Current designs for the new Norton school show a two-story building with an open central courtyard, a media center and rooms for music, art and teacher planning. The lower level includes a section with a gym, cafeteria, nurse’s office and administrative offices. The school was given a “Woods and Trails” theme through discussions with stakeholder groups. Depending on the numbers, the Next Generation School Committee might have to find reductions, like it did when estimates for the first round of designs came back $10 million over budget for each of the two new schools planned, the new Norton and an as-of-yet unnamed elementary school in the north end of town. The projects are also going through the local review process. The Inland Watercourse and Wetlands Commission meeting on Tuesday was scheduled to include a public hearing portion, as the new Norton site — located at 414 North Brooksvale Road — is near several homes.

https://www.nhregister.com/recordjournal/article/cheshire-norton-school-construction-project-18649177.php?src=nhrhpdesecp

The town’s environmental review board has taken the extra step of ordering a local builder to pay for an independent review of his wetland engineering plans to cluster 117 homes near Taunton Pond after a crowd of residents railed against the project. D’Amico and a majority of the residents who raised concerns about the development degrading water quality, exacerbating flooding and ruining animal habitats called on the town’s wetlands commission during a January public hearing to require a third-party peer review of the builder’s plans for the 136-acre site. During the public hearing, Trudell’s lead engineer seemed to balk at the idea of paying for an engineering peer review before Newtown had given its own environmental review. The five members of Newtown’s wetlands commission agreed, voting to require Trudell to pay for the independent review, and voting to keep the public hearing open until results of the review are complete.

https://www.newstimes.com/news/article/newtown-study-critics-pan-taunton-pond-117-homes-18645264.php?src=nthpdesecp

Plans to nearly double a condominium development off River Road have been shot down by the Shelton Planning and Zoning Commission. Daybreak Ridge, LLC, is presently constructing 36 condominiums — dubbed Daybreak Ridge — at the site. The developers’ application for the zone change of the 12.39-acre parcel to a Planned Development District would have nearly doubled the project’s size. The developers’ representatives sought a PDD for the site, saying it was a transition location between commercial — specifically the restaurant on River Road — and residential. The commission, at its August meeting, was to simply vote to accept and set up a public hearing on the application. That action is considered a formality, but even that vote met reluctance. After the reading of the legal notice on the plan and a short discussion, Commissioner Elaine Matto made the motion to accept, but no other commissioners seconded it.

https://www.ctpost.com/news/article/shelton-river-road-daybreak-ridge-condos-18642752.php?src=rdctpdensecp

The looming steel poles at the center of a controversial United Illuminating proposal could move north of the railroad tracks, away from a location some say threatened nearly 20 acres of private property between Fairfield and Bridgeport. In a non-binding “straw poll,” the Connecticut Siting Council, which oversees power line projects, voted in favor of the relocation Thursday as an alternative to UI’s application to hang its transmission lines from the steel structures known as monopoles standing up to 145 feet tall between Fairfield and Bridgeport along the south side of the state’s railroad corridor. The Siting Council is due to deliver its official decision on the project next month, but its vote is the first indication of the body’s thinking on the hotly contested monopoles through a year of regulatory proceedings. The issue has gained traction in Fairfield and then Bridgeport over the past five months as local residents and businesses have teamed up to seek out lawyers and make a case against UI, slamming the permanent damage the project would do to the visual landscape, ecosystem and economy.

https://www.stamfordadvocate.com/fairfield/article/ui-monopoles-fairfield-siting-council-18644059.php

What type of relationship should exist between a regulator and the regulated? It’s an age-old question that local, state and federal governments often struggle with. Most reasonable people would agree some tension ought to exist between an industry regulator and the companies it oversees. But the PURA-Eversource/UI squabbles go well beyond that, and could hinder future investment in the state’s electric infrastructure and clean energy efforts. The courts will also play a key role in deciding Connecticut’s utilites-regulatory squabbles, which center on PURA’s stricter scrutiny of electric, gas and water utility rate increase requests. The heightened oversight is occurring as the state moves to a new performance-based ratemaking framework that was mandated by the legislature in 2020, and is a hallmark of PURA Chairman Marissa Gillett’s tenure.

Bordonaro: Public fights between PURA, utility companies reflect challenges of industry regulation

Under the $225 million proposal, UI would have swapped aged transmission lines with new 100- to 135- foot monopoles south of the Metro-North railroad line, requiring 19.25 acres of easements and 6.5 acres tree clearing. Officials, including U.S. Sen. Richard Blumenthal, U.S. Rep. Jim Himes, State Sen. Tony Hwang, R-Fairfield, State Rep. Jennifer Leeper and Fairfield First Selectman Bill Gerber, have staunchly opposed the plan, pointing to lasting impacts on historic properties and the local environment. Gerber recently promised a legal battle if the Siting Council were to approve it. According to council documents, the northern configuration would increase project costs by about $66.7 million, but reduce the needed easements to about 8 acres and tree clearing to 5.3 acres.

Siting Council Rejects UI Rail Line Project in Nonbinding Vote

Once a skeptic of nuclear energy, Energy and Technology Co-Chair State Rep. Jonathan Steinberg, D-Westport, is now one of its staunchest supporters. Steinberg told CT Examiner this week that, like many of his contemporaries, he questioned the benefits of using nuclear energy. But those concerns have been alleviated through research, talking to field experts and visiting nuclear facilities throughout the country. Steinberg visited a power plant in South Carolina in November while attending the National Council of State Legislators’ quarterly meeting. The 2,073-megawatt Millstone site, owned by Dominion Energy, covers about 500 acres. According to the company, the plant produces enough electricity to power 2 million homes with low-cost and carbon-free electricity that helps the state fulfill its carbon-reduction goals. According to the U.S. Energy Information Administration, nuclear power provided 37 percent of in-state generation in Connecticut in 2022. Connecticut ranks among the 10 states with the highest share of electricity generated from nuclear power, according to the EIA.

Steinberg Embraces Nuclear Energy, Supports Third Nuclear Reactor at Millstone

Martin, speaking at town hall meeting Thursday, said he envisions a revitalized Main Street area, with streetscape and traffic-calming improvements, as well as the possibility of traffic circles in high accident areas. Martin said residents could soon begin to see Bissell Street closed down to motor vehicle traffic one or two days a week and then fully closed by summer. As for the derelict Silver Lane Plaza, Martin said a blue construction fence has been erected, signaling that the demolition of the plaza would be coming soon. Among other ongoing or future projects include the redevelopment of the former Holiday Inn on Roberts Street, which is being transformed into a Fairfield Inn & Towneplace Suites By Marriott, and the renovation of the Church Corners Inn, which will have 24 apartments, including two affordable units, and three separate commercial spaces on the ground floor. Construction is expected to begin this summer with completion expected in December 2026.

https://www.stamfordadvocate.com/capitalregion/article/east-hartford-mayor-connor-martin-development-18640690.php

The former Bridgewater Associates property is prepping to become new office spaces and housing, including affordable housing for people with disabilities, while paying homage to the outdoors in its aesthetic. The development would be called The Glendinning Village, named after its 1 Glendinning Place address and the man who built it in the 1960s, Ralph Glendinning. The project is a partnership between David Adam Realty President David Waldman and Eric O’Brien of Urbane Capital LLC and Sachem Capital. The duo began reviewing the project when the facility hit the market in late 2022. He added this project helps add to the town’s points needed to reach an affordable housing moratorium to prevent 8-30g developments from coming to Westport. The completion of this project will add 12 affordable housing moratorium points, while the original iteration only offered two, Waldman said.

https://www.stamfordadvocate.com/westport/article/westport-bridgewater-associates-affordable-housing-18636934.php

The massive redevelopment of a former factory building in New Britain will add more than 150 new apartments to the city early next year, city officials and developers said. Officials from WinnCompanies and WinnDevelopment, a Massachusetts-based developer and housing management firm, visited New Britain this week for a progress tour of 321 Ellis St., which is being converted into a senior- and affordable-housing hub with 154 one-, two- and three-bedroom apartment units. The $85 million project broke ground in July 2023, and is about 30% completed, developers said, with an expected completion by early 2025. Mayor Erin Stewart said the project is another example of the city’s focus on finding adaptive reuse opportunities for New Britain’s many former factory buildings. Between several other projects in the city, hundreds of new apartments are opening in New Britain over the next several years.

https://www.hartfordbusiness.com/article/development-will-bring-154-apartments-to-new-britain-in-2025