For towns with little or no expertise in dealing with the extremes of climate change — or small staffs, or little money, or all of the above — a resource like Stormwater Corps can be invaluable. It can also help municipalities substitute green infrastructure for some of the big, traditional, so-called gray stormwater infrastructure, like drains, sewers, pump stations and bridge replacements, which is often prohibitively expensive. Flooding and stormwater are cited as the top concerns in a recent needs assessment conducted in the coastal zone around the whole of Long Island Sound. That has been underscored by relentless extreme rains that started this summer and are now predicted into the winter. But Stormwater Corps is not the only resource for these towns. DEEP is already planning to start a matching-fund program to help communities with the match that’s necessary for most federal grant programs.

For CT towns struggling to deal with flooding, help is on the way

Four homes in Hartford’s Frog Hollow neighborhood, including three that are deemed historic, will be relocated to allow for expansion of Connecticut Children’s Hospital. The City Council approved a resolution allowing the city to transfer four other blighted and vacant properties in the neighborhood to Southside Institution Neighborhood Alliance Inc. so the land can be used to house the displaced homes. The timeline of the relocation is unclear because the resolution was referred to the Planning, Economic Development and Housing Committee for consideration. In May, Connecticut Children’s broke ground on a $326 million clinical tower and a parking garage with 910 spaces built by LAZ and leased by the hospital. Marcus Ordoñez, co-chairman of the Frog Hollow NRZ, said the neighbors are relieved the homes, which are located on the corner of Lincoln and Washington streets, will be relocated and not demolished.

https://www.stamfordadvocate.com/capitalregion/article/ct-hartford-homes-relocated-ct-childrens-hospital-18519140.php

Plans are underway on a long-term project to construct a medical campus behind BJ’s on Reidville Drive and the residential development off of Saddle Rock Road, which city officials said will spur economic growth. In January of this year, the city’s Zoning Commission approved changing the designation of the 40-acre site from single-family residential to commercial and supporting the project. The property is owned by 84 Vistas LLC, whose principals include developers Curt Jones, Joe Pisani, and Robert LaFlamme. Pisani said the first step in the project is clearing the trees, followed by land preparation. He said the project could take a couple of years to complete. The proposed medical campus will consist of four buildings varying in size, the largest at 100,000 square feet, with all the buildings arranged in a block with a shared parking space, said Robert Nerney, city planner.

https://www.rep-am.com/localnews/2023/11/27/medical-campus-eyed-for-40-acre-site-in-waterbury/

Originally scheduled to reopen in November, construction on the Brewer Street Bridge near the Pratt & Whitney campus has been suspended until the spring due to unanticipated delays and temperature restrictions. The bridge, which spans Pewterpot Brook, closed on May 1. It is now expected to reopen in May 2024. “A gas main, a water main, and several dozen communication conduits had to be relocated between the bridge beams as part of the project,” Town Engineer Douglas Wilson said. Wilson said that the new bridge will span 24 feet, whereas the original bridge was 15 feet. Construction on the bridge is expected to resume in April, as that month is typically the end of the winter shutdown, when temperatures are most favorable for construction.

https://www.stamfordadvocate.com/journalinquirer/article/east-hartford-ct-brewer-street-bridge-delay-18520010.php

West Hartford Fellowship Housing, a nonprofit that for over 50 years has provided low-income housing for an older population and to people with disabilities, broke ground on a sweeping and transformative $100 million project that will modernize and expand upon its Starkel Road campus, ultimately providing 300 total units of in-demand housing. The plans will replace 23 of the 24 buildings on site with six new buildings. Construction will be done in four phases, with the first estimated to take about 18 months. The town, which is currently reviewing its new affordable housing plan, has set a goal to have 10 percent of its housing stock be considered affordable. Those types of units have appeared across town in the last few years, with most recent additions being properties managed by the West Hartford Housing Authority on New Park Avenue and the recent approval that will transform a former synagogue into affordable housing. The West Hartford Inn is also marked to become affordable housing.

https://www.stamfordadvocate.com/westhartford/article/west-hartford-ct-fellowship-affordable-housing-18519125.php

On Tuesday, city and state leaders announced millions in grants and investments will go toward two major revitalization projects aimed at improving Grand Avenue. More than $7.5 million will improve a 1.5-mile stretch of Grand Avenue in the Fair Haven, Mill River and Wooster Square neighborhoods. The first phase of the revitalization project will focus on roadway enhancements: including repaving and traffic calming improvements along the busy and dangerous stretch of road. The second phase of the project will include streetscape improvements: sidewalk upgrades, new signage, lighting, trees and planters.

https://www.wtnh.com/news/connecticut/new-haven/new-haven-gets-7-5-million-to-improve-grand-avenue/

The razing of the third and final building of the former Anaconda American Brass Co. factory complex is nearing completion just over a month after demolition crews first converged on the site at 170 Freight St. Six excavators were in operation Tuesday, taking down the last skeletal remains of what was the first large brass manufacturing firm in the United States and, for much of its existence, the country’s largest brass manufacturer. Manafort Brothers of Plainville is doing the demolition work on the 20-acre brownfield through a contract with the city. The city held a news conference marking the start of demolition in October, hailing it as an opportunity to transform a blighted, contaminated property into a potential hub for jobs and economic growth.

https://www.rep-am.com/localnews/2023/11/28/final-anaconda-building-in-waterbury-razed-environmental-tests-of-20-acre-site-to-continue/#login

The Northeast Corridor Commission — a coalition of Amtrak, commuter transit agencies, states and the U.S. Department of Transportation — announced Nov. 16 an ambitious 15-year plan to rebuild the Boston-New York City-Washington, D.C., rail line. The plan is an update to one set out in 2021 that outlined repair needs, service goals and the necessary infrastructure to achieve those, and is estimated to cost $176 billion in inflation-adjusted, year-of-expenditure dollars. “Amtrak ridership on the Northeast Corridor is at all-time record levels, and the projects included in this plan will provide the capacity, reliability, and service improvements that our customers need and deserve,” Amtrak CEO Stephen Gardner said in a statement.

https://www.constructiondive.com/news/amtrak-northeast-rail-corridor-plan/700677/

In a crowded room in the state Capitol, administration officials and members of the Democratic majorities in the House and Senate offered a defense of the 2035 mandate— something that never came in October and November, when Republicans campaigned against it as bureaucratic overreach. The display came a day after the Lamont administrations confirmed it did not have the votes for passage by the legislature’s bipartisan Regulation Review Committee of regulations that would have implemented a timetable for the transition to car and truck markets dominated by electric vehicles. Every state has two options: hewing to the California standards or the ones set by the federal Environmental Protection Agency. The EPA has set a less ambitious timetable for phasing out gas-powered cars.

https://ctmirror.org/2023/11/28/ct-new-gas-car-ban-pledge-2035-lamont/

Plans to upgrade the HVAC system at Polson Middle School sparked a short debate about spending limits and the town’s goals for environmental sustainability at Monday night’s Board of Selectmen meeting. The work at Polson Middle School and the new elementary school are part of a larger $89.2 million project approved by referendum in Feb. 2022. The new school budgeted for $61.15 million and improvements on Polson budgeted for $21.55 million. There is a third project for improvements on Brown Intermediate School, budgeted at $6.5 million. By a vote of 4 to 0, with one abstention, the board approved a $935,000 bid for the Polson project by BL Companies, a local architectural and civil engineering firm.

School Construction Moves Forward in Madison, With Brief Debate Over Goals for Sustainability