The governor’s office and the state Department of Energy and Environmental Protection on Monday announced the release of a series of grants totaling $10 million to finance the planning, building, expansion, and improvement of 45 multiuse trails located in towns and cities throughout Connecticut. The funding is being provided through the Connecticut Recreational Trails Grant Program. The Connecticut Greenways Council assisted DEEP with the competitive grant selection process. DEEP anticipates most projects to be completed by 2027. $270,346 for Naugatuck Valley Council of Governments for planning, preliminary design and outreach for the Kinneytown section of the Naugatuck River Greenway.

https://www.rep-am.com/localnews/2024/06/03/naugatuck-valley-greenway-among-45-projects-statewide/

The State Bond Commission is expected at its meeting Friday to approve nearly $6 million to the borough of Naugatuck to support the revitalization of the Rubber Avenue corridor. In late April, state legislators representing Naugatuck and Mayor N. Warren “Pete” Hess celebrated the approval of a $5,754,493 grant for the project through Community Investment Fund 2030, a state grant program established in 2022 to support economic development in historically underserved communities across Connecticut. The Bond Commission vote Friday will make the funding available. It is part of a larger bonding allocation of $74.7 million to finance 27 projects that Community Investment Fund 2030 Board approved in March. Naugatuck will use the CIF grant to address storm water issues in the areas of Scott Street and Nettleton Avenue and improve the development of the Risdon property, a 12-acre former manufacturing site at 0 Andrew Ave. The funds will also supplement the borough’s current Rubber Avenue project that is underway.

https://www.rep-am.com/localnews/2024/06/03/naugatucks-rubber-avenue-project-likely-bonded/

As workers began clearing trees this week to make room for a rehabilitation hospital on one of the last construction sites in the village-size neighborhood known as the Reserve, the city of Danbury gave a parking break to the inpatient facility to prevent “a field of empty asphalt.” During a public hearing Tuesday, Lichtenauer referred to a thickly wooded 34-acre property north of the 1.3-million-square-foot office building known as the Summit and south of two dense condominium developments in the heart of the Reserve. The city’s Zoning Commission gave its unanimous approval for Encompass Heath to provide half the patient parking spaces required in its 2021 approval, after agreeing with the hospital’s reasoning that patients undergoing medical rehabilitation don’t have the same parking needs as outpatients.

https://www.stamfordadvocate.com/news/article/danbury-oks-parking-break-rehab-site-trees-19484739.php

For the second straight year, the NPU Sewer Division has received approval for a $15.5 million short-term line of credit from the NPU Electric Division to help cover costs of the ongoing work to build a new sewage treatment plant on Hollyhock Island near Norwich Harbor. The Board of Public Utilities Commissioners, which doubles as the Sewer Authority and oversees all NPU operations, approved the loan agreement Tuesday. The loan money will be paid back with the same interest rate that the Electric Division cash reserves earn on money kept in its M&T Bank account, currently 5%. The new line of credit will be available to the Sewer Division beginning July 1 and must be paid back in full by June 30, 2025. NPU General Manager Chris LaRose said the loan is necessary as bills must be paid to contractors working on the massive project sooner than reimbursement it receives for the work from the state through the Clean Water Fund. The project has been approved for a $67.6 million Clean Water Fund grant.

https://www.theday.com/local-news/20240601/norwich-public-utilities-sewage-treatment-project-to-receive-loan-from-electric-division/#

City officials sent a strong message to the state Department of Transportation Thursday, asking them to halt their $143 million plan to remove two traffic lights on Route 9, spurred on by significant issues raised by people opposed to the latest design. Council President Gene Nocera has acknowledged that local legislators have no authority over decisions made by the DOT. Morgan said Friday that there have been dozens of meetings over the last decade on improving safety in Middletown, and that the public supports the traffic lights removal. A crash occurs at the traffic lights, both north and south, nearly every other day, with an injury occuring about ever week, he said. The DOT presented a proposal to remove the lights in 2016, Morgan said, after hearing from the public. Based on feedback, the project was revised, and re-presented in 2018, he added. Following that, the DOT investigated additional alternatives, which led to the present project.

https://www.stamfordadvocate.com/news/article/middletown-leaders-ask-dot-suspend-plans-route-9-19488446.php

Connecticut officials will meet this week to consider approval of more than $856 million for projects that range from complex and costly bridge replacements to installing toilets at state parks. The decision of whether to fund those capital improvements is up to the State Bond Commission, a 10-member body chaired by Gov. Ned Lamont. The commission will hold its final meeting of the current fiscal year on June 7. An agenda for the meeting released on Friday included more than $519 million in general obligation bond allocations, as well as nearly $337 in special tax obligation bonds that are mostly used to cover transportation projects such as highway construction and mass transit, according to Office of Policy and Management spokesman Chris Collibee. While the commission gets the final word on whether to authorize each of the bonds, the investments themselves were authorized last year as part of a two-year, $7.5 billion bonding package approved by state lawmakers, as well as previous year’s bond packages.

https://www.stamfordadvocate.com/connecticut/article/ct-bond-commission-agenda-transportation-projects-19488525.php

Scott first sought the necessary zoning approval a year-and-a-half ago. Some residents, activists and elected officials, including Mayor Joe Ganim during his re-election campaign, publicly opposed the project and the appointed zoning commission rejected the application last June in a 4-2 vote. Scott sued in state Superior Court and won in March. The presiding judge, Dale Radcliffe, ruled that zoning commission members violated municipal regulations in refusing to grant Scott his special permit and ordered that body approve the self-storage facility subject to reasonable conditions. Scott has said the footprint will not change but his intent is to transform the existing supermarket structure. To that end he still needs to finalize his plans and obtain the necessary construction permits. He said Thursday he did not want to start that process prior to the conclusion of his lawsuit because his proposal was still up in the air.

https://www.ctpost.com/news/article/bridgeport-self-storage-stop-shop-madison-ave-19486760.php

The sewer plant’s hardest-working pumping station on Harris Drive, which was built in 1979, draws from seven smaller stations in the northern area of Torrington, feeding to the main plant off South Main Street. “We’ve had up to 18 inches of water outside, and more than that in here,” sewer plant administrator Ed Tousey said. “We’ve done everything to contain it; sandbags, berms … and it’s never stopped pumping.” “The $1.6 million is a congressionally directed grant, meaning that we were given the chance to apply for it through the federal government,” Drew said. “It’s going to help with our infrastructure. This station is our largest, it serves seven smaller ones, and it’s one of 14 stations around the city.” “The project is still in the design phase, but we expect construction to start within a year,” Tousey said. The rest of the funding for the project, estimated to cost $3.2 million, will come from the sewer plant’s budget.

https://www.stamfordadvocate.com/news/article/torrington-gets-1-6-million-grant-rebuild-sewer-19484772.php

Gov. Ned Lamont vetoed his first bill from this year’s legislative session on Wednesday, sending back to lawmakers a proposal that would have doubled the cap on municipal contracts exempt from competitive bidding practices. The legislation, Senate Bill 226, proposed raising the minimum threshold for competitive bidding on all municipal contracts from $25,000 to $50,000 as part of what supporters described as an effort to increase efficiency and keep up with inflation. While the bill passed both chambers without much opposition earlier this month, Lamont said that the suggested increase went well beyond inflation — which he argued would put the threshold at around $35,000 — and risked eroding safeguards put in place to ensure transparency in the awarding of public contracts. Despite the strong, bipartisan majorities that voted in favor of the bill during the session, both the leaders of the House and Senate said Wednesday that they had no plans to attempt to override the veto with a two-thirds vote of each chamber.

https://www.stamfordadvocate.com/politics/article/ct-ned-lamont-veto-local-competitive-bidding-rules-19484701.php

Fitch Ratings said Tuesday it has assigned A+ ratings to $669 million in bonds that will be issued on behalf of Yale New Haven Health (YNHH). Proceeds from the bond issuance are expected to be used to refund the health system’s existing debt, as well as to provide approximately $333 million to support Yale New Haven’s capital spending program. Fitch outlined several major capital projects Yale New Haven Health has underway or planned, including an $840 million neurosciences center on the St. Raphael campus. Its other major capital project under evaluation is a comprehensive outpatient center in Meriden. Most other capital spending will be directed at infrastructure improvements, technology and equipment needs, and additional ambulatory access centers, according to Fitch. The A+ rating is further supported by Fitch’s view that the system has sufficient funds available to support completing its large tower expansion project that includes a neurosciences center.

Fitch gives A+ rating to pending $669M Yale New Haven Health bond issuance; $333M will be used for capital spending