The Connecticut Port Authority failed to seek bids for a marketing vendor and improperly purchased a variety of services and supplies, a new state audit found. In a lengthy response included with the audit, the port authority partly agreed with the criticism while pointing out the agency was understaffed during the audited period and has since hired more personnel. The authority provided an explanation for each purchase criticized by auditors. The audit covered the fiscal years 2022 and 2023. The authority, located in Old Saybrook, has long endured criticism over its operations and purchasing practices, including ethics violations by members of the staff and board and the redevelopment of the State Pier in New London into an offshore wind hub. The project’s initial budget of $93 million has grown to nearly $310 million.

https://www.stamfordadvocate.com/news/article/audit-ct-port-authority-failed-seek-bids-properly-19969661.php

Months of tense hearings and court-like drama before the town’s Planning and Zoning Commission will wrap up Dec. 19, but the fault lines are evident between advocates of a large-scale excavation and development, on the one hand, and neighbors fiercely opposed to a project they say will lower nearby property values and their quality of life. Developer Gales Ferry Intermodal, owned by Massachusetts-based Jay Cashman Inc., has pitched the plan as a money-maker for the town that’s appropriate for the industrial-zoned property. GFI has applied for a special permit allowing the company to grade the site and blast the north side of the 256-foot-high Mount Decatur, also known as Dragon Hill. The company has proposed a 10-year excavation during which it would cart off and sell the granite rock to prepare the site for development afterward.

Fight Over Planned Decadelong Leveling of Mount Decatur Comes to a Head in Ledyard

The Meriden Senior Center Building Review Committee soundly rejected an alternate plan to dramatically renovate its existing space at 22 W. Main St. and purchase a vacant building next door. The alternative plan would have cost significantly less than the approved $36 million proposal to build a senior center at 116 Cook Ave., City Manager Brian Daniels said. However, committee members found the West Main Street alternative did not share the same amenities marked as priorities, but could be possible at the Cook Avenue site. Daniels worked with city officials and learned the property at 28 W. Main St. was for sale. He asked for estimates and reviewed timelines for grant applications to complete renovations, including roofs and walls at both properties. He presented renderings that revealed exposed brick and wood beams and large windows and sky lights in newly renovated art and ceramics classes. The site would also have exercise classes on the first floor and a small green space in the rear for raised bed gardens and smaller outdoor activities such as bocce, according to Public Health and Human Services Director Lea Crown.

https://www.stamfordadvocate.com/recordjournal/article/meriden-senior-center-renovation-19971655.php

Some lanes of Route 15 in the city will be closed on Saturday. The Connecticut Department of Transportation will close lanes on Route 15 between the West Rocks Road overpass and Exit 38 between 7 a.m. and 2 p.m. for state forces to conduct survey operations, according to a statement from the department. The closures are tied to a DOT project for interchange improvements on Route 15 and Route 7, the statement said. Nilesh Patel, principal engineer with the DOT, said this summer that he aims for the design of the $175 million project to be complete by the end of 2024 and for construction to begin in 2025.

https://www.stamfordadvocate.com/news/article/norwalk-route-15-lane-closures-merritt-19971674.php

The Water Resources Development Act, aimed at improving the nation’s ports and harbors, inland waterway navigation, flood and storm protection, and other aspects of the nation’s water resources infrastructure, passed by a vote of 399 to 18. It now goes to the Senate, which is expected to add its approval before sending it on to President Joe Biden to be signed into law. Courtney’s provision would benefit the submarine base, known as Subase New London, which is being modernized in preparation for the homeporting of the next generation of Virginia-class submarines, which will be 84 feet longer than current Virginia-class subs. Existing piers at the base will have to be extended to accommodate the larger vessels. The provision would enable construction to extend Pier 8 by transferring control of a portion of the Thames River channel from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to the Navy, as the scope of the project would extend beyond property managed by the base.

https://theday.com/news/210527/courtney-proposal-supporting-submarine-base-improvements-clears-us-house/

Following a public hearing that extended over three months, the Wallingford Planning & Zoning Commission on Monday approved a zoning text amendment that allows computer data centers to be developed in a watershed district. The application, submitted by West Granby-based Charter Development Group LLC, owned by partners Donald Gershman and Eric Brown, sought to amend the town’s watershed interchange (WI) district zone to include data centers as a permitted use. The WI district zone applies to property east of Interstate 91 in the northeast corner of Wallingford. As approved, the modified amendment requires applicants to seek a special permit. It also caps the size of buildings on each parcel in the WI district zone at 250,000 square feet, with a maximum of 400,000 square feet allowed within the entire district. The town’s WI district zone protects the Muddy River, which flows into MacKenzie Reservoir. It allows for “low intensity uses and emerging technological development,” according to town zoning regulations.

Wallingford OKs zoning change to allow data centers

The fiscal accountability report, published Nov. 20, projected that Connecticut will issue $1.3 billion of Special Tax Obligation bonds to fund transportation in fiscal year 2026, and $1.4 billion in the next two fiscal years. In FY 2025, the state plans to issue $1 billion. Connecticut’s transportation bonds are issued from a Special Tax Obligation lockbox. Its most recent transportation deal, for $768.78 million of new money bonds, priced on Wednesday. For years, the state’s transportation borrowing has lagged behind both the legislature’s authorizations and the governor’s borrowing targets. When Lamont took office in 2019, there was a $3.8 billion backlog of bonding approved but not issued, according to the CT Mirror. That backlog has grown to $6.3 billion. “It is our hope — we have had many meetings over the last couple of years — that we could see our transportation bonding spending go up,” Horn said.

https://12ft.io/api/proxy?q=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.bondbuyer.com%2Fnews%2Fconnecticut-wants-to-issue-more-transportation-bonds

East Hartford officials have decided against applying for a state Community Investment Fund grant in support of a massive, mixed-use redevelopment of its Founders Plaza office park. At least not for the latest round. The partnership behind the “Port Eastside” project has spent millions of dollars securing about 30 acres of the struggling office park along the Connecticut River. Port Eastside was initially introduced as an $841 million investment in summer 2023. While plans have been updated since then, the project team has not offered an updated development estimate. A request for up to $4 million in state Community Investment Funds to help fund pre-development costs is on the Dec. 10 meeting agenda of the East Hartford Town Council. East Hartford Development Director Eileen Buckheit, on Monday, said officials haven’t had a chance to digest whether the conditions that would apply to the CIF grant are appropriate for the Port Eastside project, and so willl not seek support for Port Eastside in the CIF application round due Dec. 13.

East Hartford officials drop grant request to aid Founders Plaza redevelopment

The city’s public utilities department plans to create a master list of pre-vetted engineers and other contractors, which officials said will help projects get done quicker. The requests for qualifications now being advertised by New London Public Utilities (NLPU) seek firms with engineering expertise in one or more areas: water treatment facilities, water supply dams, water tanks and storage facilities, wastewater pressure and force mains, wastewater treatment facilities, and storm water systems. Water and Water Pollution Control Authority Chairman Barry Weiner said the city in the past has waited until a project is “well along” in the planning process before screening potential contractors, including those that specialize in pre- and post-construction work. NLPU, which owns and operates a series of water, wastewater and storm water systems in New London, Waterford and East Lyme, is seeking consultants able to provide project planning, design, construction oversight, general technical support and on-call services and to “work well with groups of city officials, citizens and businesspersons,” according to the bid documents.

https://theday.com/news/194328/new-london-looks-to-streamline-water-projects-with-list-of-pre-vetted-contractors/

The town has long held a goal of retaining its rural character and agricultural traditions, but the new Plan of Conservation and Development also looks to a future with increased development and a need for better town facilities. The Planning and Zoning Commission will hold a public hearing at 6 p.m. Tuesday in the cafeteria at Preston Plains Middle School, 1 Route164, Preston, on the 2024 draft 289-page Plan of Conservation and Development. Town Planner Kathy Warzecha said the document represents a lot of hard work by the commission and planning staff. The plan still emphasizes the importance of preserving the town’s rural character and farms. The most significant addition to the new 10-year document is the preparation for development at Preston Riverwalk. The plan recommends connecting the Route 12 Riverwalk with the town’s plan to slow traffic and enhance pedestrian and bicycle safety along Route 2A in Poquetanuck Village. The plan recommends intersection improvements with dedicated turning lanes for the Riverwalk and better pedestrian crosswalks.

https://theday.com/news/205877/preston-public-gets-say-tuesday-on-draft-plan-of-development/