Port authority updates timeline ― but not cost ― for State Pier construction

Erica Moser

Connecticut Port Authority officials said Tuesday that construction work to position State Pier for the South Fork Wind project remains on track for “substantial completion” at the end of this month ― but there are some delays, and Executive Director Ulysses Hammond won’t say yet how much they will cost.

The Feb. 28 milestone is for completion of the northeast bulkhead heavy-lift platform, also known as the delivery berth. The port authority in a statement attributed delays in total site completion to “supply chain constraints and unknown site conditions (including obstructions).”

Board Chairman David Kooris said the agency is handing over State Pier to port operator Gateway in March, and Northeast Offshore LLC (NEO) will start to utilize the facility in April. NEO is the joint venture of Ørsted and Eversource.

Kooris said the bulk of the facility ― including the upland areas, railroad parcel and warehouse ― will be finished in April. But the remaining dredging has been delayed until the fall.

Hammond said State Pier is “aggressively transitioning from construction to terminal operations,” with a new entrance being installed this month and trailers leaving next month.

He added, “Connecticut is at the forefront of a new and exciting jobs-producing sustainable energy industry.”

Marlin Peterson, construction manager for AECOM, the project’s construction administrator, said the value of work completed on-site to date is about $180 million.

No answer about cost overrun total

Port authority board member David Pohorylo pressed Hammond for the scope of cost overruns due to delays but didn’t get an answer.

Hammond said he’s confident he will have something to share with the board soon but it’s “premature right now, when you’re in negotiations with all the parties, to start talking about numbers.”

The port authority added in a statement that it is in “late-stage negotiations” with AECOM, construction manager Kiewit, Gateway, and Ørsted/Eversource “towards a final path forward. Negotiations remain dependent on agreed costs resultant from outstanding design changes driven by unknown site conditions and will include additional resources from our private partners to achieve a fair and successful final path forward to project construction completion this fall.”

The port authority also currently has an operating deficit. But Andrew Lavigne, manager of business development and special projects for the port authority, said the agency anticipated a deficit due to the timing of revenue expected in the next few months. He said until those funds are received, surplus from prior years will fund operations.

He was referring to the funding the port authority will receive when it begins subleasing State Pier. Kooris said lease revenue will come in on a quarterly basis, and he expects the first quarterly payment in March for the period beginning April 1. He said the first payment “won’t be pro-rated to reflect that a small portion of the facility is not complete.”

Gateway said in a statement Tuesday, “Gateway continues to work closely with the CPA to ensure that we are ready to commence terminal operations as soon as the State Pier is available for use. We understand that the redevelopment will be completed in stages and we are preparing accordingly.”

During public comment at the beginning of the meeting, port authority critic Kevin Blacker took issue with relying on expected payments.

Another part of the meeting that was of interest to Blacker was training from Peter Lewandowski, executive director of the Office of State Ethics. Lewandowski educated board members about prohibitions on receiving gifts, conflict of interest provisions, and revolving door provisions after members leave the board.

Port authority details current and future work

Hammond said offshore wind components will arrive this spring, in preparation for the summer arrival of 12 turbines.

But there have been delays.

Hammond said dredging of the final 14,000 cubic yards, which is about 9% of total dredged material, has been rescheduled to the next dredge season, in the fall because the final 12 of 145 piles haven’t been driven to their designed depth. That will occur this summer.

Another involves the supply of stone mix, which forms the final surface of the pier. It was found to be noncompliant with specifications so the contractor removed the material at no cost to the port authority and picked another supplier. The new supplier has increased production levels.

Peterson added that “supply chain issues are primarily affecting us in the electrical component area and will have an impact on final completion of the project.”

Some components are scheduled for installation and delivery in September and October, but Hammond said this won’t impact the start of the South Fork Wind project.

Proposed bill would make offshore wind developers create compensation fund

Erica Moser

A long-sought bill with bipartisan support that would require offshore wind developers to establish a compensation fund will get a hearing Wednesday before the legislature’s Energy and Technology Committee.

The fund would provide compensation if construction or operation of a facility damages fisheries or the marine environment, and if the developer creates fewer jobs than promised in an agreement.

The hearing was scheduled for Tuesday but postponed to 11 a.m. Wednesday due to an internet outage at the state Capitol.

Sen. Heather Somers, R-Groton, co-introduced House Bill 5223 with four Democratic state representatives, while three Republicans and two Democrats are co-sponsors. Local co-sponsors include Rep. Greg Howard, R-Stonington, and Rep. Devin Carney, R-Old Lyme.

“This is new territory,” Somers said. “It’s an industrialization underneath the ocean that we have not seen before, and we do not have the data.”

The legislature in 2019 passed a bill that authorized the procurement of energy from offshore wind. It also required the Department of Energy and Environmental Protection to establish a commission on environmental standards “to provide input on best practices for avoiding, minimizing and mitigating any impacts to wildlife, natural resources, ecosystems and traditional or existing water-dependent uses.”

Somers said she and other members of that commission “overwhelmingly” agreed there should be a mitigation fund for unforeseen circumstances from wind farms.

In a 2019 report, the Commission on Environmental Standards said the fund shouldn’t be used in lieu of avoiding or minimizing impacts, that developers should avoid impacts, minimize those that are unavoidable, and only then consider compensation “for any residual losses.”

The Environment Committee in 2020 raised a bill establishing a fund to compensate commercial fishermen negatively impacted by offshore wind facilities, but a public hearing never happened because it was initially scheduled for March 16 – just as the world shut down due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Somers’ district has the last commercial fishing fleet in the state, in Stonington, and she said “if the impact is such that they can no longer fish or their career is not viable, it was important for us on the committee to not prioritize one industry over another.”

Some other members of the commission submitted written testimony supporting the bill: Rep. David Michel, D-Stamford; Rep. Anne Hughes, D-Easton; and Nathan Frohling, director of external affairs for The Nature Conservancy in Connecticut.

In written testimony supporting the bill, Michel asked that it also incorporate another bill he co-introduced, which would establish a maximum noise level for offshore wind facilities, and require the DEEP to consider environmental degradation and jobs created when grading bids for offshore wind energy. Hughes and others requested this inclusion as well.

Michel said countries such as Scotland, Netherlands, Sweden and Germany have standards for environmental standards and labor creation. He said some might feel standards would scare away developers, but he asserted developers won’t turn away from projects worth billions of dollars.

Nature and environmental groups support creation of fund

Most of the 13 pieces of written testimony submitted support the intent of the bill, though in some cases with caveats.

Robert LaFrance, director of policy for Audubon Connecticut, wrote in his testimony, “Birds have been negatively impacted by wind turbines on land and the potential for impacts from offshore wind also exists.”

LaFrance believes something akin to an “in lieu fee” program, which allows developers to pay a fee in lieu of taking on mitigation themselves, could be used to address mitigation for impacts to wildlife.

“We need the wind power sort of now, but by the same token, most times when you do a project, you know what the environmental impacts are going to be,” LaFrance told The Day, citing wetlands projects as a more known entity.

His recommendations are that the CES meet quarterly, and that it study the issue and come back with recommendations next year.

LaFrance also pointed to a letter Gov. Ned Lamont signed with eight other New England and mid-Atlantic governors that, in part, urges the federal government to provide leadership on “mitigation frameworks for demonstrated negative impacts on marine resources, fisheries, and local cultures” from offshore wind development.

Lyndsey Pyrke-Fairchild, who works for Empire Fisheries in Stonington and is a member of the town’s Climate Change Task Force, wrote in her testimony, “H.B. 5223 is crucial to mitigate impacts to our fragile ocean ecosystems, Connecticut’s economy, labor force, and sustainable food supply chains. There is no such thing as free or perfect energy production. Any new technology will come with its own impacts.”

Frohling, of the Nature Conservancy, said his organization supports the goals of the bill but that depends on how a fund is set up. He said Connecticut isn’t ready to implement a fund now, and legislation should instead call for a study that specifies how a fund is set up and calls for the state to coordinate with other efforts in the region.

Other supporters of the bill include representatives of CT Roundtable on Climate and Jobs, North Atlantic States Regional Carpenter Labor-Management Program, and Seatower, which designs foundations for offshore wind.

Representing the Ørsted-Eversource joint venture Revolution Wind, Nicole M. Verdi and Raymond V. Collins said the partnership has and will continue to work with the commercial fishing industry, and they raised several concerns about the bill.

“The bill mentions a mitigation fund, but it does not put forth any details about its structure and administration, criteria, and performance standards,” they wrote. “It is difficult to know the impact of this requirement without a defined plan with very specific language.”

They said they also believe the issue of less-than-expected employment numbers is separate from environmental matters “and should be governed by any contractual agreements rather than legislation.”

For $68M, Darien students will get large bay windows, more learning space at 3 elementary schools

Mollie Hersh

DARIEN — Darien’s $68 million in renovations for three elementary schools are on track after Planning and Zoning officials signed off on the latest plans with some small updates.

Members of the town’s Planning and Zoning Commission have approved site plans for Hindley, Holmes and Royle Elementary Schools. The Hindley and Royle plans were approved on Jan. 31; Holmes was approved Feb. 14.

Renovations include removing all portable classrooms, creating new classroom wings with expanded classroom size, updating libraries and learning commons spaces, creating new outdoor courtyards, adding parking and improving onsite stormwater management.

The majority of the original plans remained in place after three rounds of discussion with the Architectural Review Board, with some adjustments made in materials, landscaping design and some upgrades for all entrances including a new entrance at Holmes.

Though the Architectural Review Board provided a favorable report ahead of the Planning and Zoning decision, the board’s chair Elizabeth Geiger did include further recommendations such as more benches, trees and “a more playful approach” to school entrances. 

In the time since plans were submitted to Planning and Zoning in October, Hindley’s stormwater management system became a significant design focus after neighboring residents voiced their complaints about flooding.

Resident Stephen Gabriel said that piping for stormwater was not properly maintained, backing up the pipes and creating a stream of water that would often run downhill from the school toward his home on Pasture Lane. The above ground system proposed directly behind his home left him concerned.

 “I live downhill, so where’s all that water going to go?” he asked. “It’s going to soak back into my property.”

The department of public works scoped out the original stormwater pipe, finding large debris — including basketballs — inside.

To comply with residential requests, instead of controlling the water in an above-ground basin, the campus will use an underground retention system.

In the Planning and Zoning approval, the commission included a condition that the Board of Education would be responsible for any property damage from stormwater runoff or drainage issues created by the construction.

Construction for the project is slated to begin this summer and is expected to be finished in time for the 2025-26 school year. 

The schools will remain open during the construction period, completed in phases to avoid disrupting school operations and with staggered hours so as not to conflict with school pickup or drop off.

Taking a look inside

The Board of Education reviewed and approved the latest public designs of the schools’ interiors in January.

Travis Schnell from the architecture firm KG+D presented interior concept art designed to maintain a consistent look and feel across all three buildings and maximize flexible space.

Previews included Hindley’s new library, relocated to restore the school’s original entrance; the library expansion at Holmes into the courtyard, and a moving wall in Royle’s library to create a temporary breakout classroom for students.

All three of the libraries will be designed with a focus on different age group zones and feature reading nooks and large bay windows for natural light.

While interior renderings for individual schools’ classrooms have not been revealed, Schnell presented a general look at the new classrooms, music rooms and art rooms included in many of the new building additions.

New classroom wings will feature large bay windows to let in natural light, particularly for music and art spaces. 

The schools’ music rooms will have acoustic paneling around the room to ensure the space does not disrupt the surrounding classrooms. The art rooms will feature accent walls to brighten up the room.

New furniture will also be provided for the new classrooms. 

Many of the classroom layouts and storage options were designed in collaboration with school faculty, Schnell said, a collaborative effort that will continue throughout the design process.

“They are very pleased with the progress of the work and we love their feedback because it really just makes our jobs easier,” Schnell said. 

“I wish my kids were still at Holmes,” member Sara Parent said. “These are beautiful.”

Based on prospective construction bids, the overall project appears to be close to the designated budget, with Hindley and Royle under initial estimates and Holmes slightly over. Official bids are expected in late April.

If construction bids for the main work comes in under budget, architects have a list of alternates that could be added such as acoustic ceilings and lights for the Hindley and Royle cafeterias, a green roof at Hindley or wood-look acoustic ceilings.

East Haddam Swing Bridge to close to vehicular traffic weeknights starting Feb. 22

Jailene Cuevas

EAST HADDAM —  The East Haddam Swing Bridge is set to close to vehicular traffic weeknights from Feb. 22 to March 3, according to the Connecticut Department of Transportation.

The bridge on Route 82 will be completely closed to traffic 7 p.m. to 6 a.m. from Feb. 22 to March 3.

"The overnight full closures are required due to the size of equipment working on the bridge," said Josh Morgan of the CT DOT. " If weekend closures or detours are needed that will be communicated on Thursdays."

During the overnight closures, traffic traveling to or from the south will be detoured to the I-95 Baldwin Bridge in Old Saybrook and Old Lyme; motorist traveling from or to the north will be detoured to the Arrigoni Bridge in Middletown and Portland.

The East Haddam Swing Bridge was built in 1913. The construction project is to repair and update structural, mechanical and electrical parts of the 110-year-old bridge.

"A cantilevered sidewalk is being added to the south side of the bridge and approach sidewalks constructed, as requested by the Towns of East Haddam and Haddam," according to the projects website.

The project's cost is estimated at $58.2 million, according to the project website. Construction started in summer 2022 and is expected to be completed by the end of fall 2024.