It would be the first of its kind not only in Connecticut, but in the entire Northeast. UConn is working with a company to build a multi-million dollar “smart city” and research lab, which would allow companies and researchers to collaborate on emerging vehicle technologies and concepts. The Connecticut Transportation Institute (CTI), which is part of the UConn School of Engineering, and Promesa Capital LLC have been developing plans for this “Connected and Autonomous Vehicle Smart City” and research facility at UConn since about 2019. The development itself is called a “smart city,” which Jackson said refers to a worldwide movement in which physical infrastructure is smart and connected, with innovations like driverless cars linked to traffic signals. “So it’s really using the internet and cell service to track vehicles to provide them with information and then prevent traffic crashes or collisions from occurring,” he said.

https://www.stamfordadvocate.com/news/education/article/uconn-smart-car-track-depot-campus-19795022.php

West Hartford-based solar energy developer Verogy is installing arrays on 7 acres of remediated land at the capped 80-foot-high midden. The Midden Panorama Trail, which can be accessed by a short nature trail with a steep climb, affords a nearly 360-degree view of the surroundings, including Cromwell, Meriden, Portland and other towns, as well as the 90-foot high Arrigoni Bridge, and convergence of the Mattabesset and Coginchaug rivers below. The array will not mar the panoramic view, Acting Director of Public Works Howard Weissberg said. The 750 kilowatt solar array comprises some 1,520 First Solar modules, according to Verogy.

https://www.middletownpress.com/news/article/middletown-solar-transfer-station-landfill-solar-19789589.php

After years of discussion and revisions, West Hartford has finalized plans for updating LaSalle Road and Farmington Avenue, two key streets in its town center. The final plan was presented this week to the town council’s Community Planning and Economic Development Committee by Town Manager Rick Ledwith and Travis Ewen, a senior associate and landscape architect with Stantec, the Hartford-based engineering consultant hired by the town in 2022 to develop the plan. The town intends to put the project out to bid in October, Ledwith said, due to requirements included with the ARPA funding. The project is expected to be completed in 2026.

West Hartford chooses final plan for center infrastructure update

A group working to solve what it calls a shortage of athletic fields here is scheduled to present conceptual plans Thursday that call for new fields at Robert E. Fitch High School, Sutton Park and the former Claude Chester School. The recommendations would upgrade an outdated football field at the high school and add more fields and amenities for students and the community to use, according to the task force. The Athletic Fields Task Force will hold a public input session on the plans Thursday at 6 p.m. at the Thrive 55+ Active Living Center. The proposed designs, developed by Kent + Frost Landscape Architecture of Mystic, call for two full-sized multi-use fields, a half field, amenities, and parking at the former Claude Chester School site; rebuilding the baseball and softball fields at Sutton Park; renovating Fitch High School’s football field and track with new amenities and adding a softball field and multi-use field, among other features at the high school.

https://www.theday.com/local-news/20240925/groton-task-force-wants-to-build-new-athletic-fields-to-address-shortage/

Demolition is just about complete, and the site on Station Place should be clear by Thanksgiving, a state Department of Transportation spokesman said Tuesday. The department replaced the long-crumbling garage in February with a new one that opened a block away on Washington Boulevard. DOT at the time partnered with a private developer to build a $500 million, 1 million-square-foot complex of residential, retail, office and hotel space. The project, which DOT officials said would spur development in Stamford and generate revenue for the agency, never got off the ground. But DOT is again seeking a partner “to transform a key transportation hub and foster a … development that supports the continued revitalization” of downtown, according to a Request for Expressions of Interest that the DOT issued to developers, spokesman Joe Cooper said. Responses to the request are due Oct. 4, he said. Next will come a DOT Request for Qualifications to interested developers, Cooper said. That will be due by the end of the year.

State Transportation Officials Revisit Plans for Stamford Train Station Parcel

The West Haven Planning and Zoning Commission recently approved a Yale University application to develop the former Giordano Bros. Monuments location on 275 Derby Avenue into a 72-space parking lot for the surrounding university athletic facilities. Giordano Bros. Monuments has since relocated to Forbes Avenue in New Haven and renamed itself Spartan Stone and Monuments. The company provided the initial engraving of West Haven’s Vietnam Veterans Memorial in 2003. Yale’s application, which covers 275 and 279 Derby Ave., is intended to provide parking for use of the surrounding Yale athletic facility complex, which includes the Yale Bowl. Engineer Tim Onderko said the parking lot construction would include improvements to storm water drainage and retention, as water would drain across the property and sidewalk under the prior use as a monument shop.

https://www.stamfordadvocate.com/news/article/former-west-haven-monument-shop-yale-parking-19789435.php

The Metropolitan District Commission has laid out its plans to invest $32 million toward rehabilitating and improving aging and failing sewer lines throughout town. The project, which aims to reduce and eliminate sanitary sewer overflow as well as reduce sewage and nitrogen released into the Connecticut River, will get started later this month and will take over two years to complete. In West Hartford, aging sewer pipes on private properties remain in place, with Waterbury saying some that were installed in the 1930s still exist. These clay pipes can cause problems with their own sewer network when they fail. The expected end date for the complete project is February 2027.

https://www.stamfordadvocate.com/westhartford/article/west-hartford-mdc-sewer-pipe-water-19791854.php

The Community Investment Fund Board on Tuesday recommended $7.5 million in state funding for economic and community development projects in Waterbury, Winchester, Torrington, Thomaston and Plymouth. The 21-member board recommended nearly $75 million for projects in 23 towns and cities at its fall meeting. Gov. Ned Lamont will now review the recommendations and determine which ones he will submit to the State Bond Commission for funding. The town of Plymouth was recommended for a $1.7 million planning grant to support its downtown transformational plan. A consultant, Goman & York, has met with residents, local officials and business owners, and conducted a townwide survey about what people want for downtown. A draft report presented in June recommended the town improve its downtown with better landscaping, signs, marketing and maintenance. The legislature and Lamont authorized $875 million in state bonding to support the grant program for its first five years. This is its fifth round of funding.

https://www.rep-am.com/top-stories/2024/09/24/7-5m-considered-for-community-projects-in-region/#google_vignette

When Gov. Ned Lamont visited the Norwich marina on Aug. 1, he turned around in the parking lot and looked at the blighted former Marina Towers building. City leaders had a ready answer for the governor, saying they had submitted a grant application to assess, remediate and begin demolition of the long-vacant Marina Towers. The three-story, faded pink and white building at the entrance to the Marina at American Wharf blocks the view of the harbor for people coming into the city. On Tuesday, the state Community Investment Fund Committee approved $4.55 million to continue Norwich waterfront improvements, including money for Marina Towers, along with $7.8 million to demolish and clean up the partially collapsed, former Capehart Mill complex in Greeneville. Norwich was the region’s biggest winner in the latest round of CIF grants totaling $74.6 million that were approved Tuesday. New London received a $250,000 planning grant to design improvements to Gordon Court, and the Southeastern Council on Alcoholism and Drug Dependence received $250,000 to support recovery in the city.

https://www.theday.com/local-news/20240924/norwich-receives-12m-in-grants-for-mill-demolition-waterfront-improvements/#

Unanticipated costs have the Board of Selectmen and the Park and Recreation Commission rethinking a plan to remove the cracked asphalt surface of the two tennis courts at Community Field and put down a new asphalt surface. As part of a long-range $2.6 million capital improvements plan for the field, $168,000 has been budgeted for a new surface in the 2024-25 fiscal year. Bringing the planned upgrade into compliance with handicap-accessibility requirements, however, has increased the projected cost to $299,000, the Board of Selectmen learned last week. New asphalt courts would have a life span of 25 years, public works department Assistant Supervisor Brett Seamans told the board. Selectmen and the Park and Recreation Commission, seeking an investment that would last longer, are considering the idea of a reinforced concrete surface at an estimated cost of $447,000. According to Park and recreation Commission member Ray Schmid, the tennis courts are in such bad shape that they may have to be closed to the public. The commission is due to discuss that possibility when it meets Sept. 30.

https://www.rep-am.com/localnews/2024/09/23/upgrades-to-tennis-courts-on-hold-due-to-costs/