The latest bids for installing sewers in the beach communities came in under budget, putting the project on track even as many residents continue to oppose the plans as both overpriced and unnecessary. The town has struggled for more than a decade to settle on a plan that would satisfy the state’s Department of Energy and Environmental Protection at a cost that local residents on fixed incomes can afford. The town’s Water Pollution Control Authority is analyzing bids received in late February. The lowest was $8.7 million for the work in Sound View and Area B, less than the $9.5 million approved by referendum in 2019. The Old Colony Beach Club Association is also reviewing bids for its construction and the shared infrastructure for the project, which was below the amount authorized for bonding. The sewer project for the Miami Beach Association still has not received bids, and the Old Lyme Shores Beach Association has yet to request bids.

Low Bids Give Sewers a Boost in Old Lyme

Tilcon is proposing a zoning change that would allow it to expand its basalt quarry operations by another 83 acres. The proposal would rezone parts of Long Swamp Road and Nike Road from a residential zone to a quarry zone. According to an agenda for the Planning and Zoning Commission, a public hearing will be scheduled for April 8. He said, if the request is approved, there would be a requirement for a six foot chain link fence with warning signs wherever quarry activities are happening within 100 feet of the protection zone line. DeVoe’s last day as town planner is March 13. Any further actions with this project, he said, will have to be handled by his successor. The application by Tilcon states that the consultant for this project would be SLR International Consulting.

https://www.bristolpress.com/news/tilcon-looks-to-add-83-acres-to-quarry-with-zoning-change/article_a792b016-fdd8-11ef-8c5e-5f68f6d9731a.html

The state Department of Transportation plans to construct a new maintenance facility on state land at 900 Boston Post Road East. DOT spokesperson Joe Cooper said the contract for the work is expected to be awarded by late March. Construction is expected to begin this winter, with completion anticipated by fall 2026. The DOT site at 900 Post Road East is bordered by Post Road East to the north, Sherwood Island Connector to the west, Hillandale Road to the south and West Parish Road to the east. The plan is to construct a 23,000-square-foot maintenance facility building with associated parking, storage structures and underground utilities generally within the western portion of the site.

https://www.stamfordadvocate.com/news/article/ct-dot-new-maintenance-garage-westport-20209372.php

City Engineer Abdul Quadir said the project “was ready to go to bid in 2005 but due to lack of funding has been postponed many times.” Quadir said the culvert has poor subsurface conditions and extensive piling — the installation of new columns — will be required. The current wooden piles will be replaced, he said. The project will also require the relocation of a number of utilities, including gas, electric and a water main, he said. The delays require the city to apply for new permits from the state Department of Energy and Environmental Protection and to modify its design because of new guidelines, Quadir said. “Costs have escalated and now will be around $3 million depending on the final cost estimate from the Regional Water Agency for water main relocation,” he said.

https://www.stamfordadvocate.com/news/article/west-haven-close-parts-spring-street-culvert-20204163.php

The hearing will take place during the next Operations Committee meeting March 20. The rehabilitation of the bridge was estimated to cost $6.7 million, according to a report from construction and engineering firm BL Companies. The bridge was built in 1888 and closed to cars in 2002. It deteriorated as lawmakers argued over how to replace it. The city put a prefabricated bridge, which cost $1.6 million and was open to pedestrian traffic only, next to the bridge in 2023 after the original bridge was closed to all traffic. Multiple representatives during a previous Operations Committee meeting last month, wanted to hold a public hearing on the project. The committee, however, voted 6-3 to move through the resolution on the bridge rehabilitation.

https://www.stamfordadvocate.com/news/article/stamford-west-main-street-bridge-board-of-reps-20202005.php

The Northern Middlesex YMCA is getting closer to raising the millions it needs to renovate its historic building, transforming it into a modern, state-of-the-art community center. So far, the All Together Better campaign has garnered about $15 million in state, local and federal money. The Y recently received $8 million in state Community Investment Funds, aid the agency applied for three times, Rulnick said. Last year, a $1.1 million award came in from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development Community Project. Although the project is estimated to cost between $15 million and $16 million, Rulnick added, “inflation in these construction projects is so significant.”

https://www.stamfordadvocate.com/news/article/ymca-middletown-ct-8-million-fed-grant-renovation-20206683.php

Time is running out to save the Timex Group headquarters, considered by some as a gem of 21st-century corporate architecture but by others, a property that has left a small western Connecticut town divided over its place in future economic development. In the face of unfolding plans for demolition and redevelopment for warehousing and distribution, preservationists fighting for the building’s survival view one of the structure’s greatest attributes being the physical incorporation of Timex’s identity as the iconic watchmaker into the main floor. Timex, which is downsizing its space and is expected to relocate to Shelton this spring, sold the building and grounds in 2023 to a development partnership for $7.5 million. The developer — Southford LLC — plans to construct a warehouse and distribution facility of 670,000 square feet in two buildings, nearly 10 times the size of Timex.

CT company’s iconic headquarters targeted for demolition. Time running out for effort to save it

About a decade ago, when Mayor N. Warren “Pete” Hess was first elected to office, one of the biggest complaints he heard from residents was on the condition of the roads. The Board of Mayor and Burgesses approved at its March 4 meeting a modified five-year plan starting in the 2025-26 fiscal year and extending to 2031. The plan calls for spending about $3 million annually on its paving program. The borough also used grant funding from Local Transportation Capital Improvement Program for North Main and Spring streets and currently $12 million for Rubber Avenue. Hess said he gives all the credit to General Foreman Jeremy Lennon and the street department crews who have transitioned from being a maintenance crew to a high level construction crew, equal in skills to major construction companies.

https://www.stamfordadvocate.com/waterbury/article/naugatuck-roads-paving-plan-20204811.php

A long-awaited report on the future of the city school system’s aging facilities recommends the district shutter seven school buildings, construct four new ones and perform major renovations on eight others. Pat Gallagher, a community planner with MP Planning Group, said the yet-to-be-approved proposal to replace several badly rundown schools with brand new ones could help the cash-strapped district save millions of dollars. The recently completed study found the district’s buildings will collectively need up to $702.5 million in repairs and other upgrades within the next 10 years — a figure Gallagher and other consultants have described as “significant.” The recommendations come as the district continues to face a $23 million deficit in the upcoming fiscal year that has prompted the school board in recent weeks to eliminate several programs and dozens of staffers. The panel is now weighing further budget cuts.

https://www.stamfordadvocate.com/news/education/article/bridgeport-ct-report-school-closures-renovations-20204198.php

A plan to transform much of East Hartford’s aging Founders Plaza office park into about 1,000 apartments mixed with commercial development could get a big infusion of funding through the property taxes the project generates. The legislature’s Planning and Development Committee will hold a public hearing on March 10, to discuss the creation of the “Port Eastside Infrastructure Improvement District,” which would be able to raise funds through bonding to pay for infrastructure, including utilities, roads, a planned greenway, garage and more, said East Hartford Mayor Connor Martin. Tax increment financing is a tool municipalities and developers have long used to defray the costs of infrastructure and other groundwork needed for large-scale developments. Proponents note TIF agreements cost municipalities nothing other than a portion of the tax revenue they would not have seen anyway without the new development.

New special taxing district eyed for massive Port Eastside development in East Hartford