The town has been awarded $6.4 million in state funding for the second phase of a years-long effort to upgrade the streetscapes that run through downtown. Much of the planned improvements are aimed at promoting pedestrian and cyclist safety, but Attota said they are also intended to better connect the central part of town with its surrounding neighborhoods. The town received the funding through the state Department of Transportation’s Local Capital Improvement Program, which was created to help towns and cities across Connecticut fund transportation-related infrastructure projects. Attota said the project is now in the design stage. Like the first phase of improvements to Main Street, the town is working with the engineering firm BSC Group to redesign the streetscape. The funding approval comes as the town seeks bids from construction companies for the first round of upgrades to Main Street. Attota said the town is aiming to begin work on the $2 million project next spring.

https://www.stamfordadvocate.com/news/article/Stratford-awarded-6-million-Main-Street-17476262.php

A state juvenile residential treatment center that has been shuttered for over a decade on a property eyed by town officials as a potential source of tax revenue could finally be repurposed as Hamden seeks a developer for the 50-acre site. Officials have floated ideas such as constructing senior housing or a biomedical campus at High Meadows, but its future has been up in the air for years. The town now hopes to have a plan in place by the spring. To help identify interested parties, the town has issued a request for proposals for a consultant to market the site to potential developers. The position is known as an owners representative, according to a copy of the RFP available online. Hamden aims to start an engagement process in October, issue an RFP to developers that would be due at the start of 2023 and bring a proposal to the Legislative Council in the spring “with an anticipation that we’re going to close on the property with a developer and the state by June 30 of 2023,” Johnson said.

https://www.nhregister.com/news/article/Hamden-eyes-spring-deadline-for-High-Meadows-17478330.php?src=nhrhpdesecp

The Connecticut Department of Transportation said a long-awaited $54 million reconfiguration of the notorious intersection will center around a new bridge to carry Route 9 over Union Street, complete with an additional northbound acceleration lane that will allow Route 17 traffic to merge onto the highway without having to stop first at a stop sign. The project has not been bid yet, with an advertisement planned for next month – but construction is projected to begin in the spring of 2023 with the reconfiguration of the Route 17-Main Street Extension interchange, and wrap up in fall 2026 with the construction of the new bridge on Route 9, Connecticut DOT engineer Stephen Hall said during a virtual informational meeting Thursday night. Construction on the Route 9 bridge isn’t actually expected to start until the winter of 2023 – Hall said construction will be year-round to allow it to be completed sooner. In the spring, construction would begin at the interchange of Route 17 and Main Street Extension.

Plans Announced to Fix Accident-Prone Route 17 Interchange Onto Route 9 at Middletown

The fenced-off site of The Haven mall project has sat mostly dormant for years, with multiple buildings deteriorating across the street from neighborhood residences. Although members of the city’s delegation to the General Assembly have said it is apparent to them that the development will not happen, city officials like Mayor Nancy Rossi have said they are taking it one step at a time. This week, West Haven Corporation Counsel Lee Tiernan told the City Council Monday that Simon Group had paid for demolition to begin with the former site of Nick’s Luncheonette at 423 First Ave. “and work its way up.” However, he said that remediation concerns have stalled the demolition with the city’s building department. Tiernan said a $5 million state Department of Economic and Community Development grant intended to support that development may need to be “repurposed.”

https://www.nhregister.com/news/article/West-Haven-says-more-The-Haven-site-buildings-to-17475770.php?src=nhrhplocal

The Planning and Zoning Commission took issue with the zoning process and the area Quinnipiac University wants to designate as a planned development district, a zone change the legislative body itself passed in July. The public hearing portion for the PDD designation was, however, postponed to Oct. 23 after Quinnipiac’s presentation ran over 2.5 hours — to the point one of those in attendance shouted mid meeting: “This has gone on long enough, let’s move on.” The main concern from the commissioners was that if the construction for the three new buildings would only take part in the southern part of the campus, why changes the whole campus area to PDD. Quinnipiac’s $244 million expansion, “South Quad” project, includes a 79,000-square-foot, School of Business and a 137,000-square-foot general academic building and a 417-bed residence hall. Pellegrino said the construction would take around two years.

https://www.stamfordadvocate.com/news/article/Concerns-arise-as-QU-looks-to-designate-zoning-17472561.php

An ambitious, $280 million expansion of Connecticut Children’s in Hartford that would roughly double the size of the hospital could be connected to a new parking garage across Washington Street via a pedestrian skywalk. The plans for a parking garage, near the southwest corner of Washington and Lincoln streets, were included in a master plan for the 25-year-old campus filed with the city’s planning and zoning commission. If all approvals are secured, construction could start this spring and take two years to complete. Financing is expected to be though a combination of debt and foundation fundraising. Construction on the hospital and the parking garage would be timed so they would open at the same time, Calhoun said. The Frog Hollow NRZ wrote that it supported the new tower, but it was reserving judgment on the parking garage until it learned more details.

https://www.courant.com/business/hc-news-connecticut-childrens-expansion-20220928-yqeab63p5jdvtpkkk4a27k23hy-story.html

Mayor Caroline Simmons’ first public meeting with Glenbrook residents opposed to her plan to sell their community center to an affordable housing developer has them fact-checking her information. Simmons repeated during Wednesday’s meeting with residents what she has said many times since she began pushing her plan for the 35 Crescent St. community center early this year – the cost of fixing it is $23 million. However, when a Glenbrook man during the meeting asked Simmons what the cost would be to refurbish it as a community center, not a 51-unit housing complex, Simmons said she didn’t know and referred the question to a member of her administration. The developer, Darien resident John McClutchy and his son, Todd McClutchy, of JHM Group, say in their proposal that they cannot limit tenancy to Stamford residents or workers. The Simmons administration put out a fact sheet saying the process for deciding who will be selected for the apartments “is to be determined. The developers have used a lottery system for other properties they own to ensure that the process is fair.”

Glenbrook Residents Question Mayor’s Math for Rehabbing Community Center in Stamford

Middletown is in line for $12 million to fund its “Return to the Riverbend” plan, an effort to make better connections with parkland and redevelop industrial, commercial and waste treatment sites along the Connecticut River. Waterbury is teed up to get $10 million, which local officials say is enough to finish cleaning a roughly 20-acre brownfield adjacent to its downtown. New Haven is the other big winner, with a $10 million allocation Tuesday. This list of projects blessed by the Community Investment Fund 2030 board now needs Gov. Ned Lamont’s approval to go on the state Bond Commission Agenda for funding. But no cuts are anticipated. Approved by lawmakers last year, the Community Investment Fund Board has a mandate to approve up to $875 million in projects and grants in distressed communities over a five-year period.

New state board allocates $76.4M for economic development; Middletown, New Haven, Waterbury big winners

Shelton has received two Small Town Economic Assistance Program, or STEAP, grants totaling $240,000 — with $120,000 going toward the extension of the Housatonic Riverwalk on Canal Street and $120,000 toward creation of Shelton Canal Lock Park. These grants were among more than $31.8 million given to cities and towns throughout the state. The $120,000 in state funding approved for the restoration of the Shelton Canal will be matched by $30,000 from the city. This money will be applied toward creation of the Shelton Canal Lock Park. The second grant will cover the city’s costs for hiring an engineering firm to complete the study necessary to establish a new public open space at the northern end of Canal Street. The STEAP grants are awarded through a state program managed by the Office of Policy and Management that delivers grants to small towns for economic development, community conservation, and quality-of-life capital projects.

https://www.stamfordadvocate.com/news/article/Shelton-CT-grants-downtown-17462715.php

The town has executed contracts totaling about $3.14 million with two companies that will work on the new middle school building. Perkins-Eastman, a Stamford-based architectural firm, and Arcadis, a Middletown-based project management company, were both hired by the town last week to plan, design, and oversee construction of the new Cromwell Middle School. The contracts with Perkins-Eastman and Arcadis — signed by Town Manager Anthony Salvatore Sept. 22 — are worth about $2.48 million and $662,000, respectively. According to the committee, Cromwell will be responsible for about $36.5 million of the project’s total cost, which is estimated at about $58.6 million. The state will reimburse the town about $22.1 million for work on the project. Construction is expected to commence in October 2023 and last about 18 months, ending around March 2025.

https://www.stamfordadvocate.com/news/article/Cromwell-hires-two-companies-for-new-middle-17472718.php