On Tuesday, the Town Council voted to approve its long-awaited affordable housing plan — one that was due to the state over two years ago. In all, West Hartford’s recognized affordable housing will increase from 7.6 percent of its housing stock to 9 percent, just shy of the state’s goal of 10 percent. West Hartford — which is experiencing a housing boom over the last few years that has seen over a 1,000 units be approved for construction — views that threshold as a start and not an end. In West Hartford, while many of the affordable housing units included in some recently approved developments indeed sit at that 80 percent threshold, other projects like ones spearheaded by the West Hartford Housing Authority feature deeply affordable housing. Some at the former synagogue project they’re currently working on will be made available for those making 30 percent or less of the area median income.

https://www.stamfordadvocate.com/westhartford/article/west-hartford-ct-affordable-housing-plan-renters-19826530.php

Emergency work has begun to shore up Coe Pond Dam, which already was deemed in poor condition in March but became even more at risk for failure after the catastrophic flooding Aug. 18. Work to mitigate pressure on the dam started last week and likely will continue for two more weeks, said officials from the Naugatuck Valley Council of Governments. To avoid a complete dam collapse, workers are enlarging a notch in a concrete spillway at the dam, to lower the water level by about 3 feet. The March report by Gomez & Sullivan Engineers declared the dam an immediate danger and risk of death for those downstream should it collapse. Budris said the discovery of Coe Pond Dam’s poor condition was the result of a due-diligence field investigation related to the acquisition of the Kinneytown facility.

https://www.rep-am.com/localnews/2024/10/05/august-flooding-aftermath-emergency-work-underway-to-shore-up-ansonias-coe-pond-dam/#login

Three years ago, Felix Reyes, director of the city’s Office of Planning and Development, and other community leaders met with a group of sixth graders from the Bennie Dover Jackson Multi-Magnet Middle School to hear what was important to them in a community center. On Monday, several students from the same school signed the last piece of structural steel to be placed in the unfinished community and recreation center as part of a steel-topping ceremony. The ceremony marked the halfway point of construction, Mayor Michael Passero said. The 58,000-square-foot center in the Fort Trumbull neighborhood will include a gym, recreation office and classroom spaces, a community lounge and a kitchen. Construction is still on schedule for a summer of 2025 opening, Passero said. The project’s initial $30 million price tag, approved by the City Council in 2021, jumped by approximately $10 million as more detailed cost figures emerged. That funding gap was bridged with a combination of state and federal funding. The city was also awarded a $1.2 million grant through the state’s Brownfield Remediation program for pre-construction site work.

https://www.theday.com/local-news/20241007/steel-topping-ceremony-held-for-new-london-community-and-recreation-center/

In a second trip to the polls, town voters overwhelmingly approved a proposal for a massive renovation of the Sherman School. In the referendum held Saturday, Oct. 5, residents voted 961-505 to approve a $43 million “renovate to new” construction project on the aging school building. The town will finance the project through bonds of about $32 million or less, according to a previous statement from the Sherman Board of Selectmen. Special state legislation passed last year guaranteed a minimum reimbursement rate of 30 percent by the state. Taxpayers will cover $30.53 million of the project’s costs. The project will take 18 months to two years to complete, Board of Education member Tim Laughlin previously said. Construction will begin next summer and is anticipated to be complete in late fall or early winter of 2026.

https://www.stamfordadvocate.com/newmilford/article/sherman-school-referendum-approved-voters-19820542.php

The state Department of Transportation is proposing to redesign the Route 44 intersection at Main, High and Ely streets in Hartford, located one block north of Dunkin’ Park. The project would improve the poorly aligned intersection and replace an antiquated traffic signal, which has reached the end of its service life and lacks the ability to detect vehicles. The intersection is prone to crashes. Between 2020 and 2022, there were 150 crashes at the intersection, 56% of which involved injuries, along with two fatalities, according to the DOT. Construction would take another one to two years after the design is finished. The total cost of the project is estimated to be $9 million, using state and federal funding. Preliminary plans show shorter pedestrian crossings, reconstructed sidewalks and parking spaces on either side of Route 44.

DOT plans redesign of busy intersection near Dunkin’ Park

Crews rebuilding the Fairfield Avenue bridge spanning Interstate 95 in Norwalk finished pouring its concrete deck Thursday and will install parapet retaining walls in the coming weeks, according to a Connecticut Department of Transportation spokesperson. Before crews could pour the bridge’s concrete deck, “every utility line you could think of,” including water, fiber, gas and electric lines, was installed in the last two weeks of September, Morgan said. Both hurdles are major milestones in the project, which has caused traffic delays in the area. DOT shut down I-95 in Norwalk, crippling the flow of traffic, for about 80 hours to demolish the bridge that was rendered structurally unstable when a gasoline tanker caught fire underneath it in after a crash on May 2. The bridge is slated for construction closeout in early spring — consistent with previous estimations so far, Morgan said. Before reopening, sidewalks will also be installed, he said.

https://www.stamfordadvocate.com/news/article/norwalk-fairfield-avenue-bridge-reconstruction-19815657.php

Unlike the devastation caused by August’s historic flooding, flood control efforts are not always visible and can be a tough sell to the public, state officials said. To counter those challenges and others, state and municipals officials recently called for information from councils of governments and the public on ways to shore up their infrastructure before another catastrophic weather event using the Climate Resilience Fund. Dykes was joined by members of several council of governments, DEEP staff, educators, and municipal leaders at the site of the Meriden Green resilience project, a 14-acre flood control initiative that used natural features capable of withstanding severe flooding events. Part of the project meant joining three brooks, removing narrow or bent culverts and channel deepening and widening. The city also built a submersible amphitheater and purchased a steel and concrete bridge to move people from one side of the city to the train station should flooding prevent car travel. DEEP wants to know ways it can potentially use state bond funds to structure a Climate Resiliency Revolving Loan Fund, which was authorized by the legislature in the 2024 session. This fund is for low-interest loans to municipalities and private entities for infrastructure repairs and resiliency projects in response to unplanned climate events.

https://www.stamfordadvocate.com/recordjournal/article/deep-flooding-resilency-fund-meriden-green-19807511.php

An indoor ice rink sponsored by the family of the late co-founder of Stamford-based Conair Corp. is one step closer to completion. The demolition of the building makes way for the creation of an indoor ice rink facility at 50 Barry Place, which will sit behind the now-torn down Conair Corp. building. The facility will host youth ice hockey and figure skating clinics, educational programs, leagues and tournaments. The project was sponsored by the family of late billionaire businessman Leandro Rizzuto, whose family founded Conair Corp. in 1959. Manhattan-based American Securities, a private equity firm, acquired Conair Corp. in 2021, but the 11.7 acres of property on Barry Place — which borders the Metro-North Railroad to the south — remained with the Rizzuto family, according to previous reporting from February 2023.

https://www.stamfordadvocate.com/news/article/stamford-conair-ice-rink-19813906.php

The $745 million sale of Eversource’s stake in 132-megawatt South Fork Wind and 704-megawatt Revolution Wind to New York-based Global Infrastructure Partners was what Eversource President and CEO Joe Nolan, in a statement, called a milestone in the company’s “commitment as a pure-play regulated pipes and wires utility that delivers superior service and value to our customers.” Massachusetts-based Eversource is suffering major losses with the sale. In total, Eversource said it expects to incur an aggregate net loss of $520 million in the third quarter of 2024 due to its divestiture in the offshore wind industry, it said in a statement. Eversource had partnered with Danish company Ørsted on both projects and had contributed to the $310 million reconstruction of State Pier into a staging and assembly area for offshore wind projects. Ørsted is currently leasing the pier. Eversource announced more than a year ago it planned to withdraw from the offshore wind business to concentrate on its core utility business.

https://www.theday.com/local-news/20241001/eversource-officially-exits-offshore-wind-business/

Located behind a residential neighborhood in South Norwalk, Manresa Island served as the home of a coal-fired power plant and later an oil-powered plant since the 1950s, until it was permanently shut down in 2013. Before its closure, the power plant sprinkled soot across the surrounding neighborhoods. However, under the latest plan from Norwalk residents Austin and Allison McChord, the once-hazardous site will be transformed to include nearly two miles of waterfront, a pedestrian bridge, a pier, and a 250,000-square-foot recreation center. According to Manresa Island Corp., the nonprofit organization created by the McChords, the 125-acre park is scheduled to open in 2030. A representative from the organization said it will acquire the property from the current owner, real estate firm Argent Ventures, in the fall. Over the next six years, Austin McChord said the project group has a lot of remediation work, community outreach and traffic planning to do.

Plans Unveiled for 125-Acre Park on Site of Former Power Plant in Norwalk