State officials are planning changes to the Bishops Corner intersection at North Main Street and Albany Avenue, citing that the area is “unfavorable for pedestrian travel.” The state’s efforts to improve pedestrian safety in West Hartford comes as the town embarks on its own Vision Zero process to do the same. The town took the Vision Zero pledge in January after experiencing six roadway deaths — three of those being pedestrians who were struck by cars — in 2022. Vision Zero looks to eliminate all roadway fatalities and serious injuries within the next 10 years. The estimated cost of the Bishops Corner intersection overhaul is $5,585,050, the state said. Construction is expected to begin in the summer of 2025. Funding is expected to be made up of 80 percent federal funding and 20 percent state funding.

https://www.stamfordadvocate.com/westhartford/article/west-hartford-ct-bishops-corner-intersection-18175401.php

The cargo ship Trina arrived at Adm. Harold E. Shear State Pier from Denmark Wednesday morning, ready to offload 16 huge tower pieces that will be used to assemble Ørsted’s first four wind turbines. Its arrival marks the first time that the 200-ton tower sections, each measuring 65 to 100 feet long, had been transported to the terminal. The towers will be a major component of the turbine assembly to be overseen by Danish wind power company Ørsted that is expected to be in full swing within the next few months. The business is technically still a partnership between Ørsted and Eversouce Energy, though Eversource is in the process of selling its interest. While the Connecticut Port Authority had previously expected to greet the arrival of the first large wind turbine parts with a major event and speeches by dignitaries, Hammond said current plans are to celebrate in August or September.

https://www.theday.com/local-news/20230628/first-wind-industry-turbine-towers-arrive-at-new-londons-state-pier/

Bronin has requested the city council authorize him to enter into a tax-fixing agreement, purchase and sales agreement, development agreement, and ground lease for 17 Bartholomew Ave. The underutilized downtown parking lot is owned by Carlos Mouta of 17-35 Bartholomew Avenue LLC, who is seeking a public/private partnership with the city in his vision for a $16.72 million mixed-use development in the Parkville Arts & Innovation District. Mouta plans to subdivide the property into two parcels. The Parcel A project will be partially financed with a $5.5 million CT Communities Challenge grant to help build 57 apartments, 30% of which would be affordable, and first-floor commercial space in a new multi-story building. Parcel B would become a public parking garage for 350 to 400 vehicles. The agreement will go to a public hearing July 17. Mouta said he’d like to see a groundbreaking by the end of the year.

Bronin eyes tax deal for Parkville mixed-use development

A plan to develop more than 200 acres got closer to realty with the recent announcement of $3 million in federal community project funding. “Every day there’s an article in the paper about the housing crisis affecting families,” DeLauro, who represents the 3rd District, said at a press conference inside Seymour Town Hall Tuesday. The planned two-mile road connecting Route 67 in Seymour and Route 42 in Beacon Falls, DeLauro said, would open up access to a future development similar to the nearby Quarry Walk in Oxford, which was built on the site of the former Haynes Stone Quarry, and includes a mix of retail, light industrial and residential use. Tom Haynes, whose company Haynes Construction built Quarry Walk, called the planned 220-acre development on the Seymour, Beacon Falls line a blank canvas where the company could apply the lessons learned at Quarry Walk.

https://www.stamfordadvocate.com/news/article/seymour-beacon-falls-development-access-road-18173071.php

State funding is ready for a streetscape improvement project for downtown Plantsville that’s been in the works for well over a decade. The $4.3 million project will realign the West Main Street and Route 10 intersection slightly to improve site lines in addition to providing other safety and aesthetics upgrades for the area. Funding is coming from the state Department of Transportation. On Monday, the Town Council selected Paramount Construction LLC of Newington to do the work. The total contract amount includes a 10% contingency and 10% earmarked for incidentals. Concrete posts along the road are in the plans for the streetscape project, although they’re designed to prevent street parking rather than stop cars. The project will also make improvements to the Farmington Canal Heritage trail crossing to make it safer for pedestrians.

https://www.myrecordjournal.com/News/Southington/Southington-News/Southington-leaders-pick-contractor-for-Plantsville-improvements

Hamden is seeking $5 million from the state’s Community Investment Fund, a portion of which would help repair the tennis courts. The rest would go toward updating and renovating the neighboring Louis Astorino Ice Arena. The Legislative Council on Tuesday voted to give the town administration permission to submit the CIF application. The tennis courts, which are used by Hamden High School’s tennis team, have large cracks in them. Officials described their state of disrepair as a safety issue. As for the ice rink, Garrett said it has its own safety issue: its cooling system, which uses the chemical ammonia, has come under the scrutiny of the Environmental Protection Agency in recent years. While the rink is town-owned, it is managed by a private company called 595 Mix Management, LLC, which operates under a contract with the town. Donohue is a co-owner of the business, state business records show.

https://www.nhregister.com/news/article/hamden-seeks-5-million-for-rink-18166140.php?src=nhrhpdesecp

Lewis Brown, principal of affordable housing developer Honeycomb Real Estate Partners, expects to launch a $26 million transformation of the run-down West Hartford Inn into 44 affordable apartments this fall. Soaring interest rates and construction costs, along with historic levels of state funding, have some of the biggest names in Connecticut’s multifamily development sector moving to add affordable housing to their portfolios. Brown, for example, is in talks with Zelman, Krohn and well-known Hartford developer Martin Kenny, of Lexington Partners, about potential projects. Krohn isn’t exiting the market-rate space. He said he’s advancing a pipeline of about 500 market-rate units. But adding affordable projects to the mix will help him keep busy, and allow his company, Jasko Development, to retain its roughly 20-person construction team.

Facing higher construction costs and interest rates, some developers turn to affordable housing projects

For decades, homes in Hartford’s North End have been plagued by regular flooding, and nobody took responsibility for fixing the problem. But on Monday, state and local officials, led by Gov. Lamont and U.S. Senator Richard Blumenthal, announced a $170 million project to correct decades of environmental injustice. The $85 million to pay the state’s portion will come from the Clean Water Fund, which is administered by the state Department of Energy and Environmental Protection, to implement a pilot program that will address sewage overflows in streets and basements homes and businesses in North Hartford. DEEP Commissioner Katie Dykes said the funds will be applied to 12 projects proposed by the Metropolitan District Commission to increase protections from sewer and stormwater-related flooding and backups in North Hartford. Five projects are slated to begin in 2023, six projects will begin in 2024, and one project will begin in 2025. Officials expect the first shovels in the ground by the end of summer.

Hartford’s North End flooding woes to be addressed with $170M

The exact amount of stolen wages in Connecticut is unknown, but some insight can be gleaned from complaints filed by workers to the departments of labor at both the state and federal levels, which investigate these complaints and can order employers to pay back wages. Based on investigations of those complaints, the U.S. Department of Labor determined that Connecticut employers owed workers more than $10.3 million from January 2012 to April 2023. From 2019 through 2022, the Connecticut Department of Labor ordered employers to pay almost $17 million in stolen wages after investigations. Any wages ordered to be paid back from judgments by courts or by the National Labor Relations Board fall outside the labor departments’ figures and are hard to quantify due to how cases are recorded. And unreported wage theft could surpass all other categories. Complicating matters, the state Department of Labor says it is dealing with a critical backlog of cases. Legislation to boost staffing levels failed to pass this year.

Wage theft in CT: Millions stolen from workers since 2019

The U.S. Department of Transportation has awarded New London $17 million for planned transit-related infrastructure improvements downtown, the largest portion going toward expansion of the city’s Water Street parking garage, U.S. Rep. Joe Courtney, D-2nd, announced on Thursday. The city has for years sought federal funds for the garage expansion and improvements that would alleviate pedestrian safety and congestion concerns in the area, especially in anticipation of the completion of the National Coast Guard Museum on the city’s waterfront. Initial plans for the garage expansion would add 400 spaces ― it currently has 910 ― to the top three floors of the five-floor garage and expand the garage over the existing surface lot adjacent to Water Street. The $150 million museum project, now under construction and expected to be completed in 2025, is expected to draw an estimated 300,000 people a year to the city in an area that is already home to the parking garage, train station, busing hub and waterfront ferry service. A portion of the grant is also earmarked for support of the $20 million state-funded pedestrian bridge that links the museum and the parking garage and will carry visitors over Water Street and the railroad tracks.

https://www.theday.com/local-news/20230623/new-london-to-get-17-million-for-transit-hub-improvements/