After more than eight years of groundwork, plans for a major residential development along the Rippowam River in downtown Stamford received approval Monday night from the city’s Zoning Board. The development will create 471 new apartments in two seven-story residential buildings — one on each side of Clinton Avenue, between Division Street and Richmond Hill Avenue. That portion of riverwalk has yet to be constructed, though. The applicant, New York developer Carmel Partners, said they would build it out in a letter of intent sent to city officials Jan. 24. The developer requested $1.6 million from Stamford for “designing, permitting and/or constructing” the riverwalk, according to the letter. The project was approved with a number of site-specific conditions, which are subject to approval either by the Zoning Board or by the city’s Land Use Bureau staff.

https://www.stamfordadvocate.com/local/article/stamford-gets-471-apartment-development-along-17864728.php?src=sthpdesecp

Hamilton Park’s pool, bathhouse, “Bubble” building, and athletic center are scheduled to be demolished next month, signifying the beginning of phase 1 of a massive renovation project at the 92-acre park that has been three years in the making. At the Board of Aldermen meeting on April 10, the board is scheduled to decide whether to approve a multimillion-dollar contract to construct a new pool, a 3,200-square feet pool house, and a promenade adjacent to Seven Angels Theatre. These projects are all part of Phase 1, which Mayor Neil O’Leary said is expected to cost $8 million, which will be funded with American Rescue Plan Act funds. Officials are recommending the road closure because Hamilton Park Road over the years has been used as a shortcut from East Main Street to Plank Road, where there have been car accidents involving pedestrians. The pedestrian and safety improvements are not part of Phase 1 but city officials say the goal is to do every single item on the master plan contingent on funding and grants.

https://www.rep-am.com/localnews/2023/03/27/pool-bathhouse-to-go-as-hamilton-park-project-begins/

KARM Properties is interested in a tax abatement for development at 95 John Weichsel Crossing, a small road off Queen Street near the Hartford HealthCare HealthCenter and just south of the I-84 ramps. The property is in an enterprise zone, which allows the possibility of a tax abatement that’s partially funded by the state. Mark Sciota, Southington’s town manager, said the council could vote to send the tax abatement question to the Southington Enterprise Zone and Economic Development Committee (SEED). Such tax abatements help encourage development, according to town officials. Southington’s location and attractions draw people from the state and region, she said, so it’s not surprising that a hotel was looking to start up. That might even be welcome to other hotels that at times struggle to keep enough rooms available.

https://www.myrecordjournal.com/News/Southington/Southington-News/Hotel-under-consideration-for-Southington-s-Queen-Street

An expansion of Connecticut Children’s in Hartford that would roughly double the size of the hospital could come with an equally imposing $47 million parking garage on the opposite side of Washington Street, rising as high as 8 stories with 900 parking spaces. The proposed parking garage, at the southwest corner of Washington and Lincoln streets, would accompany a new, $280 million tower now under construction across the street on Connecticut Children’s campus. But the garage also is stirring debate in the city’s surrounding Frog Hollow neighborhood, not only for its size but for a design that doesn’t do enough to add life to the streetscape and better blend into the neighborhood. Connecticut Children’s said it has worked with the Frog Hollow Neighborhood Revitalization Zone since last fall to improve its design, adding more storefront space and cloaking the garage with a mesh that would mask the parking decks that could be covered with murals designed by local artists.

$327M Connecticut Children’s Hartford expansion stirs debate with included $47M parking garage

Massachusetts-based Campanelli Construction is proposing a 1.1 million-square-foot, 55-foot-tall warehouse on the site at the intersection of Interstate 84 and Route 89 in the northern section of town, a parcel that includes the Ashford Motel. The structure would be about the same size as the Buckland Hills Mall in Manchester. Any construction is a long way off, as the Planning and Zoning Commission is considering amending its regulations to allow for a building on the site to be as tall as 55 feet. Developers of the proposed warehouse would have to return to get the commission’s approval for a special permit to begin construction, a lengthy process that would also include more public hearings.

Proposed warehouse in Ashford has many in the ‘Quiet Corner’ up in arms

After many months of presentations, public hearings and deliberations, the Zoning Commission narrowly denied the Halls Road Overlay District application that would have allowed the construction of mixed use buildings in the town’s main commercial district. At Monday’s special meeting, the application received three votes of approval and two against, which normally would have counted as an approval. But due to a negative referral from the Planning Commission in January, the application required a supermajority vote, or four out of the commission’s five votes. The commission approved a maximum length of 125 feet per building, as well as a building maximum of 10,000 square feet. The maximum building height was lowered from 40 feet to 35 feet, and the maximum lot coverage was lowered from 50 percent to 40 percent because the area is in the town’s conservation zone – and its regulations would supersede the overlay district’s, said Marsh.

Short by One Vote, Halls Road Overlay District Defeated in Old Lyme

The developer who wants to build a self-storage facility at the site of a long-shuttered Stop & Shop on Madison Ave. said he requested this week’s zoning hearing be delayed another month to incorporate “some changes” into his plan. But those who have been urging Hugh Scott to completely scrap his proposal and replace it with affordable/senior housing may not want to get their hopes up just yet. This is the second delay. His proposal was originally supposed to be brought to the zoning board in February. Scott bought the property a year-and-a-half ago for $4 million. At a public meeting last month at the North End Library organized by council members Michelle Lyons and AmyMarie Vizzo-Paniccia, he sought to convince the audience of around 50 people that he had studied various possibilities and a self-storage facility was the most realistic, and least intrusive and disruptive, use of the old store.

https://www.ctpost.com/news/article/stop-shop-owner-making-some-changes-17862811.php?src=rdctpdensecp

The person hired to replace Konstantinos Diamantis to steer the state’s school construction grant program has resigned after barely four months on the job. Douglas Rogers resigned from his job as director of the Office of School Construction Grants & Review on March 13 in an email to the state Department of Administrative Services human resources department. The email didn’t give a reason for his sudden departure. In an interview this week, Rogers said he couldn’t adjust to the slow pace of state government work. He was hired after an extensive search to replace Diamantis, who was removed as the director in October 2021 after state officials were informed that a federal grand jury was investigating several school constructions projects.

https://www.stamfordadvocate.com/news/education/article/head-ct-s-controversial-school-construction-17863311.php

The landmark State Capitol building, completed in 1878 as a memorial to the Civil War, is crumbling and needs more than $54 million in repairs, cleaning and renovations, according to estimates that could increase by 4 percent or more annually as building officials await funding from the General Assembly. While there was an extensive, 10-year renovation that began in the late-1970s, building officials have mostly triaged problems as they occurred since then. On Tuesday, Pencz and other legislative management officials told the advisory State Capitol Preservation and Restoration Commission — a group of appointed state officials, former lawmakers and former legislative administrators — that there will be a final project plan after the General Assembly ends in June, around the time work finally starts on the leaky skylights.

https://12ft.io/proxy?q=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.nhregister.com%2Fpolitics%2Farticle%2Fct-state-capitol-building-renovations-17852273.php%3Fsrc%3Dnhrhppromostrip

City officials approved plans for a mixed-use, 77-unit project in the East Norwalk Village on Wednesday, calling opposition to the project by more than 700 neighbors misplaced frustration with recent zoning changes to encourage development in the “stagnant” area. A petition signed by 731 residents called on the developers, Spinnaker Real Estate Partners and M.F. DiScala & Co., to scale back the project, citing concerns of increased traffic on busy, local roadways and potential environmental impacts on water and air quality. But at the Wednesday Planning and Zoning Commission meeting, an attorney for the developers told local officials the vast majority of neighbor opposition was not about the impacts of the development itself, but the zoning that allows it to be built.

City Officials Approve 77-Unit Development for ‘Stagnant’ East Norwalk Under New Zoning Rules