An Avon-based developer wants to build a solar farm in Hamden that would zap West Haven’s energy bill by a total of $500,000 over the next two decades, officials said. Lodestar Energy is seeking approval to build a 1.5-megawatt solar farm on about eight acres of undeveloped, wooded land on Denslow Hill Road, according to an application submitted to the Connecticut Siting Council, which has authority over the siting of power facilities and other types of infrastructure. The parcel is privately owned. The solar farm would have more than 2,700 photovoltaic panels that convert sunlight into electrical energy, among other equipment, the application states. According to Spreyer, the city is projected to save more than $25,000 a year in energy costs over a 20-year span. Lodestar was awarded a contract to develop the solar farm under the Non-Residential Solar Renewable Energy Solutions Program. Launched by Eversource and UI in 2022, the clean energy program is designed to encourage customers in underserved and environmental justice communities to participate in developing the state’s renewable energy industry, according to the state Department of Energy and Environmental Protection.

https://www.stamfordadvocate.com/news/article/solar-farm-hamden-denslow-west-haven-lodestar-19411120.php

With demolition complete and excavation underway at the incoming South Norwalk School, the city is working through acquiring the six properties abutting the construction site. Contractors are nearly halfway done with the process of controlled blasting to more easily excavate, Lo said. Following the completion of excavation, Newfield Construction, the project’s contractor, will begin setting the site’s footings, foundation, and begin grading and installing drainage. “We’re on schedule,” Lo said, noting that he will make a report to the school board next April indicating whether the construction is progressing enough for the school to welcome students for the fall 2025 semester. The project is currently slated for completion in August 2025. For the school’s construction alone, Newfield Construction can charge the city at most $51.8 million, a guaranteed maximum price that the Common Council approved in February.

https://www.stamfordadvocate.com/news/education/article/south-norwalk-school-properties-under-contract-19409713.php

A Massachusetts food manufacturer is planning to expand to South Windsor, with a proposed $71 million upgrade to the sprawling Carla’s Pasta facility, which is slated to close “imminently,” a town official said. The company is planning a 28,000-square-foot addition to Carla’s Pasta’s 148,083-square-foot food production plant at 50 Talbot Lane. The Town Council on Monday approved a seven-year tax abatement on the value of the new portion of the building, contingent upon Home Market Foods’ completion of the project, the creation of 210 jobs and payment of all other real estate taxes on the property. Negotiations between town officials and the company, under the codename “Project Fin,” occurred during an executive session of the Economic Development Commission on March 27. The abatement would total approximately $70,000 a year for the first three years, and then would decrease, Buganski said. A tax abatement on the existing building is set to expire in 2025. The property is appraised at $15.96 million.

Mass. food manufacturer eyes purchase of Carla’s Pasta’s S. Windsor production plant; plans $71M in upgrades

Eversource said it is hoping to improve the capacity at three of its junctures under Greenwich Avenue this summer, which will mean some night time road closures. Company representatives told the Board of Selectmen that they’d like permission for three intermittent nighttime lane closures between May and August to complete the work. A specific timeline for the closures has not been established. Eversource and Penna specifically plan to work on underground vaults at 86 Greenwich Ave. and at Greenwich Avenue’s intersections with Lewis Street and Arch Street, according to the proposal. The project coincides with other work that Aquarion Water Company has been doing to replace water mains under Greenwich Avenue, but the Eversource work is separate. The board will take the permit requests up again at its next meeting on April 25, once the public has had a chance to comment on the planned work.

https://www.stamfordadvocate.com/news/article/greenwich-eversource-avenue-night-work-19407688.php

Driving directions, package deliveries and emergency calls could get confusing if a shopping center under construction in the town’s north end — future home of Whole Foods, TJ Maxx and other destinations — uses the same Cheshire Crossing moniker. That warning came in a cease-and-desist letter this week from the homeowners’ association that represents Cheshire Crossing condominiums, a 92-unit, age-restricted development built in 2005 along the Cheshire, Wallingford town line. The letter concludes with the association telling Regency to refrain from using the Cheshire Crossing name for any portion of the Stone Bridge Crossing development. Representatives of Regency Centers could not be reached for comment. The letter was also sent to both Cheshire and Wallingford emergency services, the Wallingford Economic Development Department and the local media.

https://www.stamfordadvocate.com/recordjournal/article/cheshire-crossing-whole-foods-stone-bridge-19407652.php

The final few weeks of the legislative session isn’t an optimal time for elevators, escalators and the moving floor between the State Capitol and adjacent Legislative Office to break down, but that is what has happened as the equipment recently reached its lifetime, and the public and lawmakers gingerly navigate the historic halls. The estimated price tag might exceed $10 million. James Tamburro, the executive director of the Office of Legislative Management, which administrates the 14-acre campus, said that several elevators, escalators and one of the two moving floors between the Capitol and Legislative Office Building are currently broken. Osten noted that the escalators up into the Capitol’s first floor and back down are too-narrow for federal Americans with Disability Act requirements. She said that the total price tag is about $10 million, possibly more, with the garage elevator.

https://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:https://www.ctinsider.com/politics/article/broken-elevators-escalators-plague-state-19408074.php&strip=0&vwsrc=0

After hours of debate about what West Hartford should be in the future, town officials in a bipartisan vote cleared the way for 322 new apartments in five-story buildings on part of the former University of Connecticut campus in West Hartford. Creating new housing on the blighted 1700 Asylum Ave. property will be a massive boost for West Hartford overall, and ultimately will benefit the surrounding neighborhood, town councilors said after a six-hour hearing. The project would be the biggest development in West Hartford since Blue Back Square, and the 1700 Asylum parcel is only the first half of what’s planned. West Hartford 1 later this year is expected to apply for a wetlands permit to begin advancing the second half of Heritage Park, the 1800 Asylum Ave. parcel that’s on the western side of the old UConn campus.

Hundreds of apartments OK’d for former CT college campus amid massive pushback

The town’s planned expansion of Charter Oak Park has taken another step forward after securing a pair of approvals to build a new skate park, artificial turf field, and parking area on an underused lot. The 7.4-acre lot at 30 Charter Oak St. currently contains municipal soccer fields, an abandoned softball diamond, and part of the Charter Oak Greenway. Town staff, backed by the Board of Directors, have proposed construction of a 390-by-240-foot synthetic turf field, a combination skate park and pump track, a 74-space parking lot, and various other amenities and features. Town Engineer Jeff LaMalva said the project is estimated to cost $5 million, split into two phases. He said the first phase, consisting of the field, parking lot, and utility building, will begin being construction around July and be completed in spring 2025.

https://www.stamfordadvocate.com/journalinquirer/article/ct-manchester-skate-park-charter-oak-approved-19403293.php

As work begins here later this month on the next wind-turbine project called Revolution Wind, the new clean-energy industry based at State Pier is transitioning from wobbly baby steps to confident strides, a panel of experts said Wednesday at the Holiday Inn. The state’s Department of Energy and Environmental Protection Commissioner Katie Dykes told the 100 assembled guests that the new wind industry will be critical in meeting Connecticut’s goal to have a 100% zero-carbon electricity grid by 2040. To do this, she said, the state will have to maintain its nuclear-power generation capacity while adding at least another 4,000 megawatts of offshore wind power generation. The only thing needed, suggested Nicole Verdi, head of government affairs and policy in New England for the Danish firm Ørsted, is the assurance that there will be a continued market for wind components as other parts of the country implement offshore-energy solutions.

https://www.theday.com/business/20240417/wind-industry-hits-a-pivot-point/

Construction of the East Haddam swing bridge, which carries Route 82 over the Connecticut River, began in fall 2022 and work is continuing on the project with a completion date of Feb. 25, 2025, according to CTDOT. The American Bridge Co., headquartered in Coraopolis, Pa., is the lead contractor on the project, which was awarded to the company on June 7, 2022. Construction equipment being used on the job includes a Liebherr LTM1095 mobile crane, a Tadano GR-150 rough-terrain crane, a Caterpillar M322 wheeled excavator and a Caterpillar 308 mini-excavator. The budget for the project is $78,440,000, which includes the construction and design. The funding sources are federal, state and municipalities.

https://www.constructionequipmentguide.com/american-bridge-co-leads-conns-east-haddam-swing-bridge-project/64527