West Hartford hires an architect to design its $66 million community center

Michael Walsh

WEST HARTFORD — The town's plans to build a new community center, bringing its senior center, one library branch, and teen center together into one complex, are moving forward.

On Tuesday, the town announced it had selected GWWO Architects to design the new building, which will be located at 100 Mayflower St. at the site of the former St. Brigid School. The town purchased the property in 2021 for $3 million.

Originally based in just Baltimore, GWWO has had a West Hartford office for nearly three years now. The town said its track record of designs, such as the Niagara Falls State Park Welcome Center, appealed to them.

"For more than 30 years, GWWO has specialized in the planning and designing of cultural, educational, and community facilities that inspire and foster connectivity," a statement from the town said. "Central to the firm’s success has been its story-based design approach that embraces the unique characteristics of each community and site."

Previously, the town estimated that the total cost of building the community center could cost around $66.4 million. The town is currently laying out funding in its capital improvement plan for the building, with proposals to eventually use $55 million in bond funds for the construction of the building, which is expected to begin in 2025.

Greenwich Avenue residents must endure nighttime noise from roadwork: 'You can't even sleep'

Andy Blye

GREENWICH — Theresa Santos has been having trouble sleeping.

Aquarion Water Company and its contractors were recently working overnight near her home to replace 2,000 feet of aged water mains under Greenwich Avenue, but the light and the sound, she said, have kept Santos and some of her neighbors from sleeping.

“Unless you're living there and see what's going on at night, you can't even comprehend what we're going through,” Santos told the Board of Selectmen on March 14. “Sometimes you can't even sleep through the night because it's just literally underneath our windows.”

When crews come to work at night, Santos said, the engines of large trucks rumble, saws whir to cut through the asphalt and excavators dig out dirt to access the pipes. Debris fills the air and light towers brighten up the dark Avenue as well as homes above.

Crews then backfill the hole when their work is done, put a plate down and pave it so cars can roll by in the morning. Working hours are 10 p.m. to 10 a.m., Sunday through Friday. 

Santos said she understands the work is necessary and the crews have (mercifully) moved up the Avenue, away from her, for now. Still, she asked the Selectmen about shifting some of the night work to the day so she and her neighbors can get some rest.

“I think it should be considered to work during the day,” she said.

The water main replacement project started last month and is expected to continue into the summer, Aquarion officials said on March 14. 

The project area stretches from Elm Street to Grigg Street, with crews working in different areas as they replace the old pipes and then go back to transfer water service.

Selectwoman Lauren Rabin said she had fielded some complaints about the noise and wondered if there could be one day of day time work each week.

“It’s an impact to everybody, there's no perfect solution. But how do we, you know, sort of spread the impact?” she said.

Aquarion and its contractors said the work hours are dictated to them by the Department of Public Works so they said they would speak to DPW about adjusting the work plan to include some day time work and street closures.

First Selectman Fred Camillo said that he had seen no specific plan to adjust the night work as of March 19.

Day time road work is cause for concern, at least for Camillo, as outdoor dining is supposed to start on the Avenue in the next month and the work is already limiting some evening parking.

Camillo asked if Aquarion could get the work done quicker to both alleviate the noise for neighbors and to ensure businesses are not disrupted with work during the day time, especially as summer is prime time for many businesses.

“There really is a lot going on in the summer on the Avenue,” he said last week.

Camillo said issues are amplified by shifting work to daytime hours. He also said he has not heard of any other noise complaints outside of Santos' comments at the meeting on March 14.

Marc Penvenne, owner of Meli-Melo and Bistro V, said that the road work had not presented any major problems for his restaurants.

“Well, they have to do it,” he said on March 5. “It's not summer yet. … Do it now because it's between, basically, the winter and summer season. It's necessary.”

Aquarion first brought the project to the board in April 2023 and initially asked for permission for intermittent road closures over the course of a year. The work did not start until last month.

The selectmen initially granted a 90-day permit, which would ensure Aquarion checked back in mid-project, they said at the time. Aquarion asked the board last week to extend the permit another 90 days, which would go through mid-July. 

"We didn't want to give a carte blanche approval, so it's working actually the way we want it to work," Selectperson Janet Stone McGuigan said of the initial 90-day permit. "This is this is our chance for feedback. We have had some feedback about nighttime noise and lights."

The selectmen did not take any action on the permit request last week and told Aquarion to come back at the next meeting on March 28 to allow the public time to provide feedback.

Some things have changed since Aquarion first brought the project to the Board of Selectmen last year, including who makes decisions on noise complaints.

During the meeting Camillo suggested that Aquarion coordinate with the Health Department about extending their noise abatement, but Stone McGuigan reminded Camillo that their board was now in charge of noise issues after the Board of Health repealed their control last year.

Trucking company A. Duie Pyle's $25M expansion underway in Southington

Ciara Hooks

SOUTHINGTON — A Pennsylvania-based transportation company is in the midst of a $25 million expansion on Aircraft Road.

A. Duie Pyle Inc. opened a regional facility in town in 2001 and company leaders say the expansion project was designed to build on the existing site, including construction of a two-deck parking garage to maximize space on the property, as well as a neighboring property acquired for the project.

“The town of Southington and state of Connecticut are great places to be, from a residential and commercial perspective; kind of a crossroads into the Northeast,” said Tim Koch, vice president of property development & management for A. Duie Pyle. “We’ve developed a strong team of people in our Southington location and as the company has grown over time the need for a larger facility in Southington came about and we’re happy that we were able to buy some abutting ground and continue to build on that facility in Southington.” 

The Planning & Zoning Commission approved the business' site plan application for the project last April.

“This is another example of a business that has a history in town that is expanding upon their footprint here which is good for our tax base because this is an industrial zone area which allows us to tax not just the property but also the equipment that is housed there so we sort of get a double bang for our buck on the taxation of that project,” said Robert Hammersley, chairman of the Southington Planning & Zoning Commission.

The expansion has been 20 years in the making, according to Koch.

“And there was a good year prior to us even submitting to the town for approvals where we put probably a half a million dollars or more into civil engineering, planning, architecture, and things like that,” he added.

Determined to stay

The expansion consists of building the two-story parking deck with spaces for 189 vehicles, building a new 16,477 fleet maintenance garage and expanding the current "less than truckload" or LTL terminal by 14,600 square feet. Pyle partnered hired Kratzert Jones & Associates and Geis Construction, the same civil engineering and general contractor team for this project that the company used on its original building project in 2001.

“The parking garage is phase 1 of the project,” Koch said. “It is going to allow us to move some of our car parking to a centralized area again. With the growth that we anticipate in the next several years it became a requirement that we could park all those cars on the existing property and the only way to accomplish that without leaving the town of Southington, which we did not want to do, was build a parking garage.”

Phase 2, the construction of the large fleet maintenance garage, will begin once the garage is completed. It will be built on property Pyle purchased from Owen Tool & Manufacturing a couple of years ago.

“This facility maintains and ensures our equipment is safe,” Koch said. “It is private; we do not do work for outside concerns. It is solely here to maintain and ensure the safety and integrity of the privately owned fleet we operate from that facility.”

Once the new fleet maintenance garage is completed Phase 3 will begin by demolishing the old garage at the end of the existing terminal.

“We will then enlarge the existing LTL terminal to increase our capacity through that facility,” Koch said. “This will also allow us to add another 25 to 30 jobs to the property, to the town, and to the tax base.”

Koch added that a project like this also provides jobs during construction for 50 or 60 people which is a benefit to the community because they use local talent.

“Anytime that we can bring jobs into our town it’s a bonus for us,” said Hammersley. “I think it has a ripple effect throughout the community and other small businesses whether they’re restaurants or convenience stores or grocery stores or anything like that, that further enhances the attractiveness of our town as a business destination. And I try to do everything that I can in my capacity to support that.” 

Traffic impact

The addition of jobs and tax base growth comes with an increase in employee car and truck traffic due to the nature of the business.

“Traffic impact is always a serious part of our deliberation and consideration when we’re looking at any application, particularly along the corridor of Queen Street and West Street, and something we’ll continue to monitor,” Hammersley said. “I’m sure the results of the traffic study didn’t present any insurmountable obstacle or warrant the denial of the application and was to the satisfaction of the commission.” 

Pyle conducted the proper traffic studies, according to Koch.

“We have a permit from the (state) for the construction of the maintenance garage to which we had to submit traffic studies etc. for that approval,” he added.

A key aspect of Pyle's operation is the ability to ship less than a full truckload of goods for its clients, according to Koch. 

“We operate in the LTL sector of the trucking community whereby we handle packages from 100 pounds up to 5,000 pounds to 10,000 pounds; really in pallet quantity instead of entire full truck load quantity,” Koch said. “An individual trailer coming or going from our facility may contain one or two pallets for 30 or 40 different customers as opposed to a truckload sector where their entire trailer is full of product for one customer so we can service many customers as opposed to just one.” 

The company distributed throughout the Northeast, but also across the country.

“Our customer list ranges from small residential mom and pop and hardware stores up to Home Depot, Lowe's and other major manufacturers," Koch said.

Work progressing

Pyle is roughly eight months into the two- to three-year timeline for the completion of the project.

“To date we have built just about the second deck," of the parking garage," Koch said. "We’re a little bit behind schedule because of the weather but we knew we were going to encounter that through the months of January to March, but we are anticipating hopefully completing that garage by late April to mid-May.”

Besides the weather, which the company planned for, Koch said he is happy with the progress made so far.

“We’re excited to continue our relationship locally. One of the main things I said earlier was the talent and the people in the community of Southington who either are neighbors or are employees have enabled us to maintain and sustain this growth and we look forward to that going on for a long, long time,” Koch said.

A. Duie Pyle Inc. is a family-owned 4th generation company that was started in 1924. It will be celebrating its 100th anniversary at the end of the month.

Shelton builders start work on scaled-back Huntington Village plan

Brian Gioiele

SHELTON — Sky Wells saw it as divine intervention when developer John Guedes stepped away from plans to construct 16 homes on land abutting Huntington Congregational Church off Ripton Road. 

The single-family housing development — which at one point called for as many as 20 homes on the 6 acres of  church-owned land — had drawn the ire of some Huntington residents who considered the development too dense and damaging to the neighborhood's feel. 

With Guedes out, Wells called on longtime friend and local builder Ron Schauwecker to buy the church land and create a smaller development.

“We’re excited,” said Wells, who said his family helped found the church 300 years ago. 

He said neighbors and the congregation didn't want to see 16 homes.

“What we have planned is something that fits in better with the surrounding community," he said.

The new plans, approved by the Planning and Zoning Commission last July, call for eight single-family homes to be built on just over six acres of undeveloped land in what will be called Huntington Village off Ripton Road behind the church. Wells and Schauwecker purchased the land for $1 million late last year. 

The homes will sell in the $900,000 range, according to Schauwecker, and will be customized to the buyer’s liking. 

“We wanted to make this work with eight homes rather than the 16,” said Schauwecker, who teamed with Wells’ father, Royal, to build the Berries as well as Waterview Estates and Wells View Estates over the past five decades. 

Schauwecker said the new plans moved work away from the hillside and the rock, which will help keep blasting to a minimum and not change the character of the land. 

“This will create a village-like setting,” he said, adding that the deal also leaves a conservation easement. Wells said with this open space in place, all abutting neighbors will have a buffer due to the open space, and the church will retain that land. 

Wells said he and Schauwecker have agreed to use some of the profits from the development to refurbish the church and its surrounding buildings. The pair that initial plans call for them to install new roofing on the old Sunday School building, the church and the steeple.

“We also wanted to add value to the homes of the people who live around what we are doing,” Schauwecker said. “We want it to blend in with the same typical designs in the area.” 

The Planning and Zoning Commission denied the original application for 24 single-family homes in the summer of 2018. 

Guedes appealed the decision and also filed a new project on the site for an 84-unit development with an affordable housing component under Sec. 8-30g of the Connecticut state statutes. This subsequent application only allowed minimum input from the Commission. 

The commission and Guedes reached a settlement in October 2019. At that time, the commission voted 4-2, with commissioners Jimmy Tickey and Mark Widomski opposing, to approve a deal that allowed for 16 single-family homes.   

The settlement agreement contained three conditions — a permanent conservation easement of two acres along the Centerview Drive properties; a permanent landscape buffer abutting 24 Ripton Road and no more than 16 single-family units on the final site plan.   

In September 2020, the Planning and Zoning commission approved the final design development plans for the project. However, the project never moved forward. 

Traffic study envisions dramatic transformation of Norwich waterfront, downtown roads

Claire Bessette

Norwich ― Instead of cars whizzing through the waterfront area on multi-lane highways, traffic specialists envision two-way streets, walkways, roundabouts and even a pedestrian “Bridge of Roses” over the Yantic River.

The City Council on Monday viewed concepts from a downtown Norwich mobility study that tackled how to fix the 1970s road patterns that raced traffic through Norwich on multi-lane roads with giant speedway signs overhead.

Joseph Balskus and Daniel Amutz of VHB Engineers proposed dramatic changes to transform the Norwich Harbor area.

One option would convert the westbound three-lane, one-way bridge to West Main Street into the Bridge of Roses, a pedestrian and bicycle way, with rose bushes, outdoor event space and a connection to the adjacent Norwich Transportation Center parking garage. Brick pillars would support an arched overhead sign, “Welcome to Rose City.”

The three-lane, one-way eastbound bridge to Washington Square would be converted to two-way traffic. Roundabouts would be installed at Washington Square and at the current intersection with North Thames Street. The grassy area between the semi-circle North Thames Street and West Main would be a public park, with a parking area and walkways.

A second option, suggested by Norwich Police Chief Patrick Daley, would switch the plan, converting the current westbound bridge into two-way traffic and closing the inbound bridge just past the Marina at American Wharf and Falls Avenue, with the bridge becoming a pedestrian and bicycle way.

A third option would make both bridges two-way, but with improved sidewalks and bicycle lanes. That plan calls for three roundabouts, two on Washington Street at each bridge intersection, and one to join the roads on West Main Street.

The design team also proposed converting three-lane, one-way, westbound Water Street into two-way traffic and narrowing the current three-lane, one-way eastbound Chelsea Harbor Drive to one lane, still eastbound. A traffic signal is planned at the busy Market-Water Street intersection, with vehicles able to turn in either direction onto Water Street.

Balskus said the group still is working on ways to reduce the worst downtown traffic congestion at the junction of Chelsea Harbor Drive, Water Street and the Route 12-2 bridge to Laurel Hill and the Viaduct.

“This changes the whole mindset of transportation we had from the ’70s, where it was pump traffic through downtown. Pump traffic through downtown. Get them through.,” Balskus said of the new overall waterfront area plan.

The Southeastern Connecticut Council of Governments received a $212,500 grant from the state Department of Transportation, with the City of Norwich adding $37,500, to pay for the Chelsea Harbor/Downtown Norwich Mobility Study. Retired SCCOG Executive Director James Butler is managing the project that encompasses the waterfront area, downtown entrances from West Main-Route 82 and East Main-Route 2.

Balskus said the group has not yet worked out cost estimates for any of the options. City Manager John Salomone suggested the project could be done in phases, with the Water Street-Chelsea Harbor Drive changes first.

Balskus said now is the best time to pursue major federal transportation improvements funding, especially for so-called complete streets with pedestrian and bicycle accommodations.

Salomone said he noticed the problem on Chelsea Harbor Drive on his first day in Norwich, watching cars speed downhill toward Howard T. Brown Memorial Park and take the sweeping curve toward the red light at the Route 12-2 bridge.

“When I first came here, I looked at that road and it reminded me of the Grand Prix at Monte Carlo, through downtown, big curve. And that’s how they drive it.”

Alderman Swaranjit Singh Khalsa said he preferred the first option with the Bridge of Roses, because it required just two roundabouts. The engineering consultants said all bridge options could be done with traffic lights, but the roundabouts would be the top choice.

“Roundabouts are the safest form of intersection control,” Balskus said. “Roundabouts have not killed pedestrians in Connecticut.”

He said there have been only about three serious pedestrian injuries at more than 10,000 roundabouts nationwide.

Another public forum will be held in April or May, with a report drafted in May on all the alternatives. Another City Council public informational meeting is planned for June before the final study is drafted in June or July.

The project website, www.downtownnorwichmobilitystudy.com, contains all documents and contact information for the project team.

Waterbury rejects developers’ plans for former Anamet factory site

LIVI STANFORD 

WATERBURY – City officials are back to the drawing board after rejecting two requests for proposals from Cornerstone Realty and Industrial Realty Group, a Los Angeles-based developer, to redevelop the former Anamet factory site at 698 South Main St.

“The state and the city have invested a significant amount of funding for the site,” said Mayor Paul K. Pernerewski Jr. “The proposed offers weren’t really where we expected them to be. We are disappointed. This is a long-term project. It is going to have long-term ramifications for the city of Waterbury. We need to make sure we are doing it right.”

Tommy Hyde, interim director of the Waterbury Development Corporation, agreed.

“We felt based on what we wanted to see at the site and the amount of money we invested in the site, they weren’t the right fit,” he said.

Board of Aldermen President Michael DiGiovancarlo expressed disappointment but expressed confidence that “something will go into the site that will create jobs and a better area in the South End.”

City officials said Anamet, a 17-acre brownfield site, including a 180,000-square-foot high bay building, is crucial to revitalizing the South End.

The Anamet site is owned by 698 South Main St. Inc., which was set up by the city to hold the property.

The former factory was used for manufacturing from 1812 to 1977 by, in turn, Benedict & Burnham Manufacturing Co., American Brass Co., Anaconda American Brass Co., and ARCO.

Pernerewski did not elaborate on the requests for proposals reviewed by a selection committee and why the city chose not to move forward.

Local city officials and experts said the time and development of such sites are not cut and dry, mainly due to their complexity, as contaminants can be found at later stages and the risk and liability of such sites.

Hyde said since last year the city has spent $1.5 million in grant funding to demolish three buildings, abate the high bay building, map the underground utilities, and conduct additional site sampling to understand the extent of the contaminants fully.

To date, $9.5 million has been received for work toward its rehabilitation, most of which has been spent, Hyde said. It will cost another estimated $5 million to clean up and remediate the site.

This is the second time the Anamet site has gone out to bid. In September 2023, city officials terminated negotiations with Ideal Fish concerning Anamet after expressing concerns that negotiations were not progressing the way they had hoped.

Hyde said the city received many inquiries from developers about the site, but when it came time to bid on the project, some developers did not move forward. Pernerewski said the city hopes to speak to those developers to understand why they did not move forward.

Hyde said the city would use the remaining $1.6 million to clean up the area where the powerhouse used to be.

Marisa Chrysochoou, professor of the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at the University of Connecticut and director of the EPA Region 1 Technical Assistance for Brownfield program, said such sites could take a decade or two to clean up, and sometimes, the devil is in the details when dealing with future liability.

She said a challenge is that often a developer needs a timeline to make a return on investment on a predictable schedule.

“You can’t predict when you can schedule and make money when dealing with contaminants,” she said. “You have to build in the uncertainty of cleaning up the site, and the possibility that you might find more contaminants. A developer often needs to be flexible and adapt schedules and plans working with an experienced site professional to make a project work”

Cornerstone Realty bid $1.8 million on the project, which was lower than the first time it was put out to bid. In its bid, the company proposed leasing the space to Torrco, a distributor of local plumbing, heating, and cooling, and industrial piping products, for a central distribution fulfillment and logistics processing center.

The realty group also lists several stipulations for the city, including that it clean up the asbestos and PCBs at the site and demolish the existing building. John Albert, CEO and chairman of Cornerstone Realty, and Jake Albert, vice chairman, could not be reached for comment.

Industrial Real Estate Group, a Los Angeles-based company that owns and operates more than 150 major projects and developments in 31 states, proposed building a business park on the property and paying $200,000 annually beginning in year six of the project. It further stipulates that the company not incur more than $1 million in unreimbursed environmental costs for assessments and remediation, according to the Request for Proposal.

Lauren Crumrine, vice president of marketing for Industrial Real Estate Group, declined to comment for this article.

Alderman Victor Lopez, who served on the site selection committee, was disappointed that a developer was not chosen this time.

“Everything takes years just to go through the process, and now we have to start all over again,” he said. “My point is that from the street level, the community still says you are not getting anything done. But I am clear that we did our best to make sure whoever takes over the property can actually develop the land.”

Alderman Minority Leader Ruben Rodriguez said it would be too costly to proceed with either of the companies that recently bid on the project.