CT Construction Digest Wednesday September 15, 2021
Wallingford PZC votes down Amazon facility on Research Parkway
Lauren Takores
WALLINGFORD — Neighbors applauded the Planning and Zoning Commission’s denial of a special permit application to build an Amazon distribution center and warehouse at 5 Research Parkway.
The motion made at Monday night’s meeting was to approve the plan. Three commission members voted against it — Jeff Kohan, J.P. Venoit, Steve Allinson — and two voted in favor — Jim Fitzsimmons and Chairman Jim Seichter.
It was the conclusion of a five-month long process that resulted in the applicant, Montante Construction, being denied approval to redevelop the 180-acre site, formerly a Bristol-Myers Squibb medical research facility.
The distribution center and warehouse would have been the third Amazon facility in town. Amazon operates a sortation center nearby at 29 Research Parkway, while Amazon Logistics operates a warehouse and distribution center on South Cherry Street.
Montante, a Buffalo, New York-based developer, proposed a 219,000-square-foot, 17-dock Amazon delivery station building and parking lot.
Kohan said he had concerns about the traffic and the proximity to the neighboring residential area.
The initial traffic report from the applicant was "filled with errors that our peer reviewer corrected" and "had significant omissions," he said.
"I don't think Amazon should have a monopoly on traffic in this area," Kohan said, "and very possibly prevent other businesses from being built ... Some of the residents picked up on this issue as well in some of the correspondence."
Kohan says the impact on school bus traffic is a "critical piece of information" that was not discussed.
He added that when the zoning regulations were adopted, Amazon didn’t exist. Delivery stations didn’t exist, and the regs are “not designed to handle Amazon delivery traffic.”
Jim Fitzsimmons said Montante looked at town’s zoning rules and everything they asked for is permitted.
“This is about balance, balancing the right of the landowner with the right of their neighbor,” he said. “… Anytime we have industry near or abutting a residential use, we're going to have conflict.”
Past hearings
The commission meets once a month. The plan has been before the PZC since April, when the commission opened the public hearing, but discussion began in May.
That discussion took three hours, after which the commission decided to continue talks in June.
During the June meeting, the hearing was again continued after more than four hours of discussion.
In July, the public hearing closed. The commission held off voting on the plan in August because not enough members attended the meeting.
The commission rejected an application in January 2019 that would have allowed warehouses covering 1 million square feet to be built at the property. The current plan is roughly 80 percent of that size.
Neighbor reaction
About 15 people attended the meeting, many with signs urging a “no” vote, to hear the commission’s decision.
Chris Livingstone, 42 Valley View Drive, said that she was pleased that the neighborhood residents “came out on top.”
“As residents of the area close to the property, I personally have been praying for this since 2019, since the original application,” she said.
Sonya Wulff, 14 Oxford Trail, said she believed that if the plan went through, it would have changed the character and safety of the whole area forever.
“I think there was a knowable yet unknowable situation that was going to be happening with the traffic,” she said. “I absolutely believe they made the right decision.”
Former State Pier tenant files appeal of decision to issue permit for wind hub work
New London — DRVN Enterprises filed an appeal in Superior Court this week in another attempt to block a portion of the construction work at State Pier in New London.
The appeal, filed in New Britain Superior Court on Monday, asks the court to reverse a decision by the state Department of Energy and Environmental Protection to issue a permit needed by the Connecticut Port Authority for some aspects of the project.
DRVN Enterprises was importing, storing and distributing road salt at State Pier prior to being displaced with other tenants by the planned $235.5 million project to overhaul and modernize the pier. State Pier, owned by the Connecticut Port Authority, is the planned site for an offshore wind hub that will bring in wind turbines to support plans by utility partners Ørsted and Eversource.
DRVN is appealing the Aug. 3 decision by DEEP Commissioner Katherine Dykes, who recommended a permit be issued for work that includes dredging and filling in more than 7 acres between the two existing piers. Dykes later rejected an objection from DRVN.
The port authority has yet to begin that work authorized by the permit, since it has yet to obtain an approval from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, which issues permits for work in navigable waters.
Represented by attorney Keith Anthony, DRVN claims in the appeal that the original request for proposals for reconstruction of the pier calls for applicants to “serve the existing customers at the Port as well as related businesses that are responsible for its ongoing success and growth.”
The appeal also claims DEEP failed to address how current water-dependent users like DRVN would be accommodated during and after the reconstruction of the pier.
“The Plaintiff is aggrieved by the final decision and the substantial rights of the Plaintiff have been prejudiced by the agency’s administrative findings. Specifically, the Plaintiff has lost and continues to lose use of the State Pier for work related to his salt importation and distribution business and he has suffered significant financial business-related losses as a result,” the appeal reads.
DRVN is asking a court to order DEEP to stay and overturn the Aug. 3 decision or for an order remanding DEEP to remedy the alleged errors. DRVN also is seeking unspecified award of damages and attorney fees.
A representative from DEEP was not immediately available to comment. A court hearing has not yet been scheduled.
Key hurdles cleared to allow final cleanup of former Norwich Hospital property to restart
Preston — A key breakthrough has been reached among town, state and Mohegan tribal leaders that could mean bulldozers can start rolling again by the end of November in the final cleanup of the former Norwich Hospital property.
The Preston Redevelopment Agency on Tuesday approved a term sheet that outlines the complex contractual agreement between the state Department of Economic and Community Development, the town of Preston and the Mohegan tribe, which will take over ownership of the property for a major redevelopment once the cleanup is completed.
The agreement must be approved by the Board of Selectmen, which will vote on it Thursday. That move would launch a final Financial Assistance Proposal, which all parties also must approve, along with a town meeting vote to accept a $7 million state grant for the cleanup. PRA Chairman Sean Nugent explained the agreements to the agency Tuesday.
The town previously had secured a $2 million loan toward the cleanup, bringing the final funding to $9 million.
The agreement clears up issues surrounding the cleanup, as well as how to pay for it, Nugent said.
Another problem had been that the cleanup deviates from state norms in that the tribe could not propose a final development plan until it owns the property, but the state normally requires a final development plan before approving a cleanup process. Instead, the parties agreed that the town would spend the first $5 million of cleanup funds, and the remaining $4 million, including the town loan if needed, will be placed in escrow to be used after the property is transferred to the tribe and specific development proposed.
With all the pieces nearly in place, Nugent said the PRA could secure town permits for the final cleanup and use the less than $1 million in previous state grant money to restart the cleanup late this fall.
Nugent praised state Sen. Cathy Osten, D-Sprague, for her continuous support of the project and for assisting over the past two years to clear up logjams in the process.
“Senator Osten,” Nugent said to Osten, who attended Tuesday’s PRA meeting, “we cannot do enough to thank you. We would not be here today without you. You have been extremely supportive of this project from the beginning. ... You were the voice that moved this thing forward from the beginning.”
Osten in turn praised the town for its perseverance over the past 20 years since the Norwich Hospital closed and the property was marketed for development. She said she was “so excited” the final obstacles have been cleared. “I just want to thank you guys for sticking to this. I think this is going to be a major regional asset. It’s good for Mohegan, but more importantly, it’s good for jobs in this region. It’s good for the entire region.”
At issue since the spring of 2019 has been the discovery of extensive and previously undocumented coal ash contamination throughout what had been the main Norwich Hospital campus, Nugent said. The town’s environmental engineers had discovered ash beneath roadways, sidewalks and parking lots, in parts several feet thick.
The new agreement allows the town to expand a so-called consolidation area, where contaminated soil will be stored and capped. Limited types of future development would be allowed on those areas, such as boardwalks or parking lots, Nugent said.
The town received state approval for the $7 million state bond grant in the summer of 2020, but disputes arose over how to do the final cleanup and whether a $2 million loan the town had secured prior to the discovery of the ash contamination would need to be used up before the state grant.
The COVID-19 pandemic slowed negotiations as well, he said.
With all the delays, the town and tribe also must revise the property disposition and development agreement, which governs the future transfer of the property to the tribe. Deadlines listed in the agreement “have been blown away,” Nugent said. A town meeting will be required to approve any changes to the agreement once they have been negotiated, he said.
The town’s portion of the final cleanup is expected to take 12 months and would need to be certified by the state Department of Energy and Environmental Protection, which could take another six months.
Osten was optimistic Tuesday. “For 20 years, you guys have stuck with a vision, and I think we’re there,” she told the PRA. “I think in two years, we’re going to see construction.”
Developer outlines $100 million second phase for Perkins Farm project in Mystic
Mystic — Developer David Lattizori is proposing a $100 million expansion to his Perkins Farm development, which calls for a 72,000-square-foot medical building and a second 121-unit apartment complex.
Lattizori, who has submitted an application for the project to the Stonington Planning and Zoning Commission, outlined his plans Tuesday night to the Stonington Economic Development Commission. After listening and asking questions, commission members voted unanimously to send a letter supporting the project to the PZC.
The first phase of the project, valued at $85 million, contains a 50,000-square foot Hartford Health Care medical building that opened in January 2020, as well as 121 luxury apartments known as Harbor Heights and 50 town houses. The final town houses will be completed next month and Lattizori said all 171 residential units have been rented or sold, despite the COVID-19 pandemic. He said he was surprised how quickly the project, which preserves more than half the 70-acre site as open space, was a success.
After phase one was complete, seven additional acres remained for development, according to the master plan approved by the town.
Lattizori said the new medical building would be built next to and connected with the existing Hartford Health Care building. He declined to say after Tuesday's meeting whether Hartford Healthcare is the tenant for the new medical building.
He told the commission that neither the new medical building nor the new apartment complex will be visible from Jerry Browne Road, as they will be constructed to the rear of the project and blocked from view by a large berm.
Lattizori told the commission that phase two would create an addition 100 permanent jobs on the property. Phase one also created 100 permanent jobs.
He also said that when the entire project is done, it would generate an estimated $2.6 million a year in tax revenue for the town.
In 2018, residents overwhelmingly approved a seven-year tax break for the project, which Lattizori said was essential in order to secure private financing and build the costly infrastructure.
Lattizori said the new medical building would attract top doctors and medical providers and provide advanced procedures, so residents would not have to travel to area hospitals.
In addition to needing PZC approval, the project would need to gain permission to send sewage to the Mystic treatment plant. There is currently a moratorium on new sewer connections in Mystic because the plant has reached the limit of sewage it can treat each day under its permit. Town officials are trying to find a solution so they can lift the moratorium.
Lattizori, who said he expects the PZC to begin hearings on his applications next month, said he has already spoken with neighbors of the project as he did with phase one.
His late father had tried for more than 20 years to develop the site for a mix of commercial and residential use but those projects were successfully opposed by residents. In 2011, the commission approved a 36-lot subdivision of single-family homes for the site.
Lattizori, who grew up and lives here, has said he was a week away from selling the site and its approval in 2015 when a resident of StoneRidge retirement community across the street suggested the idea of a project with a geriatric health component. Lattizori then began meeting with a committee of StoneRidge residents to discuss the project with them and gain their support. He then put together plans for the current project, which were met with widespread support.
Lattizori told the EDC on Tuesday that the park at the new apartment building would be named in honor of the late Americo Petrocelli, the StoneRidge resident who suggested the health care idea to him in 2015.
Déjà vu: CT Route 146 Seawall Replacement Resumes in Branford
If it feels like déjà vu all over again, you're right: work has resumed on Branford's Route 146 seawall replacement project on Limewood Avenue, with one-way, alternating traffic, temporary traffic lights and all the rest back in place to aid safe travels, and slow down area residents trying to navigate their neighborhoods, as the project's heavy lifting gets underway. The project is scheduled to be completed on May 31, 2022, according to the Connecticut Dept. of Transportation (DOT).
As previously reported, due to unanticipated issues causing a number of failed attempts set up coffer dams along the residential, waterfront stretch of state road, also known as Route 146, the CT DOT temporarily pulled the plug on the project, which it had started in September 2020, as of May 2021. The DOT announced it would to return to start the work again in September 2021, after the end of the summer season, as requested by the Town.
In a press release issued Sept. 3, 2021; the DOT alerted the project work would resume by Sept. 9. On Monday, Sept. 13, crews were out to install temporary traffic lights back where they had been last year and traffic was down to one, alternating lane.
The Route 146 seawall replacement project work site encompasses Route 146/Limewood Avenue between Sybil Avenue and Crouch Road. In addition to replacing the existing wall, roadway reconstruction, drainage improvement and pedestrian safety improvements, including a five-foot wide sidewalk are part of the plan.
The state awarded the project to C.J. Fucci, Inc. at a cost of $5,824,577.40.
The following Lane closure information applies to the construction site and was provided by the CT DOT:
Route 146- Limewood Avenue: Motorists can expect alternating one way of traffic using temporary traffic signals for the duration of the project from approximately September 10, 2021, to May 1, 2022.
Wilford Road at Route 146: The southern Leg of Wilford Road at Route 146 will be closed and traffic will be detoured during construction.
Floating hotel and market among ideas floated for New London waterfront
New London — A floating hotel, a market and a pool with an upper-level bar and lounge and a marina for transient boaters with a large enough space to accommodate 150-foot-long mega yachts.
These are just some of the improvements envisioned for the city's waterfront by a Long Island-based design and engineering firm. Advanced American Engineering now plans to spend the next year trying to determine how much of its plan can get through the state permitting process.
The group secured prime developer status from the City Council last week for the area encompassing Waterfront Park, a walking pier that Mayor Michael Passero said is underutilized and in need of a major boost of water-related activity. Advanced American will have exclusive right to negotiate a development agreement or lease with no promises yet from the city.
The agreement allows the company to spend money on its plans without fear of the city negotiating with another party. Company representatives are expected in the city this week to verify water depths along the waterfront.
Through its public relation firm, Quinn & Hary, the city released the conceptual plans on Friday that show everything from a water limo service to to a helipad. The designs also show a spot on the pier for concerts, farmers market and pop-up events. David Hancock, a partner in Advanced American Engineering, said he drew up the plans with an excitement for what could be. He now realizes the area of Custom House Pier is occupied by a restaurant through a lease with the city.
Hancock described his company as a “small niche business” that performs design and engineering work and will work with backing of The Crest Group, a private equity, investment and real estate development group.
Hancock said his company comes up with the interesting and unique ideas.
“The Crest Group follows through on our visions and kind of makes things come together,” Hancock said.
The two companies have partnered on several projects, Hancock said, including one in Sea Bright, N.J., called The New Covesail, in which they are in the permitting phase for a design of a waterfront area that will include a boutique hotel, restaurant and large-vessel marina.
Hancock and Passero said they have met on several occasions with officials from the state Department of Energy and Environmental Protection to try to gauge what may or may not be possible on New London’s waterfront.
As opposed to the restaurant on the pier, which needs to be moved in the event of a storm surge, Hancock said his idea is to have most of the development on the water to avoid a similar permitting issue. He said the reaction from DEEP was hard to read but joked that he didn’t think the agency was enthralled by the floating pool idea.
Passero said the idea for the development came unsolicited to the city. While the city wasn’t planning to issue a request for proposals, he said he welcomed the plan as he would any idea that could bring economic development to the city.
“We’ve got nothing to lose,” Passero said of the proposal. “They share our excitement with developing the waterfront with private equity.”
Passero said in some ways he views the existing Waterfront Park as a barrier from getting people on the water. The city has a mooring field, but the pier was not designed to tie up boats, something dock space will remedy.
“We’ve proven in the decades (Waterfront Park) has been here it’s not providing for the economy of the city,” Passero said. “It’s completely inaccessible to a boat.”
Attorney Mathew Greene, who represents Advanced American Engineering, called the idea of a major waterfront development a “game changer” for a city that has long talked about its potential. He said he thinks the growth of the waterfront would act as an impetus for filling downtown storefronts and be a centerpiece for the downtown.
Passero said in addition to his vision of a bustling, working waterfront he’s always thought the city, with its deepwater channels, could act as a stopover for travelers from places such as the Hamptons and Martha’s Vineyard. Smaller and larger vessels could bring in more tourists and help support existing businesses.
He said the city’s lease to restaurateur Frank Maratta for the seasonal City Dock Restaurant & Oyster Bar on Custom House Pier proves that activity on the waterfront will attract people.
The City Council is expected to host a presentation on the development as early as Monday.
Don't plan on putting a boat in at the Pachaug Pond boat launch as dam project starts
GRISWOLD — Dan Biron, a senior environmental analyst for the state dam section of the water planning and management division of the Department of Energy and Environmental Protection, has worked on the Pachaug Pond Dam on and off for a decade. With a final improvement and repair of the dam, Biron hopes the dam will hold for another 100 years or more.
“We’re designing for and looking ahead for these big events, but we don’t have a crystal ball, so we do the best we can,” Biron said.
In July 2020, the State Bond Commission passed a bonding package for the upkeep of state-owned dams. Pachaug Pond Dam in Griswold received the most with $4.9 million in funding. Work on the dam itself started on Aug. 2, and the boat launch was closed Sunday evening in order to move forward with drawing the lake down by 4 feet allowing other work needed for the repairs.
“You don’t want to have people hauling boats in and out of a construction site,” Biron said.
The last repair done in 2018 was a temporary repair with a rubber membrane placed over a sinkhole upstream from the spillway.
Will Healey, public information officer for the Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection, said in July 2020 that the problems with the dam were really visible in 2016. When regular maintenance was being performed, there was “visible seepage through the downstream face of the dam.”
The work on the dam includes a new gate structure that will be placed on the left side of the earthen dam, with the gate on the right removed. Other fixes include adding cofferdams, which temporarily hold water, to the spillway to address the seepage issues, and various ways of strengthening the structure. As for improvements, Biron said there’ll be a new boat launch and ADA compliant fishing pier.
“We’re keeping a masonry face on it for historic reasons, but the dam behind it will be a brand new dam,” Biron said.
Biron said some residents had wanted the spillway of the dam to be raised by six inches or a foot, but “the result of that would be flooding homes upstream, which is something we don’t want to do.”
Voluntown resident Myah Jakobsen was excited about the new fishing pier for the dam, and glad the state is taking care of the dam.
“We should be maintaining our public areas like this,” Jakobsen said while visiting the area with friends. “It’s a nice gesture.”
When the project ends, Biron said the contract states that the contractor must reduce the drawdown from 4 feet to 3 feet by April 1. Biron said they’re aiming to have the in water work done by April, and for it to be finished by July 31, the end of the contract.
“Worst case scenario is that the boat launch isn’t open until July 31, but I’m imagining that’s not going to be the case,” Biron said.
The price tag for a new Killingly community center has jumped $10 million. This is why.
KILLINGLY — After declining last year to move forward with a plan to shift recreational programming to the town’s former high school, the Town Council is expected this month to re-visit that option, though such a project will now carry a substantially higher – about $10 million - price tag.
The council on Tuesday at Killingly High School will discuss setting public hearing, special town meeting and machine-vote dates on a proposal to bond $27.8 million for improvements to the Westfield Avenue school complex, including ones that would allow the recreation department to operate out of the facility.
The council in March 2020 declined to move forward with a $16 million bonding proposal that, if approved by residents, would essentially have accomplished the same aims at the new plan. Since that March decision, conditions at the Broad Street Community Center have continued to deteriorate.
“The bricks have gotten substantially worse since last year, which has led to more water infiltration issues,” Town Manager Mary Calorio said on Friday. “We have increased the scope of proposed repairs to include all windows, to build a maintenance garage shed and add more air conditioning to Westfield, but the main reason for the project cost increase is the delay in moving ahead.”
Back to school:Face-to-face once again: Killingly welcomes back students to in-person learning
Over a period of weeks beginning late last year, a hot-water heater failed and staff was confronted with a brief infestation of squirrels at the center, issues that led to the facility’s closure for a time. A theater air-conditioning unit, which allowed the town to use the space as a cooling center, broke down last year and, most recently, third-floor restrooms were shuttered after a failed pipe sent water raining down to lower levels.
Soon after the water heater and pest issues arose, council members authorized an $18,000 cost analysis of their options. The report updates a 2018 engineering study that offered three possible solutions to the recreation problem: Build a new community center for $27.2 million; renovate the current center “as new” for $21.2 million; or make upgrades to the Westfield facility for $16.1 million and move programming to that building.
Council Chairman Jason Anderson said he, like several of his colleagues, voted against moving ahead with the work last year because the council at the same time was poised to approve millions in bonding for repairs to the Killingly Memorial School.
“I didn’t want to have to bond two huge projects at the same time,” he said. “I was looking to get a year or so of a staggering between the two.”
Anderson said both the community center and the school have both continued to deteriorate in the interim with brick issues at Westfield threatening to impact window integrity. He said the big jump in the project’s costs can be partially attributed to the “sky-rocketing” cost of construction materials because of the pandemic.
New Hartford HealthCare medical center coming to West Hartford
Michael Walsh
WEST HARTFORD — Construction is underway at the corner of South Main Street and Park Road on a new Hartford HealthCare medical office.
The building, which is scheduled to open sometime in February, is the sixth Hartford HealthCare center in West Hartford and will focus on primary care.
Dr. Cynthia Heller, Hartford HealthCare’s physician-in chief, has lived in West Hartford since 1990 and said she’s heard from friends and other residents that primary care access is a priority for many.
“One of the things I notice...is that there’s not enough access to primary care, even in a town like West Hartford,” Heller said.
Heller said the location of Hartford HealthCare’s two other primary care offices in town, one in Bishop’s Corner and the other on New Britain Avenue, makes the location of this office perfect for residents. At the start, they plan on having five primary care doctors on site.
“I couldn’t be more excited to be opening a third access point,” Heller said. “This location...is sort of halfway between our two other sites. Within this space, they’ll be able to coordinate care with multiple specialists who will be rotating through, including pulmonary and podiatry. We’re excited to open...and bring primary care closer to where the people live.”
Speaking at a preview event on Tuesday in front of the active construction scene, Jeffrey Flaks, the president and chief executive officer of Hartford HealthCare, said the project is about transforming healthcare.
To Flaks, this is about Hartford HealthCare “disrupting ourselves.”
“Historically, healthcare, we don’t always have the access to care we need in our communities,” Flaks said. “Healthcare is not affordable today. It’s too expensive. We think about the quality of what it can be. It’s not where it should and must be as time goes forward. We transform healthcare by building facilities like this where primary care is at the heart of our vision.”
Flaks said the project’s location creates more chance for healthcare in the West Hartford community. He added it will also provide “world class” opportunities for different kinds of testing and diagnostic services.
“We can deliver services in centers like this more affordably and more accessibly,” Flaks said. “And we can deliver healthcare equitably. We are making tremendous progress one project at a time as we continue to build a healthcare system that is designed around how we can care for people in a coordinated way. We have the capacity that ensures that no person or community will be left behind. We’re investing to transform our healthcare system to be very different.”
Mayor Shari Cantor said she was excited to welcome the new construction to town.
“I am thrilled,” Cantor said. “As my husband’s grandmother said at 96 years old, ‘Health is everything.’ It’s true. When you don’t feel well, you truly understand those good days. We take them for granted. When you need healthcare, you need it. The most important thing is preventative care and wellness care.”
Cantor said that as one of the larger communities in the state, West Hartford can always use more healthcare centers. More locations means more equity, she said.
“We are an extremely diverse community,” Cantor said. “Equity is really important to us, and accessibility. We know that this transformative care, where you can access those necessary things to keep you well, and keep you moving forward and keep you functioning. It’s really important to have that accessible and professional care.”
Plans underway to restore Bridgeport's Congress Street bridge, demolish Pleasure Beach span
BRIDGEPORT — The city’s broken Congress Street drawbridge — a symbol of urban decay since the late 1990s — is inching closer to being replaced and returned to service.
City Engineer Jon Urquidi said the design for the downtown bridge is now “100 percent” complete and the process of obtaining various construction permits is underway.
Another remnant of the city’s past, the former bridge to Pleasure Beach destroyed by fire in 1996, is awaiting demolition permits from the state Department of Energy and Environmental Protection, Urquidi said.
An examination of two years of bridge inspections in Bridgeport showed that the more than 90 structures that pass over waterways and roads are in good overall shape, including those connected to Interstate-95 and Route 8.
“These are good numbers; there is nothing out of the ordinary,” said Kevin Nursick, a spokesman for the state Department of Transportation, referring to the inspection reports. “There are no safety concerns.”
One bridge spanning the Yellow Mill Channel on Route 1 was rated in poor condition and is now undergoing needed repairs. Rehabilitation of the bridge began in early 2020 and the $10.3 million project is scheduled to be completed in June 2022, according to the DOT.
“Yellow Mill is a good example,” Nursick said. “That required a more comprehensive approach so you don’t get to the point where you have to shut a bridge down.”
Bridge work
The Congress Street bridge, a moveable span over the Pequonnock River, became stuck in the upright position in 1997, separating the city’s downtown from the East Side and forcing motorists to detour to other bridges some distance away.
For many, the bridge became a stark reminder of the hard times that had beset once thriving industrial hubs such as Bridgeport, which decades ago hosted a waterfront steel plant, a massive Remington arms plant and a brass factory, just to name a few.
“I think it would be great and it’s long overdue,” said state Rep. Antonio Felipe, D-Bridgeport, referring to restoring the Congress Street bridge.
“It’s about connectivity between neighborhoods,” Felipe noted. “There is not much in the state that’s disconnected like that. It will make us a fuller city and give people more to do.”
Lauren Coakley Vincent, president of the Downtown Special Services District, said fixing the Congress Street bridge is good news.
“I think it’s a helpful addition in terms of adding other ways to get in and out of the downtown,” Vincent said. “The design will make possible bike paths and walking paths and car traffic, everything from electric scooters. It will add that value.”
Coakley said being forced to use other bridges is inconvenient at best.
“For residents who avoided downtown because it was not that easy to get in and out, we hope this will make it much easier to pop into downtown,” Coakley said. “We see it as an asset for downtown residents who want to explore the East Side or East End.”
About half of the estimated $24 million replacement cost is expected to be paid by the state, which committed $3.7 million in the waning days of former Gov. Dannel Malloy’s administration.
Federal lawmakers a few years ago secured permission to replace the bridge with a fixed structure by declaring the section of the Peqonnock River to be non-navigable. The decision eliminated the need to build a far more expensive moveable bridge.
Meanwhile, plans to remove the remnants of the burned Pleasure Beach bridge are well underway, city officials said.
The peninsula and beach was a popular tourist attraction from 1892 to 1958, offering an amusement park, a large carousel and other attractions. A bridge to the property was built in 1927 to carry cars and people.
The city has been operating water taxis from Seaview Avenue since 2014 to provide access to the beach, which is about a half mile walk from the Pleasure Beach pier. There are no plans to rebuild the bridge.
Winsted culvert project starts Sept. 14 on Pratt Street; detours planned
WINSTED — A culvert replacement project on Pratt Street will include a detour for traffic, starting Tuesday and continuing to Friday, Sept. 17, according to an announcement from the Department of Public Works.
“Traffic will be detoured as Eversource relocates the gas line in that area, ahead of the planned construction,” according to the statement.
The road will reopen at the end of each workday to allow for local travel, officials said.
The culvert replacement will begin Sept. 20, and traffic from Pratt Street coming from the Upson Avenue intersection to the Lovely Street intersection, will be subject to the detour, officials said.
Public works has also advised that “This work is very weather dependent as it will be undertaken on a flowing brook,” according to the department. “Please note that all houses in the designated construction zone will remain accessible to police, fire, and EMS.”
HARTFORD — In the 1920s, when the Hall-Wilson Laboratory opened on Hartford Hospital’s campus, the brownstone edifice topped with a copper cupola was hailed as a center for medical research and experiments, placing the hospital among the most well-equipped in the country.
A century later, the stately Georgian Revival facing Retreat Avenue stands in the way of the 21st century needs of the hospital.
The hospital has plans to demolish the structure, replacing it with an expanded electrical power plant, now in the basement of a neighboring building.
Hospital officials say the power plant is sorely in need of an upgrade and needs to relocated above ground. The basement area, they said, is prone to flooding and where a major storm could knock out power to parts of the hospital campus.
After considering other alternatives, the site of the Hall-Wilson Laboratory — most recently used as offices — was found to be the most viable because that is near the existing transformer system and where high-voltage power lines enter the property.
Preservationists strongly oppose the tearing down of the 3-story building, which was originally a gift to the hospital.
“This is a massive, massive problem,” Bimal Patel, Hartford Hospital’s president, said. “We are trying to do something good for so many people with even them not knowing how important it is.”
“This is a significant piece of Hartford architecture,” Mary A. Falvey, executive director of the Hartford Preservation Alliance, said. “There is nothing else like it.”
Hartford Mayor Luke Bronin said he is in discussions with hospital executives in the matter, and he said Tuesday he looks forward to continuing to work with them.
“The hospital is a vital institution in the city and we recognize the hospital needs to ensure that its electrical system is upgraded and made more resilient, and we also believe that it is important to do everything possible to preserve what is a very attractive, historic building on Retreat,” Bronin said.
The hospital said Tuesday one solution could be the city moving the high voltage lines. Bronin said he couldn’t immediately comment on the idea without more information on what it might involve and cost.
The tension between saving the past and redeveloping to move ahead is thrown into particularly sharp relief on urban hospital campuses — especially ones with long histories like Hartford Hospital, founded in 1854. In modern health care, there is a constant push for advances and innovation. Today, the laboratory is overshadowed by the hospital’s modern towers, including the new, $70 million expansion of the Bliss Building.
“We understand that you can’t save every single thing but we want to make sure the culture is that serious consideration is given to other options,” Falvey said.
Falvey said more options should be considered before a demolition erases the building from the landscape forever.
Hospital officials say they considered at least four other alternatives on the hospital campus in planning for the power plant upgrade over the past two years.
Tom Vaccarelli, vice president of facilities, construction and real estate at the hospital’s parent company, Hartford HealthCare, said the hospital had considered trying to use the laboratory building for the new power plant.
“When you look at the load of the transformers and the switch gears and everything that would have to go into it, we would basically be decimating that building to a point where we would never be able to hold the structure up,” Vaccarrelli said.
The Hall-Wilson Laboratory isn’t listed on any state or federal historic register so it does not have those protections and thus does not require the city’s historic preservation commission’s approval for demolition.
The hospital is seeking city planning and zoning commission approval for a 12-foot high wall it needs to build around the new plant. If it wins that approval, the hospital said it will apply for a demolition permit from the city. At ongoing commission hearings, the issue of the Hall-Wilson Laboratory demolition has surfaced, with commission members seeking more information on what other alternatives were evaluated.
The wall would be built from the locally quarried brownstone from the original building, as a nod to the laboratory, said Olusegun “Shay” Ajayi, the hospital’s director of operations.
Plans now call for saving the cupola and slate roof for use elsewhere on the hospital campus, Ajayi said.
Patel said the hospital works to be a sensitive as possible to its history while shaping a modern medical campus.
On nearby Jefferson Street, two Italianate-style homes were demolished but replaced with replicas using some of the original building materials. The new building now houses a community health center.
And farther to the east on Jefferson, the 1930s Barney Building — where the hospital’s nurses once trained — was torn down to make way for a $20 million expansion of Hartford Hospital’s Center for Education, Simulation and Innovation. But later this month, the hospital plans to open a meditation garden behind the new research center using architectural elements saved from the neoclassical-style Barney.
“If you can’t utilize the space in the same way that was done 50 years ago because of our modern health care needs,” Patel said, “we will do whatever it takes to celebrate somehow and extend it so we don’t lose the characteristics and the importance of what we inherited.”
CT Senate leader says emissions initiative will not come up in next special session
Health leaders across Connecticut are warning state legislators about the dangers of dirty air. But the head of the state Senate said Monday the Transportation and Climate Initiative will not be on the agenda during a special session expected to occur within the next two weeks.
“I’m hoping we can do this in a special session, but it won’t be in the September special session,” said Senate President Martin Looney during a phone interview. “It’s not fully put together as of yet … [In the] September session that we will do within the next two weeks. I think the sole agenda will be extending the governor’s emergency powers.”
TCI would place a declining cap on emissions and charge certain producers “allowances” for pollution from the fuel they sell. The charge would likely raise the price of gas by a few cents, but a portion of that money would be reinvested in some of the state’s neediest communities, which are disproportionately hit by air pollution and associated health problems like asthma.
Still, the bill’s likely impact on gas prices effectively killed TCI last legislative session.
Looney said that while his caucus backs the basic idea of TCI and its goal of reducing fossil fuel consumption and emissions, he’s concerned about potential financial impacts.
“I think our caucus is strongly supportive of environmental initiatives, but at the same time strongly supportive of shielding low- and moderate-income people from a disproportionate burden on the tax side,” Looney said. “We are actively engaging in trying to find a somewhat more progressive way to package it.”
Looney said those ideas may include gasoline tax credits for low-income families or an overhaul of electrical rates, which could benefit lower-income customers.
While debate about implementing TCI continues, the state’s traffic pollution problems are only getting worse.
Speaking to students and environmental advocates at Gateway Community College on Friday, Katie Dykes, commissioner of the Department of Energy and Environmental Protection, said it’s largely because of rising emissions from transportation that Connecticut is now on track to miss its clean air targets.
“We are falling behind,” Dykes said. “We’re actually not going to meet our target for 2030.”
“Our target is not … an exceptional target.” Dykes said. “It’s actually the minimum of what we should be doing, to do our share to reduce emissions. And it’s because emissions in transportation and buildings are still increasing.”
While Connecticut’s overall emissions are dropping compared to pollution rates in 1990 and 2001, year-over-year data from 2017 to 2018 show emission levels are actually going up.
And since 1990, state data show transportation-related emissions have actually increased and now exceed the combined emissions of the electrical and residential sectors.
Dykes said dirty air from vehicles disproportionately hits the health and wallets of people in cities.
“If you live next to [Interstate] 95, 91, 84, you’re breathing air that is, on average, about 20% more polluted than the air in suburban or rural parts of our state,” Dykes said. “Chances are you’re suffering a lot of challenges from that air pollution: higher levels of asthma, which means health care costs, calling out sick, kids missing school, parents missing work.”
A coalition of health care professionals, advocates and students is urging legislative leaders to pass TCI, saying the proposal would save lives and money.
“Working in a busy pediatric clinic nestled along the I-95 corridor, I see countless cases of poorly controlled asthma and allergies each year,” said Cheryl Anderson, a practicing pediatrician and the Connecticut chapter climate advocate of the American Academy of Pediatrics, in a statement. “We know that transportation and vehicle emissions account for the majority of air pollution and contribute to increases in greenhouse gases.”
“There is a strong association between air quality and pollution and childhood asthma,” Anderson said. “Many of my patients live in neighborhoods directly adjacent to the highway, increasing their exposure and therefore their risk.”
Still, it’s not entirely clear to what extent the potential health impacts of a climate-related bill will resonate among lawmakers debating TCI’s financial impact.
Looney said that passing TCI could “potentially” have positive impacts on human health.
“I don’t know to what degree,” he said, “but certainly everything that helps, incrementally, is important.”