The Norwich Community Development Corp., though, is expected to vote at a special meeting at 4 p.m. Thursday to go ahead with the purchase of 384 acres of former farmland, woodland on Canterbury Turnpike, Scotland Road, Lawler Lane and Route 97 that abuts Interstate 395. NCDC has an agreement to purchase the property for $3.55 million and will finalize a loan agreement for $3.1 million with New York-based Braavos Lending LLC. The project also is slated to receive a $500,000 planning grant at the state Bond Commission Thursday. NCDC plans to apply for other state and federal grants in 2023 for what is being called Business Park North. On Wednesday, NCDC President Kevin Brown said the agency is listening to the concerns of neighbors expressed at the zoning hearing and at a Nov. 9 neighborhood meeting.

https://www.theday.com/local-news/20221206/residents-urge-city-to-reject-second-norwich-business-park/

A Branford developer has submitted an application to the Town Plan and Zoning Commission proposing to build more than a dozen duplexes near the Wilbur Cross Parkway. Litchfield Turnpike LLC, based in Branford, has proposed a 14-lot subdivision on Merritt Avenue for the purpose of building a residential development called the Enclave at Woodbridge. The proposed residential development would contain 14 duplex buildings with 28 dwelling units, plans show. Construction on two of the buildings is underway, with the developer opting to do a “free-split,” which, under state law, allows a division of a parcel to be exempt from the subdivision review process, Zoning Enforcement Officer Kristine Sullivan said. Woodbridge has been examining ways to increase its affordable housing to abide with a state law that requires a municipality to provide no less than 10 percent of its total housing stock as affordable housing. As of 2021, the percentage affordable housing in Woodbridge was 1.18 percent, according to the town’s recently adopted Affordable Housing Plan.

https://www.nhregister.com/news/article/Branford-developer-proposes-woodbridge-housing-17634919.php

He took his wife, Annie, to the White House dinner honoring the French president, Emmanuel Macron, and his top transportation officials, Joseph J. Giulietti and Garrett Eucalitto, to meet with the secretary of transportation, Pete Buttigieg. Lamont said the trio made a pitch to Buttigieg about how Connecticut, with an aging infrastructure and a share of one of the nation’s busiest commuter rail systems, can showcase the administration’s investments in transportation. Connecticut is in line for a significant share of billions earmarked for modernizing the northeast rail corridor that passes through the state, used by Amtrak and the Metro-North commuter railroad. But it also is seeking competitive grants.

Lamont dines at White House, then lobbies Buttigieg over infrastructure

A plan to move Route 156 about 60 feet to the north as part of a bridge replacement on the East Lyme border means moving history, too. Roughly half an acre on the Old Lyme side of the river has been undergoing phased archaeological surveys since late that same year. A report documenting the first two phases by Mansfield-based Archaeological and Historical Services, Inc. was obtained by the Day, but is not publicly available. A 2021 list of pending bridge projects from the DOT put the cost of the replacement at $7.3 million to be covered by federal and state funds. Construction was estimated then to begin in 2023. DOT’s online bridge database rated the overall structure of the 1982 bridge as poor.

https://www.theday.com/local-news/20221204/putting-together-the-pieces-archeologists-survey-site-prior-to-bridge-work-in-old-lyme/

Town voters will return to the polls this week to decide whether to approve the nearly $10 million more that’s needed to fund the construction of a new high school. Residents will vote Thursday whether to approve an extra $9.7 million for a new Farmington High School, just over a year after approving the original $135.6 million to fund the project. In June 2021, voters passed the referendum for a $135.6 million appropriation for construction of a new 239,000-square-foot high school on Moneith Drive, including the demolition of the existing building and some changes to the property. During the 2022 legislative session, Farmington’s reimbursement rate for the project changed from 18.93 percent for new construction and 28.93 percent for renovation to 30 percent for the entire project. As a result, the proposed municipal cost is projected to be less than what voters first approved in June 2021 referendum. Residents can vote at their normal polling places Thursday from 6 a.m. to 8 p.m. Absentee ballots are available at the town clerk’s office.

https://www.stamfordadvocate.com/news/article/Farmington-High-construction-referendum-vote-17627178.php

The historic Pleasure Beach Bridge located in Bridgeport which once connected the city’s East Side of Bridgeport to the small island will be getting demolished within the next few weeks, city officials said. City officials said they have contracted with Terry Contracting for the project, with the hopes of solving many safety issues. The bridge’s demolition will cost approximately $2.7 million, with half of the funds coming from state bonding, a quarter from the city, and a quarter from the American Rescue Plan Act. The demolition will continue through the summer and possibly into the fall of 2023. The channel will still be open to all marine traffic unless noted otherwise by the Harbor Master and the US Coast Guard.

https://dailyvoice.com/connecticut/bridgeport/news/bridgeport-says-goodbye-to-historic-pleasure-beach-bridge/850545/

The transformation of downtown Waterbury, Conn., is taking place with the rehabilitation of 10 bridges that connect Interstate 84 and Route 8. The Mixmaster, which was opened in 1968, features stacked bridges that the Connecticut Department of Transportation called “an engineering feat that addressed the area’s challenging topography.” While the Mixmaster has undergone multiple major renovations since the late 1960s, it is now being rehabilitated due to deteriorating concrete decks, corroded bearings and joints, section loss in its girders and cracking in critical, non-redundant structures. It is Walsh Construction’s task to fix the problem. Subcontractors on the project include AFC Construction, New Britain, Conn.; American Concrete Pumping, Portland, Conn.; Diamond Core Drilling, Elyria, Ohio; and Ducci Electrical Contractors, Farmington, Conn. Construction started on the Mixmaster project on June 1, 2018, with a completion date of Dec. 1, 2023.

https://www.constructionequipmentguide.com/waterbury-conntransformation-continues-with-mixmaster-project/59032

Built on a once vacant site in the Fort Trumbull area, a five-story, 203-unit apartment building on Howard Street is moving towards completion. After a little more than a year of construction, the approximately $30 million project is almost halfway done and leasing is expected to start soon. The developer, New Haven-based commercial real estate development company RJ Development + Advisors, has given it the name The Beam. Jason Rudnick, principal of the development company, said the apartments will offer the community, security and convenience someone would want in the city. The development is the largest in the state so far to take advantage of federal Opportunity Zone tax incentives authorized in 2017 to bolster low-income communities. The federal government in 2018 approved 72 opportunity zones in Connecticut, including three in New London.

https://www.theday.com/local-news/20221201/the-beam-a-203-unit-apartment-complex-in-new-london-moves-towards-completion/

Phase I of The Energy & Innovation Park Project kicked off Thursday morning at the former Stanley Black & Decker facility. EIP Investment is a developer involved in the redevelopment of this site; O&G Industries will be the construction company for the project; and Bloom Energy will be making the fuel cell units. The first phase of this project, which officially kicked off, focuses on providing clean energy to the electrical grid while laying the ground work for major economic development through the installation of a 20 megawatt fuel cell power plant. These fuel cells are efficient and capable of generating up to 300 kilowatts per unit. They generate energy without combustion through the use of an ultraclean electrochemical reaction. According to Stewart, if all goes as planned the fuel cell farm will take about two years to install with the completion being sometime in the first quarter of 2024.

http://www.newbritainherald.com/NBH-New+Britain+News/410980/phase-i-of-energy-innovation-park-project-officially-begins-in-new-britain

The Town Council unanimously approved a hot work ordinance — new rules prompted by a July roof fire at New Milford High School — at its meeting on Monday. Fire Marshal Kevin Reynolds requested the ordinance at the Council’s Oct. 24 meeting. He said having such an ordinance would allow for better oversight of local construction projects that could be a fire risk, thereby preventing accidents, like the school fire, which caused major damage and sent six firefighters to the hospital. The ordinance only applies to construction, renovation and repair projects in commercial buildings, and is based on the National Fire Protection Association’s rules and regulations. Under the association’s standards, every job site involving hot work requires a permit to document the hazards and safeguards in place to ensure the work doesn’t cause a fire. The permit can also serve as an on-site permit completed by the hot work contractor and posted at the work site to advise workers that hot work is being performed at the site.

https://www.ctinsider.com/news/article/New-Milford-High-School-fire-hot-work-17621013.php