Wilton working with Norwalk to oversee river valley trail construction

J.D. Freda  WILTON — As the Norwalk River Valley Trail inches closer to completion, the town has agreed to jointly oversee the construction and maintenance of the decadelong trail project with the city of Norwalk and a nonprofit.

The trail has had various additions through its construction phases. The final leg of the planned 30-mile stretch of recreational path beginning in Calf Pasture Beach in Norwalk and traversing north through areas of Wilton up to Danbury was agreed upon in a $2.9 million bid late last year.

As the parties involved are hoping to eye an end to this longstanding project, attorney Doug LoMonte, of Bercham Moses PC, presented a three-party agreement between the Norwalk, Friends of the Norwalk River Valley Trail and Wilton for consideration to the Board of Selectmen at its Feb. 16 meeting.

The cooperation agreement, which was approved unanimously, includes the oversight of construction, maintenance and insuring of the trail.

“This has (felt) like pushing a rock uphill for several years,” Selectwoman Deborah McFadden said. “I am so happy and just want to congratulate everybody for their hard work and tenacity to get us to this moment. It is a hallelujah moment.”

The agreement focused on the stretch of trail that straddles the Wilton and Norwalk border.

According to LoMonte, Friends of the NRVT secured a $1.1 million trail improvement grant through the state’s Department of Energy and Environmental Protection. Wilton will serve as the grant administrator, giving the town the responsibility of providing financial reporting functions and serve as the contracting party in regards to construction on that stretch of the trail.

Town Chief Financial Officer Anne Kelly-Lenz will take the lead in the financial reporting of the project, according to LoMonte.

“Wilton, Norwalk and (Friends of NRVT) are parties to a 26-team funding agreement,” LoMonte said, detailing the scope of this project.

The trail construction of the Wilton-Norwalk stretch will use 80 percent funds from the state grant. The other 20 percent, according to LoMonte, will be picked up by the Friends of NRVT. The nonprofit’s contribution will cover up to $275,125 for the total project.

But Friends of NRVT’s onus does not stop there.

Friends of NRVT will be responsible for construction management during the building of the project and trail management once it is completed. The trio reached a comprehensive management plan mutually agreed upon by all parties, LoMonte said.

Assistant Director of Public Works and Town Engineer Frank Smeriglio will assist in the construction management process along with Friends of NRVT. The Department of Public Works of Norwalk will play a key role as well.

The nonprofit also has an obligation to address any budget overrun, including if a potential bid is accepted over the currently agreed to budget.

Under the cooperation agreement, Norwalk and Wilton would have the ability to observe parts of the trail not in their jurisdiction for oversight during the construction phase, LoMonte said.

The project is slated to break ground this spring.

Developers hope Bridgeport’s newly named Hartford HealthCare Amphitheater on track for packed concerts

Brian Lockhart   BRIDGEPORT — Whether showing off an impressive feat of engineering — the steel masts and cables that will support a massive tentlike roof — or small details like how each backstage bathroom has different multicolored shower tiles, Howard Saffan remains passionate about a concert amphitheater he has spent four years developing.

“This will be state-of-the-art when you open up the doors,” Saffan said Tuesday while leading Hearst Connecticut Media on a tour of the nearly finished venue built from the bones of Bridgeport’s one-time minor league baseball park. “It should be an absolute architectural marvel.”

Saffan and his partner in the venture, veteran concert promoter Jim Koplik of Live Nation, were on hand at the amphitheater with other officials Tuesday to celebrate another milestone in their joint venture: The announcement that Hartford HealthCare, which in 2019 acquired Bridgeport-based St. Vincent’s Medical Center, had purchased the naming rights to the amphitheater.

And while many average music fans are likely more focused on when the initial concert lineup will be revealed, Saffan argued having Hartford HealthCare on the venue’s signage, letterhead and advertising is huge: “That sets the tone. ... That tells everybody this is a significant place. Putting a premium name on here is everything.”

The looming question is, given the coronavirus pandemic, when will members of the general public and big name musical acts experience Saffan’s accomplishment?

“This is all in a state of flux,” he admitted.

Saffan said he intends to host graduations come May. He hopes that by summer, enough of Connecticut’s population will be vaccinated against COVID-19 and the infection rate will be so low that state officials will allow him to fill the amphitheater’s entire 5,700 seats at a single event.

And because the attraction needs plenty of lead time to book acts and sell tickets, Saffan said the state “need(s) to make a commitment that says, ideally, come June 1, you can go 100 percent to concerts,” he said. “There’s no reason not to.”

As of Tuesday morning, however, the state Department of Economic Development, which has helped the governor regulate how Connecticut has safely done business during the year-long global health crisis, was aiming to allow outdoor concert venues to host only 50 percent of their audience capacity by the spring or summer.

“It’s really too early to be really definitive about that time frame,” said Jim Watson, a DECD spokesman. There are a lot of variables in place, he said, including the vaccine roll out and the rise of new COVID-19 variants.

Koplik, in a brief interview Tuesday, told Hearst opening the Bridgeport amphitheater to half capacity — 2,850 — would likely not be “economically viable.”

“One hundred percent (capacity). That’s what I’m hoping,” Koplik said.

“Artists aren’t going to take 50 percent” profits to tour, Saffan agreed.

During the news conference announcing the new name of the amphitheater, Koplik referred to the impact the pandemic has had on live entertainment and his optimism about the vaccinations being distributed by Hartford HealthCare and other medical providers.

“Our business is, essentially, closed,” he said. “And Hartford HealthCare is helping open us up.”

Hartford HealthCare Chief Executive Officer Jeffrey Flaks used the official announcement Tuesday to present a hopeful message about a return to normal and large gatherings “in a short period of time.”

“We’re turning the corner right now,” Flaks said.

Leading Hearst through the amphitheater’s lower concourse, then onto the stage and inside the backstage facilities, Saffan said that even if Connecticut is in a very good place, COVID-wise, this summer, the availability of acts will be dictated by the health of the rest of the country.

“It doesn’t just involve Connecticut,” Saffan said, naming one veteran artist whose identity he did not want revealed who will come to Bridgeport in 2022 but is not traveling this year.

And when people are able to attend shows at the amphitheater, there will still be reminders of the health crisis. Saffan said ticketholders will have to show proof of vaccination, proof of a negative COVID-19 test or receive a rapid one on site, and wear masks: “We want every guest feeling comfortable.”

Saffan and Live Nation plan on announcing the first performers in late March. Around that same time, the roof will be going up and cosmetic final touches made.

When Saffan first approached the city in 2017 with Koplik about transforming the Bridgeport-owned ballpark into a live music venue, the partnership had hoped to open in 2019. But construction delays, then the pandemic, pushed that off two years.

The original price tag was $15 million, split between the developers and Mayor Joe Ganim’s administration. Then last year, Saffan sought and received another $4.5 million from Bridgeport, arguing the two-decade old ballpark was in poorer shape than he had been told and that the developers invested far more than their initial share.

On Tuesday, he refused to provide a new cost total. But at times Saffan admitted he likely has gotten “carried away” in striving for perfection. He said he wants to ensure ticketholders and performers return and also spread the word about the new concert showcase in Bridgeport.

“This is called ‘getting carried away,’” Saffan said, gazing from the stage upward at the roof infrastructure he likens to 1 million pounds of steel bicycle spokes. “It’s what I call the ‘holy s**t’ moment.’”

Danbury’s downtown ‘needs to be refreshed’: City to start streetscape project amid COVID

Julia Perkins DANBURY — The long-awaited plan to liven the city’s downtown faces new urgency and challenges as the local business struggle during the coronavirus pandemic.

Construction is expected to start in the spring on the first phase of a roughly $12 million project to upgrade the sidewalks and install amenities to make the downtown more pedestrian friendly and appealing to shoppers, diners and developers.

“It just needs to be refreshed,” Mayor Joe Cavo said. “If we want to have an active, bustling downtown, we have to have it so it looks right and people will want to come here.”

The project comes as local businesses face challenges, including fewer office workers in the area, due to the pandemic.

Most downtown businesses have held on through COVID, but beautifying the area could attract people, said Angela Wong, executive director of CityCenter Danbury.

“Hopefully they’ll bring in some new eyes and ears and customers to the businesses,” she said. “Really, now more than ever, it’s a great opportunity and it’s a very positive change.”

‘Catalyst’ for development

Downtown’s sidewalks have not been upgraded in about 30 years and heave in places, said Sharon Calitro, city planner.

“The improved infrastructure of the streetscape is a catalyst for future development,” she said. “In order to incentivize people to invest in the downtown, in the heart of the city, we need to continue our commitment to improve what that area looks like and feels like.”

Developers are building 150 apartments at the former News-Times building, while the 374 luxury apartments in Kennedy Flats have been popular.

The idea is to connect places like the library and historic buildings to the bus and train stations, Calitro said.

This will be beneficial for existing businesses, too, Wong said.

“Having more foot traffic for the local businesses and accessibility is going to be key for them,” she said.

The first phase includes redoing the Danbury Green and installing streetscape on Delay Street, National Place, Railroad Place, Ives Street and parts of White Street and Post Office Walk. Construction — delayed last year due to COVID — is expected to take about four months.

The city is evaluating four bids to do that phase for under $2.2 million, Calitro said

“We’re just excited to break ground,” she said. “It will be beautiful when it’s done.”

Grants and money approved by City Council last year cover the cost.

The more complex second phase upgrades sidewalks on both sides of Main Street from the Connecticut Institute for Communities to the Kennedy Flats area. Patriot Drive, Independence Way, Liberty Street and Kennedy Park are included. Main Street is a state road, so this requires more complicated state approvals, Calitro said.

A river walk on Crosby Street along the Still River is also envisioned, but will be constructed separately, she said.

COVID’s impact

A new business — Gomez Bakery on Main Street — opened during the pandemic, while Empire of the Incas upgraded its facade thanks to a $10,000 city grant.

“There has actually been some really great wins, despite COVID,” Wong said. “It’s actually been really beneficial in terms of they’ve [businesses] banned together to help one another in the downtown.”

Cavo anticipates COVID will bring “profound changes” to how people work and more, but that the city must stick to its long-range plan for the downtown.

“We have to be ready because eventually we will come out of COVID,” he said.

The vaccine could hopefully bring some workers back to their offices soon, Wong said. Regardless, residents will still want to come to downtown for dining, retail and eventually a return to concerts on the green, she said.

“People will still be seeking out other aspects of downtown,” she said.

Calitro said she expects the downtown to succeed in the long term because COVID has shown people how important getting outside can be.

“During COVID and post COVID, the urban centers are going to thrive,” she said. “People want to live in a place where they can walk and we’re creating an environment to improve pedestrian accessibility.”

The project’s focus on accessibility to transportation hubs remains, despite the decline in train ridership during the pandemic, Calitro said.

“We can’t sustain this auto-dependent society forever,” she said.

CT legislature poised to make early budget pledge to help cities and towns

Keith M. Phaneuf   The House of Representatives is expected to approve an omnibus bill Wednesday that commits more than $100 million in new aid to municipalities, shields thousands of residents with out-of-state employers from double taxation, and ends the controversial practice of placing liens on the homes of former welfare recipients.

Legislative leaders also were considering a proposal from Gov. Ned Lamont’s administration to offer sales tax incentives to promote development of data centers, but it was unclear late Tuesday whether that bill would proceed Wednesday. If the bill does advance in the House, tentative plans call for the Senate to consider it Thursday.

The linchpin of the House agenda, though, involves a proposal from Senate President Pro Tem Martin M. Looney, D-New Haven, to overhaul two non-education grants that offset a portion of the revenue communities lose because state property, colleges and hospitals are exempt from local taxation.

What’s particularly unusual about this bill is that municipal aid — or any large component of the state budget — normally isn’t resolved until the session is nearly at its close in May.

Lawmakers making an early budget promise of more aid to towns

“I think the intent of tomorrow is to put a marker in the budget,” Rep. Sean Scanlon, D-Guilford, co-chair of the Finance, Revenue and Bonding Committee, said Tuesday. “We are making a very strong statement to say we’re going to figure this out.”

What’s to figure out?

For one thing, Gov. Ned Lamont didn’t include any increases in PILOT (Payment in Lieu of Taxes) funds in the $46 billion, two-year budget he proposed to legislators on Feb. 10. Instead, he proposed combining $50 million in state borrowing with $50 million in unused federal pandemic relief funds to bolster non-education aid to municipalities, but only for the 2021-22 fiscal year.

Still, the Democratic governor said last month he was “intrigued” by Looney’s proposal to boost PILOT, which is particularly crucial for poor cities, which tend to have higher mill rates and a greater share of tax-exempt property than smaller municipalities.

And then there’s the statutory spending cap.

Lamont, who’s unwilling to exceed the cap legally, proposed a plan that falls $103 million below that limit next fiscal year, and $115 million below in 2022-23.

Legislators still were negotiating final details of the House bill late Tuesday, but Scanlon said the PILOT program would involve close to $110 million per year in new funds for municipalities.

That proposal, if combined with Lamont’s budget, would push the plan over the cap in the first year and dangerously close in the second. And some Democratic legislators also want to add back more spending for education, health care and other priorities.

But Scanlon said lawmakers are committed to working everything out.

PILOT grant has a shaky history

Joe DeLong, executive director of the Connecticut Conference of Municipalities, said cities and towns, which have seen their finances rocked by the coronavirus pandemic and related economic chaos, would be grateful for the aid.

But DeLong also said state officials need to look at Connecticut’s finances and ensure they can provide this relief for many years to come.

“Our hope is that it’s not just very real this year, but that it’s sustainable,” he said. “There has to be a commitment here.”

Rep. Holly Cheeseman of East Lyme, ranking House Republican on the finance committee, agreed that legislators cannot dangle additional PILOT funds and then withdraw them.

“If we make a promise,” she said, “we should also figure out a way to keep it.”

Legislatures and governors have struggled to maintain their commitment to PILOT over the past two decades as surging pension and other debt costs consume more and more of the state budget.

For example, PILOT grants are supposed to replace about 45% of the funds communities lose because they can’t tax state property. Communities currently get less than 15% back, according to CCM.

Similarly, the grants once designed to replace 77% of taxes lost on nonprofit colleges and hospitals now cover less than 25%.

No community would receive less PILOT aid than it currently does through the bill under consideration, but those in low-income municipalities would receive additional funds.

Guarding against double taxation, stopping welfare-related liens

The bill scheduled to go to the House also includes at least two other budget-related components.

One would clarify that Connecticut residents who work in other states and pay income taxes to those jurisdictions still can get a credit for those taxes on their Connecticut returns.

New York and Massachusetts enacted laws holding that telecommuters working from home for “convenience” actually owed taxes first to their employers’ home state. Connecticut responded with its own convenience law in 2019, and those and other northeastern states are battling the issue out in federal court.

But legislative leaders from both parties said recently a clarifying measure was necessary to ensure — until the legal fight is over — that Connecticut residents don’t feel pressured to pay income taxes to two states at once.

A third component of Wednesday’s House bill would end Connecticut’s longstanding practice of placing liens on the homes of recipients of cash assistance offered through welfare.

Critics say this process pre-dates the welfare reforms Connecticut and many other states enacted in the 1990s, when new rules were established to limit fraud and to require recipients with addiction problems to seek assistance. 

Connecticut’s statute is an outdated, unnecessary measure that stops many of those it’s trying to help from building wealth, according to House Speaker Matt Ritter, D-Hartford, and Rep. Toni E. Walker, D-New Haven, who spearheaded the repeal effort.

Legislative leaders still hadn’t decided late Tuesday whether to include a fourth fiscal component to the bill scheduled to go before the House on Wednesday.

The Lamont administration is seeking to waive sales taxes for up to 30 years on data centers that invest at least $400 million in a facility in Connecticut — or at least $200 million if the facility is located in an “enterprise zone” where the state is trying to encourage development.