Construction underway for new sports fields in Milford

Sandra Diamond  MILFORD — There’ll be many happy sports players come winter, when construction on two large turf fields in Milford will be completed. One of the fields is at Jonathan Law High School, on Lansdale Ave., and the other is by Foran High School, on Foran Road.

Construction on both projects broke ground over the summer. Together, they cost approximately $5 million.

“With the completion of these fields, our youth and adult athletic facilities outdoors should be well positioned for generations to come,” Milford Mayor Benjamin Blake said.

Fields

At Jonathan Law, there’ll be a brand new turf softball and baseball field, as well as a multi-purpose field to be used for sports such as soccer, lacrosse and football. Construction, which began a month and a half ago, is expected to be competed by the end of fall.

On the other side of town, on French Drive next to Foran, two new multi-purpose fields are being built.

“Last year, we put in a turf softball field that was named in honor of Danni Kemp, who was a Foran High School softball player who lost her battle with cancer,” Blake said. 

“It was done in time for the 2020 softball team to play,” he added.

However, due to the pandemic, the team only got to play once, in an exhibition game.

“There is a brand new softball field that has almost never been played on,” he said.

Next to that field, “we are installing two multi-purpose turf fields, which will be 120 by 65 [feet], and striped so they can accommodate youth soccer, football, and lacrosse,” he added.

A part of the construction project involves drainage.

“That field has notoriously been wet,” Blake said. “The last couple of seasons, they could not play due to drainage.”

While some sewer line work was involved with the construction, including the replacement of a sewer line, starting Monday, construction will start in earnest, according to Blake.

Advantages of turf fields

Blake spoke of the advantages of turf fields versus grass fields.

With a regular grass field, play should be moderated, and they are affected by rainy weather conditions. According to Blake, the benefit of turf fields is they can be played on seven days a week, 24 hours a day, and not get “beat up.”

“Turf fields have a lot more playability on them and can sustain a lot more use,” he said.

New London’s choice of salt will not help reduce pile at State Pier

Greg Smith   New London — The city plans to buy about 2,000 tons of treated road salt in preparation for winter but it won’t be coming from the massive salt pile, owned by DRVN Enterprises, at State Pier.

DRVN has a Dec. 31 deadline to remove or forfeit the salt and equipment to the Connecticut Port Authority. But, unlike in past years, the company was not the low bidder for the region in a bidding process conducted by the Capitol Region Purchasing Council, which is run by the Capitol Region Council of Governments. New London is a member of the purchasing council, which is open to all municipalities across Connecticut.

The low bidder was Champion Salt, whose local operation is located at the Port of New Haven’s Gateway Terminal. Gateway also was running State Pier until the state opted to forgo regular cargo operations in advance of the $157 million conversion of the pier to accommodate the offshore wind industry.

Champion beat out DRVN and two other companies, Cargill Inc. and Morton Salt Inc., with a low bid for the region’s salt needs. DRVN was outbid in three of the six designated regions in which it placed bids. Cargill was the low bidder in four of the regions and Morton Salt in two. Eastern Salt Company Inc. also entered several unsuccessful bids.

New London Public Works Director Brian Sear said the $63.86 cost per ton of salt offered by Champion in Region 3 is lower than he's seen in past years and in his opinion the company has a superior product, less sticky, compared to some others.

The City Council recently approved buying up to 2,000 tons for a total cost of $127,720. The city is not obligated to buy salt it doesn’t need, however, and can order more as needed. The city typically uses between 1,600 and 1,800 tons of salt a year.

“The last couple of years we’ve engaged DRVN Enterprises,” Sear said. “This year they were not the low bidder for our region.”

DRVN, meanwhile has a Dec. 31 deadline to move its estimated 90,000 tons of salt off of State Pier or the salt will be forfeited to the Connecticut Port Authority as part of an agreement signed in August.

As part of the agreement, DRVN may be asked to provide the port authority with an action plan for removal of the salt and has agreed “to participate, and to cause any lender holding a security interest in the DRVN Salt ... to participate, in good faith discussions regarding the removal of the DRVN Salt ...”

Connecticut Port Authority Board Chairman David Kooris said the authority does not want to be in the salt business. “We’re very hopeful that DRVN sells their salt at CV (Central Vermont Railroad) Pier before year's end or finds an alternative location to store it,” he said. Options for the Connecticut Port Authority would be to sell it directly to a salt company or transfer it to Gateway Terminal in New Haven, one of the limited number of local facilities that could accommodate the salt. A move to New Haven, Kooris said, was “not inevitable.”

DRVN’s president, Steve Farrelly, had lobbied for extra time to be allowed to sell the salt and has said the success of his business hinges on access to the port. Farrelly, whose company revived salt imports to State Pier in 2014, was not immediately available to comment for this report.

With the recent loss of rented space near the city’s Public Works facility, Sear said the salt will be stored in a temporary salt shed to be constructed on the former basketball courts of the city-owned property that is home to the vacant former Thames River Apartments on Crystal Avenue.

It’s unclear how many other local municipalities use the CRPC for their salt contract this year.

Jessica Muirhead, senior project manager for CRCOG, said the Capitol Region Purchasing Council conducts competitive public bidding processes for some common commodities and services, including treated road salt. 

For commodity bids, such as treated road salt, individual CRPC members make their own awards from bid results. The CRPC does not award contracts centrally, she said. New London participated in the most recent bidding process for treated road salt, for which the contract period is July 1, 2020, through June 30, 2021.

Groton, New London, Norwich to receive grants for school improvements

Kimberly Drelich  Groton, New London and Norwich are slated to each receive grants of $477,647 to improve their schools, state legislators announced Tuesday.

The state Bond Commission authorized on Tuesday $30 million in funding for the state's 33 Alliance Districts to use towards eligible projects, such as improvements to heating and ventilation systems, communications and technology systems, lighting, driveways, parking lots, athletic fields, roof repairs and security equipment.

“It’s really a wonderful step forward for the schools,” Groton Superintendent Michael Graner said.

State Rep. Christine Conley, D-Groton, said in a statement that she is delighted that Groton's school district will receive the money. "This grant will go a long way in ensuring the schools in Groton will remain superb for the foreseeable future," she said.

"This aid illustrates Connecticut's continued commitment to educational excellence," state Rep. Joe de la Cruz, D-Groton, said in a statement. "I am thrilled that the Groton and New London school systems have secured the funds needed to make crucial improvements to their campuses."

Kate McCoy, executive director of district operations and magnet pathways for New London Public Schools, said the district is thrilled to have the opportunity to use the grant to address facility needs.

Norwich school district officials are meeting with the principals to determine the top priorities for the funding, Assistant Superintendent Tamara Gloster said.

Graner said his district greatly appreciates the additional support the state provides for districts that are educating some of the state’s lower socio-economic students. He said he will brief the Board of Education next week on the grant but most likely the district will use the funding to improve its telecommunications system.He said the telephone and intercommunications system at Central Office and a few schools are in need of upgrades. The funding would enable the district to have a very reliable intercom and phone system, which would improve both safety and efficiency of operations.

Conley said Groton initially was not included as part of the Alliance Districts slated to receive funding, since the funding was being divvied up based on an older list. She said she and de la Cruz worked to make sure Groton and Thompson, the two newest Alliance Districts, were counted.

Conley said Alliance Districts are always in need of funding for building upgrades, but especially in these times when school systems are spending money on personal protective equipment and facing challenges brought by the COVID-19 pandemic. With limited funds, it’s a concern that the districts may not be able to do some of their building upkeep, so grant funding is more necessary.

Southington project would pit solar energy against farmland

Don Stacom  SOUTHINGTON — About 30 acres of lush hayfields in Southington have become the center of an unlikely struggle between green energy and farmland preservation. Verogy LLC wants to cover the property with solar energy panels, promising a 4.7-megawatt system that would produce enough electricity to power more than 1,100 homes.

But owners of the nearby Karabin Farms warn that the loss of high-quality hay they grow there would be a massive business setback for one of the only fast-growing farms in Connecticut.

The matter is likely to be decided this winter or in early spring by the Connecticut Siting Council, the state board that determines where power facilities can be built. So far, the town of Southington as well as a state environmental panel have joined the owners of Karabin Farms in raising objections.

“Both the preservation of farmland and development of renewable energy sources are essential to the state’s future,” the Council on Environmental Quality wrote in a recent letter.

The issue affects other towns in the state. In the past year, state government acquired a little under 780 acres for open space and farmland preservation, the environmental quality council wrote. But it is at risk of trading off hundreds of acres at the same time, the council wrote. Private businesses have targeted more than 540 acres of Connecticut farmland for solar energy facilities in the past year alone.

In Southington, Verogy wants to use about a third of Karabin’s 100-acre leased land along East Street. It would be enough to support a project offsetting the equivalent of 6,455 metric tons of carbon dioxide annually, or about as much as created by 15.7 million of passenger car travel a year, Verogy said.

But while many solar proposals involve unused farm acreage, Verogy’s plan would consume about half of the usable land where Karabin grows hay. Farm owners Diane and Michael Karabin leased the property as a supplement to their own 50-acre tract about a mile away, and use the hay to feed their herd of 70 cows.

Their lease with the Catholic Cemeteries Association of the Hartford archdiocese began six years ago, and the Karabins said they relied on verbal assurances of long-term extensions when they sank hundreds of hours of work into reclaiming the land from invasive species of vines in 2014. They also bought a new tractor and baling machine, and expanded the cow herd.

“We have probably the most diversified farm in central Connecticut,” Michael Karabin said. “We have maple syrup, greenhouses with bedding plants, a mum field and poinsettias, 8 acres in vegetables, 6 acres in fruit trees, pick-you-own apples and 10 acres in Christmas trees.”

They also raise cows, chickens and turkeys.

The Karabins said they’re talking with the town of Southington to sell the development rights to their own 50-acre property, which would protect it against homebuilders or others for the future. But they’re frustrated that the state might provide aid for that deal, but at the same time OK development of the 30-acre parcel nearby that directly helps keep their farm on solid financial footing.