The town will hold a special town meeting next Tuesday regarding a $4.18 million appropriation for improvements and enhancements to Bethel High School’s heating, ventilation and air conditioning system. The system — which was not updated when the school was renovated in 2007 to 2009 — has posed problems for several years. During Bethel’s Jan. 3 special town meeting, voters will set a date for a referendum on the $4.18 million appropriation. With roughly $1.5 million already allocated to the project — $700,000 from the school district’s Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief Fund grant money and $855,000 from the town’s American Rescue Plan Act funds — the school district is seeking more funding through the state HVAC Indoor Air Quality Grants for Public Schools program. 

https://www.newstimes.com/news/article/Bethel-High-School-HVAC-system-upgrades-17679391.php

Two prospective developers — both described by city officials as well-qualified — made presentations this week at a community Zoom meeting hosted by the city and Fair Haven Alder Sarah Miller, D-14. The two presentations were similar in some ways but offered a number of stylistic differences. The Glendower plan, presented by Glendower and Elm City Communities President Karen DuBois-Walton and Executive Vice President Shenae Draughn, included 32 new housing units, several third floor artists live/work spaces, several second floor community spaces such as conference and meeting rooms, a possible fitness studio or recording studio and ground floor retail and small business space. The Pennrose plan, presented by Boston office developer Karmen Cheung, would preserve the original school school building as affordable housing and live/work artists space and create an LGBTQ-friendly, 100 percent affordable rental development.

https://www.nhregister.com/news/article/In-New-Haven-two-developers-present-plans-for-17446916.php

For years, the ramp heading into Stamford Town Center off Atlantic Street has been a sort of no-man’s land in the heart of the city’s downtown. Kooris is the president of the Stamford Downtown Special Services District, which was just awarded $5.6 million from the Department of Economic and Community Development through the State Bond Commission specifically to make the area more walkable and friendlier for non-motorists. Now that funding has been secured, Kooris said the next step will be figuring out what is feasible at the site and hiring a design and engineering firm. Kooris said he hopes to have more of a plan for the Atlantic Street ramp set up in the spring, with the hope of implementing some of the changes in 2024. “The ultimate goal is to improve the physical connection between the mall and the core of downtown,” he said. “This is all about taking a fresh look at that whole area.”

https://www.stamfordadvocate.com/news/article/The-end-of-the-Atlantic-Street-ramp-Stamford-17669525.php

Towns and cities across Connecticut are set to see a major windfall from the $1.7 trillion bill to fund the federal government, thanks to the practice formerly known as earmarking where lawmakers secure large pots of money to benefit their state and districts. More than 170 projects were approved for Connecticut and tucked into the federal funding bill that passed Congress on Friday. The total amount for the state is upwards of $236 million — a number that greatly exceeds the previous year. U.S. Rep. Rosa DeLauro, D-3, played an integral role in crafting and negotiating the overall bill as chairwoman of the House Appropriations Committee. And with Republicans set to take over the House next year, this was DeLauro’s last budget at the helm of the committee. Congressional appropriators approved more than 90 Senate-only requests made jointly by Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., and Murphy, totaling about $104 million. Some were requested by both House members and the two senators.

https://www.courant.com/news/connecticut/hc-news-connecticut-windfall-federal-money-20221224-jpderqbinvg7hoo2purgbzunpe-story.html

The U.S. Navy has given another $5.1 billion boost to its high-priority Columbia class submarine program and its designer and lead contractor on the new class of ballistic missile subs, the Electric Boat division of General Dynamics in Groton. EB, with shipyards in Groton and Quonset Point, R.I., has started building the first two boats in what is to be a fleet of 12 Columbia class ships that will replace the Navy’s aging, Ohio class missile submarines. The $5.1 billion announced by the Pentagon this week enables EB to acquire parts, material and other long lead-time items for the next five boats in the class. One of EB’s challenges is finding and training qualified shipbuilders. It now employs about 19,000 in Connecticut and Rhode Island where, in addition to starting to build the Columbia fleet, it is continuing to build the Navy’s Virginia class of nuclear powered attack submarines. The company has said it won’t hit peak workforce until the late 2020s and, even then, expects to continue to hire about 2,000 a year to maintain it.

https://www.courant.com/news/connecticut/hc-news-electric-boat-gets-5-billion-for-columbia-sub-program-20221223-ymp3fnztzbc7jokofnqmd5fqu4-story.html

Over the past two years, New London has been aggressively inventorying its pipes, the first step in the replacement process. Lanzafame has pored over historical records, hired engineers to do predictive modeling, and arranged for exploratory “test pits” to be drilled throughout the city to determine how many of its public water lines are made of lead. Connecticut is slated to receive about $30 million in each of the next five years through the Bipartisan Infrastructure Act to find and replace lead pipes with those made of copper, said Lori Mathieu, public health chief of the Drinking Water Section of the state Department of Public Health. In Connecticut, 3,000 children under 6 years old—nearly 5% of children in that age group—were reported as lead poisoned in 2020, the latest year for which the state DPH provides numbers. More than a third of those children lived in Connecticut’s poorest cities: New Haven had 376 poisoned children, Bridgeport had 298, Waterbury, 252, and Hartford, 171.

https://www.theday.com/local-news/20221224/no-longer-a-pipe-dream-state-in-line-for-150m-to-replace-lead-service-lines/

A major storm will affect the state tonight and Friday, thus the National Weather Service has a wind advisory in effect statewide for most of Friday. This means sustained south winds at 15 to 30 mph, and peak gusts up to around 55 mph, but 60 mph gusts are possible in some coastal communities. According to Eversource, “the combination of soaking rain and strong winds can more easily bring down trees and tree limbs onto power lines and equipment, causing outages.” The company expects up to 125,000 customers could lose power, the company said at a press conference Wednesday. United Illuminating also said it is preparing for the conditions this holiday weekend, including the heavy rain and strong winds forecast for Friday and rapidly decreasing temperatures.

https://www.courant.com/breaking-news/hc-br-weather-12-2022-20221222-n6lvcmuubndspjteap6mfuvyvy-story.html

Two schools only a few yards away from each other in Stamford are slated to be torn down and rebuilt for about $387 million — and the state has agreed to put down roughly $292 million to get it done. The Westhill construction is estimated to cost about $301 million, of which the state has agreed to pay $241 million. The price tag for Roxbury is $86 million, with the state taking on $51.6 million. State funding for construction projects is based on a formula tied to a municipality’s wealth. In essence, the poorest municipalities in Connecticut get the highest reimbursement rates while wealthier communities receive a smaller reimbursement percentage. The list of recommended projects, including Westhill and Roxbury, will be voted on by the Connecticut General Assembly during the upcoming legislative session.

https://www.stamfordadvocate.com/news/article/State-commits-to-292M-for-new-Westhill-and-17666602.php?src=sthpdesecp

Gov. Ned Lamont on Tuesday announced $36.5 million in grants for eight economic development projects, including $5.5 million to help build 57 apartments in Hartford and $5.3 million to help transform a blighted factory in Torrington into a marketplace and offices. “We created this grant program as a component of our efforts to spur economic growth and the creation of new jobs as we emerge from the COVID-19 pandemic,” Lamont said. This latest round of Connecticut Communities Challenge grants will leverage approximately $143.5 million worth of investment from other sources for projects that fit the state program’s goals of supporting livability, vibrancy and equity. The $100 million grant program aims to create approximately 3,000 jobs and is a pillar of Lamont’s statewide economic development strategy. The state aims to allocate about half of funding to projects in distressed municipalities.

Major Greater Hartford, CT development projects get boost from new state funding 

Despite obstacles that have complicated construction and driven up costs, work to transform State Pier in New London into an offshore wind hub is about 75% complete and on schedule to achieve “substantial completion” by February, Connecticut Port Authority Executive Director Ulysses Hammond announced on Tuesday. Hammond, addressing the authority’s board of directors at its regular meeting, said there remain challenges as workers make a final push towards project completion in anticipation of the pier accommodating offshore wind vessels in the spring that are associated with the construction of South Fork Wind. The cost of the project, which has risen dramatically since it was first proposed, now stands at $255.5 million. Costs are split between the state, which has contributed $178 million, and offshore wind partners Orsted and Eversource, who are jointly providing $77.5 million towards the project. The added costs were in part associated with excavation work as crews work to drive piles and install retaining walls around the expanded pier.

https://www.theday.com/local-news/20221220/port-authority-says-state-pier-work-to-be-substantially-completed-by-february/