After being in the works for five years, a plan to expand Hamden Middle School to accommodate sixth-grade students has been nixed, but the reason for the decision depends on whom you ask. The expansion would have allowed the district to move sixth graders from the elementary schools to the middle school, offering them more learning opportunities and freeing up space for universal pre-K.
It originally was part of the Reimagine, Restructure, Results Initiative, a $30 million districtwide proposal approved in 2019 aimed at addressing declining enrollment and impending racial imbalances in the district. By late last year, the middle school expansion was all that remained. By then, the estimated cost of the project had gone up to approximately $22 million — double the $11 million price tag the council originally authorized. In the meantime, the board is going back to the drawing board to come up with a redistricting plan.

https://www.stamfordadvocate.com/news/article/hamden-middle-school-expansion-nixed-18100560.php

Nearly all workers in Connecticut, regardless of industry, could soon be eligible for up to two weeks of paid sick leave each year under legislation approved by Senate lawmakers on Thursday. The bill currently before lawmakers would expand that eligibility to all private-sector workers, with the sole exception of construction workers who are covered by collective bargaining agreements. In addition, covered employees would be able to accrue sick time faster, gaining up to 80 hours — two weeks — of time off each year. The proposal has elicited the strong support of unions, workers and physicians, who touted the health benefits of allowing workers the ease of taking time off to care for themselves and family members. According to legislative analysts, the bill would extend paid sick leave to 1.6 million workers in Connecticut. After roughly two hours of debate Thursday, the Senate voted 20 to 12 along party lines in favor of the legislation, sending it to the House for further consideration.

https://www.stamfordadvocate.com/politics/article/ct-paid-sick-leave-law-expand-most-workers-2-weeks-18107077.php

A pair of new schools that will form a K-8 campus in the Cove neighborhood will cost the city roughly $65.8 million, according to early estimates. The money will go toward building two new schools a mile apart — a K-4 facility at 83 Lockwood Ave. and a new 5-8 school at the current site of K.T. Murphy Elementary School on Horton Street — and would involve demolishing current structures at each location and also tearing down Toquam Magnet Elementary School. The total price tag for the work is $158.3 million, but the city is expected to receive state funding for approximately 60 percent of the total cost. The Board of Representatives will cast a final vote on the funding on June 5. If approved, the plan would need to be submitted to the state by the end of June in order to be considered for reimbursement.

https://www.stamfordadvocate.com/local/article/stamford-s-proposed-south-side-school-cost-city-18106783.php

Eversource’s “Stevenson to Pootatuck Rebuild Project,” which entails rebuilding existing 115 kV transmission lines between Stevenson Substation in Monroe and Pootatuck Substation in Shelton, began in late February and is expected to last through the end of the year. New infrastructure improvements include the installation of new monopoles and new wires. The Eversource crews have placed “trail closed” signs wherever the hiking trails intersect or follow the powerline corridor. Eversource has also erected construction fencing across the trail, which Gallagher says the city suggested they do because “our experience shows that some trail users disregard signs and pass through the Trails Committee’s active work zones, even under leaning trees that are in the process of being cut down with a chainsaw.

https://www.stamfordadvocate.com/news/article/eversource-power-line-build-close-parts-shelton-18106415.php

An attorney for a developer proposing 65 apartments at the former Colonel Ledyard School property, which is within walking distance of Electric Boat, said Tuesday that creating “attainable housing” is a driving force for the project. Bill Sweeney, who represents Bellsite Development LLC of Manchester, the developer of the former school site on 120 West Street, said at a public hearing that while the proposed development calls for market-rate housing and not deed-restricted affordable housing, it targets people who are part of a growing workforce in Groton and want to live in the community. Bellsite, the developer for the town-owned site located in the city, presented its plans Tuesday to the city’s Planning and Zoning Commission to convert the former elementary school building into 29 apartments and construct 36 additional apartments on site. Bellock said the project would substantially preserve the original school building. The first phase of the project calls for renovating the school and adding a second story to it. This phase would create 27 one-bedroom units and two 2-bedroom units. The second phase includes the construction of six attached three-bedroom townhome units to the east of the front parking lot, as well as a 30-unit apartment building — with 20 one-bedroom units and 10 two-bedroom units — to the rear of the school building.

https://www.theday.com/local-news/20230517/colonel-ledyard-school-apartment-plans-presented-to-groton-commission/#

As the Wilton Planning & Zoning Commission considers a proposal for a new four-story hotel on the town’s side of the iPark complex, owners of the campus outlined its plans to also build a parking garage and apartments on the Norwalk side. The P&Z Commission will continue the public hearing for iPark Hotel, a 120-room hotel proposed for the iPark mixed-use campus on the Wilton-Norwalk border, at its meeting on May 22. Plans for the proposed four-story building on Cannondale Way were approved by the Architectural Review Board last November. This would be the first within the town’s borders. The plans for a hotel in Wilton have been in the works for many years. The Planning and Zoning Commission voted in 2016 to allow hotels under the town’s zoning regulations, with this specific project in mind. Wilton currently has no hotels.

https://www.stamfordadvocate.com/news/article/wilton-hotel-ipark-cannondale-way-18099597.php

The 877 Ethan Allen Highway property will be sold for $441,000 to the Ridgefield Professional Office Complex, which aims to build 71 townhouses and 21 apartments, including 14 units that will be designated as affordable. The property, also known as the “Village at Ponds Edge,” is home to one of the town’s sewer plants. The majority of the proposed development would be built on a neighboring 27 acres surrounding the 877 Ethan Allen Highway land. The property sale was approved during a May 10 special town meeting, but the development project requires further land use approvals. There is no date yet for construction to begin. Remediation would be needed to clean up contamination that has collected on the site. The WPCA will cover the cost of all the remediation, Marconi said. While the sale of the property has been approved, the town’s Inland Wetlands Board and Planning & Zoning Commission will address the intended use of the property at their next meetings. The property was on the agenda for the Planning & Zoning Commission’s May 16 meeting and the Inland Wetlands Board’s May 25 meeting.

https://www.stamfordadvocate.com/news/article/ridgefield-ponds-edge-sale-housing-18099738.php

CT Century Gardens, run by Albert Gad, has been fighting the condemnation in state Superior Court since January and also earlier this month placed the factory on the market for $6.5 million. While CT Century Gardens wants $6.5 million, the building has been appraised by the city’s tax assessor at $1.9 million. “Someone’s not going to be able to come in there and buy that and rehab it at their price. It wouldn’t make economic sense,” Bridgeport Economic Development Director Thomas Gill said in an interview late last week. Meanwhile a remote court hearing on the condemnation and pending demolition was scheduled for Tuesday. According to the Bridgeport tax collector’s online database, which covers 2016 through present, CT Century Gardens has mostly kept up with the tax bill for the property, most recently paying $65,639. But a lien was placed on the site for 2020’s tax payment. No additional information was immediately available.

https://www.ctpost.com/news/article/bridgeport-seeks-demolish-long-abandoned-warnaco-18095794.php?src=rdctpdensecp

With an official construction kickoff Tuesday in Middletown, Springside moved closer to becoming one of the largest new apartment complexes in central Connecticut: Plans call for 414 units. Middletown negotiated two unusual provisions when it granted tax breaks to developers PB Development and Harbor Group International. The companies agreed to earmark $1 million of the construction budget for minority-owned contractors, and also pledged to provide $100,000 in local business gift cards to tenants in the 414 apartments. The developers recruited Marshall to run the set-aside program, and he said Tuesday that Springside is more than housing. The first phase of Springside should take 27 months to complete, and will produce 240 units, Dale said. The second phase will build another 174. Dale said he would like to begin construction on phase two sometime during phase one, but said that could be held off depending on market conditions. The cost of the first phase has been estimated at $83 million. Dale on Tuesday said the cost of the entire project will be over $100 million, but cited construction inflation as one reason he wouldn’t give a more precise figure.

Middletown housing complex ‘breaks ground’ with offering private money for minority contractors

The Connecticut Water Co. will invest $60 million this year on more than 100 infrastructure upgrades and improvement projects, officials with the Clinton-based utility have announced. Connecticut Water, which serves more than 350,000 people in 60 communities in the state, will be replacing components of its distribution network that are between 40-and-100-years old. One of the larger projects is a new $12 million water treatment facility being built in East Windsor to serve customers in north central Connecticut, according to Dan Meaney, a spokesman for the utility. It will take the efforts of about 260 construction workers to complete this year’s improvement projects. A majority of the improvements are being done by outside contractors hired by Connecticut Water, Meaney said. Connecticut Water is also installing a 275 kilowatt array of solar panels in Clinton to offset the power needs of the company’s Clinton office, as well as the southern region work center and two electric vehicle charging stations, which are need because the utility is electrifying part of its fleet. Work on the solar array got underway last month and will be completed by the end of June.

https://www.stamfordadvocate.com/business/article/utility-to-spend-60m-on-system-improvements-18099416.php