The Board of Selectmen, in a joint meeting Wednesday with the Representative Town Meeting, agreed to become the host municipality for a data center project, the first of its kind per Attorney William McCoy, who represents the developer, NE Edge, LLC. The town is set to receive more than $231 million over 30 years from the developer, including nearly $18.6 million in the first year of the deal. Payments would increase annually and would make NE Edge the second-largest taxpayer in town behind Dominion Energy, LLC. The project would generate between 1,500 and 2,000 construction jobs, which union representatives such as Keith Brothers, the general vice president of Connecticut American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations, and Chris Bachant, a council representative for the Carpenters Local 326 Labor Union, strongly supported. McCoy said the construction is expected to take five years to complete and will start with the larger of the two buildings.

https://www.theday.com/local-news/20230223/waterford-opens-the-door-to-data-centers-at-millstone/

A proposed 57-unit apartment complex on Route 25 has cleared one hurdle, and now has one more to go. The Trumbull Planning & Zoning Commission last week approved the proposal by 7182 Main Street, LLC, and 7192 Main Street, LLC, which includes a requirement to accept any requests from the town planner to adjust the project’s landscape plan. The proposed development, called Gateway Commons, is located at 7180 and 7192 Main St., and includes a three-story building with a basement. The building’s first floor would consist of retail or restaurant space, while residents would have access to a lobby and area for an exercise room and work space. The proposed development is located near a pond connecting to the Pequonnock River. On the other side of the site runs the “Rails-to-Trails” walking and biking path in Monroe.

https://www.ctpost.com/news/article/trumbull-officials-main-street-complex-no-action-17791579.php?src=rdctpdensecp

The city has placed the former Harding High School property on the market, and several officials said neighbor Bridgeport Hospital aims to submit an offer to expand in some capacity onto the site. The city’s economic development department began accepting requests for proposals from prospective developers for the site Jan. 18. The deadline is March 2. Nick Roussas runs the Mill Hill Neighborhood Revitalization Zone, one of a group of NRZs around town established to weigh in on economic developments in their respective sections of Bridgeport. He said while housing is needed, a larger Bridgeport Hospital would mean more jobs. “It’s a win-win situation, either way,” Williams said. “Let them work that out and see what happens.”

https://www.stamfordadvocate.com/news/article/bridgeport-hospital-harding-high-school-proposal-17798898.php

Like Westbrook Village, its replacement, The Village at Park River, includes affordable housing. However, the project, which is wrapping up its fourth phase of residential construction, aspires to be much more. The Cloud Company is a minority-owned, family-run real estate development firm focused on projects in the Connecticut market. The CEO of the Cloud Company as well as Healis’ father used to live in the original Westbrook Village. The new project is a realization of community input and a motivation to fill various needs in Hartford and the Blue Hills neighborhood. The Cloud Company and Philadelphia-based Pennrose Management Company have a long-term lease with the Hartford Housing Authority, which owns the land.

https://www.stamfordadvocate.com/news/article/hartford-village-at-park-river-construction-17799172.php

After years of arduous negotiations and frequent setbacks, a Branford developer has finally gotten the go-ahead for a 55-and-older housing project at the site of a former Girl Scout camp. The Planning and Zoning Commission approved the application for a 378-unit housing complex on Sperry Lane and Foxon Boulevard, ending a seven-year saga over plans submitted by Bluffs LLC developer Mark DiLungo. In addition to accommodating older residents, the project also will increase the town’s availability of affordable housing, as the developer has agreed that 39 of the 258 non-assisted units — or 15 percent — would be deemed “affordable housing units” as defined by state law. The project has gone through several iterations since DiLungo first proposed the project in 2016. The PZC denied the application multiple times, and DiLungo eventually appealed the board’s ruling in Superior Court. A stipulated agreement from a Superior Court judge laid the groundwork for the current version of the housing project.

https://www.stamfordadvocate.com/news/article/sperry-lane-elderly-housing-plans-approved-17798923.php

John Lawlor, the city’s director of public works and engineering, told city councilors this week that the city would need to invest around $5.5 million into road improvements annually in order to improve the overall conditions of roads it owns and maintains. Lawlor was joined by Anthony Garro, a senior vice president of the engineering firm BETA group, Inc., in discussing the city’s road improvement program. BETA was the firm retained by the city in 2022 to inspect the condition of approximately 193 miles of roadway in Meriden. The inspection rated the city’s overall network of roads at 73.54, and categorized groups of roadways based on the level of repairs inspectors determined those roads needed. The overall cost to complete all the recommended levels of repair would be just over $53 million.

https://www.myrecordjournal.com/News/Meriden/Meriden-News/Meriden-officials-discuss-paving-program.html

Total construction starts fell 27% in January to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $865.6 billion, according to Dodge Construction Network, a dramatic reverse from December, when new project kickoffs ended 2022 on the upswing. On a year-over-year basis, total construction was 14% lower in January 2023 than in January 2022. Despite the stark contrast from a month before, Richard Branch, Dodge’s chief economist, said the numbers should be viewed in context of the unusually strong momentum seen at the end of 2022. “While some construction sectors will face stress as the year progresses, current fundamentals point to an industry that is fairly well positioned to weather the storm,” Branch said.

https://www.constructiondive.com/news/construction-starts-plummet-27-percent-in-january/643257/?utm_source=Sailthru&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Issue:%202023-02-22%20Construction%20Dive%20Newsletter%20%5Bissue:48251%5D&utm_term=Construction%20Dive

Republicans are in the minority in the General Assembly, but they were able to secure enough signatures to force a public hearing on repealing the highway user fee that went into effect in January. The Democrat-controlled Finance, Revenue, and Bonding Committee refused to hold a public hearing on the bill, but according to Republicans they secured 51 signatures to force the public hearing. Republicans have been trying to repeal the fee because they say it will increase the cost of goods trucked to the state. The state is expected to start collecting revenue from the highway user fee on Feb. 28, despite opposition from the business and trucking community. The mileage-based fee on trucks using Connecticut highways was approved by state policymakers back in 2021 in an effort to generate ongoing revenue to support the Special Transportation Fund, which pays for the upkeep and improvement of roads and bridges.

Republican Minority Wins Public Hearing On Highway User Fee

Last year Gov. Ned Lamont signed a bill reversing the moratorium on new nuclear plants in Connecticut, a ban that had been in place since 1979. The Millstone Power Station in Waterford, with its two operating reactors, would be the spot where the next generation of reactors could be built. Some of the more promising next-generation nuclear designs are for SMRs, or “small modular reactors,” like the one being developed by NuScale, headquartered in Portland, Ore. Smaller in size and output than existing plants, the technology is billed as safer and both more efficient and economical than the large-scale reactors, such as those at Millstone. Katie Dykes, commissioner of the state Department of Energy and Environmental Protection (DEEP), is fully on board the nuclear bandwagon, including advocating for extension of the licenses of the two Millstone reactors as well as being open to the possibility of locating the next generation of nuclear-generating technology there.

https://www.ctinsider.com/connecticutmagazine/news-people/article/changing-face-of-nuclear-energy-17783397.php

A long-sought bill with bipartisan support that would require offshore wind developers to establish a compensation fund will get a hearing Wednesday before the legislature’s Energy and Technology Committee. The hearing was scheduled for Tuesday but postponed to 11 a.m. Wednesday due to an internet outage at the state Capitol. Sen. Heather Somers, R-Groton, co-introduced House Bill 5223 with four Democratic state representatives, while three Republicans and two Democrats are co-sponsors. Local co-sponsors include Rep. Greg Howard, R-Stonington, and Rep. Devin Carney, R-Old Lyme. The Environment Committee in 2020 raised a bill establishing a fund to compensate commercial fishermen negatively impacted by offshore wind facilities, but a public hearing never happened because it was initially scheduled for March 16 – just as the world shut down due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Representing the Ørsted-Eversource joint venture Revolution Wind, Nicole M. Verdi and Raymond V. Collins said the partnership has and will continue to work with the commercial fishing industry, and they raised several concerns about the bill.

https://www.theday.com/local-news/20230221/proposed-bill-would-make-offshore-wind-developers-create-compensation-fund/