After an eight year wait, residents may finally see a long-promised waterfront park come to life in the coming months. While preparing to send the $4.8 million Mystic River Boathouse Park project out for bid this summer, the town is simultaneously awaiting results of two living shoreline grant applications totaling $1.14 million dollars that could offset the town’s current project deficit of $1.18 million. The project began in 2016 after residents approved $2.2 million in bonding to purchase the 1.5-acre Greenmanville Avenue site just north of Mystic Seaport Museum. With environmental remediation grants, the town has funded $3.67 million of the newly estimated $4.85 million project. Chesebrough said the bid process will start this summer and probably take until early fall to complete, at which point work like grading the site and removal of a shed on the property could be completed before work pauses for the winter.

https://www.theday.com/local-news/20240727/after-8-year-wait-mystic-river-boathouse-park-poised-to-become-reality-this-fall/#

The Norwalk Public Works Department has installed ADA accessible ramps on Fillow Street ahead of a repaving and sidewalk project. “The contractor will install concrete curbing in the area of the pedestrian ramps,” said Michelle Woods Matthews, Norwalk’s director of communications. The ramps are part of the citywide accessibility plan, which aims to provide safe connections for all Norwalkers. New crosswalks will also be installed at Betmarlea Road and Fillow Street and across Fillow Street near Little Fox Lane. “Mayor Rilling’s vision is to create a welcoming environment that fosters a sense of belonging, safety, and equity for all members of our community, including those with limited mobility,” Woods Matthews said. “The City is therefore committed to providing ADA ramps where necessary as they are essential to those in our community with limited mobility.”

https://www.stamfordadvocate.com/news/article/norwalk-installs-ada-ramps-ahead-repaving-19588863.php

A major boost for the Research Parkway corridor is also expected when Connecticut’s two largest hospital groups, Yale New Haven Health and Hartford HealthCare, break ground this fall on a proton therapy center. Experts say the joint venture could result in more medical technology businesses moving into the corridor as a result. Construction of the $70 million facility had been scheduled to start in the spring, but is now expected to begin in the fall, Yale New Haven Health officials say. One challenge for both communities in terms of attracting businesses to the corridor is the presence of wetlands. Wallingford and Meriden can make the corridor more attractive to new medical tech businesses by ensuring the area has a significant “inventory of shovel ready sites available” around the soon-to-be-built Proton Therapy Center, Boyd said.

https://www.stamfordadvocate.com/business/article/ct-meriden-wallingford-research-parkway-corridor-19591308.php

On the left side, men are exercising in the fitness section; in the center, fire trucks are pulling in and out. In other corners of the station are laundry, clothing and storage areas — and in the middle of it all, firefighters are taking part in a training session. “This is our exercise room. It should be separate from the garage,” said Assistant Fire Chief Mickey Grasso on a tour of the police and fire facilities. The cramped quarters are among the reasons local officials say Ridgefield needs a new headquarters for its fire and police departments. Like the fire department, police are running out of room and are in serious need of a new home, said Ridgefield Police Chief Jeff Kreitz said. The town has proposed constructing a $75 million headquarters for both departments on a town-owned property that was once home to an international oil company.

https://www.stamfordadvocate.com/news/article/ridgefield-police-fire-headquarters-outdated-19549271.php

This month, Maynard Road Corp. proposed the $225,000 agreement to the MHA for assistance financing the cost of developing 100 units of rental housing in two buildings and commercial retail space at 143 W. Main Street. The commercial space includes a black box music theater. Maynard Road is the development arm of the Meriden Housing Authority and shares identical board members including two employees of the agencies. Earlier this week, the Meriden Housing Authority Board of Commissions also approved a loan authorization for an undetermined amount to allow Maynard Road to begin constructing the projects.

https://www.stamfordadvocate.com/recordjournal/article/meriden-housing-authority-225m-bond-titan-19598891.php

The state Department of Labor failed to promptly investigate hundreds of complaints from workers over unpaid wages and other workplace issues, a recent state audit found. In a response included with the audit, the labor department cited a lack of staffing as the main reason for the delays in beginning investigations. Auditors said 41 percent of the 2,000 complaints received by the labor department’s Wage and Workplace Standards Division during the period, as of May 2023, were unassigned for investigation. The department said legislation proposed but not passed in 2023 would have required no fewer than 45 wage and hour inspectors and another bill required hiring 45 additional wage enforcement officers in the Wage and Workplace Standards Division. An amendment called for not fewer than five wage and hour inspectors in the division. Auditors pointed out the labor department employed 20 wage enforcement agents and investigators and four field supervisors as of April 2023.

https://www.ctinsider.com/news/article/connecticut-labor-department-complaints-19594035.php

The redesign, presented during a July 10 public meeting, came after plans shown in 2022 stirred anxieties about the use of eminent domain to complete the project. Similar worries prompted outcry from city representatives in response to eminent domain potentially being used on a street-widening project on Washington Boulevard and Pulaski Street. The new plan uses less pavement, has safer bike infrastructure and shorter crosswalks that creates a safer roadway, Buttenwieser said. The bike lanes in the latest plans would be separated from the street and opposite the parked vehicles, according to the plans shown during the July 10 meeting. The project, which also includes rebuilt sidewalks, better lighting and shortened and new crosswalks, is estimated to begin construction in 2026.

https://www.stamfordadvocate.com/local/article/atlantic-street-redesign-stamford-congestion-19575123.php

Gary Flocco said he is a few weeks away from re-starting the next phase of his Cherry Street Lofts apartments project after a three-year-delay and a recent condemnation order from the city. Flocco said he is on the cusp of settling a lawsuit for non-payment that an architectural firm, Crosskey, filed against him in 2019. With that issue out of the way, Flocco will be able to obtain a bank loan and $2.2 million state officials awarded his project in December 2020. Located on the outskirts of downtown between the railroad tracks and Interstate 95, Cherry Street Lofts is a prominent renovation of some old abandoned factory buildings that initially earned Flocco accolades. It opened in 2018 and currently boasts 158 housing units and a charter school. In an interview at the time, Flocco insisted he believed he would soon have access to the necessary capital to restart his work, and council members decided to grant him a reprieve.

https://www.stamfordadvocate.com/news/article/cherry-st-lofts-developer-says-project-to-restart-19592130.php

Connecticut Attorney General William Tong has declined to press concerns raised by Republican legislative leaders about a public-private partnership looking to move forward with a $145 million renovation of Hartford’s downtown XL Center arena. That raises the likelihood the renovation plan will move forward. The CRDA has a tentative agreement with Los Angeles-based live entertainment promoter and venue manager OVG360 to contribute $20 million toward the pending renovation. Efforts to revitalize Hartford’s XL Center received a boost in May after the state legislature’s passage of a $370 million budget stabilization plan. The bill increased the maximum amount of state funding toward the renovation from $80 million to $125 million. The bond commission had earlier signed off on an $80 million contribution, contingent on OVG contributing $20 million.

CT AG Tong declines to take up GOP concerns over $145M XL Center renovation; clears way for CRDA vote

The 459-foot-long Wind Scylla wind turbine installation vessel dwarfed smaller sailing vessels as it made its way up the Thames River Tuesday. Scylla is owned by Cadeler, a Copenhagen, Denmark-based company that has a fleet of offshore wind installation vessels and inked a long-term contract with Ørsted earlier this year for future projects. Wind Scylla has a 1,500-foot crane and 344-foot legs that can install wind turbine components in water depths of more than 200 feet. Wind Scylla will be used to install turbines at Revolution Wind, a 65-turbine offshore wind farm whose first foundation was installed in May. The 704-megawatt farm, producing enough energy to power 350,000 homes, is the country’s first multistate project and will supply power to Connecticut and Rhode Island. State Pier in New London is currently the staging and assembly area for Revolution Wind farm, which would be the first wind farm to supply wind energy, 304 megawatts, to Connecticut.

https://www.theday.com/local-news/20240723/danish-vessel-dwarfs-smaller-ships-as-it-docks-in-new-london/