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Montville officials again push for large commercial project near school
Montville — The Planning and Zoning Commission is scheduled Tuesday to consider a proposal by the town to lease a portion of the road that leads to Mohegan Elementary School to a commercial developer. State law requires the commission to review any transfer of property by the town and issue a report. Mayor Leonard Bunnell is asking the commission to allow the town to lease a portion of PTA Lane in Uncasville to Dominic Carpionato, a Rhode Island-based commercial developer whose previous attempt to develop the land for a “large-format” operation voters defeated in July. In July, voters were asked to transfer the road to Carpionato. Bunnell is making the request without disclosing any details about the project Carpionato wants to build. The only information that has been released is that it will provide jobs and tax revenue with no specifics. Bunnell, who could not be reached to comment Monday, asked the commission to make a decision Tuesday. If the lease is approved, Carpionato would realign PTA Lane at his own expense. This will maintain two-way public access from Route 32 to the school, “with no change in location of access” to Route 32 and the school, Land Use Director Dennis Goderre wrote in a memo to the commission.
Allen Street Flooding Fix Could Take Up to Four Years
NEW BRITAIN — City officials outlined the next steps in the proposed multimillion-dollar solution to replace the roughly 100-year-old storm and sewer pipes under Allen Street — an area known in colonial times as the “Great Swamp” — at City Hall Thursday night. New Britain’s director of public works, Mark Moriarty, told residents, “what we’re really trying to do here is stop flooding and to stop sanitary sewer issues — that’s the crux of the project.” Allen Street’s century-old 24-inch clay pipes lack the capacity to handle water, which has led to chronic flooding in the area. City officials said they plan on installing new 66-inch pipes in the area which could help decrease flooding. Moriarty estimated the construction for the storm and sanitary sewer would take about two full construction seasons, and projected an overall timeline of three to four years. Other work will include road reconstruction, water main replacement, as well as sidewalk and curb installation. Construction cannot begin until the city receives an authorization letter as well as a project review from the state Department of Transportation.
https://ctexaminer.com/2026/09/20/allen-street-flooding-fix-could-take-up-to-four-years/
Univ. of New Haven to break ground on $45M business college building
The University of New Haven will break ground Friday on a four-story, 50,000-square-foot building for its Pompea College of Business, backed by more than $25 million in gifts from two university alumni and their families. The building will be constructed at the corner of Campbell Avenue and Ruden Street, at the southeast entrance to the university’s West Haven campus. The university has described the site, which sits at a major campus crossroads, as a new gateway to the school. The Pompea College of Business moved from the university’s satellite campus in Orange to West Haven in fall 2025. The new building will give the college a dedicated home on the main campus. The principal gifts came from Dennis and Barbara Martin and Charles and Tamera Pompea. Martin, the former CEO and board chair of Illinois-based Federal Signal Corp., made a $10 million leadership gift to the project in April 2025. In July, the Martins pledged another $5 million challenge gift, which will be fulfilled if other donors collectively match it. The university said it is nearing that goal.
State Siting Council grants Plainfield intervenor status in trash plant proposal
Plainfield — The state Siting Council voted Thursday to grant the town’s request for party and intervenor status and schedule an Oct. 22 public hearing on the waste-to-energy trash plant.
The decision means the town will now have a seat at the table when discussing whether to approve the widely opposed facility near the intersection of Norwich Road and Black Hill Road, which plans to convert municipal solid waste into 45 megawatts of electric power and renewable natural gas. The town was also granted Connecticut Environmental Protection Act intervenor status, which allows any person or group to join a state administrative proceeding in Connecticut to raise environmental concerns. In a Sept. 2 letter to the Siting Council, the town’s attorney Ann Catino listed Plainfield’s concerns on how the facility would impact air, water, wildlife, noise and traffic. The letter also lists the state-listed protected species known to live on or near the property.
Stamford Hospital expansion plan raises neighborhood concerns over traffic and safety
STAMFORD — Plans for a new cancer-care unit at Stamford Hospital are raising concerns from the neighborhood about traffic congestion and pedestrian safety. Stamford Health is seeking approvals for major construction at its campus off West Broad Street from the city’s Zoning Board. The existing Bennett Cancer Center would be relocated to a new, 73,000-square-foot building. In addition, Stamford Health’s behavioral health unit and inpatient rehabilitation program would be relocated, with behavioral health moving into the existing cancer center building. Stamford Health is seeking approvals for major construction at its campus off West Broad Street from the city’s Zoning Board. The existing Bennett Cancer Center would be relocated to a new, 73,000-square-foot building. Stamford Health’s behavioral health unit and inpatient rehabilitation program also would be relocated, with behavioral health moving into the existing cancer center building. The project would increase parking on the campus from 1,400 to 1,696 spaces. It would include a new 355-space parking garage and additional surface lots.
Developer wants more housing in Enfield MassMutual redevelopment as part of first site plan
ENFIELD — The developer behind a planned revamp of the MassMutual site is seeking 23 more housing units in its “phase one” site plan. Branford-based MB Financial Group wants to redevelop the office campus at 85 and 100 Bright Meadow Blvd., a 65-acre site formerly home to insurance company MassMutual, into a mixed-use complex with as many as 487 apartments and condominiums and some 12,000 square feet of commercial space. The developer filed a site plan application, formally received by the town last week, for “phase one” of the planned development. A project narrative included with the application states that the approved master plan included a total of 157 new construction townhouse units, but the developer is now seeking to build 180. With 178 apartments to be built in the three vacant office buildings, the total count would be 358 housing units, representing a 14.5% increase in the overall site density. The remaining housing included in the approved master plan is a potential new construction apartment building that would have five stories and 129 units.
Killingly Amazon warehouse developer again reduces size of facility
Killingly — The developer of a proposed 1.3 million-square-foot Amazon distribution center on Westcott Road presented a new application to the Inland Wetlands and Watercourses Commission Monday night that included a reduction of the building size and parking area, as well as advanced wetlands mitigation. Ryan Companies Project Engineer Tim Onderko said the size of the building has been reduced by 58,000 square feet in addition to an 87,000-square-foot reduction in an earlier revision. The new application said the building will be 1.288 million square feet with 290 acres of the 555-acre site designated for permanent conservation and protected space. Onderko said the developer has also reduced the parking area by 230 spaces, further reducing impervious area on the property. “Great care and concern have been put forth in this project …” Onderko said. “This package alone I think sets a new precedent for preservation and conservation here in Killingly.” This action comes after commission members voted 3-2 to deny the initial permit without prejudice on July 6, meaning the developer could change and resubmit the plan, which it did on July 15.
https://theday.com/news/923431/killingly-amazon-warehouse-developer-again-reduces-size-of-facility/
Enfield voters to decide on $511 million school renovation project in November
ENFIELD — Voters in Enfield will decide in a Nov. 3 referendum whether to approve a $511 million school renovation and expansion project involving four elementary schools and the conversion of Eli Whitney Elementary School into Eagle Academy Therapeutic Day School. The renovation and expansion project would include work at Hazardville Memorial, Prudence Crandall, Edgar H. Parkman and Henry Barnard elementary schools. District officials say it is driven by aging facilities, changing educational needs and enrollment growth. The Enfield Town Council unanimously approved the referendum date during its Sept. 2 meeting. Schools Superintendent Steven Moccio said the pre-referendum committee investigated the various options and sought to minimize the number of school transitions for families. “Right now, our families go to a pre-K school, then transition to a kindergarten-through-second-grade school and then to a third-through-fifth-grade school,” he said. “This plan would allow students to have one home base from pre-K through fifth grade.”
CT prosecutors seek 12 years for ex-school construction chief as he asks for no prison time
Recommending a long term behind bars, federal prosecutors described Connecticut’s former top school construction official Konstantinos “Kosta” Diamantis as a calculating betrayer of the public trust. Diamantis, however, is requesting a much lighter sentence that includes no prison time. Convicted of taking bribes and other crimes after a trial last year, Diamantis bullied school contractors into handing him bundles of cash and hiring his daughter for “a low-show job at inflated rates,” prosecutors wrote in a memo seeking to lock up the disgraced former state legislator for up to 12 years and 7 months. “For his greed, corruption and abject lack of integrity, Diamantis is deserving of a sentence with the advisory guidelines range of 121 to 151 months of imprisonment,” prosecutors wrote. Diamantis, 70, a lawyer who resigned from the state bar in February, is to be sentenced on Thursday. A jury last October found him guilty of 21 counts of bribery, extortion, conspiracy and making false statements to federal investigators.
https://www.stamfordadvocate.com/news/article/kosta-diamantis-ct-sentencing-22429323.php
Connecticut DOT says UI’s monopole plan in Fairfield, Bridgeport would be ‘beneficial’ to railroad
In advance of today’s Connecticut Siting Council meeting to reconsider UI’s plan to install monopoles throughout Fairfield and Bridgeport, the state Department of Transportation has issued a letter saying it would be beneficial to the railroad for the transmission lines to be removed from the catenaries. In the letter to the Siting Council, DOT Commissioner Garrett Eucalitto wrote that the agency’s position remains unchanged on the utility’s plan to remove the transmission lines from CTDOT railroad catenaries and rebuild them on steel monopoles along the Metro-North Railroad corridor from Fairfield to Bridgeport. Specifically, Eucalitto wrote: “The design UI put forth in its application aligns with CTDOT’s vision and objective on efficiently improving transportation infrastructure. “CTDOT also indicated that other alternatives, such as the underground alternative within the railroad ROW supported by many of the intervenors, would not be feasible for the Department. … [It] would add time, cost, and significant adverse impact to railroad operations, in addition to unnecessary and substantial risk to the rail infrastructure.”
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