The EPA announced Tuesday that it had taken action against WestFair Painting Corp., requiring the Bethel-based CertaPro franchise to come into compliance with the RRP Rule, which aims to protect the public from lead-based paint hazards associated with renovation, repair and painting activities. As a result of EPA’s action, the company will pay a penalty of $13,122. The rule requires workers to be certified and trained in the use of lead-safe work practices and requires renovation, repair and painting firms to be EPA-certified, according to the EPA’s website. The EPA also alleged that WestFair hired subcontractors that were not EPA-certified firms or contractors certified in lead-safe work practices under the RRP Rule, and that the violations occurred in at least five renovation jobs — including one at a property that was child-occupied.

https://www.newstimes.com/news/article/bethel-westfair-painting-epa-lead-violations-19420006.php

A report commissioned by the city in 2018 recommended relocating the HARTransit Pulse Point station now on Kennedy Avenue to a new location closer to the Metro-North Railroad station at 1 Patriot Drive. The proposed bus station could be built across the tracks from the train station along what is now an unused 5-acre commercial lot on Pahquioque Avenue, according to the study on transit-oriented development. The next phase of the project will be the design and traffic engineering studies related to relocating the bus station, the administration said. O’Brien described the proposed Danbury Transit Center as “a good thing for our downtown, our community, for people are wanting to walk and use public transit.” Riders could include visitors from other communities, such as Norwalk, who are attending a Hat Tricks hockey game, for example, or area residents who are looking to ride the Metro-North Railroad train.

https://www.newstimes.com/local/article/danbury-receives-federal-funding-design-transit-19408751.php

Hartford planning officials this week will discuss plans to authorize a pedestrian bridge over Washington Street that would connect a new tower wing of the Connecticut Children’s Medical Center with a new parking garage. During a meeting scheduled for Tuesday at 6 p.m., the city Planning & Zoning Commission and Inland Wetlands Commissions will review a resolution referred by the city’s Court of Common Council that would grant air rights and a sidewalk easement for the elevated walkway. Last year, Connecticut Children’s broke ground on a $280 million expansion that will reshape its Washington Street campus and include a new 195,000-square-foot, eight-story patient tower. The existing Hartford facility has about 321,000 square feet with 187 beds. The new tower will be anchored to the existing building.

Hartford P&Z to discuss pedestrian bridge for new CT Children’s tower

A segment of the $1.2 trillion 2021 federal infrastructure law seemed written with Norwich in mind: replace century-old natural gas pipelines in financially distressed communities with city-owned gas companies. Norwich Public Utilities natural gas division will receive $10.9 million this year, added to the $10 million received last year, through the program, federal officials announced Monday. The two grants totaling nearly $21 million will replace 9 miles of aging cast iron natural gas pipes that run beneath city streets. The two grants will allow NPU to condense what had been a 25-year long-term plan to replace the decaying lines into a five-year schedule starting this fall, NPU General Manager Chris LaRose said. The grants will cover nearly all the estimated project cost of $21.5 million, sparing local natural gas ratepayers the expense, LaRose said.

https://www.theday.com/local-news/20240422/norwich-public-utilities-receives-10-9-million-grant-to-replace-aging-gas-lines/#

For more than 50 years, Route 11 has earned the nicknames of “Route 5 ½” and “highway to nowhere” due to its notoriety of being an unfinished highway. While construction for building the highway began in the ’60s, plans to finish the highway have started and stalled on numerous occasions. Currently operational, Route 11 measures approximately seven miles in length and has two major junctions — Route 82 in Salem and Route 2 in Colchester. It is unlikely that the project will move forward and the Connecticut Department of Transportation (DOT) will “focus resources in other areas,” said Samaia Hernandez, a spokesperson from the DOT. First opening in 1972, the highway was constructed between Route 2 in Colchester and Route 82 in Salem with future plans for expansion to Interstate 95 and Interstate 395 in Waterford. Plans for a renumbering of Route 11 were announced in 2023 by the DOT, marking the most recent work related to the highway. This renumbering is set to take place in 2028.

https://www.stamfordadvocate.com/news/article/connecticut-highway-to-nowhere-route-11-colchester-19405942.php

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