Designs for the first two new elementary schools approved by voters last fall are starting to take shape, with approval this week of the educational components for the new John B. Stanton and Greeneville elementary schools. No architectural renderings have been created yet, project officials told the Board of Education at a special meeting Wednesday. The Board of Education on Wednesday approved preliminary educational specifications for the first two schools to be built, the new Stanton and Greeneville elementary schools. Smolley and Mike Faenza, hired by the school building committee as the owner’s representative/project manager, said all the city school projects will be designed with energy efficiencies at least 20% to 40% higher than minimum building code standards, as required for state grant reimbursements.

https://www.theday.com/local-news/20230825/designs-take-shape-for-two-new-norwich-elementary-schools/

Construction and extraction jobs led all others in the first year of the pandemic with 162.6 drug overdose deaths per 100,000 workers, according to a new report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The overall drug overdose rate increased most years from 1999 to 2020, and in 2021 the U.S. drug overdose rate was 50% higher than in 2019, the report found. Work-related characteristics, such as the prevalence of workplace injuries, precarious employment, health insurance status, stress, lack of access to paid sick leave and unique stressors during the COVID-19 pandemic impacted the “prevalence and management of substance use disorders,” the CDC said. In the broader industry group, construction led all categories with a rate of 130.9 deaths, followed by accommodation and food services with 99.6.

https://www.constructiondive.com/news/construction-highest-overdose-death-rate-cdc/691723/

Originally estimated as a six- to eight-week project, the blasting effort represents one of the first critical phases of the four-year, $148 million reconstruction of the highway. Resident Engineer Robert Obey of Glastonbury-based GM2 said crews could be looking at an extra month of blasting because an especially challenging section of ledge has resulted in longer closures and fewer detonations than project officials anticipated. Each blasting period requires the complete closure of the highway between exits 74 and 75. The goal is to get it open again within 20 minutes, though project data shows there were more closures lasting over 20 minutes than under. State Department of Transportation project engineer Andrew Millovitsch said last Thursday’s delays were exacerbated when the reopened highway had to be closed again after inspection of the blast site revealed rock remnants on top that could potentially cause problems if dislodged.

https://www.theday.com/local-news/20230824/fire-in-the-hole/

The town is weighing the possibility of building a new home for the school district’s Central Office at the former Century Brass property at 12 Scovill St. The school district’s Central Office had been operating out of the town’s historic building at 50 East St. since 1982, according to Faulenbach. But last November, the Central Office began moving to Sarah Noble Intermediate School due to a failing boiler in the East Street Building. The school board has been looking into creating a permanent Central Office at Sarah Noble. The East Street building was turned over to the town on June 30. The site work for building an administration building would probably take 18 months, Public Works Director Jack Healy said.

https://www.newstimes.com/newmilford/article/new-milford-looks-century-brass-site-new-schools-18311611.php?src=nthpdesecp

Decades in the making, $3.2 million worth of lead mitigation and sound moderation measures are moving along at the Dingwall-Horan Firearms Training Facility, used by both city police and the FBI. Noise complaints from neighboring homeowners concerning the gunfire at 260 Meriden Road over the past 20 years have largely abated at the center, located next to the Mount Higby reservoir, according to Public Works Director Chris Holden. The FBI has contributed $1.68 million to the cost of updates, and the city paid $1.5 million toward the work over the course of two $750,000 bond referendums approved by voters. Thirty-foot high concrete walls are in, as are the berms, or raised earthen banks, Public Works Deputy Director Howard Weissberg said. “Studies show we needed 30 feet of height to provide noise reduction. We have achieved it between the embankment and noise wall.”

https://www.middletownpress.com/news/article/decades-noise-reduced-middletown-fbi-gun-18302784.php

Pleasing athletics program supporters but frustrating conservationists, Wethersfield’s council this week endorsed the controversial plan to build a sports field on town-owned Kycia Farm. In a 6-2 vote after more than three hours of sometimes heated discussion, the council decided to move ahead with what it called a “conceptual plan” to build an artificial turf field on part of the roughly 30 acres of former farmland. Preservationists and environmentalists have been campaigning to keep the property undeveloped, saying it would be best as a combination of community farm along with open space, hiking trails and other passive recreation. But advocates for local sports programs say the town is out of field space for its youth teams, and the most of the Republican-dominated council wants at least a full-size field at Kycia and possibly a half-size practice field too. All five Republican councilors voted in favor of the field plan, and were joined by Democrat Kevin Hill. Democrats Cynthia Clancy and Ken Lesser voted against it, and Democrat Matthew Forrest was not at the meeting.

Turf field planned in Wethersfield: Sports boosters cheer, preservationists lament

The authorized project cost for the new elementary school is $61.15 million and is part of a larger Madison School Renewal Plan totalling $89.2 million, which includes improvements to Polson Middle School and Brown Intermediate School. The shortfall for funding the new elementary school initially totaled $5.9 million. Because the costs toward Polson Middle School ended up lower than projected, nearly $3.5 million that funding was approved by the Board of Selectmen in June to offset the $5.9 million shortfall. Because all three school projects were approved in a single bonding package, the funds can be used interchangeably if necessary. With the new elementary school project still $2.4 million short of funding, the Board of Education considered what they could do to cut costs for the project. The total savings of the three items are estimated to be about $225,000 for the fire protection system, $72,000 for the kitchen equipment, and $356,000 for the radiant flooring, totaling $653,000, leaving $1,747,000 remaining in the shortfall.

$1.7M Shortfall Remains After Cuts to Madison Elementary Construction

Vessel Technologies has won approval for its planned multi-unit apartment development in Rocky Hill. The proposed two-building complex on a vacant site at 125 Henkel Way will contain 96 “attainably priced” homes. The town Planning and Zoning Commission unanimously approved the application. Vessel is under contract to purchase the land from Corpridge Land Co. LLC, an affiliate of Lowell, Mass.-based Farley White Management Co., for an undisclosed amount following site plan approval. Vessel officials said they are hoping to start work on the Rocky Hill site in early 2024, and have it completed later that year. The Vessel model looks to build small, energy-efficient apartments that are accessible to middle-income professionals like first responders, teachers and other residents who don’t qualify for subsidized housing but for whom luxury or even market-rate rents are out of reach, Vessel CEO and Founder Neil Rubler said.

Latest Vessel ‘attainable’ housing project approved in Rocky Hill

The federal government on Tuesday cleared a path for the start of construction of Revolution Wind, the first offshore wind farm that will bring electricity to Connecticut. The Department of the Interior’s Bureau of Ocean Energy Management has approved the construction of up to 65 wind turbines and two offshore wind stations in federal waters 15 nautical miles southeast of Point Judith, R.I.
The decision is one of the final hurdles for a project that is a joint venture of Danish wind company Ørsted and Massachusetts-based utility Eversource, the same team developing State Pier in New London as a staging and assembly area for Revolution Wind and other offshore wind projects. State Pier in New London, nearing completion of a $300 million upgrade project, is already in use and hosting massive wind turbine components to be installed at South Fork Wind, a smaller-scale 12-turbine project under construction off the coast of Long Island.

https://www.theday.com/local-news/20230822/path-cleared-for-revolution-wind-construction/

The city’s estimate and taxation board approved $2.9 million in special capital appropriations to purchase six properties abutting the proposed South Norwalk School at 1 Meadow St. Extension. The six properties the city looks to purchase for the school are 28 Oxford St., 32 Oxford St., 36 Oxford St., 38 Oxford St., 16 Meadow St. Ext., and a 1.13-acre S. Main Rail Corridor, as identified in documents displayed during the board’s meeting. The city acquired the 11.7-acre former Hatch and Bailey Lumber Company property at 1 Meadow St. Extension for the $76 million school last year. Lo said that the $2.9 million is an initial allocation for the property acquisitions, but more funding may be required. The South Norwalk School is slated to open in fall 2025, serving pre-kindergarten through third grade students in its initial year. The city’s Land Use and Building Management Committee will meet Wednesday at 6 p.m. and will discuss authorizing the acquisitions and a referral for a Municipal Planning Commission Report on the six properties.

https://www.stamfordadvocate.com/news/education/article/south-norwalk-school-buy-abutting-properties-18309948.php