Waterford asked to host data center project at Millstone

Kevin Arnold

Waterford ― Data center developer NE Edge LLC has asked the town to serve as a host municipality for a two-building data center on Dominion Energy’s Millstone property.

First Selectman Rob Brule announced Tuesday night that the town would stand to receive fees from NE Edge totaling more than $231 million over 30 years in both annual and periodic supplemental payments.

"We are encouraged to see our largest taxpayer reinvest in our community,“ Brule said in a news release. ”This particular collaboration will undoubtedly benefit every taxpayer in the Town of Waterford, not only today, but for generations to come."

Brule declined to comment further.

In a letter to the town, NE Edge Manager George A. McLaughlin III described one of the two proposed buildings as two stories high with a 568,000-square-foot footprint. More than 1 million square feet of space would be available for cloud and data storage servers.

The second, nearby building also would rise two stories. It would have a 214,000-square-foot footprint and 428,000 square feet of space, also for cloud and data storage servers, McLaughlin wrote in the letter. Both buildings would be supplied with electricity directly from Dominion's two nuclear power facilities on the site, according to the news release.

Selectwoman Beth Sabilia said Tuesday night that she was not part of the deal between Dominion and NE Edge, but thinks utilization of the Millstone site is a “great idea.” She pointed to the size of the property and the ability to generate power on-site as major reasons.

The on-site power generation will eliminate the need for diesel generators, which often create noise, a factor in Groton residents’ opposition last spring when NE Edge proposed a data center project for that town. The Millstone plant also provides redundant energy, meaning it has multiple power sources to rely on in the event one malfunctions.

“It means Dominion is moving forward,” Sabilia said. “We’ve all been concerned and want to support Dominion, and they come with this partnership and it is very forward- looking.”

Sabilia said the project would involve a three-year construction plan under a labor agreement, meaning union workers and apprentices would be hired. She called the project a “great opportunity” to build career paths while providing approximately 1,500 construction jobs and 200 permanent data-center jobs.

The payments to the town, Sabilia added, would help offset natural and inflationary increases in future municipal budgets, a direct impact on taxpayers. It would allow the town to be more flexible, and potentially offer more services to residents, she said.

“All in all, it looks like a great opportunity for the town of Waterford,” Sabilia said.

"We are looking forward to sharing with Waterford residents and decision-makers the diverse benefits this project can provide for the customers who use these new data centers, Dominion Energy and the Town of Waterford,“ attorney William McCoy, a spokesman for NE Edge, said in the release. ”The project also has great potential to meet the state and New England regional needs for these types of data management facilities, which prompted last year's legislation."

Under legislation passed by the Connecticut General Assembly, towns cannot tax data centers’ equipment or buildings but are allowed to negotiate fees in lieu of such taxes as part of a host municipality fee agreement.

“Dominion Energy is exploring this opportunity with NE Edge to help respond to a critical data infrastructure need in our state,” said Millstone Site Vice President Michael O’Connor. “The data center’s need to find a suitable site and the availability of space on Millstone Power Station property make this a potentially beneficial partnership for Dominion Energy.”

The proposed host municipality agreement will be considered by both the Board of Selectmen and the Representative Town Meeting over the coming weeks. The Board of Selectmen is set to review the proposal at a special meeting Wednesday night.

If the agreement is approved, the project would proceed to planning and design phases, then go forward for consideration by multiple local, state and federal agencies over the next year.

Stamford bans pedestrians from crumbling West Main Street Bridge while temporary structure is built

Jared Weber

STAMFORD — More than 21 years after it closed to cars, Stamford's West Main Street Bridge will stop permitting pedestrian traffic as well next week.

The deteriorating 135-year-old bridge will officially close for construction Feb. 20, according to a sign posted on nearby fencing. It had been labeled hazardous by city officials last July, with pedestrians advised to walk only on specific parts of the structure.

And though city officials have yet to decide on how exactly to restore the historic bridge, construction on a $1.6 million stopgap will soon begin.

A contractor is prepared to begin construction on a new, pre-fabricated steel bridge just north of the existing structure in the coming weeks. The contractor, ROTHA Contracting Company, was selected through a city bidding process. They intend to complete the project by July 4, city spokesperson Lauren Meyer said in an email.

In the meantime, city officials are advising pedestrians to use Tresser Boulevard to access Main Street.

The first phase of construction will include new signs, fencing and erosion control measures, city engineer Lou Casolo said.

"The structure will be brought to the site in large pieces and assembled, then craned into position over the new abutments," Casolo said. "Once all of that is completed, then there's site work to transition sidewalks and that type of thing to the approach of the bridge."

The new bridge is being paid for entirely through city funds, engineer Domenic Tramontozzi said in an email. Costs include the construction contract, and design and inspection work.

As for the existing bridge, no decisions have been made, Casolo said.

"The Board of Representatives has asked the city to evaluate different options," he said.

Stamford lawmakers and residents have wrestled over the fate of the once-purple bridge for decades, and the end result, so far, has been inaction.

The city, in years past, has attempted to make the Purple Bridge pedestrian-only permanently. But some longtime West Side residents and their city representatives have argued that a bridge closed to cars cuts the neighborhood off from the rest of the city and increases emergency service response times on the way to Stamford Hospital.

Representatives for the city and Mill River Park, which the bridge abuts, have consistently argued that cars would interrupt the largest pedestrian path in Downtown Stamford and create a five-way intersection on the West Side. In addition, the bridge affects city planners' long-term goal to expand Mill River Park and create a riverside walking path connecting Scalzi Park to Kosciuszko Park, they argue.

Last year, an $850,000 federal grant to fix the bridge, awarded to Stamford in 2012, expired after years of indecision.

All options remain on the table, Casolo said.

"Nothing has been finalized, but those are all options that the city will be exploring once this prefabricated pedestrian bridge is in place," he said.

Built in 1888, the bridge was once used as part of Stamford's trolley system. In 1982, the construction of the Stamford Town Center mall "effectively cut off Main Street," significantly decreasing its use by motorists, according to a 2021 presentation made to the Board of Representatives.

According to a June 2021 presentation to the Board of Representatives, the bridge still has active telephone conduit lines in place that would "be extremely disruptive to the city" if they were damaged.

Material prices are construction’s ‘biggest challenge’

Zachary Phillips

Felice Farber describes herself as “a public policy wonk.”

A former lawyer and government affairs officer for the General Contractors Association of New York, she said her passion lies at the intersection of construction and public policy. 

Farber was appointed executive director of the Subcontractors Trade Association — a New York City-based association of union subcontractors — in January, becoming the first woman to hold the role in the group’s 66-year history. 

Here, Farber talks with Construction Dive about the major struggles the industry faces as she moves into her new role.

The biggest challenge right now for the construction industry is the rise in material prices. A lot of subcontractors were hurt by the unprecedented spike in costs. Unfortunately, New York Gov. Kathy Hochul at the end of 2022 vetoed a bill that would have provided equitable relief to contractors on this front.

I am hopeful the legislature will take action again this session to help out the small businesses that were harmed by these unprecedented market forces.

54% of areas on a construction project that can be worked on see no progress in an average week. Get the full in-depth analysis here.

I am optimistic that the recommendations of the city’s Capital Reform Task Force will be implemented. Addressing issues with insurance, change orders and contract payments, as well as taking a partnering approach with the industry, will go a long way to improving the delivery of essential capital projects and stretching limited capital dollars.

Is the labor shortage the largest ongoing problem in the industry? If not, what is?

As union subcontractors, we are lucky not to face the same issues that affect many in other parts of the country in attracting and retaining trade labor. We are grateful for the job our union partners play in recruiting and training skilled professionals and providing family-sustaining jobs that are the backbone of our economy.

The biggest challenge is finding the engineering and project management talent interested in working in the construction industry. There are lots of competing demands for this workforce and our challenge is to highlight the benefits of working in the construction industry and encouraging diverse talent to enter this booming industry, where there are countless career opportunities.

You are the first woman to fill your position. How important is it for women to see other women in leadership positions in construction?

I think it is important for women and people of color to see that the construction industry provides an inclusive environment and a career path full of opportunity.

What is the path to making the industry more inclusive and diverse?

I am excited to be leading an organization that respects and welcomes diversity and inclusion.  Two of our officers run successful woman-owned and -led construction companies.  

The union trades are leading the way with a diverse workforce, and have partnered with pre-apprentice training programs that help train and support women in the construction trades.  Engineers and other construction management staff are in high demand. 

The industry is actively engaged in many great programs that provide mentoring for women and people of color, encouraging them to seek careers in the construction industry.

Construction’s labor gap tops 500M

Zachary Phillips

The construction industry’s outlook for labor is bleak. In order to meet demand, contractors will need to hire an estimated 546,000 workers in 2023, and that’s in addition to the industry’s normal pace of hiring, according to a new analysis by Associated Builders and Contractors.

In 2022, the industry averaged more than 390,000 job openings per month, the highest level on record. Construction’s unemployment rate of 4.6% for 2022 was the second lowest ever, indicating there are few construction workers seeking jobs, and therefore the pool to fill demand is shallow.

ABC predicts demand for labor to increase by 3,620 new jobs for every $1 billion in new construction spending, on top of the current, above-average job openings. 

The problem with the high demand is not just the large shortage of labor, but a skill shortage, said Anirban Basu, ABC’s chief economist in the release. The struggle to hire and retain workers is especially dire, as the workforce increasingly reaches retirement age. Few younger workers join the workforce, and when they do, they are less experienced and therefore less efficient.

“With nearly one in four construction workers older than 55, retirements will continue to whittle away at the construction workforce,” said Basu in the release. “Many of these older construction workers are also the most productive, refining their skills over time. The number of construction laborers, the most entry-level occupational title, has accounted for nearly 4 out of every 10 new construction workers since 2012.”

At the same time, Basu said, the number of workers with licensed skills have grown at a much slower pace, or, in the case of jobs like carpenters, actually declined in the last decade.

Demand and funding for megaprojects such as chip manufacturing plants, clean energy facilities and infrastructure will continue to make the problem worse — though construction is seeing money pouring into projects, it means more work to find the people to build them. And it won’t get much easier.

ABC predicts that in 2024, the industry will need to hire 324,000 new workers on top of its normal pacing, and that assumes construction spending slows significantly.