORD — A battle is brewing between several lawmakers who disagree on whether to amend apprenticeship hiring rules in specific construction fields.

State Rep. Timothy Ackert, R-Coventry, a licensed electrician, claims the current state mandate of a 1:3 apprentice to licensed contractor ratio is a business killer and is hurting nonunion shops.

The hiring ratio, instituted by the state Department of Consumer Protection in the 1960s, requires a company to have three licensed contractors in its trade before hiring a new apprentice. The hiring ratio is triggered after the first three apprentices are hired. Therefore, a company would need to have six licensed contractors before hiring a fourth apprentice.

But Ackert told CT Examiner this week that medium- and large-sized businesses who want to hire more apprentices could be negatively affected. He explained that a company with 24 licensed contractors wouldn’t be allowed to hire more than 10 apprentices, potentially harming that business.

The hiring ratio only affects five licensed trades — plumbing, electrical, HVAC, pipefitters and sheet metal.

“They say hiring ratios but, if you think about it, it’s really hiring restrictions,” Ackert said, adding that 84 percent of the occupations in question are nonunion jobs. “The voices that have been shut out are the nonunion businesses.”

Ackert’s proposal to amend the hiring practices must be approved by the 23-member General Law Committee, of which Ackert is a member.

However, some lawmakers contend that Ackert’s proposal is premature. A law passed last year requires data collection on the effectiveness of the apprenticeship programs, which is expected to be available this summer. 

“He [Ackert] voted against it, and that is unhelpful because if you want to make changes, then you have to be willing to collect the data so that we are confident that the changes we are making” are sensible, said State Sen. Julie Kushner, D-Danbury, a former United Auto Workers vice president and longtime union organizer. “[Passing the 2023 bill] is something we did over the objections from the nonunion contractors, but we were successful in getting that done and the data will be collected.” 

Ackert believes a 1:1 ratio is more fair and would lead to more trade jobs in Connecticut. But he claimed unions are opposed because there would be more competition between union and nonunion jobs. 

“It’s just a bad statute right now,” he said. “The consumer is paying more for services at their homes, at their businesses.”

State Sen. John Fonfara, D-Hartford, vice chair of the General Law Committee, agreed with Ackert’s efforts. 

“I would like to understand better why we have the system we have,” he said. “In Hartford, I represent hundreds, if not thousands, of young people, young people of color, who would very much like to be trained to become electricians and plumbers in Connecticut because the number of electricians and plumbers in the state is declining. They are aging out. The demand is there. I’m told by some people that they would take on more apprentices if they could, but there is this barrier.”

But State Sen. Rick Lopes, D-New Britain, who said he’d vote to keep the current rules in place, said unions have worked to streamline the apprenticeship hiring process over the years.

“I don’t think they are getting credit for that,” he said. “Let’s face it, the ratio is there simply for safety.”

Kushner noted that the safety factor should not go unnoticed.

“A huge part of this — having the ratio of apprentices to journeymen — is that it’s critical that the journeymen are in a position to really have the ability to supervise these apprentices so that they are not only getting good training, but also that they are put in situations where they are safe,” she said.

While the Department of Consumer Protection instituted the hiring ratio decades ago, the state Department of Labor oversees the apprenticeship program.

A DOL spokesperson declined to comment on the proposal on Thursday. 

Speed cameras proven to work in state construction zones

PAUL HUGHES

HARTFORD — Experimental speed cameras in highway construction zones so effectively reduced speeding that state transportation officials want to permanently use them.

Transportation Commissioner Garrett Eucalitto told state legislators on the Transportation Committee that the two-year pilot program resulted in significant reduction in traveling speeds in five work zones where the speed cameras were tested.

The Department Transportation deployed three roving SUVs equipped with photo radar technology during the pilot program. The DOT was required to place at least two signs ahead of the work zone notifying the driver about the operation of speed cameras in the zone.

Eucalitto said analysis of the data collected during the pilot program demonstrated a trend of reduced speeds throughout the enforcement periods at each work zone.

“Drivers in work zones on average drove slower when the warning signs and cameras were in effect compared to the period before the pilot started,” he testified.

One of the first work zones was the Mixmaster interchange of Interstate 84 and Route 8 in Waterbury. Another one was the Rochambeau Bridge project on I-84 in Newtown 

The legislature and Gov. Ned Lamont limited the use of the speed cameras on roads with speed limits exceeding 45 mph, and cameras were only permitted to record images of vehicles exceeding the speed limit by 15 mph or more.

Under the pilot program’s terms, the first time a driver was caught the registered owner of the vehicle received a warning in the mail. Any subsequent violations resulted in a “notice of civil liability” and fines of $50 for a first citation and $150 for any subsequent citations. No points were to be added to anyone’s license.

According to DOT figures, more than 2.7 million vehicles traveled through the five work zones, and 541,920 were traveling up to 14 mph over the speed limit. Warnings were issued to 24,875 drivers for exceeding the speed limit by 15 mph or more, and 724 drivers were ticketed for speeding in a work zone.

The DOT reported 176,957 vehicles traveled through the Mixmaster work zone in Waterbury, and 14,164 vehicles were traveling up to 14 mph over the speed limit. Some 274 warnings were issued to registered vehicle owners, and four citations were issued.

While speeds in the Mixmaster work zone decreased from 55 mph to 45 mph, the DOT said other factors may have contributed to the decrease, including lane closures due to construction work. But transportation officials also said speeds slowed when lane configurations were stable during the enforcement period.

Public employee unions representing highway workers are also supporting the legislation, and so did private unions representing the building trades.

The bill would continue to limit the use of speed cameras to roadways with speed limits of 45 mph or more, but the cameras would record vehicles exceeding the posted speed limit by 10 mph.

Under House Bill 5328, the registered vehicle owners would continue to receive a written warning for a first violation. The bill would impose a $75 fine for a second violation that occurs within one year of receiving a warning. It would allow greater fines for vehicles cited for traveling 85 mph or faster.

The legislation also makes conforming changes to a 2023 law that authorized municipalities to obtain DOT approval to use automated cameras to enforce traffic stops and speed limits on locals roads.