The Municipal Redevelopment Authority, or MRDA, was established in 2019 to mirror CRDA’s efforts statewide. However, the initiative never took hold, after MRDA failed to receive funding and state and local officials became distracted by the pandemic. Last year, lawmakers quietly tried to address those issues by approving funding for MRDA — $600,000 in fiscal years 2024 and 2025 — to hire staff, and eliminating membership mandates and restrictions, opening up the program more broadly. Last year’s state budget also allows the Bond Commission to authorize up to $60 million to capitalize MRDA. The funds would allow the quasi-public agency to help finance development projects, likely through low-interest loans. “Connecticut is gaining population and I have to make sure that keeps going, and we can’t do that without housing. And we need all types of housing, single-family, workforce, affordable…,” Lamont said. MRDA’s main purpose is to assist in local development and redevelopment efforts, with a particular focus on new housing.

Lamont looks to replicate CRDA’s success with statewide development agency tasked with financing transit-oriented housing

Local Republicans took aim at the tactics used by recently-elected First Selectman Bill Gerber, a Democrat, to fight a plan by United Illuminating to string transmission lines through private property off the existing Metro-North right of way through Bridgeport and Fairfield. In a Jan. 12 email to Fairfield residents, Gerber told residents that the company’s standard easement form would give United Illuminating the right to install equipment, fill, excavate and clear the land of any structures at any time– claims that Republicans are not disputing. Gerber said that United Illuminating had tried to discredit the rendering during Siting Council hearings, and he was disappointed that Iacono would do same. Local officials and residents from both political parties have largely come together to oppose the planned $225 million transmission line project, which would require 19.25 acres of easements, 7 acres of clearing, and the installation of 102 new monopoles. UI is awaiting a decision by the Connecticut Siting Council determining whether the project can continue.

Fairfield Fights Transmission Lines, Splits Over Messaging

Years after developers, including a Meriden nonprofit, broke ground on renovations to convert two historic schools in Bristol into apartments, the units are finally fully leased. Bristol Enterprises LLC, a partnership between Ted Lazarus of the Park Lane Group and Maynard Road Corp., the private nonprofit development arm of the Meriden Housing Authority, cobbled together $23 million in tax credits and other state financing to complete the renovations to Bingham and O’Connell schools on Park Street and North Street. The renovations included efforts to provide natural light, ventilation and increased fire safety. The project also incorporated Maynard Road’s use of geothermal and solar technologies to make both buildings energy neutral. “For us, the conversion of those former schools to apartments has been a great project,” said Bristol Director of Economic and Community Development Justin Malley.

https://www.stamfordadvocate.com/recordjournal/article/nonprofit-meriden-housing-developer-moves-18594651.php

Work continues on the Bartlem South Project —a nearly $8 million expansion of Cheshire’s Bartlem Park — and officials anticipate it to be completed in the fall or early winter of 2024. The master plan for the property, adopted in 2021, includes a Great Lawn and a bandshell to be used as a community-gathering place where concerts, movie nights and other events can be held. Site work and excavation for the site improvements started in March 2023 by DeRita & Sons Construction Co., and officials are hoping this phase of the project will be completed later this year, while acknowledging that significant work still lies ahead. The total cost of the project is $7.9 million, $2 million of which came from American Rescue Plan Act funds, as well as a credit of $81,000 to be used for the restroom facilities and $750,000 of additional state grants.

https://www.stamfordadvocate.com/recordjournal/article/cheshire-bartlem-south-park-18615226.php

The wetlands approval of 1700 Asylum Ave., the eastern parcel of the property that’s divided into two by Trout Brook Drive, puts developers closer to the construction of four buildings totaling 322 apartments on what is now an asphalt parking lot. The project still needs further approval, including from the Town Council. In all, developer West Hartford 1 LLC hopes to build what’s now called Heritage Park, a mixed-used residential and commercial property that would include 569 units of housing split between apartments, assisted living and townhouses. The western parcel, 1800 Asylum Ave., would also include a grocery store, restaurant, cafe and more. Plans for that parcel were withdrawn and will be resubmitted and considered separately from the eastern parcel at a later date.

https://www.stamfordadvocate.com/westhartford/article/west-hartford-ct-uconn-campus-housing-wetlands-18615100.php

The City Council’s economic development committee Wednesday approved a grant application to the U.S. Department of Transportation for $22.1 million to rebuild the Congress Street span. The city and state had previously set aside an additional $12 million a piece for the project. When the city finally sought construction bids last summer, four interested contractors participated, submitting costs double and more of what had been anticipated — $42.55 million, $48.04 million, $56.93 million and $57.63 million. And that resulted in the current $22.1 million grant application, which is expected to pass the full council at its next meeting. The members are, like Ganim, all Democrats. The mayor’s rival in this coming Tuesday’s Democratic mayoral primary, former administration employee John Gomes, has previously sought to use the delays against the incumbent, claiming the Congress St. bridge is a example of some of Ganim’s broken promises to voters.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/bridgeport-needs-22m-for-congress-st-bridge-replacement-get-this-bridge-done-please/ar-AA1nc9KM

The U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration announced that the agency is replacing traditional hard hats used by its employees with more modern safety helmets to protect them better when they are on inspection sites. In 2020, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported head injuries accounted for nearly 6 percent of non-fatal occupational injuries involving days away from work. Almost half of those injuries occurred when workers came in contact with an object or equipment while about 20 percent were caused by slips, trips and falls. The agency recommends safety helmets be used by people working at construction industry and the oil and gas industry; in high-temperature, specialized work and low-risk environments; performing tasks involving electrical work and working from heights; and when required by regulations or industry standards.

https://www.constructionequipmentguide.com/osha-announces-switch-from-traditional-hard-hats-to-safety-helmets/63323

School officials are seeking input from the public as they continue to narrow down options for school renovation and construction plans. The forums come a week after the school board was scheduled to hear from Rusty Malik, principal with the architectural firm Quisenberry Arcari Malik, prior to its Jan. 10 meeting. The board hopes to narrow down the options before the two community forums. Brewster Elementary School will house preschool through first grade next September, second- and third-graders will go to John Lyman Elementary School, and fourth- and fifth-graders will attend Middlefield Memorial. Schuch said he expects the schools will have the same start times next school year, even after the grade reconfiguration.

https://www.stamfordadvocate.com/recordjournal/article/regional-district-13-ct-board-school-renovations-18606569.php

The state would lend $3 million to a developer to purchase a parking lot on a prominent corner in Hartford’s Bushnell South redevelopment area, a proposal that also would remove the property from among the options for a new federal courthouse. The loan would come from the quasi-public Capital Region Development Authority, which along with the city and The Bushnell, have been key forces working for years to reshape a bleak swath of parking lots just east of The Bushnell and a short walk from the State Capitol. At the proposal’s center, is the $3 million loan that South Norwalk-based Spinnaker Real Estate Partners would use to purchase the parking lot for future, mixed-use development. Spinnaker is emerging as a major developer in Bushnell South and is now nearing completion of the conversion of the former state offices at 55 Elm St. into apartments. The $67 million project includes a second phase of new construction on parking lots around the historic building. The second phase is now in the planning stages and is across Capitol Avenue from the parking lot Spinnaker would purchase.

There’s a massive new neighborhood planned near CT Capitol. It could get millions in state loans.

Dominion took an initial step toward filing for another operating extension on its Millstone Power Station nuclear plant in Waterford. If approved by the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, any extension would give Dominion the option of stretching the shelflife of the Millstone 2 reactor to 2055, and the Millstone 3 reactor to 2065. The NRC last approved a license renewal for Millstone’s two reactors in November 2005. NRC spokesperson Neil Sheehan told CT Insider that the commission expects a number of nuclear plant operators to seek similar authorizations for existing nuclear plants in the coming years. Millstone is one of two nuclear energy power plants in New England, along with NextEra Energy’s Seabrook Nuclear Power Station on the New Hampshire coast. Combined, the plants supplied about 23 percent of New England’s electricity through the first 11 months of last year, according to ISO New England, which oversees the region’s power markets.

https://www.stamfordadvocate.com/business/article/ct-nuclear-dominion-millstone-waterford-energy-18604641.php