MidState Medical Center is seeking to build a new $8.4 million, 16-bed adult medical and surgical unit to boost its inpatient space. The nonprofit Meriden-based hospital, which is part of the Hartford HealthCare system, has submitted a certificate of need application with the state Office of Health Strategy to increase its licensed bed capacity. Because of the patient volume increase, the hospital reported that it has been consistently operating at occupancy levels above the 80% industry standard. This impedes its ability to respond to unforeseen volume surges, such as the spike that came with the COVID-19 pandemic. Pending approval of its certificate of need application, MidState anticipates that the new unit would be able to open by October 2025. MidState intends to finance the project with operating capital.

MidState Medical Center seeks permission for $8.4M expansion

Renovations for three Darien elementary schools have been delayed by a year after a disappointing round of construction bids. Overhauls of Hindley, Holmes and Royle elementary schools, originally slated to begin this summer, will now begin construction closer to late spring and summer of 2024 and run through August 2026. The main cause of delay was an unsuccessful construction bid period with too few interested contractors and too-high costs that would send the entire project over its $68 million budget. Designs for the three schools were first approved by the school board in October and the Planning and Zoning Commission in February. The plans included adding new building wings while getting rid of portable classrooms, redesigning the schools’ libraries, creating new playgrounds and improving school entrances.

https://www.stamfordadvocate.com/news/article/darien-hindley-holmes-royle-elementary-schools-18263079.php

Not just a playground for wealthy airplane owners, the airport plays an important role in Hartford’s economy as a base for corporate jets, said Teiger, president of the Hartford Brainard Airport Association. Keeping the airport open will also position Hartford for a future where advanced aerospace — be it drones, vertical takeoff and landing technology or electric planes — helps power Connecticut’s economic growth. The Hartford Brainard Airport Association’s advocacy will be on display Aug. 10, when members plan to turn out in force for the final public meeting on a pivotal study of the airport’s future at Hartford’s Metzner Early Learning Center. Commissioned by the state Department of Economic and Community Development, consultant BJF Planning plans to present its analysis of the “highest and best use” of the airport property, 201 acres of highway-adjacent land three miles from downtown Hartford. Since early this year BJF has been analyzing three options: Closing the airport and redeveloping the land, keeping most of the airport open and redeveloping part of it, and keeping the airport open as-is.

https://www.stamfordadvocate.com/capitalregion/article/hartford-brainard-airport-advocates-organize-18262157.php

In its first report since a scathing 2019 audit led to then-Executive Director Evan Matthews being fired and the Office of Policy and Management gaining oversight of the quasi-public agency, auditors said the authority didn’t open bids before awarding a $794,790 contract to AECOM Technical Services in May 2019. The auditors’ office told CT Examiner that AECOM’s contract was later increased in October 2021 to $2.4 million. It was the second contract over $50,000 that auditors had found the authority awarded without an open bid. The authority also said it updated its contracting procedures in 2022 after working with the state budget office and the State Contracting Standards Board.

State Audit Finds Port Authority Failed to Bid Out $800K Contract

State officials made a trip to Greenwich Friday to visit some sites that may be eligible for Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act money, including the neglected dam on the Pemberwick River that hadn’t been inspected in more than a decade. Connecticut is slated to receive several billion dollars from the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, also known as the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, and Gov. Ned Lamont has tasked Boughton with managing the influx of funds. The Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act is a $1 trillion spending package designed to revamp the nation’s roads, bridges, transportation and more in the coming years. President Biden signed the bill into law in November 2021 and money is flowing out to states, towns and counties now. The three sites in Greenwich have previously been identified as needing expensive repairs.

https://www.chron.com/news/article/infrastructure-czar-visits-3-greenwich-sites-18270002.php

Plans were filed this week seeking state and federal approvals for a proposed access road into 384 acres of land in Occum, where Norwich plans to create a second business park. Each of three large condo lots shown on plans filed in the Norwich city clerk’s office shows proposed divisions into smaller pieces. The plan shows a 66-acre condo parcel east of Canterbury Turnpike, a 216-acre piece between Canterbury Turnpike and Lawler Lane running along Interstate 395 and a 27-acre piece west of Lawler Lane. NCDC last week selected the national firm Cushman & Wakefield Commercial Real Estate Brokers, with an office in Hartford, to market the lots. NCDC President Kevin Brown said NCDC officials will meet with the Hartford office Executive Director Sean Duffy on Aug. 16 to discuss marketing ideas. The roadway now needs state and federal environmental approvals and approval from the state Department of Transportation’s Office of State Traffic Administration. NCDC officials hope for quick approvals to start road construction this fall.

https://www.theday.com/local-news/20230802/norwich-second-business-park-moving-forward/#

New luxury apartments, designed to ease pressure on the local housing market as Electric Boat ramps up hiring, are coming to the site of the former William Seely School off Route 12. The 304-unit housing development, called Triton Square, will feature a yoga studio, pool, pickle ball courts, a dog run and co-working spaces. It is the first redevelopment project involving Groton’s excess school properties to begin construction, local officials said. The idea is to attract workers to the region, said project leaders and officials. Construction already has started on the apartment building at the 14-acre site. The DiGioias said DonMar Development, along with LakeMarsh Investments and the Simon Konover Group, are the project developers. ELV Associates is an equity partner and Fairfield County Bank is a lender. Haynes Construction is the construction company, Sullivan Architectural Group the architecture firm, and SLR Consulting the civil engineer.

https://www.theday.com/local-news/20230802/luxury-housing-at-seely-school-site-seen-as-boon-to-eb-workers/#

Meriden-Markham Municipal Airport will receive a $1.4 million grant from the federal government to repave the southern section of its taxiway, the latest in a series of improvements to the municipal airport. The funding was awarded through the Federal Aviation Administration’s Airport Improvement Program and will finish the replacement of the airport’s southern taxiway, which is covered in large cracks and overgrown with weeds. Constance Castillo, manager of Meriden-Markham Municipal Airport, said that the completion of the project is only the beginning of what they wish to be a larger revitalization of the airport space. Though there is no timeline for further projects, she spoke of a desire to extend their services to build even more hangers to accommodate a growing waitlist.

https://www.myrecordjournal.com/News/Meriden/Meriden-News/Meriden-airport-receives-$1-4-for-airstrip-redevelopment.html

The ongoing effort to remove thousands of truck loads of toxic waste buried across town by the defunct Raymark Industries is now expected to cost around $140 million, according to the Environmental Protection Agency. That figure is up from the $95 million the agency originally estimated seven years ago it would take to dig up and consolidate the polluted soil, Jim DiLorenzo, an environmental engineer who is leading the yearslong project, announced at a recent public meeting. As of July, the agency has spent $64 million to clean up nearly two dozen properties where Raymark, an automotive parts manufacturer, dumped waste decades ago contaminated with cancer-causing agents such as asbestos, lead and polychlorinated biphenyls or PCBs. DiLorenzo said it will likely take up to an additional $40 million to complete the project. But he said the agency has already secured those funds as part of the $1 trillion bipartisan infrastructure bill President Joe Biden signed into law in 2021.

https://www.ctpost.com/news/article/epa-raymark-waste-cleanup-costs-stratford-18271039.php?src=rdctpdensecp

This proposal, called Alternative 26, includes plans to smooth traffic flow off Main Avenue by adding new exits and entrance ramps that connect to both Route 7 and the Merritt. Additionally, proposed improvements to the Route 15 and Main Avenue ramps would address the substandard acceleration lanes, steep changes in grade, sharp curves and limited sight distance in an effort to increase safety. These factors contribute to a high number of crashes on the Merritt Parkway. On Aug. 16 at 7 p.m. in the community room at City Hall, the public is invited to weigh in on the latest Route 7/Merritt interchange plans.

https://www.stamfordadvocate.com/news/article/route-7-15-interchange-merritt-parkway-improvement-18271885.php