The Department of Energy and Environmental Protection walked back what local leaders thought was a $17 million grant for sewer construction in the beach communities, instead saying that the agency is looking at a variety of federal funding options for the project. Under the program, the sewer project already qualifies for a 25% grant and a 75% loan at 2% interest for 20 years. With the additional 25% would bring coverage of the project to 50%, which would potentially bring the price of the project for each homeowner to pre-pandemic levels, Carney said. But, he said, there are many, many steps to the funding process. “I just want to make it clear – nothing is a done deal. I don’t want anybody to think, oh, we’re definitely getting this money,” he said. Carney said it was important that DEEP come to Old Lyme to explain to residents and property owners exactly how the funding will work.

After Closed Meeting, DEEP Walks Back Old Lyme Expectations For $17m Sewer Grant

The committee alders voted unanimously in support of a resolution authorizing the city to apply for $32.1 million in grant money as part of Round 2 of the state’s $800 million Community Investment Fund (CIF). Piscitelli explained that the city is seeking $25 million in state aid for a suite of improvements to Long Wharf, including knocking down the former Gateway Community College building on Sargent Drive to help make way for the relocation of Gateway’s automotive trade school; redesigning and elevating Long Wharf Drive to protect the roadway from floods; creating a new community marina that would allow sailboats to access the area around the Canal Dock Boathouse; and developing a larger Long Wharf park complete with a 20-foot-wide waterfront promenade, fewer lanes for driving, more space for parking, and a dedicated tent-covered area for picnicking and enjoying food from the nearby taco trucks. The move to lift Long Wharf Drive, Piscitelli said, stems in part from Fusco Corporation’s planned development of 500 new apartments along the water nearby.

https://www.newhavenindependent.org/article/long_wharf_downtown

Officials this week announced the time is here to begin a $148 million construction project at the Exit 74 interchange of Interstate 95 that’s been touted as one of the largest in the state. The goal is to reduce congestion and improve safety on the highway and Route 161, the underlying state road leading to the shore. Connecticut Department of Transportation spokeswoman Shannon King Burnham described the expanse of I-95 here as one of the most heavily traveled in the state. The project is currently among the largest in eastern Connecticut and the state. The contractor is Plainville-based Manafort Brothers Inc. Route 161 beneath the highway is slated for complete closure overnight when the bridge is demolished and when the steel girders go up, she said. The rest of the work will include reduced lanes but no anticipated road closures on the state road.

https://www.theday.com/local-news/20230316/east-lyme-braces-for-more-than-4-years-of-snarled-traffic/

Residents are set to vote Thursday on funding approval for the abatement, demolition and remediation of a blighted property where housing and retail space is proposed. A potable well sampling conducted at the site that year identified the dry cleaning solvent perchloroethylene in soil and groundwater, and the roughly 4,700-square-foot building on property — which was condemned in 2011 — has accrued over $80,000 in blight violation fines. With the current owner and other developers unwilling to do so, the town has teamed up with Unicorn Contracting Corporation — the same company that developed the Brookfield Village apartments at the corner of Federal and Station roads — to clean up and redevelop 20 Station Road.

https://www.stamfordadvocate.com/news/article/brookfield-20-station-road-contamination-develop-17838170.php

The state has awarded the borough a $3 million grant from Community Investment Fund 2030 to develop the former Uniroyal site. The award is part of a $98.5 million package doled out to more than two dozen municipalities and agencies, including $921,000 for Grace House Capital Improvements in Waterbury; $6.8 million for Route 72 corridor improvement in Bristol; $1.4 million for the Family Wellness Center of McCall Behavioral Health Network in Torrington and $250,000 for the Plymouth transformational plan. CIF works to foster economic development in historically underserved communities across the state.

https://www.rep-am.com/localnews/2023/03/15/naugatuck-getting-3m-grant-for-industrial-park-waterbury-torrington-agencies-also-aided/

A large group of residents are opposing plans by NE Edge, LLC to construct a data center on Millstone Nuclear Power station property. A petition opposing the project by the group “Protect Waterford” has collected nearly 700 signatures. The group is concerned about noise from the project, as well as what they say is NE Edge’s lack of experience and troubled background. First Selectman Rob Brule said he has heard the concerns of residents who have called and emailed him and that he will not act to the detriment of the town. According to the agreement, the town would receive more than $231 million in lieu of taxes over 30 years from NE Edge. This would make NE Edge the second-largest taxpayer in town behind Dominion Energy, LLC, the owner of Millstone.

https://www.theday.com/local-news/20230315/waterford-first-selectman-addresses-concerns-about-proposed-data-center/

Bowman, of Miller, Wolff, Napolitano LLC, says Monday night’s vote comes after “a long 20 years” of various efforts to transform several lots on the north end property into a complex that is now projected to feature a gas station and a convenience store, a hotel, a grocer, restaurants, and other anticipated retail uses, along with new housing already underway. Commission members were largely enthusiastic in their comments following the public hearings on a series of applications, which did not draw any public input. In a separate set of waiver applications, project engineer Darin Overton, of SLR Consulting, described some of the earthwork plans. In order to create a flat pad for the retail stores, the level of the development will be below the level of Route 10. The work will also involve disturbing more than five acres at a time, due to the scope of the project.

https://www.myrecordjournal.com/News/Cheshire-Citizen/Cheshire-News/PZC-approves-Stone-Bridge-Crossing-commercial-applications-in-Cheshire

A North Carolina-based real estate developer has purchased the southwest corner of the ex-Coliseum site for over $10.6 million — furthering an already-city-approved plan to build up that part of the property into a new 11-story lab and office building. The seller of that property is an affiliate of Spinnaker Real Estate Partners, the Norwalk-based firm that is overseeing the broader redevelopment of the former Coliseum site into hundreds of new apartments, parking spaces, and shops as part of a project called ​“Square 10.” The buyer of the property is an affiliate of Ancora, a Durham, N.C.-based science-focused real estate developer. “The project has been reviewed and approved by the Ancora L&G Investment Committee, and the company’s leadership remains supportive of the project,” Parker wrote. ​“Specifically, approval has included closing on the land acquisition of Parcel 1C and spending the necessary capital to advance the project to GMP and construction readiness. Construction is projected to begin this summer.”

https://www.newhavenindependent.org/article/coliseum_phase_1c

The town plans to borrow up to $10 million to repair roads and up to $5 million to fix roofs on several schools and municipal buildings over the next few years. By June 30, 2024, the town aims to repair Candlewood Lake Road North, Buckingham Road, Big Bear Hill Road and Little Bear Hill Road, officials said. That work will cost around $2.5 million. For roof repair, Hill & Plain and Northville Elementary Schools are on the list. The road work involves chip sealing, milling and putting new gravel down on dirt roads. It will begin when the asphalt plants open at the end of March, said Mayor Pete Bass, adding everything in regard to outside work is weather dependent. Bass said the roofs on Hill & Plain and Northville Elementary Schools are at the end of their life. He said roofs typically have a life span of 20 years.

https://www.newstimes.com/news/article/new-milford-borrow-15m-roads-roof-repair-17838765.php?src=nthpdesecp

On Monday night, Superintendent Tamu Lucero hosted a virtual public meeting about the proposed new school — to be split between a new school building at the current location of K.T. Murphy Elementary School and a building at 83 Lockwood Ave. that used to house Rogers Magnet Elementary School. Officials have long discussed opening a new school in the under-served portion of the city south of Interstate 95, but finding a spot with enough space for a K-8 school proved challenging. The plan is to start construction on a K-4 school at the Lockwood site in the summer of 2025, with an expected opening for the 2028-29 school year. Students from Murphy and fifth-grade students would be moved to the new facility that school year. Construction on a new Murphy school would begin in the summer of 2028 at the current site, with the new building opening in 2030 as a school for students from fifth to eighth grade. At that time, the Lockwood building would eliminate its fifth grade.

https://www.stamfordadvocate.com/news/article/one-school-two-campuses-south-stamford-school-17838886.php?src=sthpdesecp