Attorney General William Tong filed an enforcement action against Salvatore R. Carabetta and his LLCs for illegally encroaching on Lamentation Mountain State Park property, according to a lawsuit filed in Hartford Superior Court. The action alleges that since owning the property, Carabetta has illegally clearcut acres of state forest, and has unlawfully built numerous fixtures on state property, including guest a guest house, a basketball court, two sheds, an animal shed, an asphalt driveway and a drainage system with runoff into the state park. The lawsuit also claims Carabetta took additional measures to prevent public access to the state park lands, including padlocking the access road with large “Private No Trespassing” signs affixed to state park trees, according to the lawsuit.

https://www.ctinsider.com/recordjournal/article/carabetta-encroaching-deep-lawsuit-berlin-meriden-20231969.php

A project to repave sections of Route 7 and the Merritt Parkway in the city will begin Friday, officials say. On its wesbite, the DOT said the work will also be taking place in Trumbull, Stratford and Milford. It said the contract was awarded to Waters Construction Co. at a cost of $11,349,172. Officials said Route 7 north and south will have lane closures from Friday until Oct. 21 from 6 p.m. to 6 a.m., with ramp closures during that same span of months from 9 p.m. to 5 a.m. They said Route 15 will also have lane closures from Friday until late Oct. from 9 p.m. to 6 a.m., as well as ramp closures from 9 p.m. to 5 a.m. Likely starting in 2027, it calls for five traffic signals to regulate the flow of vehicles entering and exiting the highways; four new bridges; a replacement bridge; and new roadways on Norwalk’s Main Avenue and Creeping Hemlock Drive; and new ramps that make Route 7, the Merritt Parkway and Main Avenue more accessible to each other, according to DOT’s documentation from 2023.

https://www.stamfordadvocate.com/news/article/norwalk-rt-7-rt-15-merritt-construction-closures-20232777.php

he 232-unit housing complex, owned and managed by the Real Estate Asset Development Co., will include studio and one-, two- and three-bedroom apartments. READCO, based in Old Lyme, has owned the plaza since 1995, and built the theater as well as a Stop & Shop supermarket, McDonald’s, Berkshire Bank and Stonington Medical Center offices there. The theater closed in September 2022 when Regal went bankrupt. READCO President Michael Lech said his firm sold its other movie theater locations but held on to the Pawcatuck location. The facilities will include private and public garages and a clubhouse, featuring a swimming pool, barbecue pit, golf simulator and dog-washing station, as well as extensive outdoor walking trails, according to READCO. The company has also acquired an adjacent property that contains a house for future expansion.

https://theday.com/news/719634/former-pawcatuck-movie-theater-being-torn-down-to-make-way-for-80m-project/#

United Illuminating said Wednesday that is has cut nearly $70 million worth of investments in its Connecticut service territory as a result of regulators’ decision to deny much of the utility’s request for a rate increase on its customers in 2023. Those cuts, which company officials alluded to in recent statements bemoaning their financial position, mark the latest exchange in an escalating public feud between the state’s two largest electric utilities and their regulators at the Public Utilities Regulatory Authority. Connecticut’s largest utility company, Eversource, made a similar announcement last year that it was cutting more $500 million worth of investments in the state over five years as a result of its frustrations with PURA’s regulatory approach.

United Illuminating, citing PURA rate case, cuts $70M in CT investments

Guided by an excavation worker, Mayor Kevin Scarpati took the first cut out of the city’s biggest eyesore Wednesday at 116 Cook Ave. Scarpati took out the front entry-way in the 77,000-square foot building that blighted the lower Cook Avenue neighborhood. Its demolition will yield two cleared brownfields and hopes for more economic or community development. In January, the Meriden City Council voted to include $2.6 million in its capital improvement budget to demolish the building. That spending will be offset by a $2 million state grant. The completion of this project will result in about a dozen properties, including 116 Cook Ave., being removed from the city’s flood plain. The Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection oversees the permitting, design review, and oversight of the flood control project.

https://www.ctinsider.com/recordjournal/article/meriden-vacant-building-116-cook-demolition-20228891.php

A company is proposing a project in Plainfield to address Connecticut’s growing trash problem. Developed by SMART Technology Systems, LLC, the SMART Technology Solution uses sorting as well as waste processing and conversion technologies to transform trash into renewable electricity. The electricity produced by the plant is renewable, as there is a never-ending supply of trash used to produce it. The project is planned to be located on Norwich Road and Black Hill Road in Plainfield. Due to the limited capacity of landfills in Connecticut, many municipalities have been transporting their trash out of state. The cost to do this continues to increase and the capacity of out of state landfills is in question.

https://www.norwichbulletin.com/story/news/local/2025/03/20/smart-technology-solution-plant-proposed-to-convert-trash-to-electricity-plainfield/82416183007/

An overgrown former hat factory site with mercury in the soil and a vacant former county courthouse with asbestos and lead paint in its interior are the target of separate cleanup plans worth $4.2 million in state brownfield grants. The first step, which the City Council took on March 4, is to apply for a $200,000 state grant to study the severity of the contamination in the building. “The use of the building will dictate how much work needs to go into it,” said Iadarola, who told the City Council he was last in the building three years ago. “Overall, I didn’t see any major failing foundations or anything of that magnitude – nothing that would require a tear down and rebuild.” The City Council on March 4 applied for a $4 million grant to remove mercury from the site, which is bordered on the east by the Kohanza Brook.

https://www.stamfordadvocate.com/news/article/danbury-old-courthouse-hat-factory-cleanup-grants-20226394.php

A controversial plan to renovate the existing senior center at 24 W. Main St. is back in the spotlight after the City Council recently voted to send it back to committee. The Senior Center Building Review Committee rejected the proposal two months ago and opted to hold out for a new $36 million facility at 116 Cook Ave. However, that plan has been significantly delayed by flood control and dredging work, estimated to cost an additional $10 million. After surveying seniors and selecting the Cook Avenue location, the committee discovered last fall that design and construction could not begin until at least 2027. The project had initially included a new Health and Human Services Department but after learning about the delays, health department and city officials agreed to rehabilitate the agency’s offices on Miller Street.

https://www.stamfordadvocate.com/recordjournal/article/meriden-competing-senior-center-plans-public-20227634.php

Up to $51 billion in federal funds that have been awarded by the U.S. Department of Transportation but not yet obligated could be defunded, according to a March 14 analysis by Transportation for America, a transportation advocacy organization. The organization analyzed a leaked policy memo from the DOT’s Office of the Assistant Secretary for Transportation Policy directing agency heads to review all awards lacking grant agreements and partially obligated grant agreements. Examples of programs that could be impacted include the Safe Streets and Roads for All grant program: just $515 million has been obligated across 979 grants, leaving nearly $2.4 billion at risk. Of the $7.6 billion announced under the RAISE/BUILD program, which provides grants for surface transportation infrastructure projects for fiscal years 2022 through 2025, only $1.25 billion or less has been secured and obligated, according to Transportation for America.

https://www.constructiondive.com/news/transportation-grants-at-risk-dot-trump/742710/

About four years after heavy earthmoving started, developers unveiled plans to turn the construction site into Guilford Village West, a large-scale 162-unit apartment project and commercial development. A public hearing before the Planning and Zoning Commission is set for April 2 on the new plan. The developer is 1940 Boston Post Road LLC, whose principal is Robert Sachs, owner of Cherry Hill Construction in Branford. The residential portion also includes a clubhouse, pool, tennis court, two pickleball courts and a dog park, according to plans submitted to the town and presentations to town boards. Some 12% — 20 units would be designated as affordable housing and offer rentals below market rate. The proposed development is before the Inland Wetlands Commission for septic, waste-water treatment and stormwater run-off in addition to wetlands management. A public hearing before the commission March 12 was continued to its April meeting.

https://www.stamfordadvocate.com/shoreline/article/guilford-apartments-retail-restaurants-planned-20220120.php