The analysis found that solar power had lowered the demand for energy in the region and fewer power plants had retired, putting New England in a better position to manage gas constraints in the winter. ISO-New England President and CEO Gordon van Welie cautioned, however, that the study is not complete and that there are still serious concerns about long-term winter reliability. The study assumes that the gas distribution system will operate without issues, and that new offshore wind resources will compensate for oil plants shutting down. But recent delays and canceled contracts for Northeast wind projects have raised doubts, van Welie said. Eversource Vice President of Energy Supply James Daly said the study used “optimistic” assumptions that should be questioned, including projections of 1,600 megawatts of offshore wind and 1,400 megwatts of energy storage coming online, most of which isn’t under contract.

New England Energy Officials Challenge ‘Optimistic’ Study on Natural Gas Supply

An extra $5 million for the school building project could be used to add turf and lighting to the property’s new playing fields, and members of the project’s building committee are eyeing a grant to pay for it. Construction began in mid-2022, and the middle-high school project is well underway on Major Besse Drive. Construction crews are working on the actual buildings, which are being built on steel beams and concrete foundations. The new school campus, which has separate spaces for middle and high school students, and shared areas, such as the cafeteria, gym, auditorium and athletic spaces, is taking shape. The grant request came to the City Council with a grant application for their review, defining the reasons why the grant was needed. The application also defined the high school’s athletic fields and the adjacent city swimming pool, playground, basketball courts and other community facilities as a “Community Fitness Complex” that would be used by the whole town, not just the high school.

https://www.stamfordadvocate.com/news/article/torrington-school-project-planners-want-5-18161230.php

The Connecticut Department of Transportation lists 24 major construction projects statewide – encapsulating some of the biggest and most expensive projects in the state. Some of those are still in the planning phases, while others are already complete. CTDOT is working on a major project on Route 15, better known as the Merritt Parkway that will resurface the road in both directions and make other improvements along a three-and-a-half-mile stretch from Norwalk to New Canaan. That work is expected to continue until late October 2024. This spring, CTDOT began work on I-95, Route 161 and Frontage Road in East Lyme that it says will make entering and exiting the highway at Exit 74 safer. CTDOT began a three-year project last summer to rehabilitate the bridge that carries Route 82 over the Connecticut River in East Haddam.

https://www.stamfordadvocate.com/news/article/major-road-construction-impact-travel-across-ct-18163174.php

The Planning and Zoning Commission unanimously approved the construction of a five-story, 80-room extended stay hotel at 321 Liberty St, Route 2, in Pawcatuck, Tuesday night. The project was proposed by Mystic Sahajanand, LLC, of Pawcatuck, whose principal, Mukesh Patel, also owns the 75-room La Quinta Inn & Suites at 349 Liberty St., which was constructed in 2009. The commission unanimously approved two special use permits for the project with six stipulations, among which were posting an Erosion and Sedimentation Control Bond, notifying town staff prior to construction so that they can inspect the erosion control measures, and providing a plan for best practices for stormwater management. After the meeting, Patel told CT Examiner that his company will operate and manage the hotel as a franchise of Extended Stay America, which provides suites equipped with kitchens and on-site laundry facilities.

80-Room Hotel Approved in Pawcatuck

The state of Connecticut is going to pay the town $7,100 for an easement that passes over the Quinnipiac River Linear Trail to facilitate the movement of construction equipment to a Route 15 northbound bridge slated for repair. While the state needs it for the upcoming work, the easement will be permanent. It is part of a path that starts on private property, crosses over the town-owned land and ends at the bridge. The easement extends from North Plains Highway over private property, Mayor William Dickinson Jr. said, and reaches town of Wallingford property, extends across open space to the linear trail and crosses the trail to the area needed for bridge construction. According to a Department of Transportation Public Information Meeting on the project from Aug. 4, 2022, DOT officials said the trail would remain open for the duration of the project. The only disruption would be when machinery needs to cross the trail. Construction fencing will be in place at the project site to protect the public.

https://www.myrecordjournal.com/News/Wallingford/Wallingford-News/State-to-pay-town-for-easement-over-Quinnipiac-River-Linear-Trail-for-bridge-construction.html

The proposed four-story 300,000-square-foot iPark Hotel would be located at the mixed-use campus of iPark Norwalk, at One Cannondale Way, off Kent Road between Danbury Road and the railroad line. The commission had asked the developers to prepare more details on the project’s potential impact on traffic in the area. At the meeting, consultant Veronica Prezioso of Kimley-Horn and Associates Inc. of White Plains, N.Y., told the commission that there would be a negligible difference. In its unanimous approval of the project last November, the Architectural Review Board requested pollinator plants, which he noted were added to the plan in a long and narrow section of plantings at the front of the property. The P&Z Commission will likely be voting on the application for the iPark Hotel at its June 26 meeting.

https://www.stamfordadvocate.com/news/article/experts-ipark-hotel-wilton-norwalk-border-impact-18159670.php

The Silverman Group’s concept for The Ridge at Talcott Mountain – South would focus on rental housing with 448 new apartments. The company also wants to build 70 one-family houses as well as 11 duplexes, which would create 22 separate units. The Silverman Group is scheduled to outline its idea to town planners when the zoning commission meets Wednesday at 7 p.m. at town hall. The Silverman Group would build on dozens of acres that were once part of The Hartford’s headquarters complex. The company is expected to give details about its expansion proposal at Wednesday evening’s meeting. Documents that Silverman filed with the town are marked “conceptual,” and do not specify all the amenities planned, but include an outdoor pool, a community building and an open space section. Renderings of The Ridge at Talcott Mountain-South show the complex would be reached from Hopmeadow Street by Old Canal Road. A new street and driveway network would branch out from Old Canal Way.

Developer considering 540 housing units at former The Hartford campus in Simsbury

The project, East Windsor Solar One, reveals the limits of what state and local officials can do if problems arise with solar farms once they are in place. The Connecticut Siting Council sets the conditions for their approval, and those conditions are enforceable. But this case fell into what appears to be a gray area. Solar panels themselves are silent, but the equipment that connects them to the grid can produce noise, similar to any electrical transformer such as the cylinder-shaped enclosures that sit atop utility poles. Sound can also come from inverters, which convert the DC power generated by solar panels to AC power that can be used on the grid. The simplest, least-cost way to ensure that noise is not audible to neighbors of a solar development is to site the equipment on a non-noise-sensitive property line, such as away from houses, said Michael Bahtiarian, a principal at Acentech, an acoustical consulting firm based in Cambridge, Massachusetts, who has worked on a number of solar projects.

Neighbor dispute risks souring a Connecticut community on solar energy 

The biotech industry has physically reshaped downtown New Haven. It’s hard not to feel as if Boston or Cambridge Massachusetts’s Kendall Square has sprouted here. Twenty years ago, there was barely any private lab space in New Haven proper. West Haven was still home to the Bayer campus. The startup scene wasn’t really present, and the site of the new lab tower was a highway spur. Now there are more than two million square feet of lab space in New Haven. Yale alone spins off roughly ten startups every year from its massive patent portfolio. Biotech is booming. According to analysis by AdvanceCT, a nonprofit economic development group, Connecticut ranks second in academic bioscience investment and third in bioscience venture capital funding. The state has the fourth highest number of bioscience patents. New Haven anchors a substantial portion of the state’s biotech real estate market.

https://www.stamfordadvocate.com/business/article/new-haven-biotech-hub-18149787.php

Indiana developer Scannell wants to build two structures on about one-third of the property’s footprint, for a total of more than a million square feet of warehouse space. The company is asking for the property to be rezoned from business to industrial, with the town having oversight over any future changes to usage. At a Windsor Locks Planning & Zoning Commission on Monday, consultant Mike Goman of East Hartford’s Goman+York said warehouses would be the best use of the property, once eyed for both an outlet mall and sports complex. Scannell does not yet have a tenant for the warehouse but is confident it can lease it within six months. Airport-linked travel is fueling ambitions around the new $87 million Windsor Locks train station, which broke ground last September and is currently under construction. When the station opens in summer 2025, a bus will meet passengers every time the train stops in the town to take them directly to the airport, but town leaders hope the hub will also attract housing and retail. Developers are taking note of the available land around the hub and making inquiries, Harrington said: “We’re starting to see the uptick in interest.”

https://www.stamfordadvocate.com/business/article/windsor-locks-mulls-warehouse-plan-for-farmland-18156673.php