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/

The Planning and Zoning Commission has approved the phased construction of a 22-unit townhouse style condominium project on Route 32 while tabling discussion of a proposed 16-unit apartment complex on Route 32. The commission last week unanimously approved a request by Western Group LLC, to build the 22 condominiums in four phases, with no other changes to its final plan. Though the commission already approved the development at its March 22 meeting, it needed to approve the new conditions. The commission also received an application for a two-building apartment complex with 16 units. Because the developer still needs to address comments on the plan, the commission voted to table discussion on the application until its next meeting, at the applicant’s request. Lombardi Gravel, LLC is looking to convert two old commercial buildings at 303, 307 and 309 Norwich-New London Turnpike ―directly across the street from Town Hall ― into apartments. The one-story building at 303 is it’s own building while numbers 307 and 309 share the same two-story building.

https://www.theday.com/local-news/20221219/montville-approves-phase-construction-of-condo-project-receives-application-for-apartment-project/#

With the Candlewood Lake Elementary School now slated to be finished in late May or early June, the plan is to move students and staff into the new 139,000-square-foot facility next fall for the new school year. The school, which will accommodate more than 1,000 students and 200 staff, was originally expected to be ready by the end of the year, with students and staff starting to move in by early January. But material delays have pushed back those plans, school officials said. A driving factor behind the delays stem from Armstrong Flooring’s filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection earlier this year, which forced the school district to find another flooring manufacturer for the $78.1 million project. The Candlewood Lake Elementary School project has been plagued with delays. In November 2021, school officials announced three- to four-month delays in the delivery of essential roofing materials for the project.

https://www.newstimes.com/news/education/article/Delays-at-Brookfield-s-Candlewood-Lake-School-17658474.php

After hearing six hours of back and forth about the plan last week, West Hartford’s town council is expected to decide Wednesday night whether developers can put up a six-story condo building and mixed-used complex in the town center. The decision on The Arapahoe Group’s proposal is certain to disappoint plenty of people regardless of which way the vote goes. Developers consider the land some of the most under-used real estate in town, largely because much of it is a simple parking lot. Arapahoe would put up a six-story building with 58 condominiums along with a five-story building of 25 apartments above a ground-floor restaurant or store. The council will meet Wednesday at 6:30 p.m. at town hall to decide the matter.

https://www.courant.com/news/connecticut/hc-news-connecticut-west-hartford-lasalle-20221220-bhzmur45dzad7eepstw5vlzjfu-story.html

Environmentalists and river advocates received an early Christmas gift after the Naugatuck Valley Council of Governments secured $15 million in federal funding for the removal of the Kinneytown Dam. The U.S. Department of Commerce announced Wednesday the NVCOG, in collaboration with Save the Sound, has been recommended for funding for removal of the Kinneytown Dam through the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Restoring Fish Passage through Barrier Removal grant program. Kinneytown Dam is a hydroelectric facility on the Naugatuck River consisting of two dams with powerhouses in Seymour and Ansonia. Chairman of the NVCOG and Waterbury Mayor Neil M. O’Leary said the removal of the dam has been a seven-year project for NVCOG and the eventual elimination of the dam will have life-long everlasting impacts on the Naugatuck River.

https://www.rep-am.com/local/localnews/2022/12/18/local-leaders-praise-15m-to-remove-kinneytown-dam/

State officials recently announced a list of towns receiving grants to redevelop brownfield sites into apartments, including the $990,000 for Ansonia and $650,000 for Derby. The money comes from the state’s Department of Economic and Community Development Brownfield Remediation and Development Program. Some of the units will be set aside as affordable housing — a requirement of the grant — and while both sites have developers linked to the projects, the money would help with clean up costs and demolition. Both locations are considered brownfield sites, which are properties or locations that have soil contamination such as chemicals. Derby’s project will be developed by Cedar Village Minerva Square, LLC which will build a four-story, 90-unit, mixed-income apartment building.

https://www.stamfordadvocate.com/news/article/Ansonia-and-Derby-affordable-housing-brownfields-17650994.php

New power lines could be coming to Weston, Fairfield, Easton and Bridgeport after a no-decision discussion with Eversource at Thursday’s Board of Selectmen meeting. Abigail Bowersox, project manager for the 1714/1720 line rebuild project with Eversource, said that the project will rebuild a 9.4-mile long section of power lines between Old Town Substation in Bridgeport and the Weston Substation. The project would replace the existing lattice towers with weathering, steel monopolies and the existing conductors with upgraded wires of the same voltage, she said. One ground wire will also be replaced with a fiber optic ground wire. The construction is expected to begin in the third quarter of 2023, Bowersox said. 

https://www.stamfordadvocate.com/westport/article/Eversource-new-power-lines-CT-towns-17659063.php

Starting in Spring of 2023, the city utility will begin work on an estimated five-year, $5.65 million project to replace the estimated 800 private water lines already identified. A survey of the lines to be conducted early in 2023 likely will identify several hundred more such lines that need to be replaced, NPU officials said. Last week, the state Bond Commission approved a $600,000 state grant through the state Department of Public Health Drinking Water Revolving Fund to jump-start the project by replacing the first 70 lead pipes that run from curbs into residential and commercial homes. According to information on the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention website, prolonged exposure to lead over time could pose several health risks, including abdominal pain, constipation, depression, distractedness or forgetfulness, irritability or nausea.

https://www.theday.com/local-news/20221216/norwich-public-utilities-jump-starts-lead-pipe-replacement-project-with-state-grant/

The Hartford Planning & Zoning Commission on Tuesday gave its final approval to a $280 million expansion plan that will reshape Connecticut Children’s Washington Street campus in Hartford. Currently, Connecticut Children’s Hartford facility measures about 321,000 square feet with 187 beds. The new tower will be anchored to the existing building. A groundbreaking will take place in the spring of 2023, officials said, and the new tower is expected to be completed by the end of 2025. Connecticut Children’s had originally submitted a master plan that included construction of a new parking garage and pedestrian bridge. But that was taken off the table, at least for now, after the Planning and Zoning Commission raised some concerns. 

CT Children’s massive Hartford campus expansion gains approval