Fuss & O'Neill Annual Report - Press 2019

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Cranston neighbors work to block golf complex near Chapel View

By Mark Reynolds Journal Staff Writer Posted Jan 3, 2019 at 8:51 PM Updated Jan 3, 2019 at 9:43 PM

Garden City Alliance says proposed entertainment facility near Chapel View would bring extra traffic, as well as light and noise pollution.

CRANSTON — The Garden City Alliance is on a mission to organize robust opposition against a developer’s proposal for a golf-related entertainment facility on the expansive former Citizens’ Bank property along Route 37 and near Chapel View.

Both a planned walk-through of the site at 100 Sockanosset Cross Rd. on Saturday morning and a public hearing before Cranston’s Plan Commission at 7 p.m. on Tuesday night at Cranston High School East are important to the campaign, according to opponents from the Alliance.

In interviews Thursday, critics from the alliance told The Journal that the proposed Topgolf facility would bring unwanted additional traffic to the area as well as light and noise pollution.

“We’re not opposed to a development of Topgolf,” said the Alliance’s founder, Pauline DeRosa. “It is just not appropriate for Chapel View, because it will add another layer of traffic.”

The project site, a 22-acre parcel, is adjacent to Cranston’s central public library and Pawtucket Credit Union and other nearby properties that also buffer the site from the closest neighborhood with singlefamily homes.

The developer of the project, Carpionato Properties, intends to rent the proposed facility to Topgolf.

The Texas-based company operates facilities that go far beyond the typical driving range: The “sports entertainment complexes” presented on the company’s website are three decks, with bays on each level and amenities for eating, drinking, lounging and watching sports on television.

The project’s application in Cranston proposes a three-story building, a driving range surrounded by poles and netting as high as 190 feet and a four-story parking garage, according to a draft memo by the city’s principal planner, Doug McLean. The application also calls for offices and retail businesses in a portion of the former Citizens building.

For a long time, the site was zoned for industry and “heavy business.” In 2016, the parcel’s zoning was amended to allow for “greater intensity of development on the site,” says McLean’s memo.

The existing zoning for the parcel does not permit “commercial recreational” land use, an allowance that the Topgolf proposal would need to move forward, said the city’s planning director, Jason Pezzullo.

The commission is in the process of reviewing the master plan application. It will also make a recommendation to the City Council on the requested zoning amendment.

The city’s planning staff has already studied the impact of the project.

The developer’s traffic assessment says that the volumes of traffic to and from the site at peak travel times on weekdays would be lower than when Citizens Bank was in operation. The area can accommodate increased traffic volume on Saturdays, it says.

The city has asked its own traffic engineer, Stephen Mulcahy, to study the issue.

Civil engineers at Fuss & O’Neill in Providence are doing a peer review of traffic studies and the director of the state Department of Transportation, Peter Alviti, will provide input as well, said Pezzullo.

If weather allows it, officials will fly balloons at the site on Saturday to get a sense of the height of the proposed poles and nets, Pezzullo said.

A spokeswoman for Topgolf and Kelly M. Coates of the Carpionato Group could not be reached for comment.

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Tuesday's City Council meeting touched on an array of topics.

Pitts eld Council Approves Walden Lane Tra c Measure, Turf Field

By Andy McKeever iBerkshires Staff 02:36AM / Wednesday, January 09, 2019 Print Story | Email Story (/rec.php3) PITTSFIELD, Mass. — The City Council spent much of its night Tuesday revisiting previously approved contracts.

It began with an issue of a traffic study. The residents of Walden Village had previously petitioned the council for improvements to the intersection of North Street and Walden Lane. The subdivision is home to mostly elderly residents who voiced fear about pulling onto the main road.

Commissioner of Public Services David Turocy said he opted to contract Fuss and O'Neill to do a traffic study to see if a stop light would be feasible there but it was determined that the intersection did not meet requirements to do so.

The recommendations called for a new speed limit sign in the area and residents pushed, and the department agreed, to have strobe lights on it to help calm traffic. The City Council approved the order but not before a lengthy discussion about the use of a traffic study.

Ward 4 Councilor Christopher Connell said there are intersections throughout the city that ward councilors have asked for improvements too and none of those received a traffic study.

He pressed Turocy on the cost of it, which was later said to be $9,900. Director of Finance Matthew Kerwood said no additional spending was made on that and the study is part of the department's budget.

Connell, however, questioned the consistency of the use of such studies saying there have been a low number of accidents at the intersection while places like Elm and Williams Street or Holmes and Williams never received an outside study. The study showed only seven accidents reported being linked to that intersection.

"Five out of seven don't seem to be related to the intersection," Connell added, citing that four of them were rear-endings and one was a pedestrian/bicycle.

Turocy, who has the authority to authorize such contracts, said he is generally against speed studies because it can be a situation of "be careful what you wish for" in that the study could ultimately lead to a higher speed limit.

But, with Walden, he felt an answer wasn't so clear and that a traffic light could be needed and the city needed the justification to install one.

"We were exploring to see if it was possible and it didn't meet the warrants," Turocy said.

Ward 2 Councilor Kevin Morandi joined in the inquisition, prodding Turocy about the process to hire an engineer, to which Turocy responded that it is under the discretion and budget of the department.

Councilor at Large Melissa Mazzeo, however, also questioned the process and asked about getting similar studies on Cheshire Road. Turocy responded that Cheshire Road is handled by the state but he could ask state officials for such a study. Mazzeo was also disappointed that the study did not call for anything more than a sign.

"I wish we got more bang for our buck with answers coming back," Mazzeo said.

Councilor at Large Peter White, however, sided with Turocy saying upper North Street is a "complicated stretch of road" and a more in-depth look should be had.

"I trust the judgment of our commissioner and engineer as to when something needs to be sent out and when something can be done in house," White said.

Ward 1 Councilor Helen Moon, who sponsored the petition, said she is glad that the city identified the problem early and took a proactive approach to determine a better option before something bad happened.

The council then got into a lengthy debate over the turf field at Berkshire Community College. In 2014, the City Council approved giving $200,000 toward the project. (http://www.iberkshires.com/story/45867/Pittsfield-Council-Supports-BCC-Turf-Field-Project.html) It was authorized as a capital expense that was later determined not possible because the money was going to an outside entity. Kerwood proposed using free cash instead and two requests -- one to rescind the previous authorization and one to use free cash -- came to the council.

Councilor at Large Earl Persip, however, asked the council to delay the release of the funds. Persip emphasized that he supports the field but wants to see contracts in place that both ensure Pittsfield youth sports programs will have access to the field in the future and that local programs get a discounted rate to use the field.

"I just want something guaranteed that the youth of Pittsfield will be able to use it," Persip said.

BCC President Ellen Kennedy said the college is working with the city on an intergovernmental agreement that will cover both of those. She said those heading the turf field are also working to revamp the fee structure to recognize the input from major contributors.

"We are closing in on an agreement that I think would address all of your concerns," Kennedy said.

Councilors Anthony Simonelli and Kevin Morandi both pressed Kennedy and the city's athletic director on the use of the field, questioning the amount of usage, fees, costs, and operations.

"We've got skin in the game with the $200,000 and the Community Preservation [Act] funds," Simonelli said, siding with Persip. "I think there should be a different price for city programs," Morandi voiced concern about the future of the field and also supported looking for some agreement keeping it accessible for the city's youth.

However, Kennedy said the college wants to release the bids for the remaining work at the field soon in order to get the best bids. Persip requested a delay until Jan. 22, to which Kennedy said she'd agree if that's when it would be approved.

"We have counted on this money from an agreement we made a number of years ago," she said.

Mazzeo sided with Kennedy, saying if it wasn't for the oversight of the bond authorization, the City Council wouldn't even be having the conversation again. She reminded the council that the city doesn't own the field and that there have been plenty of times when Pittsfield has awarded funds to private projects without having the ability to manage it.

White said he is confident that the contracts will include the concerns of Persip and didn't want to hold back on a project that "seems like a win for the city."

Ultimately, the City Council approved the work by a 9-1 vote, with Councilor John Krol absent and Persip in opposition.

The night came to a dramatic conclusion when Connell asked for a petition from resident Craig Gaetani to have a third-party review of the wastewater treatment center project design.

The contracts were awarded last week (https://www.iberkshires.com/story/59030/Pittsfield-Awards-Wastewater-Project-Contract.html) and ground is expected to be broken on the $51 million project next week.

Connell, however, felt a question of having another independent review merited conversation.

Councilor President Peter Marchetti did not. Marchetti felt Gaetani had strayed too far from the topic when he began to talk about the project of the 1980s and ruled him out of order. An argument ensued and a quick motion to adjourn ended the meeting by a 5-4 vote. Connell continued to debate with Marchetti over the issue after the meeting.

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Richard Backer Hope the city council will provide the necessary financial support to make the athletic facility state of the art at the new Taconic.Remember all that extra money from fees could have been use to make and keep the facility at Taconic a focal point in the county and a drawing card for the Pittsfield schools, besides helping families with the cost associated with extra curricular activities. Sorry council doesn't see big picture.

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Jeffrey Morgan I do believe there is an issue here at this intersection and it's the drivers. With an older person behind the wheel eyesight is as good to see traffic coming from either direction. This pause causes them to wait longer for a bigger opening to be safer (which is great) but frustrating to driver. An easy fix would be for drivers that want to go left is to take the easy right hand turn then left on to Hancock then turn around in parking lot then proceed on. Life is not always straight forward so we all have to adapt. No study is needed. I just did it in 5 minutes. Save the money for parks and recreation.

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News Briefs: Intersection improvement plans outlined; Seniors advised to apply for tax credits - Darien News https://www.dariennewsonline.com/news/article/News-Briefs-Intersection-improvement-plans-13521361.php

News Briefs: Intersection improvement plans outlined; Seniors advised to apply for tax credits Published 12:00 am EST, Friday, January 11, 2019

Intersection improvement plans outlined DARIEN — The town is inviting residents to attend a public information meeting on Jan. 24 at 7 p.m. to review the preliminary design plans for intersection improvements at Noroton Avenue and West Avenue, according to a news release.

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Representatives from the Public Works and Planning and Zoning departments will be in attendance. A representative from the project consultant Fuss & O’Neill will be presenting the project to the public as town officials begin to work

on the final design drawings to be submitted to the state Department of Transportation for final review.

The meeting will take place at 2 Renshaw Road, Room 206.

Seniors advised to apply for tax credits DARIEN — Darien assessor Anthony J. Homicki announced in a news release on Jan. 3 that senior homeowners over the age of 65 may be eligible for tax credits on their real estate property tax under the Circuit Breaker (State Program), Town Program, or Elderly Tax Deferral.

Applications are being accepted now and must be filed before May 15 to receive the credit.

Any homeowner reaching the age of 65 on or before Dec. 31, 2018, and qualifies within the income limits, is advised to go to the Assessor’s Office and apply. To be eligible for credit, income must not exceed $52,900 for married couples or $45,000 for single persons. All income, including Social Security must be reported.

Documentation of proof such as a copy of a 2018 Social Security 1099 form and a copy of a 2018 Income Tax Return is needed.

For questions, call 203-656-7310, Monday through Friday from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.

Bat, not seen since 1940s, found in state

News Briefs: Intersection improvement plans outlined; Seniors advised to apply for tax credits - Darien News When the tiny, newborn bat was found clinging to a basement window screen in the Eastern part of the state, wildlife rehabilitators didn’t think it had much of a chance to survive.

At the time, the bat weighed about the same as three paper clips, according to a release from the Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection, and it wasn’t expected to live very long.

DEEP Master Wildlife Conservationist Maureen Heidtmann and bat rehabilitator Linda Bowen cared for the bat until it was healthy and fully grown by mid-September.

The bat turned out to be an eastern small-footed bat, the smallest bat species in the eastern United States and the first of its kind confirmed in Connecticut since the 1940s.

The eastern small-footed bat has been victim to human encroachment on its hibernation sites and the deadly fungus called white-nose syndrome.

The species’ presence in the state was inferred through the use of bio-acoustic data. Since then, DEEP said that acoustic data has shown several “hot spots” in the state, suggesting that the baby bat heralding the return of the species to Connecticut.

—Jordan.Fenster@hearstmediact

.com © 2019 Hearst Communications, Inc.

News

WSA Reviews Need For Expanded Pumping Capacity

By Andrew Gorosko Published: January 21, 2019 at 07:00 am

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Water & Sewer Authority (WSA) members are reviewing a 67-page report prepared by the agency’s consulting engineers on the need to expand sewage pumping capacity at the Sandy Hook Center sewage pump station at 5-A Glen Road.

The pump station is one of four such stations that power the central sanitary sewer system, which started operation in 1997. A 240-square-foot building that sits on an 0.11-acre lot has two pumps that are used to pump sewage westward and uphill along Church Hill Road via a pressurized force main to the town’s sewage treatment plant on Commerce Road.

Past development in Sandy Hook. coupled with the prospect of new users there connecting to the sewer system, require that the Sandy Hook station's pumping capacity be increased, according to the WSA.

In its report to the WSA, which was reviewed at a January 10 meeting, Fuss & O’Neill recommends that the existing two 25-horsepower pumps in the pumphouse be upgraded to two 72-horsepower pumps. The engineers also recommend that various related plumbing improvements be made at the pumphouse, as well as safety improvements. Also, a new, more powerful electrical generator should be installed to replace the existing generator, according to the engineers. A new generator, which would be larger than the existing unit, likely would need to be installed outside the pumphouse due to its larger size.

Fuss & O’Neill lists the construction cost of the various improvements it recommends as approximately $400,000. That gure does not include related costs.

WSA members questioned the cost estimate for the work provided by the rm. Also, questions were raised on the speci cations of the recommended equipment.

Fred Hurley, director of public works, said January 16 that a Fuss & O’Neill representative would attend the February 7 WSA meeting to answer WSA members’ questions about the project. Also, WSA members plan to ask the town nance director about the best method of paying for the pump station improvements.

The three other pump stations in the central sewer district are located at 47-A Hanover Road, 33-A Taunton Lake Drive, and 17-A Baldwin Road. The Sandy Hook station is in a commercial area, with the other three stations located in residential settings.

Mr Hurley has noted that twice in the past the Sandy Hook pump station almost over owed with wastewater. In one case, the Newtown High School swimming pool was drained and all the pool water rapidly traveled through the sewer system, nearly ooding the pumphouse. In the other case, a major grease blockage in the sewer system was located at Newtown Shopping Village at 5 Queen Street, and when the blockage was cleared, a great volume of wastewater traveled through the sewer system, again nearly ooding the pumphouse.

The Fuss & O’Neill engineering study addressed topics including hydraulics, extreme wastewater ow situations, pump performance, and how to best reduce peak wastewater ows.

Due to the varied topography of the central sewer district, gravity-powered sewers and pressurized sewers are used. Gravity sewers allow wastewater to drain downward to pump stations where the wastewater is then pressurized and directed upward via force mains to the sewage treatment plant at Commerce Road.

The town started operation of the central sewer system in 1997, at the urging of state environmental o cials, to resolve longstanding groundwater pollution problems caused by many failing septic systems.

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1/29/2019

Fuss & O’Neill Promotes Six : High-Profile

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Fuss & O’Neill Promotes Six highprofile | January 24, 2019 Manchester, CT – Fuss & O’Neill, a full-service engineering firm, announced it has promoted Elizabeth Troop, PE, and Jared Smith, CSP, to senior project manager. In addition, Jared Smith, CSP; Kevin McGarry, PE; Sean Arruda, PE, CFM; Joseph Devine, PE, LEP; and Nicholas Lapointe, PE; have been promoted to project manager.

Elizabeth Troop Troop has been promoted to senior project manager in the industry and utilities department of Fuss & O’Neill. Troop, who works in the firm’s Trumbull office, has been with Fuss & O’Neill for 30 years. In this time, she has been involved in industrial and municipal projects involving stormwater management, industrial water reuse, wastewater treatment, hazardous waste, groundwater remediation, and landfill leachate.

Troop has worked on both technical and regulatory aspects of many water quality issues and has managed a wide variety of water use reduction, environmental engineering, and compliance projects for Fuss & O’Neill.

Jared Smith

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Smith has been promoted to senior project manager in the environment department of Fuss & O’Neill. Smith, who works in the firm’s Manchester office, has been with Fuss & O’Neill for five years. He specializes in the planning, implementation, and management of industrial hygiene, health, and safety programs for a variety of educational and municipal clients.

For more info on Smith is an indoor air quality (IAQ) expert and has managed numerous IAQ projects, as well as projects involving how tohazardous submit soil, radon, lead, asbestos, and PCBs. He is an asbestos consultant in Rhode Island and Connecticut. content or advertise with McGarry has been promoted to project manager in the community development department of Fuss & O’Neill.

McGarry, who High-Profile, works in the firm’s Quincy, Mass., office, has been with Fuss & O’Neill for eight years. In that time, he has worked on a wide connect with us range of projects including large-scale land development, urban redevelopment, stormwater management, infrastructure here! improvement, solid waste management, and flood control projects. https://www.high-profile.com/ct-engineering-firm-promotes-six/

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Fuss & O’Neill Promotes Six : High-Profile

McGarry is a registered professional engineer in Massachusetts.

Arruda has been promoted to project manager in the water and natural resources department of Fuss & O’Neill. Arruda, who works in the firm’s Providence, R.I., office, has been with Fuss & O’Neill for 18 years. In that time, he has designed and provided technical oversight on numerous engineering projects in the fields of stormwater management (including green infrastructure), floodplain and aquatic habitat restoration in coastal and riverine environments, dam breach and floodplain analysis, and stormwater quality and low-impact development.

Arruda is a registered professional engineer in Rhode Island and is a certified floodplain manager.

Devine has been promoted to associate in the community development department of Fuss & O’Neill. Devine, who works in the firm’s Manchester office, has been with Fuss & O’Neill for 19 years. In that time, he has worked in a multitude of site/civil and environmental engineering fields serving municipalities, state agencies, and private clients. He specializes in the redevelopment of urban sites, drawing on his experience in both fields to efficiently achieve the development goals while addressing the environmental issues.

Devine is a registered professional engineer in both Connecticut and Rhode Island, and is a licensed environmental engineer in the state of Connecticut.

Lapointe has been promoted to project manager in the transportation department of Fuss & O’Neill. Lapointe, who works in the firm’s Springfield, Mass., office, has been with Fuss & O’Neill for 10 years. In that time, he has been responsible for numerous highway design projects and traffic engineering studies in western and central Massachusetts and throughout Connecticut.

His projects include bike path/rail trail design, complete streets implementation and design, parking lot design, municipal and college campus parking studies, traffic signal design, traffic impact studies, and multiple highway design projects. He is a registered professional engineer in Massachusetts.

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2/4/2019

Six projects eyed to improve Aquidneck Island water quality - News - The Newport Daily News - Newport, RI

Six projects eyed to improve Aquidneck Island water quality

By Derek Gomes Daily News staff writer Posted Jan 31, 2019 at 1:08 PM Updated Jan 31, 2019 at 3:26 PM

There are two each in Newport, Middletown and Portsmouth.

MIDDLETOWN — A report done on behalf of the Aquidneck Island Planning Commission tapped six projects as top priorities to address stormwater runoff and improve water quality.

The projects involve installing systems, called best management practices, intended to increase the amount of stormwater that infiltrates the soil. There are two each in Newport, Middletown and Portsmouth.

The work is part of Island Waters, a planning commission program funded by a three-year, nearly $1 million grant from the Environmental Protection Agency in September 2016. The commission is hopeful the EPA will extend the grant deadline because installing the best management practices has taken longer than expected.

“It’s a lot of lessons learned along the way,” said Allison McNally, the commission’s program manager. “We had thought we’d be in construction as of this past summer, but we had some extenuating circumstances. The public outreach has taken a little bit longer, various staffing transitions. I think we’re doing OK to hit some spring, summer and fall construction. And then, of course, there’s always the potential of possibly extending the grant period.”

Tom Ardito, the head of the commission, left the nonprofit in November 2017 for a position with Restore America’s Estuaries to develop and implement a new grant program for Southeast New England. John Shea succeeded Ardito as executive director last April.

The planning commission is the lead on Island Waters and has partnered with the three island municipalities, the Aquidneck Land Trust, Clean Ocean Access, the Eastern Rhode Island Conservation District, the state departments of Transportation and Environmental Management and the EPA. Last summer, the planning commission sent an Island Waters status to the three municipalities and other agencies, McNally said recently. Now, the organization is pushing the report completed by its engineering firm, Fuss & O’Neill, to a wider audience.

Stormwater pollution is a pernicious problem. Water that does not seep into the ground becomes runoff and collects pollutants until it empties into the area’s waterways, including Narragansett Bay, the Sakonnet River or one of Aquidneck Island’s seven surface reservoirs that are part of its https://www.newportri.com/news/20190131/six-projects-eyed-to-improve-aquidneck-island-water-quality

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Six projects eyed to improve Aquidneck Island water quality - News - The Newport Daily News - Newport, RI

drinking water supply. In 2014, the state Department of Environmental Management designated all seven as impaired.

“Since stormwater originates from nearly all types of land use on Aquidneck Island ... and affects virtually all of the island’s fresh and salt water, an integrated approach is needed to effectively and efficiently address the problem,” the report states. “Island Waters provides such an approach ... .”

This isn’t the first comprehensive overview of stormwater issues and possible solutions. Fuss & O’Neill compiled 90 best-management practices for specific sites that were identified in past reports. A rubric was used to score each one. Fourteen projects were selected by “project partners and other stakeholders as most impactful and readily implemented,” the report said.

Physical best-management practices include filter berms (a permeable berm made of gravel or compost placed at the bottom of an agricultural field), wet-vegetated treatment systems (a basin with a gravel bed where plants grow) and tree filters (trees planted within a curb that capture runoff). Non-physical practices include street-sweeping, fertilizer management programs and outreach to teach residents about the effects of pet waste, fertilizer and septic system maintenance on runoff.

The six projects chosen as top priorities are for the Tibbit’s Farm property off Mitchell’s Lane in Middletown; a property off Island Drive in Middletown; two properties in Portsmouth that abut St. Mary’s Pond; a section of Miantonomi Park off Hillside Avenue in Newport; and a property off Sprouting Rock Drive in Newport. The six projects carry an estimated total cost of $1.11 million, the report said. Two other projects identified as top priorities are conservation plans for Hoogendoorn Nurseries on Turner Road in Middletown and Newport Equestrian on Third Beach Road in Middletown.

The Island Waters project has about $1.35 million in funding. In addition to the EPA grant, it received money from other sources, including the state Department of Environmental Management, McNally said. How many of the six projects can be completed will depend on the bid prices Fuss & O’Neill receives, she added.

Asked how far those projects will go toward reducing the pollution within an acceptable range, she said: “It’s a complicated topic. None of these projects are particularly panaceas. They’re going to help. Measuring and monitoring is critical afterwards.”

Organizations can refer to the list of projects scored by the rubric to tackle other projects when more funding becomes available, McNally said.

The full report is available at aquidneckplanning.org/projects/257

dgomes@newportri.com

https://www.newportri.com/news/20190131/six-projects-eyed-to-improve-aquidneck-island-water-quality

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2/1/2019

South Coast Improvement completes Brockton medical marijuana dispensary - News - Wicked Local Rochester - Rochester, MA

South Coast Improvement completes Brockton medical marijuana dispensary Posted Jan 31, 2019 at 5:52 PM Updated Jan 31, 2019 at 5:52 PM

MARION - South Coast Improvement Company, a design-build general contractor serving New England and the Mid-Atlantic states based in Marion, recently completed work on a $2.3 million renovation project to construct a medical marijuana dispensary at 1090 West Chestnut St. in Brockton for Commonwealth Alternative Care. Hedrick Brothers Construction was the project manager.

The project featured a full gut and renovation fit out for the entire interior of the building to accommodate the medical marijuana dispensary and pave the way for a future retail dispensary, according to a press release. Additionally, the project included ample parking and access as well as landscaping.

Other components of the project included an entire mechanical, electrical and plumbing upgrade.

The exterior of the building received new windows and storefront, as well as signage.

“We have a lot of experience in the healthcare arenas between healthcare facilities and urgent care centers. Building a medical marijuana facility is really an extension of that experience,” said Tom Quinlan, president of South Coast Improvement Co. “We’re very happy with the result of this project and look forward to more work in this growing industry.”

Commonwealth Alternative Care is slated to open Feb. 15. The dispensary will be operated by Tilt Holdings Company.

The architect for the project was Glidden Spina. Engineering firms that worked on the project included Fuss & O’Neill Inc. (mechanical, electrical and plumbing) and Field Engineering Co. (civil and site work).

https://rochester.wickedlocal.com/news/20190131/south-coast-improvement-completes-brockton-medical-marijuana-dispensary

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2/19/2019

Fuss & O’Neill helps Elliot Health System expand services, parking | Business | unionleader.com

https://www.unionleader.com/news/business/fuss-o-neill-helps-elliot-health-system-expand-services-parking/article_f1bbbaf0-2596-5160bfa1-20e08d9cc5fb.html

Fuss & O’Neill helps Elliot Health System expand services, parking Feb 18, 2019

A new parking garage at Elliot Hospital in Manchester is near completion.

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Elliot Health System: Expanding the Regional Cancer Center; building a new parking garage.

Elliot Health System, working with local developer Dick Anagnost, approached engineering rm Fuss & O’Neill in early 2018 to assist with two signi cant goals for the Elliot Hospital Campus in Manchester.

The rst goal was to aid in the development of a comprehensive Regional Cancer Center. This meant designing an addition to the existing Elliot Regional Cancer Center, which currently features radiation oncology. The new facility would incorporate medical oncology services, in an effort to provide exceptional care for all patients under one roof. The second goal was to provide additional parking capacity to an already busy Elliot Hospital campus.

Before the Cancer Center expansion could be realized, a suitable on-site location needed to be identi ed. The addition would add approximately 20,000 square feet of new building area, more than doubling the center’s size.

Working with Elliot Health System and the design-build team of Bond Brothers Construction and E4H Architecture (Environments for Health), Fuss & O’Neill helped select a location that met the challenging site conditions, and blended well architecturally, with the existing hospital. Site challenges included steep grades and buried utilities (the main steam line for the hospital, water mains, electrical, and ber optic cables) that would need to be protected or relocated. https://www.unionleader.com/news/business/fuss-o-neill-helps-elliot-health-system-expand-services-parking/article_f1bbbaf0-2596-5160-bfa1-20e08d9…

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Fuss & O’Neill helps Elliot Health System expand services, parking | Business | unionleader.com

Elliot Health System also wanted to provide an aesthetically-pleasing outdoor space for those recovering from illness.

Fuss & O’Neill designed a healing garden located outside the infusion bays, which will be incorporated into the urban campus to give a peaceful oasis for patients during treatment. The design-build team will provide a cohesive, practical new building addition that meets the needs of patients, visitors and staff alike.

In order to appropriately site the Cancer Center addition, approximately 50 parking spaces would be lost from a hospital campus that experiences high demand for services daily. To address existing and new parking demands, a parking garage was proposed at the corner of Cypress and Massabesic Streets.

While this area is close to the hospital, signi cant site challenges existed, including a 30-foot elevation change and a large concrete stormwater pipe running through the site. Structural engineer Simon Design Engineering worked closely with Fuss & O’Neill to design a unique parking structure that would work with the terrain, provide suitable access to each level of the facility, and meet additional on-site challenges.

The three-level parking structure provides access independently on each level, and allows overhead clearance to access large pipes for maintenance. Providing expansive employee parking in the new garage will allow patients and visitors to park conveniently in the lots closest to the hospital entrances. The lower two levels of the structure can be accessed from Cypress Street, and the upper level can be accessed from a new bridge off of Elliot Way. During construction of the parking structure, at the request of Bond Brothers, the design-build team worked on-site in the same eld o ce one day each week to allow for hands-on collaboration and communication. This “lean” approach to design and construction aligns the needs of the Elliot Health System with regard to budgets and schedule, to produce the highest quality results while cutting waste in real time.

The parking structure is nearing completion. The Elliot Regional Cancer Center upgrades are set to begin in the spring.

https://www.unionleader.com/news/business/fuss-o-neill-helps-elliot-health-system-expand-services-parking/article_f1bbbaf0-2596-5160-bfa1-20e08d9…

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2/22/2019

Marijuana, solar on the warrant for special town meeting | The Valley Breeze

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2/20/2019

Marijuana, solar on the warrant for special town meeting

By LAUREN CLEM, Valley Breeze Staff Writer

BLACKSTONE – As an influx of new industries look to expand into Blackstone, the town’s existing zoning bylaws are struggling to keep up.

Next Tuesday, Feb. 26, a special town meeting will be held at the Blackstone-Millville Regional High School auditorium at 7 p.m.

The main purpose of the meeting is to hold a public vote on a series of zoning bylaws that address and limit the expansion of recreational marijuana retailers and solar facilities in town.

A public hearing on the proposed bylaw changes will be held during the Planning Board meeting tonight, Thursday, Feb. 21, at 7 p.m.

According to Board of Selectmen Chairman Daniel Keefe, the issue of solar expansion was first brought to the board’s attention by a concerned resident who requested a moratorium on new solar development until the town could develop bylaws to address the expansion last fall. The town’s Planning Board had recently approved applications for five developments, according to Keefe, including some in residential areas.

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“The first five solar projects that have gone through the Conservation Commission and the Planning Board and every board in between did their homework and were extremely thorough, but with the influx of applications without anything on the books to control this, we could end up with a lot more facilities than the town really needs and sacrifice the quality of the land in town,” he said.

The new version of the zoning bylaws on the warrant for the town meeting would limit solar facilities larger than 100 kilowatts to industrial zones with the approval of a special permit by the Planning Board. The bylaws had previously allowed solar facilities in residential and commercial zones with the approval of a special permit.

If approved, the new bylaw would also limit the size of solar facilities to no more than 25 percent of the total land area of an industrial district. The bylaw would not apply retroactively to projects already approved.

A separate item addresses a similar zoning update for the expansion of recreational marijuana retailers. While the town had previously established zoning bylaws for establishments that sell medical marijuana, until recently, the lack of retail applications meant the town had no established bylaws governing this separate type of facility.

Under the new bylaw, recreational marijuana retailers would be allowed in commercial and industrial zones with the approval of a special permit by the Planning Board. Retailers would not be allowed in R-3 residential zones. In R-1 and R-2 residential zones, retailers would be allowed by special permit only if the site abuts a commercial or industrial zone and was already used for commercial purposes.

The new bylaw also stipulates that non-retail marijuana establishments, including growers and manufacturing facilities, would only be allowed by special permit in industrial zones.

“What we’re looking to do is we’re pretty much adopting our medical marijuana bylaws to reflect the new marijuana facilities that are coming in with the state,” said Keefe. “We didn’t reinvent the wheel, we just pretty much added the recreational. There’s some tweaks along the way.”

http://www.valleybreeze.com/2019-02-20/woonsocket-north-smithfield/marijuana-solar-warrant-special-town-meeting#.XHAUmehKiUl

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Marijuana, solar on the warrant for special town meeting | The Valley Breeze

The new bylaw would not affect the two applications currently under consideration for retailers on Main Street and Lloyd Street.

Those retailers are currently in the process of negotiating a host community agreement with the town, a document Keefe said would take into account the concerns of residents.

“Any additional oversight with the two existing ones can be negotiated through the host community agreement,” he said. “That wouldn’t change as far as these bylaws. The bylaws really address the zoning end of it and where these facilities can and cannot be put in moving forward.”

Under the new bylaw, he added, any retail marijuana application would trigger a public hearing process prior to the awarding of a special permit.

The following budget items will also appear on the warrant: • $3,160 payable to Fuss & O’Neill, Inc. to pay for study-related work.

• $120,504.88 payable to the City of Woonsocket Regional Waste Water for the flow bill.

• $12,000 to monitor flow and/or inspect and report findings of main sewer lines on various streets and river crossings within the town.

• $25,000 to pay vocational tuition and transportation.

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http://www.valleybreeze.com/2019-02-20/woonsocket-north-smithfield/marijuana-solar-warrant-special-town-meeting#.XHAUmehKiUl

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2/26/2019

WSA Reviews Planned Pump Station Improvements | The Newtown Bee

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WSA Reviews Planned Pump Station Improvements

By Andrew Gorosko Published: February 26, 2019 at 07:00 am

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In Memoriam: Joseph Brocco WSA Reviews Planned Pump Station Improvements James Healey The Fine Art Of Fruit Tree Pruning Local Family Renovating Home For Maximum ALS Mobility

Water & Sewer Authority (WSA) members have discussed with their consulting engineer how the Sandy Hook Center sewage pump stationâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s capacity should be increased to handle rising sewage pumping demands at the 5-A Glen Road site.

Fred Hurley, town public works director, said February 19 he expects that the improvements to be made to the pump station would cost between $400,000 and $500,000. Such funding would come from municipal bonding, he added. https://www.newtownbee.com/wsa-reviews-planned-pump-station-improvements/02262019

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2/26/2019

WSA Reviews Planned Pump Station Improvements | The Newtown Bee

Mr Hurley said he hopes that the pump station improvements will be completed by the end of this year.

Besides installing two new higher capacity pumps to replace two existing pumps, the project would include installing a new electrical generator outdoors at the pump station to replace the existing indoor generator. Also, some plumbing and electrical improvements would be made.

The three WSA members in attendance at a February 7 session discussed the speci cs of pump station improvements with engineer Kurt Mailman of Fuss & O’Neill, the town’s consulting engineering rm. Because only three WSA members attended, the agency did not reach a quorum, which is four members.

Previously, Fuss & O’Neill submitted a 67-page report on the need to expand sewage pumping capacity. The pump station is one of four such stations that power the central sanitary sewer system, which started operation in 1997.

A 240-square-foot building that sits on an 0.11-acre lot at 5-A Glen Road has two pumps that are used to pump sewage westward and uphill along Church Hill Road via a pressurized force main to the town’s sewage treatment plant on Commerce Road. Past development in Sandy Hook and anticipated new development have resulted in the pumping station reaching its limits, requiring that its pumping capacity be increased, according to the WSA. The three other pump stations in the central sewer district are located at 47-A Hanover Road, 33-A Taunton Lake Drive, and 17-A Baldwin Road. The Sandy Hook station is in a commercial area, with the other three stations located in residential settings.

Twice in the past, the Sandy Hook pump station almost over owed with wastewater.

In one case, the Newtown High School swimming pool was drained, and all the pool water rapidly traveled through the sewer system, nearly ooding the pump station.

In the other case, a major grease blockage in the sewer system was located at Newtown Shopping Village at 5 Queen Street, and when the blockage was cleared, a great volume of wastewater traveled through the sewer system, again nearly ooding the pumphouse.

The town started operation of the central sewer system in 1997, at the urging of state environmental o cials, to resolve longstanding groundwater pollution problems caused by many failing septic systems.

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https://www.newtownbee.com/wsa-reviews-planned-pump-station-improvements/02262019

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3/6/2019

Robinson Joins Fuss & O’Neill : High-Profile

Robinson Joins Fuss & O’Neill highprofile | February 27, 2019

Arnold Robinson Providence, RI – Fuss & O’Neill has hired Arnold Robinson as its regional director of planning based out of Providence.

He joins the firm after 30 years working in the fields of community planning, historic preservation and rehabilitation, education, and urban design.

Most recently, Robinson served as associate dean for community engagement at Roger Williams University.

His role at Fuss & O’Neill will include community planning, public process design and facilitation, historic building preservation, and public engagement consulting.

Robinson’s diverse expertise includes master planning, feasibility analysis, multidisciplinary project collaboration, site design, public process facilitation, regulatory permitting, historic rehabilitation project design, bidding, and construction administration.

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Fuss & O’Neill Names Robinson Regional Director of Planning for Providence Office Monday, March 04, 2019

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Engineering firm Fuss & O’Neill has named Arnold Robinson as its Regional Director of Planning based out of Providence.

“Fuss & O’Neill is on the leading edge of climate change resiliency and this is a unique opportunity to engage decision-makers and citizens who are directly impacted by climate change. I’m excited to work with such a talented team from diverse disciplines to bridge the gap of connecting technical experts with decision-makers and citizens to help make communities more resilient,” said Robinson.

Robinson will report to Shawn Martin who manages the Providence office.

About Robinson Most recently, Robinson served as Associate Dean for Community Engagement at Roger Williams University.

His expertise includes master planning, feasibility analysis, multidisciplinary project collaboration, site design, public process facilitation, regulatory permitting, historic rehabilitation project design, bidding, and construction administration.

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Related Slideshow: 19 to Watch in 2019 - FULL LIST https://www.golocalprov.com/business/fuss-oneill-names-robinson-regional-director-of-planning-for-providence-off

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3/29/2019

Designing a Future of Trust, Collaboration, and Prosperity : High-Profile

Designing a Future of Trust, Collaboration, and Prosperity highprofile | March 26, 2019

by Emily Langner

Brent Robertson (left) and Matt Reiniger (at whiteboard) running a Fathom Future Design Day workshop in Hartford / photo courtesy of Fathom In the A/E/C industry, the results of planning, hard work, and follow-through are immediately evident in the work that is produced. The success of any business in this space has much to do with its ability to create a tangible product: an office building, multifamily residence, or school, to name a few, but it is the intangible that likely plays a greater role in a company’s ability to grow, evolve, and succeed in an industry that often depends on the strength of relationships to get things done.

Brent Robertson, partner at Fathom, a future design firm helping manufacturers, architects, builders, and engineers go beneath the surface to reconnect people with what gives their work meaning and drives unprecedented performance, says that most often the biggest mistake a company or organization makes is “putting too much energy into reacting to the symptoms they are experiencing like falling margins, flaccid employee engagement, and commoditization, while still hoping for growth, expansion, and increased profitability.” He says they often react by “investing in some new ‘thing’ like a new website, employee engagement program, or new process or team, hoping for a silver bullet.” But these “things” almost always fail to make the difference because none of them are designed to address the underlying condition causing the symptom.

Brent Robertson facilitates a recent executive workshop on creating meaningful profitability for 2019 for 80 leaders of A+E firms at the Haworth Showroom in NYC. / photo by Edward Caruso Fathom’s main objective is to help organizations establish a clear vision for the future, help them realize their full potential, and put into action the goals and causes that will grow their businesses and positively influence the world around them. They do this by focusing on building and strengthening relationships and helping people better relate to each other and their work. According to Robertson, “We help our clients focus on the relationships most vital to their success, identify them, understand their condition, and ultimately develop them to be more meaningful and productive.”

https://www.high-profile.com/designing-a-future-of-trust-collaboration-and-prosperity/

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Designing a Future of Trust, Collaboration, and Prosperity : High-Profile

Dave Louden (left) and Brent Robertson (right), founding partners at Fathom / photo by Mike Marques Matt Reiniger, associate partner at Fathom, says, “Fathom works with companies to understand what a successful future looks like, and what it will take to create conditions that will have it be true. That involves acting in ways that build authentic cultures that invite contribution, and have teams trust each other. It also involves elevating the state of relationships with clients and partners – so they see you as essential to their future.”

It is for this reason that companies like Tecton Architects, Svigals+Partners, and Fuss & O’Neill have chosen to work with Fathom to take deep dives into their own companies and streamline their own visions.

Employees of Tecton Architects gather in the Trinity College Vernon Social Center, a space they designed, to play a part in creating the firm’s future. / photo courtesy of Fathom Fathom worked with the team at Tecton Architects to better engage and empower their employees, creating a “whole team” approach. This has inspired the firm’s bold new approach to their work. Melissa Roy, associate and director of business development at Tecton Architects, says: “Designing and holding the space for our own potential has pushed us to find new ways of doing, thinking, and interacting as we work together to meet the needs we know and awaken hidden opportunities. This has pushed us to challenge traditional choices and take more risks with greater confidence, which has translated into getting the work that we want.”

Matt Reiniger, associate partner at Fathom, records and reflects to the Tecton Architects team a collective image of the future. / photo courtesy of Fathom Robertson also believes that, although often a taboo subject in the design and construction industry, profitability can and should be high on a company’s list of goals. He says: “What we at Fathom have demonstrated is that there are cultural attributes that, if established and cultivated within an organization, the ability to create profit increases, in many cases, dramatically and at the same time, strengthens relationships between the members of the firm, and their relationships with clients, partners, and the marketplace itself.”

This was true for the team at Svigals+Partners, who recently saw their most profitable year in their 35 years of business after working with Fathom.

Barry Svigals, partner emeritus at Svigals+Partners, says: “What we needed and what we got from working with Fathom was not a blueprint for an extrapolation of the present. We were schooled in a capacity to imagine and re-imagine our future. Most importantly, it was a future that we cared deeply about, and one that has continued to motivate all of our endeavors.” https://www.high-profile.com/designing-a-future-of-trust-collaboration-and-prosperity/

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Designing a Future of Trust, Collaboration, and Prosperity : High-Profile

The entire team at Svigals + Partners collaborates to decide what’s next for the firm/photo courtesy of Fathom The team at Fuss & O’Neill worked with Fathom to identify and define the company’s culture, and the firm has grown by 20% since implementing its vision. According to Kathy Nanowski, CPSM, vice president and director of marketing and business development at Fuss & O’Neill: “Fathom facilitated a discovery session that brought to light the fact that it is important to our employees that we work on projects that make a difference in the communities in which we live and work. Engineers and scientists want to work at a firm that values and appreciates them, not only by providing good benefits and salaries, but by having them work with clients who challenge them. As a result, we look for projects that will truly benefit a community or organization – exciting projects that keep people engaged. “

Fuss & O’Neill strategy session / photo by Jim Coon In January of this year, Fathom also helped the team at High-Profile Monthly clearly define our vision to “provoke people to act on their vision to build a better world.” So far, that vision has led our commitment to be a platform where our readers can engage with the people and companies that are changing the industry for the better, starting with our brand new Build Better Podcast and HP’s first ever Vision issue.

Reiniger says the most rewarding transformation he sees in companies they work with is “people trusting each other more and more, and then seeing the amazing things that come out of that trust,” and Ben Callaghan, associate partner at Fathom, considers Fathom’s role for companies to be that of “guides, facilitators, coaches, designers, communicators, conveners, instigators, and overall unwavering advocates for our clients’ potential.”

Ben Callaghan (right), associate partner at Fathom / photo by Mike Marques So what is Fathom’s own vision? According to Robertson: “It is a world where people and organizations use more of their humanity to serve more of humanity. We believe that people have the infinite capacity to contribute to what matters to them, and have proven that unprecedented business performance can be realized when every member is acting together on behalf of a future bigger than they are. We are on a mission to create as many examples as we can, so a new standard for organizational design is embraced.”

Emily Langner is the associate editor for High-Profile Monthly.

https://www.high-profile.com/designing-a-future-of-trust-collaboration-and-prosperity/

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3/29/2019

The Day - Cleanup at former New London rifle range set to begin next month - News from southeastern Connecticut

Cleanup at former New London ri e range set to begin next month

New London Public Schools is in the rst of three design phases for the North Campus: Schematic Design, Design Development and Construction Documents. These drawings represent the most current design in the Schematic Design stage. (Courtesy of New London Public Schools)

Published March 28. 2019 6:29PM | Updated March 28. 2019 6:38PM

By Greg Smith (/apps/pbcs.dll/personalia?ID=g.smith) Day staff writer  g.smith@theday.com (mailto:g.smith@theday.com)

 SmittyDay (http://www.twitter.com/SmittyDay)

New London — Hazardous materials contractors will tackle cleanup at a former ri e range at New London High School next month, another small piece of a much larger construction project slated to start in 2020.

Contractors from American Environmental Inc. will remove lead dust and asbestos associated with the abandoned ri e range and storage area in the basement of the high school as part of Phase II of a $108 million construction project. Phase I of the project was rehab of an outdoor track.

A portion of the $565,000 project, which is part of the $801,642 budgeted for abatement work, will start after school on Friday, April 12, and is expected to be completed by April 15 — while students are away on April vacation. Some lead reduction work will continue after that date.

Students will not be allowed in the school from April 13 to April 15. Contractors are expected to remove duct insulation, sand, HVAC dust collection systems and collect lead-contaminated dust and remove asbestos ceiling tiles. In some places a grinder will be used to scour the oors. Some of the sports memorabilia will be cleaned and saved.

Capitol Region Education Council Project Manager Diana McNeill said the area had been used for storage and closed o . Recent environmental tests con rmed the presence of lead contamination. Firing ranges often contain lead dust as a result of the discharge of rearms.

“Now we have the opportunity to clean it up,” McNeil said.

Work is being monitored by Fuss & O’Neill Inc., an independent environmental consultant. A noti cation about the work was sent to parents earlier this week, as required by the state Department of Public Health.

More abatement work will continue this summer.

https://www.theday.com/local-news/20190328/cleanup-at-former-new-london-rifle-range-set-to-begin-next-month

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The Day - Cleanup at former New London rifle range set to begin next month - News from southeastern Connecticut Full-blown construction at the school is slated to start in 2020. e construction is expected to last three years and will require movement of the students around the campus since construction will be ongoing while school is in session.

What will be known as the north campus o Je erson Avenue hosts New London High School and the Science and Technology Magnet High School of Southeastern Connecticut. Work on design for the $49 million south campus at Bennie Dover Jackson Middle School is ongoing. e City Council recently approved an additional $240,000 for Antinozzi Associates because of changes in the design of the north campus project. e original $3.9 million agreement with Antinozzi from January 2017 for architectural and engineering design work had called for construction of a new 170,000-square-foot building and demolition of the 192,800-square-foot original 1969 building. It was later increased by more than $285,000. e scope of the project and programming since has changed and the latest design now consists of demolition of the 17,700-square-foot shop wing at the 1969 building, a full renovation of the remaining 175,100-square-foot structure, construction of additions totaling 54,800 square feet and renovation of a 9,000-square-foot STEM structure built in 2009. e two campuses together will host portions of the arts, STEM and International Baccalaureate magnet schools. g.smith@theday.com (mailto:g.smith@theday.com)

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Work on Main Street could start next year in Windsor Locks | Windsor Locks | journalinquirer.com

https://www.journalinquirer.com/towns/windsor_locks/work-on-main-street-could-start-next-year-in-windsor/article_35fa3be8-5174-11e9-84bc3b289b0e2074.html

Work on Main Street could start next year in Windsor Locks

By Anthony Branciforte abranciforte@journalinquirer.com Mar 28, 2019 Updated 23 hrs ago

WINDSOR LOCKS — Plans to improve tra c ow and pedestrian accessibility in the Main Street area could be complete this year, with construction beginning next spring, according to engineering rm Fuss & O’Neill.

Planning for the project has been underway since early 2017, with the town submitting designs and grant requests to the state throughout the process. Department of Transportation approval is required for any proposed changes because Main Street is a state road.

Changes are to include a roundabout at Chestnut Street and North Main Street, on-street parking that is meant to support economic development, additional sidewalks and pedestrian crossings, and a shared-use path that connects to the Canal Trail.

Fuss & O’Neill has said the roundabout will bring bene ts like lower tra c speeds, improved tra c ow, increased pedestrian safety, and fewer accidents.

The town has spent over $300,000 on the project, through First Selectman Christopher Kervick said the remainder of the project’s funding has come in state grants totaling $5.5 million.

A project schedule from Fuss & O’Neill shows that nal design plans are to be submitted to the Capitol Region Council of Governments by the end of 2019, and the rm estimates that it will go out to bid in early 2020. Construction is expected to start a year from now.

Kervick has said Main Street currently is designed to “encourage high-speed vehicular movement through Windsor Locks, which is inconsistent with what we want in our commercial center.”

WL to consider use for TIF money

DOT approves plan for Route 75 sidewalks in Windsor Locks

https://www.journalinquirer.com/newsletters/work-on-main-street-could-start-next-year-in-wlocks/article_35fa3be8-5174-11e9-84bc-3b289b0e2074.html

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6 STEPS TO SUCCESSFUL COLLABORATION Silicon Valley startups redefined the modern office.

Cubicle walls came down, making collaboration part of the culture. Seeing the successes that the tech industry enjoy, other industries have begun to change their approach to workplace ethos.

As the CEO of an engineering consulting firm, this has been a difficult challenge. Technical professionals, especially engineers, like to figure things out on their own. But when collaboration works, it takes the best from each person and creates new ideas.

NEW PHILOSOPHY

So how do you get a firm to adopt a new philosophy? It’s not something that happens overnight. It takes thought, direction, proactive integration, and constant nurturing. We’ve taken a six-step approach at our firm, and it’s paying off.

1. Define It. What does collaboration mean in your firm? Is it just some vague notion of “working together,” or are your organizational needs and expectations more specific? Gather a select group of employees. This shouldn’t be your usual trusted advisors. You want ideas from different lines of business, with different levels of experience, and with different perspectives. Take an hour or two to talk about how collaboration already exists, where it is lacking, and how better implementation will impact your company.

2. Communicate It. Now that you know what it is to your company, it’s time to make sure that your entire organization knows that collaboration is an operational imperative. This starts at the highest level, but takes buy-in from everyone. The push for collaboration will be ongoing, and you will hold your employees accountable for this behavioral norm. If you have an all-employee meeting, this should be a highlight, every time. Mention it at smaller group meetings and make sure department managers are doing the same. Use visual aids (posters and graphics) and company communications (emails and internal posts) to reinforce your message.

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APRIL / 2019 • VOL / 46 • ISSUE / 4

by Kevin Grigg, P.E.

3. Incentivize It. A great way to communicate your intent is to make collaboration a part of employee goal setting and evaluation. Work with HR to include collaboration as a performance criterion, and award people who excel. This will set the standard for your firm. Include collaboration as a measure that influences compensation. You can also institute a rewards program that acknowledges good examples of collaboration.

4. Monitor It. For upper management (those you routinely work with) include an assessment of their efforts related to collaboration in quarterly performance “check-ins.” But also take the pulse of those who work for them. Ask to sit in on project or department meetings. Ask employees as you pass them in the hall. Recognize that you may not get an entirely truthful answer as people typically want to give the answer they think you want to hear.

5. Live it. Lead by example. Be a collaborative leader, as opposed to a dictatorial or distant leader.

Ask for help and new ideas. Create a space on your intranet for people to suggest ideas without fear of retribution. Interact regularly with your employees, your clients, and those outside of your organization that influence your firm’s success, including elected and appointed officials.

6. Sustain It. Use every reasonable opportunity as a leader of your firm to reiterate the importance of collaboration as it relates to the success of your employee’s professional development and to your firm’s overall success. Articulate examples of stellar collaboration to illustrate, reinforce, and reward collaborative behavior(s).

Changing a linear model to a collaborative one will not happen overnight. People must see the benefits to believe the message. Don’t give up. And don’t be afraid to change an approach if you’re not seeing traction. Be flexible and keep your goal in sight.

•

Kevin Grigg brings his 30 years of experience successfully managing projects and business units in the environmental, facilities, water, and transportation markets to his role as CEO of Fuss & O’Neill.

4/10/2019

Development plans unfold - News - Wicked Local Carver - Carver, MA

Development plans unfold

By Kathryn Gallerani kgallerani@wickedlocal.com Posted Apr 5, 2019 at 10:00 AM

CARVER – Ten mixed-use office/storage buildings and nine storage buildings are proposed as part of a new Ricketts Pond Business Park in Carver.

The buildings would be located on six proposed lots in Carver’s Spring Street Innovation Zoning District.

The project site has frontage on Spring Street and consists of approximately 20 acres in Carver and 23 acres in Plympton. The site is bordered by Route 44 to north and west, Spring Street to the south and Ricketts Pond to the east.

A Planning Board hearing on a definitive subdivision plan was continued March 26 to the next board meeting Tuesday, April 23, at the request of the applicant, RPBP, LLC. The limited liability company formed by Peter and Michael Opachinski has an address of 3 Marion Drive in Carver.

Director of Planning and Development Stephen Cole said the two reasons for continuing the hearing are that the proposed project has not been completely vetted by the town’s peer review consultant, Fuss & O’Neill, and it has not yet gone before the Conservation Commission.

Cole said he recommends continuing the hearing until the Planning Board has some guidance from the Conservation Commission regarding wetlands delineation issues.

“I thought it would be more meaningful for us to take up the action when we have some kind of a determination from the Conservation Commission,” he said.

The next meeting of the Conservation Commission is scheduled for 7 p.m. Wednesday, April 17.

Several different commercial, retail, and agricultural uses are permitted within the Spring Street Innovation Zoning District under Carver’s zoning bylaw. Residential uses are not allowed. The dimensional requirements are a minimum lot area of 60,000 square feet with 175 feet of frontage.

Standards are in place to ensure that the character of any future business development in the Spring Street Innovation District by providing citizens, landowners, business owners, and developers with clear expectations for development and redevelopment.

These standards are to be applied to development and redevelopment on parcels within the Spring Street Innovation District requiring site plan review from the Planning Board in addition to the site plan review requirements of the town’s zoning bylaw. The standards include design standards.

Follow Kathryn Gallerani on Twitter @kgallreporter.

carver.wickedlocal.com/news/20190405/development-plans-unfold

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4/10/2019

Energy storage facility approved in Carver - News - Wicked Local Carver - Carver, MA

Energy storage facility approved in Carver

By Kathryn Gallerani kgallerani@wickedlocal.com Posted Apr 8, 2019 at 10:00 AM

The Planning Board approved the site plan review application and special permit for a lithium ion battery storage system in a residential/agricultural district.

CARVER – A 150-megawatt battery storage facility off Main Street has the approval of the Planning Board.

The Planning Board voted 4-1 March 26 to approve the site plan review application and special permit for a lithium ion battery storage system at 31R Main St., in a residential/agricultural district, after a lengthy public hearing process.

Cranberry Point Energy Storage/Sovereign Energy Storage plans to build 186,436 square feet of new development located adjacent to the Eversource substation, subject to state permitting.

Not all Planning Board members were ready to vote. Planning Board member Jennifer Bogart wanted to add conditions based on new information that was unknown during the public hearing process as it relates to construction of the facility.

Her questions were based on a report the applicant was required to submit to the state and focused on the length of the project, the number of vehicle trips, limits on days and times and noise concerns.

“I’m disappointed that none of us thought to talk about the construction of the project,” she said.

She said the applicant wrote in the report to the state that information on construction would be part of the town’s public hearing process and asked the board to consider reopening the hearing, saying they shouldn’t ignore the information.

“As the chairman’s said, we’re learning as we go because this is new,” she said.

The other board members were ready to vote. Planning Board Chairman Bruce Maki said it’s also a project that is a few years away, and the process will continue to move forward with the state requiring such information as part the permitting process.

Approval by the Planning Board is contingent upon numerous conditions, including a comprehensive emergency response plan with input and approval from the Carver Fire Department.

The emergency response plan includes provisions for professional development and training of fire personnel, best practices for fire suppression, specialized equipment and apparatus, methods for collection, and testing and disposal of water used to fight a fire that comes into contact with the lithium ion cells before an electrical permit is granted.

The emergency response plan must also include the contact information for two responsible site managers, funding in an amount to be determined by the Planning Board with input from the town administrator, and fire officials must be provided for training and equipment including vehicles that can help evacuate https://carver.wickedlocal.com/news/20190408/energy-storage-facility-approved-in-carver

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4/10/2019

Energy storage facility approved in Carver - News - Wicked Local Carver - Carver, MA

residents from remote areas of the site.

Assistant Deputy Fire Chief Jesse Boyle made sure the Planning Board included the hiring of a fire protection engineer to assist him with inspections and other responsibilities performed by the assistant deputy as necessary, considering the size and scope of the project.

Installation of the battery facility must also meet state regulations, an electrical disconnect must be installed as requested by the Fire Department and as required by the national electrical code, and the Planning Board must approve the decommissioning bond negotiated by the town administrator.

There are 22 conditions.

Director of Planning and Development Stephen Cole said the townâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s peer review consultant Fuss & Oâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;Neill and the planning staff recommend approval of all four waivers that were requested.

The Planning Board granted all four waivers, including providing open space, designated parking areas and walkways, on-site landscaping and a traffic plan. The last waiver does not apply to trip generation during construction.

Last year, Town Meeting approved energy storage as an allowed use in all zoning districts. The Planning Board visited the undeveloped site in January.

In May 2015, the Baker-Polito Administration launched the $10 million Energy Storage Initiative to evaluate and demonstrate the benefits of deploying energy storage technologies in Massachusetts.

State officials recognize that energy storage can be a valuable component of a diversified energy portfolio.

Follow Kathryn Gallerani on Twitter @kgallreporter.

https://carver.wickedlocal.com/news/20190408/energy-storage-facility-approved-in-carver

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4/26/2019

Work on new Somerset hotel starting - Special - southcoasttoday.com - New Bedford, MA

Special

Work on new Somerset hotel starting

By George Austin Editor Posted Apr 16, 2019 at 5:00 PM Updated Apr 16, 2019 at 6:14 PM

SOMERSET — Marc Landry, the developer who is working on building a hotel and restaurants on Route 6, said last week that clearing of trees, moving of material and cutting and filling were about to start on the project. Landry said a ground breaking for the new Fairfield Marriott hotel could be done in early summer.

Brandon Carr, a project manager from DiPrete Engineering, said the clearing and other site work would take six to eight weeks to do.

Fuss & O’Neil, the Planning Board’s consulting engineering firm, has provided its review of the project, called Fairfield Commons, to the board and South Coast Hospitality, Landry’s company that is developing the project. The consulting firm made 16 comments about the plans for the site and five comments about the stormwater management proposal for the site. The firm’s comments say that the eastern contruction access that is proposed can pose some traffic management issues with turning trucks and so is recommending using the primary construction access at the traffic signal and constructing the wetland crossing to access the eastern part of the site.

Fuss & O’Neill has recommended that stop signs at the internal intersection southeast of the hotel should be provided in the east-west direction. The firm says that the interior driveway intersection that is proposed for the hotel site is located close to the Route 6 intersection and presents potential conflicts due to speed and geometry and vehicle backups. The firm recommends a greater distance between the Route 6 layout and the interior intersection of the hotel site. The comments from Fuss & O’Neill say that although the photometrics plan indicates little to no light projection on horizontal surfaces beyond the site, the glare visible from adjacent residential properties should be considered. The firm recommends incorporating shields on the light fixtures and ensuring all lighting has full cutoff luminaries.

Carr said he did not see any items in Fuss & O’Neill’s review that South Coast Hospitality won’t be able to respond to, but said he received Fuss & O’Neill’s comments on the same day as the Planning Board meeting last Tuesday, so needed some more time to respond. He said he did not see any major issues in the review.

He said most of the comments have to do with sedimentation control. Carr said the consulting firm did not recommend any changes to the layout or drainage system for the hotel project. He said South Coast Hospitality would work out the issues with Fuss & O’Neill and then submit comments to the Planning Board and update its plan.

Planning Board Chairman Gary Simons said if Fuss & O’Neill wants to do another inspection of the site, his board should be notified so a representative of the Planning Board can go, as well as the town’s highway superintendent. Carr said there would be inspections during construction of the hotel when the Planning Board will be notified.

https://www.southcoasttoday.com/special/20190416/work-on-new-somerset-hotel-starting

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4/26/2019

Work on new Somerset hotel starting - Special - southcoasttoday.com - New Bedford, MA

The property, located on 14.27 acres of undeveloped land in a limited business zone across from Home Depot on Route 6, would be the home of an 111-room hotel, two restaurants and an office building. An estimated 30 full-time jobs, 75 part-time jobs and 125 construction jobs are expected with the hotel project.

The projected tax revenue that the town would receive from the property would be $431,996 in the first year and going up gradually until it reaches $538,322 in the 10th year.

https://www.southcoasttoday.com/special/20190416/work-on-new-somerset-hotel-starting

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4/23/2019

Gardner City Council schedules hearing on new school for May 1 - News - The Gardner News - Gardner, MA

Gardner City Council schedules hearing on new school for May 1

By Andrew Mans eld Reporter Posted Apr 18, 2019 at 10:20 PM Updated Apr 18, 2019 at 10:20 PM

GARDNER — The City Council has scheduled a presentation and public hearing about the city’s new elementary school project on Wednesday, May 1, at 6 p.m.

The hearing will be held in the City Council Chamber, Room 219 in City Hall, which is located at 95 Pleasant St. The City Council decided to postpone voting on a proposed purchase of over 17 acres of privately-owned vacant land off Pearl Street that would be the location for a new elementary school, in order to first give the public a chance to hear about the project and share their views at a hearing.

Purchasing the land is just one more step the city would take in following the process outlined by the Massachusetts School Building Authority (MSBA), the state agency that would fund the majority of the project cost.

The new elementary school, which if all goes according to plan could open in 2022, would serve about 1,000 students in preschool through grade four. It would replace both Waterford Street School and Elm Street School.

The proposed new school site is across the street from Dunn State Park and would require a new access road to be built.

It is nearby to the east of Gardner High School and Gardner Middle School, which are on Catherine Street.

The plan also includes building a connecting road to make travel easier from the new school site to the high school and middle school.

Consultants working on the project for the city recently gave a presentation to the City Council.

“We can create a very 21st-century school that will be well-built and last a very long time,” said Margo Jones, principal for Jones Whitsett Architects, which is working on the design.

One of the main positives she highlighted was how the site, which is in a forested area, is an ideal setting for learning.

“Children learn better in a natural environment,” she said, explaining there are studies that indicate that to be true.

Jones along with colleague Helen Fantini talked about the school building design.

They said it would include three multi-story wings; one wing for preschool through kindergarten students, another wing for common areas and grade four students, and another wing for grades one through three.

Combined, they said the facility would be about 145,000 square feet.

https://www.thegardnernews.com/news/20190418/gardner-city-council-schedules-hearing-on-new-school-for-may-1

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4/23/2019

Gardner City Council schedules hearing on new school for May 1 - News - The Gardner News - Gardner, MA

Eric Bernardin, an executive with the engineering firm Fuss & O’Neill, said the school would be built on top of a hill, so the site would be terraced. Tree-cutting would be required as well.

At lower elevations than where the building will be, he said the site does have some wetlands but assured the plan will follow the regulations of the state Department of Environmental Protection, including that the same flow of water would be maintained to not impact the surrounding environment.

Bernardin shared some information about traffic impact, saying a traffic study found that on average, drivers coming from both directions on Pearl Street are speeding at over 40 miles per hour, above the 30 mile per hour limit.

He said there will be a recommendation to create a school zone as part of the project to slow down traffic.

Tim Alix, the project manager from Colliers International, said a final budget for the project would not be set until this summer, but the initial estimate is that the project will cost between $83 and $89 million. Out of that total, the city would have to pay between $36 and $40 million.

“We don’t expect the numbers to change much but they will be refined a little bit,” he said.

Jones said the Gardner project is cheaper (in terms of cost per square foot) than other current MSBA projects.

“We are doing this as economically efficient as possible,” she said.

The overall reaction among city councilors who spoke about the consultants’ presentation afterward was positive.

Councilor James Johnson said he was “very skeptical” about the suitability of the site beforehand, but indicated he was satisfied with the information the consultants provided.

“After listening to the presentation tonight, I’m very excited about it,” he said.

Councilors were also given copies of a phase one environmental assessment of the site prepared by Sovereign Consulting Inc. which concluded that “the site does not possess any attributes defined as environmental concerns.”

The assessment did state that the parcel abutting the proposed school site to the west – which Stump Pond is located on – does indicate to have the “historical presence of a dump” on its eastern side.

The environmental assessment goes on to state that the analysis in a 1994 Department of Environmental Protection document titled “The Restoration of Dunn Pond” indicates there are no hazardous materials though.

“Therefore with the removal of solid waste and remediation of both Stump Pond and Dunn Pond this would be considered a CREC,” the report reads.

CREC stands for controlled recognized environmental condition.

https://www.thegardnernews.com/news/20190418/gardner-city-council-schedules-hearing-on-new-school-for-may-1

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WSA Seeks Pump Station Upgrade | The Newtown Bee

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WSA Seeks Pump Station Upgrade

By Andrew Gorosko Published: April 29, 2019 at 07:00 am

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Having received a list of the equipment that is required to upgrade the Sandy Hook Center sewage pump station, the town will be acquiring that gear with the goal of completing the improvements before the end of the year.

Fred Hurley, town public works director, said the Water & Sewer Authority (WSA) has received the equipment list for the improvement project from its consulting engineers. The town’s purchasing agent will acquire the equipment for the project. The pump station is located at 5-A Glen Road.

Mr Hurley has estimated that increasing the sewage pump station’s sewage-handling capacity will cost somewhere between $400,000 and $500,000. Such funding would be financed by the WSA, not the municipal government, he said April 24.

The public works director said he hopes that installation of new equipment at the pump station starts by July.

Besides installing two new higher capacity pumps to replace two existing pumps, the project would include installing a new electrical generator outdoors at the pump station to replace an existing indoor generator. Some plumbing and electrical improvements would also be made.

WSA consulting engineers Fuss & O’Neill have submitted a 67-page report on the need to expand sewage pumping capacity. The pump station is one of four such stations that power the central sanitary sewer system, which started operation in 1997.

A 240-square-foot building that sits on an 0.11-acre lot at Glen Road has two pumps that are used to pump sewage westward and uphill along Church Hill Road via a pressurized force main to the town’s sewage treatment plant on Commerce Road. Past development in Sandy Hook

WSA Seeks Pump Station Upgrade | The Newtown Bee and anticipated new development have resulted in the pumping station reaching its limits, requiring that its pumping capacity be increased, according to the WSA. Twice in the past, the Sandy Hook pump station almost overflowed with wastewater. In one case, the Newtown High School swimming pool was drained, and all the pool water rapidly traveled through the sewer system, nearly flooding the pump station. In the other case, a major grease blockage in the sewer system was located at Newtown Shopping Village at 5 Queen Street. When that blockage was cleared, a great volume of wastewater traveled through the sewer system, again nearly flooding the pump house.

The three other pump stations in the central sewer district are located at 47-A Hanover Road, 33-A Taunton Lake Drive, and 17-A Baldwin Road. The Sandy Hook station is in a commercial area, with the other three stations located in residential settings.

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South End residents show frustration with marijuana business that wants to locate in Springfield - masslive.com

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South End residents show frustration with marijuana business that wants to locate in Springfield Posted May 5, 6:21 PM

Kurt M. Smith, business development manager for Fuss & O'Neill shows drawings of the proposed Mint Dispensary Facility to be located at 982 Main St. in Springfield.

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By Jeanette DeForge | jdeforge@repub.com

SPRINGFIELD -- Residents in the South End told owners of a marijuana company they got it all wrong when they organized a community meeting to explain their business proposal.

They failed to reach out to the well-known neighborhood council and long-established business owners when sending out invitations; the Sunday noon meeting interfered with church and family time and owners came unable to answer many questions.

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South End residents show frustration with marijuana business that wants to locate in Springfield - masslive.com

Mint Dispensary Facilities LLC., which has two retail stores in Arizona, is proposing to open a shop at 928 Main St., the current location of City Pizza and Fried Chicken. The owners met with residents for the first time Sunday at Red Rose Pizzeria.

The company is one of 47 which is considering applying to Springfield for a marijuana license under a Request for Proposals system. Completed applications must be submitted by May 20 for consideration and the city will select up to four companies in June that can go forward in its first phase.

Part of the process calls for companies to hold community meetings and the first held by Mint Dispensary Facilities was not greeted with enthusiasm by residents.

Nearly 50 emerge as potential applicants to operate recreational marijuana businesses in Springfield

For 20 years residents and owners of well-established businesses have been trying to turn around the South End. Now that they have had some success, especially with the opening of the MGM casino, no fewer than seven marijuana companies have proposed moving in nearby, said Leo Florian, president of the South End Citizens Council.

"I don't think this brings any benefit to the community," he said. "Trying to put it in the middle of the neighborhood...I don't see it."

If accepted, the dispensary would be less than a half-mile from MGM Springfield.

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Owners gave a brief overview of their proposed business, describing the plans for security and showing plans of the inside and outside of the business.

The company expects to have a security officer on site at all times and will have cameras inside and outside the building. Those who enter the store will first be allowed in a closed lobby area and must show identification proving they are at least 21 before entering the secured store. In the showroom, all products will be behind glass cases and an employee will assist anyone who is purchasing marijuana, said Kurt M. Smith, business development manager for Fuss & Oâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;Neill, which is working for Mint Dispensary.

The company will invest about $3 million in the project. If it receives state and local permits, it would expect to open in a year at the earliest, said Eivan Sharah, one of the owners.

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On top of turning over 3 percent of its profits to the city, as allowed by state regulation, Mint Dispensary Facilities also plans to work with local organizations including community colleges, health organizations and groups that will help people who have been arrested or otherwise harmed by the past marijuana laws, said Raul Matta, who is working for a law firm hired by Mint Dispensary. https://www.masslive.com/news/2019/05/south-end-residents-show-frustration-with-marijuana-business-that-wants-to-locate-in-springfield.html

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South End residents show frustration with marijuana business that wants to locate in Springfield - masslive.com

Matta, who worked as a long-term community organizer for years, said the company also plans to partner with existing community service agencies to create a fund to help residents in different ways.

Most of the about two-hour meeting was left open for residents to make comments and ask questions.

People were especially concerned about that the company only invited required abutters by mail and did not pass the word to nearby business owners and the South End Community Council. When MGM decided to build in the South End they sent representatives to individually talk to people.

“What I hear is we need to take a different approach and I get it,” Sharah said. He promised to consult with community leaders and schedule a second meeting.

Recreational ʻseed to sale’ facility proposed for Chicopee will invest $15 million plus in business

Resident Paul Glantz, who lives across from the proposed location, said he was concerned about parking and crowds.

Already he said he is having problems with people going to the casino blocking his driveway when they are parking.

The business has a lot with 25 spaces and said some employees and customers will be using public parking near the dispensary, Smith said.

Residents asked how many owners or members of the board of directors live in Springfield and were told none, but owners said they do plan to hire from within the community.

"We don't want people to think Mint is coming to the community and not providing jobs for the community," Matta said.

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When asked why the company even wants to locate in the South End, Marvin Cable, a Western Massachusetts lawyer hired to represent Mint Dispensary, said the company does believe it is a good location and the community is similar to the two where they have existing locations.

https://www.masslive.com/news/2019/05/south-end-residents-show-frustration-with-marijuana-business-that-wants-to-locate-in-springfield.html

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South End residents show frustration with marijuana business that wants to locate in Springfield - masslive.com

"I think it matters to us that you live in the South End, that you are one of us," Cancel said. "In the South End we are a different community."

Residents also expressed frustration that representatives could not answer questions like the hours of operation, posed

by Police Sgt. Brian Elliot, a supervisor for the Metro Unit, who was representing the police department and city.

Sharah did explain there would be six to eight employees covering each shift, including a security officer. He also said the company’s existing facilities have never had serious crime issues.

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6/4/2019

Derry forum offers Exit 4A, airport updates | New Hampshire | eagletribune.com https://www.eagletribune.com/news/new_hampshire/derry-forum-offers-exit-a-airport-updates/article_db1910ea-f499-51ab-9071-69f660ba1f15.html EDITOR'S PICK

Derry forum offers Exit 4A, airport updates Chambers of commerce host transportation event at Brookstone

by Julie Huss jhuss@eagletribune.com May 7, 2019

AMANDA SABGA/Staff photoManchester-Boston Regional Airport Director Ted Kitchens gives transportation.

Amanda Sabga

DERRY â&#x20AC;&#x201D; Whether on the ground or in the air, there are many ways to get from one point to another in the Granite State and beyond.

Local officials, business owners and residents heard details about the planned Exit 4A project in Londonderry and Derry, and also got an update on the Manchester-Boston Regional Airport from new director Ted Kitchens at a forum sponsored by the Greater Derry Londonderry Chamber of Commerce at Brookstone Park.

The morning kicked off with the Exit 4A project, a plan moving forward after many decades.

Nicole Fox, a senior engineer with the firm Fuss and O'Neill led the discussion.

The new interchange will be located between the existing Exits 4 and 5 off Interstate 93 in Londonderry. The purpose of the project is to relieve traffic delays and congestion along Route 102 through Derry and to allow for regional economic development, Fox said.

In December 2015, Derry Town Council voted to enter into a three-party agreement with Londonderry and NHDOT to move forward with the project.

Both towns are committed to spending $5 million each for the project.

The project is included in the state's 10-year plan with a price tag of approximately $56 million.

The planned route involves a new diamond interchange on I-93 in Londonderry, approximately a mile north of Exit 4. A one-mile connector would be built from that interchange across to Folsom Road, near the intersection of High Street and Madden Road in Derry. Folsom and Tsienneto roads would get improvements and upgrades across to where Exit 4A would end at Tsienneto and Route 102.

The total distance from the interstate over to Route 102 is approximately three miles, Fox said, adding major improvements along Tsienneto, including wider shoulders, will also help support added safety for both drivers, bikers, or those walking.

https://www.eagletribune.com/news/new_hampshire/derry-forum-offers-exit-a-airport-updates/article_db1910ea-f499-51ab-9071-69f660ba1f15.html

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The intersection at Tsienneto Road forum and Route 102 Exit is also4A, earmarked Derry offers airport for updates

| New Hampshire | eagletribune.com

major improvements including signal lights and added signals at the nearby turn onto North Shore Road.

"That's currently a very difficult decision for turning left (onto Route 102) from North Shore," Fox said.

Thirteen residential properties and four business units â&#x20AC;&#x201D; with a total of 25 businesses â&#x20AC;&#x201D; will be affected by the work. Relocation assistance will be given to each landowner or tenant whose property will be impacted by Exit 4A. As part of the Exit 4A project, an underpass is included in the design to provide a safe crossing as Derry's trail system continues on toward an eventual connection to north Londonderry trails.

Fox said Exit 4A construction could begin by late summer of 2020 with a completion date at the end of 2023.

"And 4A won't impact the work they are currently doing on Interstate 93," she said.

Derry state Rep. Stephen Pearson said he has heard about the Exit 4A project since he was a child.

"I'm cautiously optimistic any time someone puts a time frame on this," he said.

Attention then turned toward the airport.

For Kitchens, only on the job as airport director for seven months, it's time to "get off the ground and look to the sky."

Kitchens provided updates on the challenges facing the airport, from tackling reasons why more people aren't flying from the New Hampshire hub to other destinations, and why it's important to attract other airlines to come to Manchester.

Major carriers now are JetBlue, American, Delta and Southwest, but Kitchens said Southwest is eyeing a more western market for new destinations.

"They are so focused on their California to Hawaii experiment," Kitchens said, "and they are pivoting away from the New England region."

He cited dropping numbers in capacity at the airport, but said there is hope.

Kitchens said the airport will take a new approach to marketing, where the regions are that are "leaking" with people not choosing to use the more regional airport.

"Who are they flying, where are we leaking? What zip code?" Kitchens said, adding there will be a concerted effort to gather more consumer information and data to help market a more advantageous flying experience for customers.

"And we are working very hard to find a new carrier," Kitchens said.

The airport will also upgrade its FastPass/frequent parking program where flyers earn points to redeem in many areas.

Right now, the airport has 34 daily flights; 12 hubs are served, with 3,450 daily seats; 184 flights are non-stop or one-stop destinations and the average fare is $410. Most connections are less than 90 minutes.

"It's all about a choice of how you want to fly," Kitchens said.

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6/4/2019

Manchester to apply for federal grant to address potential SNHU garage traffic surge | Transportation | unionleader.com https://www.unionleader.com/news/business/transportation/manchester-to-apply-for-federal-grant-to-addresspotential-snhu/article_5e71701f-c2e8-5802-9c85-c4898dff06cd.html

Manchester to apply for federal grant to address potential SNHU garage tra c surge

By PAUL FEELY New Hampshire Union Leader May 8, 2019

This is a rendering of the parking garage nearing completion in Manchester’s Millyard.

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MANCHESTER — In response to concerns over possible increases in tra c on South Commercial Street when a Southern New Hampshire University (SNHU) parking garage is expected to open this summer, city aldermen voted Tuesday to apply for federal grant funds for a possible second egress for the area.

Mayor Joyce Craig brought up the opportunity for the city to apply for a federal Better Utilizing Investments to Leverage Development (BUILD) Transportation Discretionary Grant, under the “new business” portion of Tuesday’s Board of Mayor and Aldermen meeting.

“While the garage developer, SNHU and the Department of Public Works will all be completing mitigation efforts to help improve the ow of tra c, it is essential to nd a second egress out of South Commercial Street,” Craig told aldermen on Tuesday.

“Based on the geography of the area, the challenges that crossing a rail line entail, and the lack of cityowned property in the area, there is no quick or inexpensive solution for a second egress. Each option that we have explored will require a signi cant expense to construct.”

SNHU plans to offer public parking at its new Millyard garage during off-business hours and will phase in using the garage to monitor any travel tie-ups. A tra c study submitted by the developer in 2017 said some intersections along Granite Street could be lled beyond their capacity by 2030 and suggested “the city may also wish to explore the feasibility of obtaining a future secondary access to Elm Street from South Commercial Street via a new railroad crossing.”

https://www.unionleader.com/news/business/transportation/manchester-to-apply-for-federal-grant-to-address-potential-snhu/article_5e71701f-c2e8-58…

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6/4/2019

Manchester to apply for federal grant to address potential SNHU garage | Transportation | unionleader.com The 1,700-space garage next to Northeast Delta Dental Stadium will betraffic usedsurge by university employees

working at the Millyard, said Lauren Keane, assistant vice president of communications for SNHU, in an email.

Developer Peter Flotz has said he plans to turn the garage over to SNHU, completed, by July 1.

SNHU plans to monitor garage tra c conditions, offer some public parking

Within the last week, Craig said, city staff identi ed a federal grant opportunity that would not only assist with funding a second egress out of the area, but that would also improve transportation and increase economic development options along the South Elm corridor.

Federal BUILD grants, formerly called TIGER grants, are awarded on a competitive basis to municipalities and states for signi cant transportation projects. The awards can be up to $25 million, with an 80/20 federal/local split, though they can potentially be 100 percent federally funded for communities like Manchester.

“After consulting with city staff, we feel that there is a signi cant opportunity for the city through this grant to not only nd a solution to the South Commercial Street egress challenge, but improve and further develop the South Elm Street corridor for potentially the same cost as a small scale x to the egress challenge,” said Craig.

Last month, U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) Secretary Elaine Chao announced that the DOT has rolled out a Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFO) to apply for $900 million in discretionary grant funding through the BUILD Transportation Discretionary Grants program.

Funding for this $900 million in BUILD grants is made available through the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2019. The maximum grant award is $25 million with no more than $90 million that can be awarded to a single state. The DOT said the deadline to submit a FY 2019 BUILD Transportation Discretionary Grant application is July 15, less than 10 weeks away.

Craig said because BUILD grants are very competitive, the city plans to hire a consultant to assist in completing the grant application in time.

According to Craig, public works o cials identi ed CLD/Fuss & O’Neill as an engineering rm “with both the experience in securing these grants for other communities and the local knowledge of Manchester” to complete an application before the deadline at an estimated cost of $100,000.

Craig said Flotz has offered to pay $50,000 of the cost to complete the application.

Aldermen voted in favor of accepting the offer of $50,000 from Flotz, and waiving the formal procurement ordinance requirements in order for Public Works to enter into a contract with CLD/Fuss & O’Neill for its assistance in completing the BUILD grant application prior to the July 15 deadline.

“These actions (will) allow city staff and CLD/Fuss & O’Neill to begin work on the application as soon as possible while we work to identify a funding source for the remainder of the contract with the engineering rm over the next few weeks,” Craig told aldermen.

Paul Feely https://www.unionleader.com/news/business/transportation/manchester-to-apply-for-federal-grant-to-address-potential-snhu/article_5e71701f-c2e8-58…

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What goes into building a state-of-the-art cannabis cultivation facility? | PotNetwork

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What goes into building a state-of-the-art cannabis cultivation facility?

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By Laura Kuhl (mailto:kuhlandthegang@gmail.com)

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Ongoing trends in the cannabis industry are leaning towards outdoor cultivation, with cannabis companies in both Canada and the United States competing for space and licenses to grow. Cultivation licenses are among the most competitive to receive, especially in America where individual states can put limitations on how many licenses are granted and how much square footage can be used to grow. For example, the state of Florida (https://www.potnetwork.com/news/florida-ruling-winmedical-marijuana-advocates) only issued seven cultivation licenses while New York (https://www.potnetwork.com/news/lawmakers-new-york-and-new-jerseyregroup-after-recreational-legalization-efforts-unravel) just extended their limit from five to ten.

[Exclusive preview: HerbForce cannabis talent marketing report shows fastestgrowing job market is ultra-competitive (https://www.potnetwork.com/news/exclusive-preview-herbforce-cannabis-talentmarketing-report-shows-fastest-growing-job-market)] In states like these, with populations of over twenty million people, cultivation competition is fierce. The cannabis stocks lucky enough to receive a cultivation license (or two) will have the best chances of sweeping the market, when and if the federal ban on marijuana is lifted (https://www.potnetwork.com/news/marijuanafreedom-and-opportunity-act-introduced-federally-decriminalize-cannabis). In the meantime, the construction of state-of-the-art facilities for cultivation and processing is a top priority for many licensed producers.

What to consider when constructing a state-of-the-art cultivation facility: There is more to a cannabis cultivation facility than just a greenhouse. Like most real estate investments, construction is all about location. When it comes to outdoor grows, climate plays a major role in the healthy development of the hypersensitive marijuana plants. Things like wind, sunlight, even natural disasters such as earthquakes and hurricanes, all need to be considered.

[Going Green: How these companies are creating a more eco-friendly cannabis packaging market (https://www.potnetwork.com/news/going-green-how-thesecompanies-are-creating-more-eco-friendly-cannabis-packaging-market)] With location also comes zoning laws and licensing applications. As these vary state-to-state, enlisting a general contractor to manage the construction of any type of cannabis facility is recommended. They can navigate the different state regulations and ensure that the facilities are built to code with all of the necessary AC, heating, and CO2 airflow systems in place.

Biosecurity is another variable that can influence the design of these facilities.

Protecting marijuana plants, cuttings, and seeds from pests and pathogens can

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$50M Elm Court renovation pushed to 2020 | The Berkshire Eagle | Pittsfield Breaking News, Sports, Weather, Traffic

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(/uploads/original/20190609-164227-ELMCOURTDRONE-4-T5_09873.jpg) This week, resort developer Front Yard LLC asked the Stockbridge Select Board for another one-year extension of the special permit first granted in September 2014 for Elm Court in Lenox. The permit allows for a 112-unit hotel on the 90-acre estate.

BEN GARVER - THE BERKSHIRE EAGLE

$50M Elm Court renovation pushed to 2020 Work had been expected to start this spring at Gilded Age mansion Posted Sunday, June 9, 2019 4:42 pm Elm Court timeline ...

By Clarence Fanto, Eagle correspondent

1886: The 106-room Elm Court mansion constructed for the Gilded Age's Vanderbilt and Sloane families opens.

STOCKBRIDGE — The $50 million renovation at the 1886 Elm Court mansion expected to begin this spring now has been pushed off until next year.

1948: Descendants begin operating an inn, but it closes in 1958 and the property is abandoned for 42 years.

2002: Members of the Berle family, descendants of the original owners, reopen Elm Court as a luxury boutique destination for weddings, but it closes in 2009.

July 2012: The Berles sell the Elm Court estate for $9.8 million to resort developer Front Yard LLC. It had been placed on the market in 2005 for $21.5 million, reduced to $17.5 million a year later, and nally to $14 million before the property was temporarily taken off the market at the end of 2006.

Sept. 8, 2014: Stockbridge Select Board approves special permit with conditions for Front Yard's Travaasa Experiential Resort project.

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This week, resort developer Front Yard LLC asked the Stockbridge Select Board for another one-year extension of the special permit rst granted in September 2014. The permit allows for a 112-unit hotel on the 90-acre estate, including 16 existing suites in the Gilded Age mansion.

The additional 96 rooms would be in an annex linked to the main house. The plan includes a 60seat public restaurant and 15,000-square-foot spa. Front Yard bought the manse seven years ago from the Berle family for nearly $10 million.

The request from the developer's local attorney, Nick Arienti, was cited brie y at Monday night's Select Board meeting.

Arienti's three-page letter seeks an extension to Sept. 6, 2020, so Front Yard, the developer for Travaasa Experiential Resorts, can undertake planning, coordination, preparation and construction in 2020. (https://homelifetips.net/why-we-think-these-are-the-perfect-set-of-bedding?utm berkshireeaglecom&utm_term=1075035&fs=1)

A similar request for an extension was delivered to the Lenox Zoning Board of Appeals on Don't Monday. The permit in that town, which is only valid for Front Yard, expires July 17.buy Thebed sheets till you read THIS! Cosy House Collection Microfiber 1500 Series Bed Sheets | Sponsored (http extended permit, if approved by the ZBA, would run until Nov. 10, 2020.

Special permits are required from both towns because 87 of Elm Court's 90 acres are in

Subscribe (http://neni-news.com/subscribe/) for as little as 99 cents for unlimited web & eEdition access. https://www.berkshireeagle.com/stories/50m-elm-court-renovation-pushed-to-2020,576087 Stockbridge, while 3 acres making up the entrances and road frontage are within Lenox.

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6/10/2019

June 29, 2015: After six meetings, the Lenox $50M Elm Court renovation ZBA votes 4-1 to approve the project with special conditions.

Aug. 3, 2015: Eight Lenox and Stockbridge neighbors of Elm Court le an appeal in Massachusetts Land Court, suing the Lenox ZBA and Front Yard LLC. July 17, 2017: The court dismisses the lawsuit; a smaller group of neighbors takes the case to the state Court of Appeals.

Nov. 10, 2017: The Court of Appeals lawsuit terminates through a private settlement with the neighbors.

July 9, 2018: The Stockbridge Select Board extends its special permit through Sept. 6, 2019.

June 3, 2019: Travassa's local attorney les for additional extensions of the Len

Previously and extensions required substantial construction to begin withinWeather, Traffic pushed toapproved 2020 | permits The Berkshire Eagle | Pittsfield Breaking News, Sports, the designated time span, except for "good cause," such as ongoing legal or logistical complications.

The most recent stumbling block has been during the project's rst phase, for an estimated $4 million upgrade and extension of water and sewer lines along Old Stockbridge Road in Lenox as well as road resurfacing, paid by the developer, as required by the special permits.

It has been a long and winding trail for the high-end hotel to be operated by Travaasa. Front Yard and Travaasa are af liates of the Denver-based Amstar Group international real estate investment management company. Travaasa also has a resort in Hana, Hawaii, but last year its Austin, Texas, hotel was sold to Hyatt Hotels' Miraval Group, which is renovating and expanding Cranwell Resort in Lenox.

Adam Hawthorne, Travaasa president, has not been available for comment since Tuesday.

Arienti's nearly identical letters to both towns detail how the project has been delayed time and again by legal entanglements, namely a lawsuit led by eight neighbors of Elm Court after the Lenox ZBA voted 4-1 on June 29, 2015, to approve a special permit, with a long list of special conditions.

The lawsuit against the zoning board and Front Yard was led in Massachusetts Land Court on Aug. 3, 2015. The court ruled against the neighbors July 17, 2017, but the project opponents then moved on to the state Court of Appeals, which dismissed the case once and for all Nov. 10, 2017, after a private settlement between the developer and the neighborhood group.

During the litigation, Arienti's letters pointed out, Front Yard could not begin work on the Elm Court property because it did not have legal access to the grounds through the entrance within Lenox. As a result, he wrote, the project's preparations, including nancing, "ground to a halt."

Once the lawsuit was dismissed, the letters stated, "Front Yard was eager to begin work on this project and did indeed resume preconstruction preparation work."

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That preparation included coordination and planning with the town of Lenox on the utility upgrades along Old Stockbridge Road, paid for by Front Yard, with Allegrone Construction as the general contractor.

But, the letter stated, "the highly complex coordination of the numerous elements of this project, including ongoing efforts to value-engineer the design, requires additional time before Front Yard is ready to begin with comprehensive construction in a logical, economical and ef cient manner."

The special permit extensions would allow Front Yard "to continue to more effectively plan, coordinate and prepare for commencement of construction in 2020," the letters to the Stockbridge and Lenox boards say.

A page on Travaasa's website describes Elm Court as a "perfect t" for the Travaasa brand, built "on the premise of creating memorable travel experiences in inspirational, irreplaceable locations, celebrating the uniqueness of a place and its people."

Travassa describes the historic property as "a gorgeous estate with truly unique character, signi cant history and a passionate community.

Our team has spent years working on a plan that celebrates the beauty and charm of the property, and we're ecstatic to begin making our vision a reality."

Billing the "addition to the family, coming soon" resort as Travaasa Berkshire County, the company lists its priorities: - Renovate and preserve the current mansion as main element on property; - Tuck a visually cohesive new wing down the hill and into the woods; - Protect views for abutters, from the mansion, from the Stockbridge Bowl and around the property; - Create a single structure that is shorter, smaller, connected to and behind the mansion.

The ballpark construction window has been described as 18 months, not including winter-weather delays.

For Stockbridge, a $350,000 one-time building permit fee has been projected, along with up to $800,000 a year in property and lodging tax revenue after completion of the resort. Travassa has estimated an annual payroll of at least $3 million, based on 100 jobs with an average annual salary of $36,000.

Travaasa has predicted a 6 to 7 percent pro t margin based on year-round room occupancy averaging 60 to 70 percent, compared with the Berkshire lodging industry average of just over 50 percent.

The architect for the main mansion is listed as Pamela Sandler, of Stockbridge, while Johnson Braund, based outside Seattle, is cited as the architectural rm for the 96-room addition. White Engineering, of Pitts eld, is the civil and environmental engineer, while Fuss & O'Neill's Spring eld of ce has conducted traf c studies, peer-reviewed by consultant Tighe & Bond of West eld.

Clarence Fanto can be reached at cfanto@yahoo.com, on Twitter @BE_cfanto or at 413-637-2551.

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6/17/2019

People on the Move in R.I.: Week of June 16, 2018 - News - providencejournal.com - Providence, RI

People on the Move in R.I.: Week of June 16, 2018

Posted Jun 13, 2019 at 11:36 AM Updated Jun 15, 2019 at 3:46 PM

Adler, Cohen, Harvey, Wakeman, Guekguezian LLP Saunderstown resident Brian A. Fielding has been named partner of the Providence-Boston civil litigation law firm. Fielding, who joined the firm in 2014, is a former law clerk for Rhode Island Supreme Court Associate Justice Francis X. Flaherty and a current probate judge for the Town of North Kingstown.

Fuss & O’Neill Arnold Robinson, of Barrington, has been hired as regional director of planning. He brings 30 years of experience in community planning, historic preservation and rehabilitation, education and urban design to his new position. Prior to joining the firm, Robinson was associate dean for Community Engagement at Roger Williams University.

Saint Elizabeth Community Saint Elizabeth Community, a non-for-profit organization providing a full spectrum of care to seniors, has named a new chair and added two new members to its Board of Trustees and hired a new director of Human Resources.

Craig W. Carpenter, of Coventry, has been elected chair of the Board of Trustees for Saint Elizabeth Community. He is president of Carpenter-Jenks Funeral Home & Crematory and has been a trustee since 2012.

Donald Saracen, of Bristol, and Kimberley Ranalli, of Coventry, have been elected to the Board of Trustees. Saracen is president of Saracen Sales & Marketing, a consulting firm specializing in working with small to mid-sized family owned and closely held businesses. Ranalli is a senior vice president and director of Consumer Lending Quality Control at Citizens Bank.

Donna Shirley, of South Kingstown, is the new director of Human Resources. Prior to joining Saint Elizabeth Community, Shirley worked for Nordson, a global manufacturing company with 8,000 employees in 40 countries.

https://www.providencejournal.com/news/20190613/people-on-move-in-ri-week-of-june-16-2018

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7/12/2019

Lincoln Street Bridge construction underway | News | woonsocketcall.com

https://www.woonsocketcall.com/news/lincoln-street-bridge-construction-underway/article_1296cce0-9240-11e9-bd09afbf475e82b6.html

Lincoln Street Bridge construction underway

By JOSEPH FITZGERALD/j tzgerald@woonsocketcall.com Jun 18, 2019

BLACKSTONE â&#x20AC;&#x201D; Work to replace the ailing Lincoln Street Bridge is nally underway.

Lincoln Street from Residential Lane to the entrance of the Blackstone-Millville Regional High School was closed to tra c Monday and will remain closed for about a month until the project is completed. Residents are being asked to seek an alternate route.

Aqualine Utility, Inc., an East Weymouth company, is overseeing the culvert replacement project, which will include the installation of six precast six-foot by 36-foot bridge culverts. The culverts were ordered in January and then manufactured o site before being delivered to the construction site last month.

The project will include replacing the bridge for a total project length of 500 feet and adding new guardrails and sidewalks, including tying the sidewalk across the street from the Blackstone-Millville Regional High School into the sidewalk heading to the John F. Kennedy School. After the project is completed, the roadway will be repaved.

DPW Superintendent Jimmy Sullivan says the project is shovel-ready because a lot of infrastructure work, including surveying, has already been completed.

The historic bridge, located between the high school and the John F. Kennedy Elementary/Augustine F. Maloney School complex, spans the Fox Brook. It was closed last spring so highway workers could repair and ll a large hole on one side of the bridge, which has been slowly deteriorating for the past 25 years. The bridge was later reopened, but has been restricted to one lane in each direction.

Aqualine Utility, Inc. was awarded a $667,727 contract to take on the project. Town voters earlier this year approved a town meeting appropriation of $400,000 for the project, which will be o set by more than $200,000 from the state in the form of Chapter 90 funding for local road and bridge repairs and capital funding from the capital infrastructure bill signed into into law by Gov. Charlie Baker.

https://www.woonsocketcall.com/news/lincoln-street-bridge-construction-underway/article_1296cce0-9240-11e9-bd09-afbf475e82b6.html

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7/12/2019

Lincoln Street Bridge construction underway | News | woonsocketcall.com

The town had been trying to address the bridge since the 1990’s. The project was on the Department of Transportation’s list of projects for funding, but kept being put o until Sen. Ryan Fattman was able to secure funding this past spring.

The bridge is one of three in town that local o cials are hoping to either repair or replace.

At the annual town meeting during the spring, voters appropriated $217,000 for a study and design work for the St. Paul Street bridge, which is in need of repairs. The study and design is needed in case there is state funding available for the project down the road.

Voters also approved $198,999 to reconstruct the historic stone arch bridge on Elm Street. If approved, the money would be reimbursed by the state’s Municipal Small Bridge Program.

Blackstone was one of 12 cities and towns selected as part of the second round of funding for the state program, which helps cities and towns replace or preserve bridges with spans between 10 and 20 feet that are not eligible for federal funding.

Last year, the town contracted with engineering consultants Fuss & O’Neil to perform a townwide bridge inspection, which included the dry stone masonry arch bridge on Elm Street, which is a minor arterial road and provides access to many residential homes as well as the Kimball sand quarry. The road is also a main commuter route to Route 495 and Route 126.

Both the sand quarry and the power plant depend on the bridge and road for employee access, delivery and distribution. The bridge also serves as a school bus route.

According to the inspection report, the bridge is badly deteriorated. Structural de ciencies include deformation of the spandrel walls; active leakage through the ll; and missing and ine ective tra c safety features.

Follow Joseph Fitzgerald on Twitter @jo tz7

https://www.woonsocketcall.com/news/lincoln-street-bridge-construction-underway/article_1296cce0-9240-11e9-bd09-afbf475e82b6.html

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6/28/2019

Personnel briefcase | Business | journalinquirer.com

https://www.journalinquirer.com/business/personnel-briefcase/article_6de9b50c-9764-11e9-9f2a9f7d40acecde.html

Personnel briefcase Compiled by JI Staff Jun 25, 2019 Updated Jun 25, 2019

Lattimer promoted Andrew Lattimer, a tax partner with blumshapiro, has been appointed as o ce managing partner for blum’s Connecticut o ces. He will oversee the operations of the West Hartford, Shelton, and Marlborough o ces, and serve on the rm’s management committee. He lives in Windsor with his wife, Genevieve, and their three children. He is a member of the American Institute of Certi ed Public Accountants and the Connecticut Society of Certi ed Public Accountants, and also serves as president of the Windsor Little League and as treasurer of the Mark Twain House.

Johnson joins Fuss

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Kevin Johnson, PE, PTOE, NETTCP has joined Fuss & O’Neill as the Manchester-based rm’s transportation business line leader. He brings more than 25 years of experience in transportation engineering, which includes a strong focus on highway, bridge, design-build and tra c related projects .He will develop new markets, provide technical guidance, and further the company’s transportation relationships throughout New England.

Firm hires associate Kahan Kerensky Capossela, LLP, a law rm with o ces in Vernon and Storrs, has hired attorney Joseph P. Mortelliti as an associate. He will practice in the real estate, litigation, and land use departments. He attended law school at the University of Connecticut School of Law and received his undergraduate degree in history from College of the Holy Cross.

Perry named to post Angela Perry, LNHA, of Manchester has been appointed the administrator of Vernon Manor, an independently owned and privately managed health care community in Vernon. Perry comes from LaGrange Health & Rehab, a 138-bed skilled nursing facility in LaGrange, Georgia, where she served as a Licensed Nursing Home Administrator. At LaGrange, Perry opened a 22-bed rehabilitative unit, improved re-hospitalization rates and implemented strategic sta ng plan to recruit new hires and promote retention, among other things.

https://www.journalinquirer.com/business/personnel-briefcase/article_6de9b50c-9764-11e9-9f2a-9f7d40acecde.html

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7/1/2019

Lyndon Select Board Agree To Use VTrans Design Firm For Rte 5 Project | Local News | caledonianrecord.com

https://www.caledonianrecord.com/news/local/lyndon-select-board-agree-to-use-vtrans-design-firmfor/article_ec61059e-4314-5941-b68c-86129252318f.html

Lyndon Select Board Agree To Use VTrans Design Firm For Rte 5 Project Board Reluctantly Agrees To Firm To Design Utility Relocation Amy Ash Nixon Jun 27, 2019

VTrans is moving ahead with a major reconstruction project for a stretch of Broad Street/Route 5. Selectmen on Monday voted reluctantly to go with the VTrans engineering design firm to help plan the relocation of municipal utilities for the project which will be paid for by local taxpayers. (File Photo by Amy Ash Nixon)

LYNDONVILLE — The Lyndon Select Board on Monday night “reluctantly” approved getting an estimate to relocate town-owned utilities from Fuss & O’Neill, an engineering firm the Vermont Agency of Transportation (VTrans) which is working with on the long-planned Broad Street/Route 5 improvement project.

Board Chairman Dan Daley called the project area “the miracle mile.” It is the stretch of Broad Street from the railroad tracks near the Bag Balm building south toward the plaza where Agway and The White Market are located.

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7/8/2019

Climate change assessment in Carver turns to next steps - News - Wicked Local Carver - Carver, MA

Climate change assessment in Carver turns to next steps

By Kathryn Gallerani kgallerani@wickedlocal.com

Posted Jul 3, 2019 at 10:00 AM

CARVER – The two priorities are studying the impacts of climate change on cranberry bogs and other agricultural uses and on Carver’s firefighting water supplies.

Last year, Carver received $196,979 for a climate change water resource vulnerability and adaptation strategy assessment as part of the second phase of the state’s Municipal Vulnerability Preparedness (MVP) grant and designation program. Carver received $15,000 the first year.

Water resources engineers Diane Mas and Phil Moreschi of consultants Fuss and O’Neill presented the findings from the MVP grant study overseen by the town’s planning and permitting office to the Select Board last week. They focused on the two priority areas.

Mas said the next step in the process with the assessment completed will be utilizing the assessment to secure grant funding for an integrated plan to protect Carver. After review by the Select Board, the assessment report was due to the Executive Office of Environmental Affairs by the end of June.

For firefighting, the assessment identified water supplies that are most vulnerable to drought.

“Everybody’s working with a limited budget,” she said, “so where do you expend your resources, how do you figure out how to prioritize needs to get the most benefit that you can for resiliency and adaptation.”

As for the agricultural water supply, Mas said it’s vital to work with bog owners to pursue strategies for their farms. She said they also surveyed growers about the challenges facing them, including the impact of the 2016 drought, to focus on management alternatives.

Moreschi said the farmers do know best.

“No one wants to force a solution onto the individual farmers,” he said.

Mas said the next round of action grants will be available late summer or early fall, she said they have identified other grants, but the MVP grants are one of the best options.

Moreschi said the town will want to be ready to meet again in July to develop a strategy for pursuing grant funding.

Follow Kathryn Gallerani on Twitter @kgallreporter.

https://carver.wickedlocal.com/news/20190703/climate-change-assessment-in-carver-turns-to-next-steps

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7/12/2019

FUSS & O’NEILL WELCOMES ELIZABETH LANDRY, PE, CEM, CBCP AS NEW OWNER

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FUSS & O’NEILL WELCOMES ELIZABETH LANDRY, PE, CEM, CBCP AS NEW OWNER Manchester, CT- Fuss & O’Neill is proud to announce that, effective July 1, 2019, the firm has added a new owner, Elizabeth Landry, PE, CEM, CBCP. Elizabeth started her career with the firm in 2005, right after graduating from Smith College with a Bachelor’s Degree in Engineering Science. Elizabeth earned a Master’s in Engineering Degree from the University of Hartford and is a Registered Professional Engineer in Connecticut, Massachusetts, and Rhode Island. She is both a Certified Energy Manager and a Certified Building Commissioning Professional.

She began as a Mechanical Engineer in the West Springfield’s Industrial Group and then transitioned to the Mechanical, Electrical, and Plumbing (MEP) Group in the company’s Manchester, CT headquarters. Focusing on large-scale energy and building projects, she has been leading the MEP group since 2015. Elizabeth is well-regarded for her technical expertise and project management skills. The MEP Group has increased in size and scale under her leadership and the Group’s work product has been a significant contributor to the growth and success of Fuss & O'Neill.

As an owner of the firm, Elizabeth will help shape the future and direction of the Connecticut-based firm. Kevin Grigg, CEO, is excited about Elizabeth’s new role: “Elizabeth has long been a leader in this company. I’m expecting only positive change and growth with her in this new position.”

About Fuss & O’Neill, Inc. Established in 1924, Fuss & O’Neill is a full-service engineering firm with a depth of staff and experience to conquer any project – from initial design to final construction. An ENR Top 500 Design Firm, the company is headquartered in Manchester, CT and supported by 9 regional offices throughout all 6 New England states. Our professional staff maintains licenses and certifications across a wide range of civil engineering, traffic/transportation, planning, landscape architecture, structural, survey, design build, MEP, facilities, water/wastewater, environmental, and manufacturing disciplines. For more information, go to www.fando.com (http://www.fando.com/).

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7/16/2019

Carver to identify resiliency measures after integrated plan - News - Wicked Local Carver - Carver, MA

Carver to identify resiliency measures after integrated plan

By Kathryn Gallerani kgallerani@wickedlocal.com

Posted Jul 15, 2019 at 10:00 AM

CARVER – A list of potential resiliency measures that might be a good fit for Carver has been identified and included in an integrated climate resiliency management plan, but it’s up to the town to decide what would work best.

The focus is on strategies to reduce the impact of drought on Carver’s firefighting and cranberry growing water sources based on water resource assessments conducted for the town through the state’s Municipal Vulnerability Preparedness grant program.

Water resources engineers Diane Mas and Phil Moreschi of consultants Fuss and O’Neill have been working with the town and other stakeholders to provide information and guidance through the MVP grant process with the Executive Office of Environmental Affairs.

Moreschi said a mapping of the drought record for Carver based on a simulation by the United States Geological Survey in 2009 looking at pumping rates gave them a real sense of the vulnerability of different parts of Carver to drought.

“That tool is very valuable for us to be able to identify the specific nature of the mediation measures that we want to undertake, and the primary means of making these water sources resilient is to essentially dig them deeper,” he said.

During a severe drought, there isn’t much surface water flow, and there is a reliance on groundwater, but the deeper the water source, the greater chance of intercepting water at that lower groundwater level. He said tapping into the groundwater aquifer under Carver will be key.

Fifteen priority firefighting water supplies geographically distributed from North Carver to South Carver have been identified.

A conceptual plan calls for the grading of areas adjacent to the water sources for firefighting so that two fire trucks can easily access the priority water supplies. As the groundwater level drops, they will need to remove more and more soil.

Moreschi proposes a phased approach with funding from MVP action grants, which he anticipates will be available this fall, including design permitting this fall and construction next year. Part of the grant funding is in-kind services or monetary contributions from the town with the rest grant funding.

Where possible, he suggested looking into dual benefits, including ecological enhancements such as ecological plantings to counteract invasive species. He said there are also other grant programs, but the MVP program is the best, most effective option.

When it comes to cranberry growers, Moreschi said they may, in order to reduce the overall demand for water, consider ensuring sufficient water storage by drilling a well or digging another pond. He said water recycling and auto start irrigation are also possibilities.

While not available at this time, he expects the use of soil monitors to measure the moisture in the soil to help determine the need for irrigation. The sharing of sources with other farmers in close proximity whether digging a ditch or providing a piping system was another suggestion.

He acknowledged that some of the suggestions are obvious, and some have been addressed but said having a plan is important when seeking to secure funding.

“We have to show a methodology that they’ve gone through as individual growers so that hopefully down the road if they’re looking for grant funding they can show that they went through this methodology to determine the best approach for their farm,” he said.

He said bog conversion is another option, but it’s acknowledged that it’s an option that’s very expensive and causes disruption to growing operations.

Look out for more about the integrated plan on the Planning Board page on the town’s website www.carverma.gov under climate resiliency.

Follow Kathryn Gallerani on Twitter @kgallreporter.

https://carver.wickedlocal.com/news/20190715/carver-to-identify-resiliency-measures-after-integrated-plan

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7/19/2019

Sewage Pump House Granted Variance for Private Land in Sound View

James Otis points to narrow a buildable width without a variance. (Credit: CT Examiner/Hewitt)

Sewage Pump House Granted Variance for Private Land in Sound View Published on July 18, 2019 — in Old Lyme — by Cate Hewitt

OLD LYME — The sewer project for three chartered beach associations and the town’s Sound View Beach cleared a small hurdle Tuesday when the zoning board of appeals granted a variance, with conditions, for a sewage pump house to be located at 73 Portland Ave., a privately-owned corner lot directly across the street an alternate site at 72 Portland Ave. proposed by the town.

Provided it’s approved by the zoning commission, the variance would give the three beach associations — Miami Beach, Old Colony and Old Lyme Shores — a location for a pump house independent of the town’s progress toward putting in sewers in Sound View. The beach communities began plans for installing sewers in 2012.

Pending voter approval of the August 13 referendum to bond $9.5 million for sewers in Sound View, of which 25 percent will be paid through a Clean Water Funds grant, the town would have two options: join the beach associations’ pump house through a lease agreement or build a town pump house at 72 Portland Ave. and ask the beach associations to join.

https://ctexaminer.com/2019/07/18/sewage-pump-house-granted-variance-for-private-land-in-sound-view/

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7/19/2019

Sewage Pump House Granted Variance for Private Land in Sound View Rendering of proposed pump house at 73 Portland Ave. (Credit: CT Examiner/Hewitt)

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Scott and Kathleen Boulanger, owners of 73 Portland Ave., a .12-acre lot that is about 100 feet by 50 feet, requested 25-foot setback variances from both Pond Road and Portland Ave. which are normally 30 feet.

With a 30-foot variance and due to the tiny size of the lot, any building construction would have been limited to eight feet in width, explained James Otis, an engineer from Fuss and O’Neill in Manchester, who pointed to drawings that showed how a 25-foot variance would allow for a 13-foot wide building.

A July 4 letter in support of the project from Richard Prendergast, chair of Old Lyme’s Water Pollution Control Authority, was read into the record.

“As the Old Lyme WPCA chairman, I want to clearly state that my committee is in full support of the effort to establish a sewer pump station in either the town property near Pond Road or the Boulanger property, both of which will serve the needs of at least 1,000 residents that are mandated to install sewers including the Sound View neighborhood,” wrote Prendergast. “I also believe a pump station will bene t all Old Lyme residents by enabling the town to resolve the Department of Energy and Environmental Protection’s administration order to install sewers and the Department of Health’s issuance of public nuisance orders applied to the town to remedy local brown water ndings.”

Prendergast wrote that discussions with Old Lyme’s WPCA’s engineers revealed that locating the pump station in a different area in the town would be very expensive, “but more importantly, less reliable since a gravity feed system would be replaced with a vacuum-type system that is more complex and requires more maintenance, sucks up sand that destroys pumps.” That pump station would likely need the same variances as well.

“The building would be constructed to appear as a small garage and would be ood-proof, odor-controlled and would enhance surrounding neighborhood properties,” he wrote. “In summary the location of the pump station offers a hardship needed for gravity to gain robust operation feasibility. The pump station location bene ts a signi cant number of residents in the sewer project area that needed sewers as well as all residents to resolve pollution ndings.”

Speaking in support of the application was Douglas Whalen, chair of the Old Colony Beach Club Association, who said the location offered a number of advantages.

“This is land is perfect location to provide a gravity-fed sewer system to the three beach communities. This location is the most cost-effective way to provide a solution to the identi ed pollution problem… This sewer pump station is a better location than another proposed pump station as it will have no impact to the town parking lot and will also allow the town to not have any restrictions on town-owned property,” he said.

Joseph Halloran, chair of the Old Lyme Shores Beach Association WPCA, also spoke in favor of the application and said the town would join the three beach associations pump house.

“Old Lyme will join the three beaches in this pump station once the referendum has passed,” he said.

Kathleen Boulanger also spoke in favor, noting that her permit applications to use the property as a parking lot had been repeatedly declined over the years.

In opposition to the project was James Leger of 69 Portland Avenue who raised concerns about potential smell and also noise from the building’s back-up generator.

A letter of opposition had already been submitted by J. Lampos of 1 Portland Ave. The board unanimously approved the variance on three conditions. First, the applicant must obtain approvals for a special permit and a CT-DEEP-reviewed Municipal Coastal Site Plan Review Application. Secondly, use of the building’s garage and storage areas were limited to the maintenance of the sewage pump station and the building could not be converted to living space or used to support off-site activities or uses. Third, the length of the pump station and storage areas will be designed to the minimum size required to meet functionality needs, special permit requirements and building codes.

The matter will come before the Zoning Commission, which will meet again in September.

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7/16/2019

Protecting water resources includes assessment - News - Wicked Local Carver - Carver, MA

Protecting water resources includes assessment

By Kathryn Gallerani kgallerani@wickedlocal.com

Posted Jul 8, 2019 at 10:00 AM

CARVER – Adaptations to protect the town’s firefighting water resources and help cranberry growers and other farmers address vulnerability to drought are being explored with help from consulting water resource engineers.

Last year, Carver received $196,979 for a climate change water resource vulnerability and adaptation strategy assessment as part of the second phase of the state’s Municipal Vulnerability Preparedness grant and designation program. Carver received $15,000 the first year.

Water resources engineers Diane Mas and Phil Moreschi of consultants Fuss and O’Neill recently presented the findings from the MVP grant study overseen by the town’s planning and permitting office to the Select Board. They focused on the two priority areas.

Fire Chief Craig Weston worked with the consultants on a means to assess firefighting water supply sources in town, including helping to identify 15 priority firefighting water supplies out of 150 used for firefighting.

According to Mas, a field assessment was also conducted of the 15 priority supplies to gather information on field conditions and along with a review of maps, data and other sources develop a vulnerability assessment as to which of the water supplies are most vulnerable to drought.

Among the factors to consider are location relative to structures and whether it’s publicly or privately owned and if there were any permitting challenges. A ranking of water supplies followed.

“It’s a very transparent and logical way to prioritize, so if you are asked the question, why are you doing an improvement here, you have a methodology that this is why this was to expend resources to make an improvement,” she said.

She said options going forward include taking measures to increase capacity, increase storage and maintain higher water levels as well as looking for opportunities to engage with the farming community to serve dual purposes for firefighting and agriculture.

She said the town’s invasive species task force could be a partner in terms of increasing volume or capacity by clearing vegetation and adding planting for habitat benefits.

As for agricultural water supplies, Mas said they worked with cranberry growers in Carver and Cape Cod Cranberry Growers’ Association Executive Director Brian Wick and visited half a dozen cranberry sites to understand how farmers manage their water supplies.

They also worked together to develop and distribute a cranberry field use survey to get a handle on the challenges growers face, how they were impacted by the 2016 drought and what should be done differently.

From there, Fuss and O’Neill identified management alternatives including dredging to remove sediment to increase capacity and intercepting groundwater such as through the insulation of wells and increasing control options to move the water around their farms.

“Nobody knows better than these growers how to move water around their farms, and a lot of these suggestions that we made may look very obvious to our cranberry growers who are familiar with the industry, but we felt a real need to lay out the whole range of possibilities because that will be important for folks who are on the outside looking in, including funding agencies,” she said.

Other options include exploring opportunities to increase water conservation or water reuse on farms where cranberries are grown, water sharing among growers, and in the most extreme cases converting bogs. She said individual growers will decide whether to pursue any of these resiliency measures.

An integrated management plan has been created for both the firefighting and agricultural water supplies. It combines the findings of the two different assessments and provides both site specific recommendations and town-wide recommendations.

Follow Kathryn Gallerani on Twitter @kgallreporter.

https://carver.wickedlocal.com/news/20190708/protecting-water-resources-includes-assessment

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Sewage Pump House Granted Variance for Private Land in Sound View �

James Otis points to narrow a buildable width without a variance. (Credit: CT Examiner/Hewitt)

Sewage Pump House Granted Variance for Private Land in Sound View Published on July 18, 2019 — in Old Lyme — by Cate Hewitt

OLD LYME — The sewer project for three chartered beach associations and the town’s Sound View Beach cleared a small hurdle Tuesday when the zoning board of appeals granted a variance, with conditions, for a

Sewage Pump House Granted Variance for Private Land in Sound View sewage pump house to be located at 73 Portland Ave., a privately-owned corner lot directly across the street an alternate site at 72 Portland Ave. proposed by the town.

Provided it’s approved by the zoning commission, the variance would give the three beach associations — Miami Beach, Old Colony and Old Lyme Shores — a location for a pump house independent of the town’s progress toward putting in sewers in Sound View. The beach communities began plans for installing sewers in 2012.

Pending voter approval of the August 13 referendum to bond $9.5 million for sewers in Sound View, of which 25 percent will be paid through a Clean Water Funds grant, the town would have two options: join the beach associations’ pump house through a lease agreement or build a town pump house at 72 Portland Ave. and ask the beach associations to join.

Rendering of proposed pump house at 73 Portland Ave. (Credit: CT Examiner/Hewitt)

Scott and Kathleen Boulanger, owners of 73 Portland Ave., a .12-acre lot that is about 100 feet by 50 feet, requested 25-foot setback variances from both Pond Road and Portland Ave. which are normally 30 feet.

Sewage Pump House Granted Variance for Private Land in Sound View With a 30-foot variance and due to the tiny size of the lot, any building construction would have been limited to eight feet in width, explained James Otis, an engineer from Fuss and O’Neill in Manchester, who pointed to drawings that showed how a 25-foot variance would allow for a 13-foot wide building.

A July 4 letter in support of the project from Richard Prendergast, chair of Old Lyme’s Water Pollution Control Authority, was read into the record.

“As the Old Lyme WPCA chairman, I want to clearly state that my committee is in full support of the effort to establish a sewer pump station in either the town property near Pond Road or the Boulanger property, both of which will serve the needs of at least 1,000 residents that are mandated to install sewers including the Sound View neighborhood,” wrote Prendergast. “I also believe a pump station will benefit all Old Lyme residents by enabling the town to resolve the Department of Energy and Environmental Protection’s administration order to install sewers and the Department of Health’s issuance of public nuisance orders applied to the town to remedy local brown water findings.”

Prendergast wrote that discussions with Old Lyme’s WPCA’s engineers revealed that locating the pump station in a different area in the town would be very expensive, “but more importantly, less reliable since a gravity feed system would be replaced with a vacuum-type system that is more complex and requires more maintenance, sucks up sand that destroys pumps.” That pump station would likely need the same variances as well.

“The building would be constructed to appear as a small garage and would be flood-proof, odor-controlled and would enhance surrounding neighborhood properties,” he wrote. “In summary the location of the pump station offers a hardship needed for gravity to gain robust operation feasibility. The pump station location benefits a significant number of residents in the sewer project area that needed sewers as well as all residents to resolve pollution findings.”

Speaking in support of the application was Douglas Whalen, chair of the Old Colony Beach Club Association, who said the location offered a number of advantages.

“This is land is perfect location to provide a gravity-fed sewer system to the three beach communities. This location is the most cost-effective way to provide a solution to the identified pollution problem… This sewer pump station is a better location than another proposed pump station as it will have no impact to the town parking lot and will also allow the town to not have any restrictions on town-owned property,” he said.

Joseph Halloran, chair of the Old Lyme Shores Beach Association WPCA, also spoke in favor of the application and said the town would join the three beach associations pump house.

“Old Lyme will join the three beaches in this pump station once the referendum has passed,” he said.

Sewage Pump House Granted Variance for Private Land in Sound View Kathleen Boulanger also spoke in favor, noting that her permit applications to use the property as a parking lot had been repeatedly declined over the years.

In opposition to the project was James Leger of 69 Portland Avenue who raised concerns about potential smell and also noise from the building’s back-up generator.

A letter of opposition had already been submitted by J. Lampos of 1 Portland Ave. The board unanimously approved the variance on three conditions. First, the applicant must obtain approvals for a special permit and a CT-DEEP-reviewed Municipal Coastal Site Plan Review Application. Secondly, use of the building’s garage and storage areas were limited to the maintenance of the sewage pump station and the building could not be converted to living space or used to support off-site activities or uses. Third, the length of the pump station and storage areas will be designed to the minimum size required to meet functionality needs, special permit requirements and building codes.

The matter will come before the Zoning Commission, which will meet again in September.

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JULY 29, 2019

JULY 27, 2019

JULY 27, 2019

Sound View Residents Say Old Lyme Referendum Not Last Word on Sewers

Newly-Elected Connecticut Port Authority Chair Reemsnyder Resigns over Misuse of Funds

DEEP: Old Lyme Not on Clean Water Funds List, Not Under Deadline for Sewers

owners, many with family ties to the

At a special meeting of the

OLD LYME — A state official

Sound View neighborhood

Connecticut Port Authority in

confirmed Monday that the town is

More than 70 Old Lyme property

not currently on the

The Day - Developers show interest in Norwich portion of former hospital property - News from southeastern Connecticut

Developers show interest in Norwich portion of former hospital property 070965521 479B â&#x20AC;&#x2030; Ä&#x201E; Â â&#x20AC;&#x2026; â&#x20AC;&#x160; Çşâ&#x20AC;&#x160; â&#x20AC;&#x2026; 07 áť&#x201A; 3219621 479B â&#x20AC;&#x2030; Ä&#x201E; Â â&#x20AC;&#x2026; â&#x20AC; Çş 07

â&#x20AC;&#x201E; B Claire Bessette XẸ9225Ẹ2005Ä&#x201E;199Ẹ22451 09969ẏ3â&#x20AC;&#x2C6; Ģ0Ä&#x201E;02552662Y â&#x20AC;&#x2C6; 9B 56933 9 46624 Ă&#x201C; 0Ä&#x201E;02552662V 65219BÄ&#x201E;01 0 X0 96961 Çş0Ä&#x201E;02552662V 65219BÄ&#x201E;01 0 Y Â? â&#x20AC;&#x201E; 255266265219B X5662ǺẸẸ9 9 9 Ä&#x201E;69 66624Ä&#x201E;01 0 Ẹâ&#x20AC;&#x201E; 255266265219BY Norwich â&#x20AC;&#x201D; With developers expressing interest in the Norwich portion of the former Norwich Hospital property, the city Redevelopment Agency on Wednesday approved using $45,500 of the cityâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s federal environmental assessment grant to study three buildings and land for potential contamination.

Amy Vaillancourt, licensed environmental professional for Tighe & Bond Inc. (https://www.tighebond.com/), the cityâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s environmental consultant for the federal brownfield assessment grant, toured the property with owner Carl Castanho on Wednesday morning prior to the noon redevelopment agency meeting to approve the funding.

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Vaillancourt told the agency that one developer is interested in the Martin, Pondview and a former employee residence building, and another developer is looking at the Lippitt Building â&#x20AC;&#x201D; a large, square, brick building with a central courtyard â&#x20AC;&#x201D; for a possible convention center.

The agency approved a three-page scope of services agreement with Tighe & Bond on Wednesday for a limited environmental site assessment, including a review of past reports, collection of soil samples and a â&#x20AC;&#x153;limited structural assessmentâ&#x20AC;? of the four buildings. A structural engineer will spend one day at the site and will â&#x20AC;&#x153;highlight the major architectural and structural deficiencies of the buildings,â&#x20AC;? the proposal stated.

Samples of paint chips and areas of suspected asbestos material will be taken. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Areas deemed to be unsafe or inaccessible will not be viewed,â&#x20AC;? the proposal states. No cost estimates for repairs or rehabilitation will be done.

Castanho, who did not attend the redevelopment agency meeting, later said he was pleased with the grant and that city officials are trying to help him get the property developed. He said he could not discuss details â&#x20AC;&#x153;until things are more firm.â&#x20AC;? But he added that he is very optimistic that development will happen there. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ve been really busy, talking to a lot of developers, a lot of people,â&#x20AC;? Castanho said Wednesday. â&#x20AC;&#x153;There are a lot of promising things, but Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;m not at the point to discuss anything yet. I am excited about the future of this development, more than ever.â&#x20AC;?

Castanho Development LLC acquired the nearly 50-acre Norwich portion (https://www.theday.com/local-news/20180629/easthartford-developer-takes-ownership-of-norwich-portion-of-former-norwich-hospital) of the former Norwich Hospital property through a mortgage foreclosure in October 2018 against the former Thames River Landing developer, Mark Fields. Thames River Landing, led by Fields, had purchased the property from the state in 2015 for $300,000, financed by Castanhoâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s company.

No cleanup has been done on the Norwich portion of the campus, and buildings are in various states of decay, overgrown with weeds and brush. The property includes a subdivision of single-family former employeesâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; homes located off Route 12, also abandoned and overgrown.

The Day - Developers show interest in Norwich portion of former hospital property - News from southeastern Connecticut In 2005, the city ordered an environmental study by the environmental engineering firm Fuss & O’Neill, which estimated environmental cleanup costs at $1.1 million. Vaillancourt said she did an update of that report in 2009 and will use those reports as a basis for the new assessment.

Preston took ownership of the much larger 393-acre Norwich Hospital campus in 2009, but Norwich decided against taking ownership of the portion on its side of the towns' shared border. Preston has obtained federal and state grants and loans for environmental cleanup (https://www.theday.com/local-news/20180801/final-cleanup-underway-at-former-norwich-hospital-site-inpreston) and demolition, and is seeking an additional $2 million in state grant money to finish the work before transferring the property to Mohegan Gaming & Entertainment for a proposed major development (https://www.theday.com/local/20160516/mohegan-tribal-chairman-says-plans-for-former-norwich-hospital-could-bewide-ranging).

The final hurdle in Preston is coal ash contamination used by the state as roadbed material beneath the former roads that snaked through the property. Vaillancourt said the Norwich portion likely has coal ash contamination along with building material hazards, such as lead paint and asbestos.

Vaillancourt called the $45,500 study “seed money” to assist the owner and potential developers to learn the property cleanup needs.

Norwich city officials also hope the grant approval will encourage other property owners to request similar assessments of their properties.

The city received the $384,000 grant in 2016 — divided into $185,000 for petroleum assessment and $199,000 for hazardous substance assessments — and must spend it by Sept. 30, City Planner Deanna Rhodes said. Including the Norwich Hospital grant, the city has assigned only $142,227 of the total.

Rhodes said the city is seeking a one-year grant extension from the federal Environmental Protection Agency.

The city sent postcards to commercial property owners to alert them of the assessment grants for “abandoned, idle, or underutilized industrial and commercial properties where the reuse, expansion or redevelopment is complicated by real or perceived environmental contamination.”

Interested property owners should contact Rhodes at (860) 823-3766 or drhodes@cityofnorwich.org (mailto:drhodes@cityofnorwich.org) for more information about the grant program. c.bessette@theday.com (mailto:c.bessette@theday.com)

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Skeetfield Road improvements proposed | Lewiston Sun Journal NEWS

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What are you looking for? intersection of Skeetfield Road and Route 26 were unveiled

during a Maine Department of Transportation Public Hearing Thursday, July 18. The proposed project includes realignment of Skeetfield Road and construction of a right turn offset lane on Route 26.

The purpose and need for the project, identified in a MDOT safety improvement plan, is to improve the safety and functionality of the intersection, said Linda Greer, consultant with New England-base engineering firm Fuss O’Neill.

“It is a high crash location,” she said. “In 2012 to 2014, there were nine crashes at the intersection.Most of the crashes were what is considered failure to yield.”

There were 10 crashes in 2013 to 2015, she said.

A proposed Maine Department of Transportation safety improvement project could mean a new offset right turn lane for traffic turning right from Route 26 to Skeetfield Road in Oxford. Dee

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The proposed project will realign the intersection so motorists would be lined up at a 90-degree angle, giving them a better sight line for turning, she said.

The plan, as presented, will add an offset lane on Route 26 south for traffic turning right onto Skeetfield Road. Traffic turning right onto Route 26 from Skeetfield Road or turning

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The proposed lane will dissect a grassy lot co-owed by Rick Micklon of Otisfield and Harlan Johnson of Norway.

Micklon asked Greer if engineers had considered moving the proposed lane to the edge of the lot so it ran along a tree line of an abutting property.

“Right now you’ve rendered my lot unbuildable,” he said.

“Why wouldn’t that be a better location than dissecting a single lot?’”

The planning committee did not consider bisecting the two properties, Greer said. However, the design presented was the less expensive option of several designs considered.

“This is the minimal amount of new road and new construction that needs to be done,” she said.

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A proposed Maine Department of Transportation project to improve the safety of the Route 26 and Skeetfield Road intersection in Oxford includes construction of a new travel lane which could dissect the grassy lot on the right. Dee

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Greer said the department would be happy to discuss Micklonâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s options prior to moving to the next stage of the planning process.

The flashing beacon at the intersection will be removed. In its place, flashing stop signs will be installed at the intersection, she said.

There was not enough traffic to warrant a traffic signal at the intersection, she said.

Greer said the project would take one construction season to complete. It is currently scheduled for 2021. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Knowing the department just cancelled a bunch of construction projects across the state during that time frame

Skeetfield Road improvements proposed | Lewiston Sun Journal BUSINESS

to the back burner,” said State Rep. Kathleen Dillingham, hat are you R-Oxford.

We have the funding available,” said Brian Keezer, MaineDOT project manager. “If we go to bid and it comes back at 100% more than what we have for funding then we are going to have to re-evaluate.”

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8/23/2019

WL voters to consider flooding study | Windsor Locks | journalinquirer.com

https://www.journalinquirer.com/towns/windsor_locks/wl-voters-to-consider- ooding-study/article_98b1089c-c4f7-11e9-8b0d-632926cc95d1.html

WL voters to consider ooding study

By Anthony Branciforte abranciforte@journalinquirer.com Aug 22, 2019

WINDSOR LOCKS — A town meeting to vote on $20,000 in funding for a hydrology study has been set for Sept. 3 at Town Hall.

O cials have said the study is needed to nd the source of ooding on Main Street and other areas of town.

Manchester-based engineering rm Fuss & O’Neill will perform the study, which also will identify potential grant funding sources for the recommended work, Kervick said.

Kervick said the rm would review available data in addition to performing onsite exams of streambeds to nd the source of the ooding.

“Some might be relatively simple things we can do in-house; some might be pretty involved efforts,” Kervick said in reference to the work that would need to be done to correct the problem.

Kervick has indicated that a failed dam, which has gone unaddressed for 25 years, is a source of the issues.

The dam’s failure has caused the nearby Merrigan Brook, which empties into the Windsor Locks Canal, to lower by four feet, resulting in silt going into the canal, Kervick said.

Now, Kervick said, the Kettle Brook culvert under Center Street often becomes backed up with silt during rainstorms.

Kervick said the problems were worsened when the town eliminated the Mill Pond, which was near Dickerman Avenue and functioned as a retention basin, several years ago.

Kervick said $15,000 of the funding for the study would come from the Downtown Tax-Increment Financing District, as several streams being studied terminate inside the district.

The other $5,000 would come from money already budgeted in the engineering account for the Public Works Department, he said.

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Coliseum Developer Prepares For Year-Long Design

by THOMAS BREEN | Sep 17, 2019 9:31 pm (2) Comments | Post a Comment | E-mail the Author Posted to: Business/ Economic Development, City Hall, Downtown, Ninth Square

THOMAS BREEN PHOTOS

Spinnaker Director of Development Frank Caico. Below: The empty former Coliseum site.

A Norwalk-based developer kicked off an anticipated year-long community design process for the mix of residential, commercial, and office buildings that might soon fill the former Coliseum site by introducing the key dates, and key players, behind the project.

That presentation took place Tuesday night at the regular monthly meeting of the Downtown-Wooster Square Community Management Team on the second floor of City Hall.

Frank Caico, a vice president and the director of development for Spinnaker Real Estate, led a 15-minute update on the Norwalk developer’s latest, and most ambitious to date, planned project for the Elm City.

Tuesday night’s management team meeting.

That’s the urbanist mini-city they hope to build on the 5.5-acre surface parking lot that used to house the Coliseum on a parcel bounded by Orange Street, George Street, State Street, and Martin Luther King Boulevard.

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“It’s an iconic development site in downtown New Haven,” Caico said. “It’s got tremendous redevelopment potential. And obviously, right now, it’s kind of a blank slate.”

In July, Spinnaker inherited the development project from the Montreal-based firm LiveWorkLearnPlay, which signed a development and land disposition agreement (DLDA) with the city in 2013 but was never able to get the project off the ground due to design and fundraising problems.

Spinnaker is also the developer behind the new Audubon Square mixed-use apartment complex, as well as another proposed apartment building at the old Comcast building in Wooster Square, and a proposed hotel at the former Webster Bank property on Elm Street.

Economic development deputy Steve Fontana.

Caico and project partner Greg Fieber, a principal at the New Canaan-based investment firm The Fieber Group, did not discuss any details of what might ultimately end up built at the former Coliseum site, Spinnaker CEO Clay Fowler said in a previous interview that the first phase of the current plan could include 16,000 square feet of retail/restaurant space (including co-working space aimed at companies that can grow onsite), 25,000 square feet of open space, and 200 rental apartments, 80 percent of them market rate (from the “high teens” to “high 20s” or upper range of $2,000 a month).

Instead, Caico and city Deputy Economic Development Administrator Steve Fontana promoted two community design workshops that will be held on Tuesday, Sept. 24 and Wednesday, Sept. 25 in the basement meeting room at the municipal office building at 200 Orange St., where neighbors will be able to weigh in on what they would like to see come out of this project.

“This is the beginning of the process,” Fontana said, “not the end of the process.”

Greg Fieber and Caico.

Caico said that, per the timeline laid out in the amended DLDA that Spinnaker signed with the city, his company plans to spend the year following next week’s design workshops meeting with community management teams and revising and refining the technical and design plans for the project.

Spinnaker will seek to have final documents ready for regulatory review by the City Plan Commission in the Fall of 2020, he said. They then plan to begin construction on Phase 1 of the project in the Spring of 2021, and complete Phase 1 construction by the Spring of 2022.

“We have a tremendous opportunity to create a place of value and a sense of place” with this project, he said. “We really want to turn it into a conversation.”

Heather Wassell, an associate with the Norwalk-based Beinfield Architecture firm, said that her company’s expertise lies in transit-oriented development, mixed-use, and walkable designs.

“You’ve got this big hole” in the middle of the city, she said. “We really want to make what goes there” fit both in an economic sense and in a “people sense.”

Spinnaker, Fieber, and the investors KDP are the primary developers on the project, Caico said, while Beinfield Architecture and the local firm Newman Architects will take the lead on the design work. The Trumbull-based firm Fuss & O’Neill will be the civil engineering partners, while local land use attorney Carolyn Kone will be the legal lead.

Does Spinnaker’s investment in the Coliseum project mean that it won’t be proceeding with the Comcast residential conversion project, Wooster Square filmmaker Steve Hamm asked, where Spinnaker has said it plans to build 200 luxury apartments?

No, Caico replied. Spinnaker is still very much moving forward with that Chapel Street project, as well as with the Elm Street hotel and the rest of Audubon Square.

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Architect Heather Wassell.

Steve Hamm.

Anstress Farwell.

Did the modified DLDA with Spinnaker ever have to go before the full Board of Alders for approval? asked New Haven Urban Design League President Anstress Farwell.

No, Fieber said. “It was an administrative approval” granted by the city. The only changes to the DLDA originally granted to LiveWorkLearnPlay were in regard to the timeline. Everything else remained the same.

Farwell pressed Caico to reconsider demolishing the historic former Webster Bank building on Elm Street to make way for the hotel. If the Coliseum development will include a new hotel, she said, why not save the Elm Street historic structure for adaptive reuse?

“It’s not in our current thinking” to include a hotel or conference center on the Coliseum site, Caico said. And, Fieber pointed out, there’s no hotel required in the DLDA. Fontana said that Spinnaker and Fieber plan to present at Wednesday night’s Hill South Community Management Team meeting with a similar update about the Coliseum site in advance of next week’s design workshops.

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A beehive buzz – After five years, New Britain opens new $7.4 million bridge spanning Route 72 September 19, 2019

By Don Stacom With music, food trucks, two beer tents and a festive atmosphere, several hundred people Thursday night celebrated completion of New Britain’s biggest public works project in years.

Traffic was shut down on the new Beehive Bridge for two hours so people could examine the towering metal sculptures of bees and the honeycomb-themed translucent panels along the sides.

The crowd applauded enthusiastically when the city unveiled a 10-foot high beehive sculpture in the center of the span, and the new variable-color lighting that runs along both sides.

“The colors are pretty. I liked the lights, the bees and the beehive matched,” second-grader Roniya Naveed said afterward.

She got to see the bridge-lighting celebration with her father, Malik Naveed, who took a break from his Pizza Corner business in Little Poland to enjoy the festivities. He proclaimed the refurbished span over Route 72 an attractive success.

The $7.4 million project was the part of the city’s Complete Streets drive to create a more pedestrian- and bike-friendly downtown while reducing speeding. The bridge is the main connector between downtown and Little Poland as well as the New Brite Plaza business district.

New Britain’s new Beehive Bridge, replete with colorful panels, lights and giant metal bee sculptures, was dedicated Thursday night with hundreds in attendance. The bridge, a five-year project, is on Main Street leading into the downtown area and spans Route 72. (Stephen

Mayor Erin Stewart said designing an attention-grabbing bridge with benches, wide sidewalks, attractive

dunn/Special to the Courant )

lights and bike lanes was part of rebuilding the connection that was broken when Route 72 was built through the city decades ago.

“Where we’re standing today is above the highway that opened our city to the rest of the state but sacrificed our Main Street business district,” she told the crowd. “We became truly a tale of two cities.”

When the state transportation department ready to rehabilitate the bridge, Stewart asked for help in securing state and federal monies to do more than simple repainting and repaving.

“I made my statement: you guys are the ones who ruined it, so now I’m asking you to help me fix it. To their credit, they did — they came through big time,” Stewart said.

Public Works Director Mark Moriarty said the project may prove to be the best thing he’ll do in his career.

When the first bids came in about $2 million over estimate, city engineers and private contractors managed to retain the design but steeply reduce costs, he said. Moriarty praised designer Ted DeSantos of Fuss & O’Neill and Peter Rappoccio, owner of Sign Pro, which constructed the artwork.

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9/23/2019

Central Mass. planners have $300K to help assess, clean up brownfields - News - telegram.com - Worcester, MA

Central Mass. planners have $300K to help assess, clean up brown elds

By Cyrus Moulton Telegram & Gazette Staff

Posted Sep 19, 2019 at 5:40 PM

WORCESTER - The economy is humming. The real estate market is good. But thousands of potential development sites in Central Massachusetts have a hidden problem: contamination.

The Central Massachusetts Regional Planning Commission now has a $300,000 grant to help.

“Despite the real estate market doing better than it has in decades around here, we feel there are still sites that could use a little push in the region,” Andrew Loew, project manager and team leader in community development at the CMRPC, said in an interview Thursday. “We would love to get the word out that we can help get these sites back to active use.”

The CMRPC has received a $300,000 grant from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to help fund environmental assessments at eligible brownfields sites, meaning underutilized industrial and commercial properties where contamination or suspected contamination inhibits development.

Grantees will not be given the money; rather, CMRPC will direct environmental professionals from Fuss & O’Neill Inc., to assess sites for contamination on behalf of local governments, nonprofits, businesses and developers. Cleanup planning assistance is also available. A third of the program budget is committed to studying brownfields contaminated by petroleum-related substances, while the remainder will be used to investigate other kinds of hazardous substances.

According to the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection, more than 4,600 contaminated or potentially contaminated sites have been reported in the CMRPC’s region in central and southern Worcester County, comprising 40 cities and towns. Several hundred still require additional assessment or cleanup work, or both, before they can be safely returned to productive use.

Mr. Loew said the specific sites for assessment will be chosen based on a number of factors, including location, project feasibility, and benefits of site reuse.

“We’re happy to talk to businesses who want to expand on an adjacent site, developers interested in old mills, and nonprofits,” Mr. Loew said. “We’re particularly interested in sites that may help with job creation, affordable housing, and quality-of-life improvements, particularly in environmental justice communities.”

Applications for the grants are accepted on a rolling basis and will be reviewed every two to three months. The deadline for the next batch of sites is Oct. 3.

More information and applications are available at www.cmrpc.org/brownfields.

“With so much happening around the region and in the real estate market, we’re hoping that with a little push on our end we can get (these brownfield sites) moving,” Mr. Loew said.

https://www.telegram.com/news/20190919/central-mass-planners-have-300k-to-help-assess-clean-up-brownfields

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New Britain celebrates the completion of its pedestrian and bike-friendly Beehive Bridge

By DON STACOM HARTFORD COURANT

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Beehive Bridge Dedication NEW BRITAIN-9/19/19- 3088438_Hc-news-new-britain-bridge-opening - New Britain's new Beehive Bridge, replete with colorful panels, lights and giant metal Bee sculptures, was dedicated Thursday night with hundreds in attendance. The bridge, a ve year project, is on Main Street leading into the downtown area and spans route 72. STEPHEN DUNN|Special to the Courant (Stephen Dunn/Special to the Courant)

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With music, food trucks, two beer tents and a festive atmosphere, several hundred people Thursday night celebrated completion of New Britain’s biggest public works project in years.

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The crowd applauded enthusiastically when the city unveiled a 10-foot high beehive sculpture in the center of the span, and the new variable-color lighting that runs along both sides.

“The colors are pretty. I liked the lights, the bees and the beehive matched,” second-grader Roniya Naveed said afterward.

[Related] Political exhibit takes on issue of New Haven as a sanctuary city »

She got to see the bridge-lighting celebration with her father, Malik Naveed, who took a

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break from his Pizza Corner business in Little Poland to enjoy the festivities. He proclaimed the refurbished span over Route 72 an attractive success.

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Rocky Hill residents worry that proposed extended stay hotel will bring increased crime, disturbances to neighborhood ‘History is about change’: Debate rises in Middletown over whether to change name of Woodrow Wilson Middle School

broken when Route 72 was built through the city decades ago.

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New Britain's new Beehive Bridge carries Main Street over Route 72. (Stephen Dunn)

“Where we’re standing today is above the highway that opened our city to the rest of the state but sacrificed our Main Street business district,” she told the crowd. "We became truly a tale of two cities."

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When the state transportation department ready to rehabilitate the bridge, Stewart asked for help in securing state and federal monies to do more than simple repainting and repaving.

“I made my statement: you guys are the ones who ruined it, so now I’m asking you to help me fix it. To their credit, they did — they came through big time,” Stewart said.

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Public Works Director Mark Moriarty said the project may prove to be the best thing he’ll do in his career. When the first bids came in about $2 million over estimate, city engineers and private contractors managed to retain the design but steeply reduce costs, he said. Moriarty praised designer Ted DeSantos of Fuss & O’Neill and Peter Rappoccio, owner of Sign Pro, which constructed the artwork.

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9/24/2019

New Britain Herald - Bee-light delight: Large crowd thrills to dedication of New Britain's Beehive Bridge About Us

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09/18/19 Wesley Bunnell | Staff The Bee Hive Bridge was formally dedicated on Thursday night with the unveiling of the beehive sculpture and the reveal of the different color lights on the bridge panels. Mayor Erin Stewart, CT DOT Deputy Commissioner Mark Rolfe, NB Director of Public Works Mark Moriarty and Sign Pro Owner Peter Rappoccio.

1 of 3 Published on Thursday, 19 September 2019 20:50 Written by Catherine Shen @cshenNBH

NEW BRITAIN - Brilliant lights shone against New Britain’s night sky Thursday night when the city’s new Beehive Bridge lit up for the first time at a dedication ceremony that attracted a large crowd.

The bridge had been deemed “The Impossible Bridge” by many of the key players involved with its design and construction, but the five-year process ultimately became a story of success. Mayor Erin Stewart said to see the bridge finally completed and the crowds coming out to support the city was monumental.

“To build a project of this magnitude was no easy feat,” she said. “It took many, many worker bees to take a dream and make it into a reality. It’s a very humbling feeling.”

The $7.4 million project is part of the city’s Complete Streets Master Plan, with roughly $2 million of the money coming from the city and over $5 million from state and federal grants. The master plan is aimed at creating a better-connected and more pedestrianand bike-friendly downtown, as well as infrastructure that eases traffic.

Since the bridge is a main thoroughfare connecting the city’s downtown, the Little Poland neighborhood and New Brite Plaza and nearby businesses, the renovations became a priority for the city. The bridge is also a nod to the city’s seal, which features a beehive, bees, and a motto that translates from Latin as “Industry fills the hive and enjoys the honey.”

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Pete Rappoccio, owner and founder of Sign Pro and one of the many collaborators for the project, said it was a surreal and emotional moment to see the bridge come into being.

“Things are never impossible in New Britain,” he said. “Now every time I turn that corner and drive onto the bridge, I smile and I cry. I love this city and if there’s anything I can do to help it, I will do it.”

The structure is eye-catching and inspired by the flight and dance of the honeybee. The railing’s diamond-shaped metal frames are infilled with translucent polycarbonate panels in golden hues, reminiscent of a honeycomb. Four bee sculptures bookend the bridge and at night, they glow with internal LED illumination. Another beehive sculpture, a tribute to New Britain’s city seal, anchors the center of the bridge.

Marissa Mead, director of art for Svigals + Partners, which designed the railings and several sculptures, said it was very satisfying to see what they have been imagining in their minds turning into something real.

www.newbritainherald.com/NBH-New+Britain+News/358409/beelight-delight-large-crowd-thrills-to-dedication-of-new-britains-beehive-bridge

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9/24/2019

New Britain Herald - Bee-light delight: Large crowd thrills to dedication of New Britain's Beehive Bridge “It feels amazing seeing all the people here admiring the final product,” she said.

Renovations were not just limited to the design elements that mimic a beehive, the project also involved a long list of street improvements, including widening the sidewalks from 8 feet to 20 feet for better pedestrian access, decorative streetscape elements, art features, and the creation of two pocket parks on the north side of the bridge.

In addition to the façade improvements, the project also replaced the railroad crossing at the Columbus Boulevard intersection and the traffic signals on East Main Street. The intersection of East Main Street went through reconstruction and the sidewalks from Main Street to Lafayette Street were replaced.

Mark Moriarty, the city’s director of public works, took a moment to thank all those who were involved with the project.

“We really did the impossible and I can’t overstress how people really stepped up to meet challenges in order to make the bridge happen,” he said. “It was a risky project because it was different, but we did it.”

Contact Catherine Shen at 860-801-5093 or cshen@centralctcommunications.com.

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Posted in New Britain Herald, New Britain on Thursday, 19 September 2019 20:50. Updated: Thursday, 19 September 2019 20:53.

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Personnel briefcase | Business | journalinquirer.com https://www.journalinquirer.com/business/personnel-briefcase/article_de3dfb38-dedb-11e9-a4c437f7b24de2f1.html

Personnel briefcase Compiled by JI staff 3 hrs ago

Daar named diplomate Manchester dentist Bradley J. Daar of Dental Sleep Providers recently became a diplomate of the American Board of Dental Sleep Medicine. He is also a diplomate of the American Sleep and Breathing Academy. Dental Sleep Providers is located at 945 Main Street, Suite 302, in Manchester.

Hendrick to retire

Michael Hendrick, vice president of global marketing and sales at Conval in Enfield, will retire effective Oct. 1. Conval President Don Curtin said Hendrick, an Ellington resident, expanded the company’s extensive global network of authorized sales and service representatives, managed the inside sales and customer support team, launched several new products, and entered new markets.

Texidor an associate Carlos Texidor has been named a firm associate at Fuss & O’Neill, with headquarters in Manchester.

He joined the firm in 2011, and is also a business line manager in the environment business line.

Donlon moves up

9/27/2019

As Exit 4A project moves forward, family sees property impact reduced while Salvation Army awaits answers | Local News | unionleader.c…

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https://www.unionleader.com/news/local/as-exit-a-project-moves-forward-family-sees-propertyimpact/article_8d080b00-986c-5341-8664-774f75bb579c.html

As Exit 4A project moves forward, family sees property impact reduced while Salvation Army awaits answers

By Ryan Lessard Union Leader Correspondent Sep 26, 2019 Updated 36 min ago

Bill and Brendena Fleming at their new goat barn next to their home at 56 Tsienneto Road in Derry, which they built this summer after DOT gave them the green light.

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DERRY — While one family is relieved that the Department of Transportation pulled back on some of its eminent domain plans for their property as part of the new Exit 4A project, the Salvation Army of Greater Derry on Folsom Road is under new leadership and still awaiting answers.

Last January, Bill and Brendena Fleming of 56 Tsienneto Road were eager to get information about how DOT was planning on using parts of their property to improve the roadway in front of their home and possibly install a stormwater culvert at their pond.

The culvert project particularly threatened to sabotage their plans to expand their homestead farm of goats, ducks and chickens by incorporating the pond area, and even to open it up for neighborhood kids to skate on in the winter.

To install such a stormwater system, DOT proposed a roughly 50- by 100-foot easement that jutted into the property. But the Flemings wrote the department with their concerns, and by May, they received welcome news when Chief Project Manager Keith Cota told them they were able to nd an alternative water quality basin to the east of their property.

“We won the big thing, which is the middle of the property,” Brendena said.

In an email, Cota told the Union Leader that the Flemings’ feedback during the public input phase of the project led DOT and engineering rm Fuss & O’Neill to consider other options.

“The decision to nd an alternative stormwater system for the pavement area around Mrs. Flemings’ property was part of our standard review of project requests and issue resolution following the Public Hearing,” Cota said. “Based upon her concern for the impact to her property and her future uses, we were able to re-evaluate the Tsienneto Road drainage ows.”

https://www.unionleader.com/news/local/as-exit-a-project-moves-forward-family-sees-property-impact/article_8d080b00-986c-5341-8664-774f75bb579…

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9/27/2019

As Exit 4A project moves forward, family sees property impact reduced while Salvation Army awaits answers | Local News | unionleader.c…

The edges of their property along Tsienneto Road and at the corners of Horseshoe Drive and Barkland Drive are still likely to see setback changes to accommodate the widening of the main roadway — some within existing state right of way, and some requiring additional acquisitions via eminent domain.

Cota said acquisitions on the Flemings’ property will be delayed until after the design layout can be nalized. He estimates they are about 40 to 50 percent complete so far.

In the grand scheme, those changes are marginal compared to the proposed stormwater culvert, which might have derailed $110,000 in planned improvements to the property.

Still, the Flemings say they have a few lingering concerns. They’re not sure if the changes by DOT, which are due to happen sometime in 2023 or 2024, are likely to have a negative impact on their property value, the safety for their four children to play in the front yard or potential health risks from vehicle emissions increasing from what’s expected to be a tripling of tra c on Tsienneto Road.

And as the project is expected to make grade changes at the corner of Tsienneto Road and Horseshoe Drive, the Flemings’ septic tank will likely have to be relocated.

So far, the Flemings have moved forward with some of the changes they had planned for their homestead. They’ve already bought and installed a chicken coop and duck coop from Coops for a Cause in Meredith, and a 10-by-15-foot goat barn.

Brendena said she plans to install another 10-by-14-foot barn and storage shed combo installed in October, along with another coop. She also wants to install a fountain at the center of the pond, and hopes to have most of the changes by the pond completed by next summer.

She and her husband attended a recent hearing on the Exit 4A meeting in Concord. Bill Fleming said it felt “weird” that impacted property owners were not allowed to speak during the hearing.

Meanwhile, the new lieutenants who have been assigned to the Salvation Army of Greater Derry this past summer, Tyler Adcox and his wife Sojourney, are still waiting to hear from DOT about the pending eminent domain of their property at 18 Folsom Road.

Tyler Adcox said state o cials came through to do an appraisal of the property, but they have yet to mail an offer.

“We have not received anything super o cial yet,” Adcox said.

The Salvation Army bought the property in the fall of 2017 for $490,000, and they say the challenge will be to nd a suitable location elsewhere in town.

The state needs most of the property to widen Folsom Road, which will become a main outlet for drivers coming off the new exit once it’s built.

In the meantime, Adcox said they’re going to continue day-to-day operations as usual.

“We’re gonna keep doing what we have to do until we hear otherwise,” he said.

Adcox said the Salvation Army’s kettle season will launch on Nov. 11. This Saturday, from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m., they’re hosting the 10th annual Chili/Chowder Cook-Off fundraiser dinner at MacGregor Park.

Tickets are $5 for adults and $2 for children under 10. ldnews@unionleader.com

Ryan Lessard

<]

https://www.unionleader.com/news/local/as-exit-a-project-moves-forward-family-sees-property-impact/article_8d080b00-986c-5341-8664-774f75bb579…

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Dighton residents asked to take disaster preparedness survey - News - The Taunton Daily Gazette, Taunton, MA - Taunton...

Dighton residents asked to take disaster preparedness survey Posted Oct 9, 2019 at 1:36 PM

DIGHTON -- Town Administrator Mallory Aronstein would like to encourage residents to participate in a survey on public disaster preparedness to assist the town in the development of its disaster planning strategy.

The Town of Dighton is currently engaged in a planning process to become less vulnerable to disasters caused by natural hazards, and public participation is essential. Residents are encouraged to complete the Public Preparedness Survey here.

The survey provides an opportunity for residents to share opinions and participate in the mitigation planning process. The information the town receives from residents will help officials to better understand the public’s hazard concerns and assist in developing mitigation planning that can help lessen the impact of possible future disasters.

The town is working with the state on developing a Hazard Mitigation Plan and a Municipal Vulnerability Plan, which is partly funded by the Massachusetts Emergency Management Agency. This is an intergovernmental, multidisciplinary initiative that will assist the town in identifying and assessing the community’s natural hazard risks and determining how to best minimize and manage those risks.

The town was previously part of a multi-jurisdictional plan developed in 2004 by the Southeastern Regional Planning and Economic Development District.

Upon completion, the plan will be submitted to MEMA and the Federal Emergency Management Agency for review and approval. A FEMA-approved plan makes Dighton eligible for future federal and state mitigation grant funding.

“The development of these plans is a great opportunity for our town to examine how we prepare for and respond to natural disasters,” Town Administrator Aronstein said. “We encourage everyone to take a few minutes to complete the survey and share their thoughts so that we can use the responses to help guide the process of creating a local disaster strategy.”

The development of the Hazard Mitigation Plan is being led by Jamie Caplan Consulting LLC, a Northamptonbased firm. Bill Guenther and Arnold Robinson of Fuss and O’Neill, a Quincy-based civil and environmental engineering consulting firm, are working with the town on the development of the Municipal Vulnerability Plan.

Questions about the survey can be directed to Town Administrator Mallory Aronstein at 508-669-6431 or

Sound View Pump Station Reviewed in Tuesday's Zoning Hearing �

Sound View Pump Station Reviewed in Tuesday’s Zoning Hearing Published on October 17, 2019 — in Old Lyme — by Cate Hewitt

OLD LYME — The special permit application for the proposed pump station at 73 Portland Avenue proceeded fairly quickly through a Zoning Commission public hearing Tuesday.

The pump station will be the “central collection and discharge point for the wastewater generated in the participating Old Lyme beach areas. The station will convey flow through approximately 16,000 feet of proposed force mains to an existing sewer manhole at 275 West Main Street in East Lyme, about 1,900 feet east of the town line at Four Mile River,” according to the special permit application prepared by Fuss & O’Neill, dated September 6 and amended October 1.

Sound View Pump Station Reviewed in Tuesday's Zoning Hearing Scott and Kathleen Boulanger, who live in Colchester and own property in the Miami Beach Association, are the owners of the .12-acre site and received approval for a variance for the project from the Zoning Board of Appeals in July.

The site is partially located in the VE Zone, a coastal high hazard area subject to storm-induced velocity wave action, according to the Federal Emergency Management Agency.

The pump station, estimated to cost $800,000 in Fuss & O’Neill’s report, will consist of two underground submersible pumps that will operate “within an underground enclosure, submerged in the wet well wastewater, and will therefore operate silently,” according to the report.

The operating life of the mechanical equipment will be designed to last 20 years. The critical equipment will be protected against flooding damage up to a height of 16.5 feet, which is the 500-year flood elevation. The 100-year flood elevation is 13 feet.

A nearby building on the site will house the “emergency backup generator, power, controls and related critical equipment will be located,” according to the report. The generator, fueled by liquid propane, will provide backup power during power failures and will be able to run for 48 hours at peak flow and for 96 hours at normal flow. The project includes a buried 1,000-gallon propane tank.

The building, designed by TLB Architecture LLC of Chester to be “a non-descript,” is “a narrow and tall structure, the scale of which is different from most structures in the architecturally eclectic neighborhood,” states the report.

Generator noise, the security of the propane fuel and plans for fire suppression were among the concerns raised by Jane Cable, chair of the commission.

“As far as noise controls, the pumps will operate in underground enclosures submerged in the wet well, so they’ll operate silently,” explained James Otis, an engineer from Fuss and O’Neill. “The emergency generator will be enclosed in a building [equipped with] acoustical drywall, wall and doors as best practice and generally equipped with a hospital grade noise suppression system.”

Propane generators are “generally quieter and cleaner” than other fuel-types such as diesel, he said. “So, we think we’ve done done everything that can be done to minimize the noise.”

The access cap to the liquid propane tank will be located halfway up the stairs of the building. “It’s pretty secure,” Otis said, adding that other measures to discourage trespassing and parking on the site will be implemented.

In terms of fire suppression, an existing fire hydrant is located directly in front of the site, he said.

Sound View Pump Station Reviewed in Tuesday's Zoning Hearing Resident Lawrence Osowiecki, who lives in the Miami Beach Association area, expressed concern that the town had already decided on a pump station location on town land at 72 Portland Ave. The town’s website, has several documents showing 72 Portland Ave. as the pump station site.

However, the town did not apply for a special permit for 72 Portland Ave., said Cable. “This is the only application that has come to us,” she said.

With no further public comment, the commission voted unanimously to close the public hearing. No discussion followed. The matter will be placed on the agenda of the Zoning Commission’s November 12 meeting.

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The Day - Old Lyme sewer project receives final permission from East Lyme - News from southeastern Connecticut

Old Lyme sewer project receives final permission from East Lyme 070965521 9 061 024 Ą Ǻ 07 Ể 3219621 9 061 024 Ą Ǻ 07

B Mary Biekert XẸ9225Ẹ2005Ą199Ẹ22451 09969Ậ3 Ģ0 Ą0628246Y 9B 56933 9 46624 Ó 0 Ą0628246V 65219BĄ01 0 X0 96961 Ǻ0 Ą0628246V 65219BĄ01 0 Y Ế0 94B0628246 X5662ǺẸẸ9 9 9 Ą69 66624Ą01 0 ẸẾ0 94B0628246Y East Lyme — After years of planning and deliberating, three Old Lyme beach communities are moving forward on long-held plans to bring a shared sewer system into their neighborhoods after gaining the final permission needed from East Lyme to do so.

The East Lyme Inland Wetland Agency on Monday night unanimously approved, with some stipulations, the three communities to connect a sewer line they are building into the East Lyme sewer system.

The line will run from their neighborhoods abutting Long Island Sound in Old Lyme, along Route 156 and into East Lyme over the Four Mile River, connecting to East Lyme's system in front of The Divine Wine Emporium on Route 156. From there, sewer waste will be sent through existing pipes extending from East Lyme, through Waterford and into New London for treatment.

The three associations, which include Miami Beach Association, Old Lyme Shores Beach Association and Old Colony Beach Association — all of which are chartered beach neighborhoods and are considered separate municipalities from the town — have been planning their own sewer project for years now after the state mandated upgrades to resolve groundwater pollution.

Monday’s approval, however, also represents a necessary step needed for the town of Old Lyme to sewer its Sound View neighborhood, which is nestled between Old Colony Beach and Miami Beach associations. Old Lyme voters recently authorized the town to start bonding for its own project at an August referendum.

The two projects are set to eventually combine, with plans to share the force main and sewer line running down Route 156.

The town of Old Lyme and the associations are presently working out a cost-sharing agreement to pay for the estimated $5 million needed to build the pump station and force main. Plans for the shared pump station on Portland Avenue in the Sound View neighborhood were also recently presented at an Old Lyme Zoning Commission meeting.

Besides determining where removed road and fill would be located while construction is ongoing, the East Lyme Agency easily determined that the project was suitable to move forward at its meeting Monday night. Plans seeking permission for that part of the project were brought forward to the agency in late August by Old Colony Beach Association’s Water Pollution Control Authority Chair Frank Noe, on behalf of the three associations.

The three beach associations were required to gain permission from the East Lyme Agency because construction for the sewer line will take place within 100 feet of the Four Mile River.

The sewer line will not go through the Four Mile River or under it, but will “be built within the pavement of the bridge extending over the river,” according to plans presented to the agency by engineer James Otis of Manchester's Fuss & O’Neill — the engineering firm contracted by the three beach associations to design the project.

As part of its approval, agency members stipulated that the applicant must file a $5,000 erosion and sedimentation bond with the agency before construction starts. That will be returned to the applicant once the agency ensures construction did not cause significant erosion and sedimentation along the Four Mile River area.

The Day - Old Lyme sewer project receives final permission from East Lyme - News from southeastern Connecticut The project has gone through a range of variations since Old Lyme town officials started pursuing it in 2014, and at one point included ideas to install an independent sewer system to service beach neighborhoods. That was eventually deemed ineffective and too expensive, paving way to the shared system being planned now. Old Lyme’s neighborhoods have always relied on cesspools and septic tanks to process its sewage.

The three beach associations have already signed inter-municipal agreements with East Lyme and another with New London in 2018 to send and treat sewage through those towns. As part of those agreements, the Old Lyme beach associations will essentially be treated as a customer of the East Lyme system.

East Lyme was under an order from the state Department of Energy and Environmental Protection to reach an agreement with the beach associations, according to previous reporting from The Day. Under the agreement, the Old Lyme beach communities will pay East Lyme for the costs of using its sewer system.

In the application to the East Lyme Agency, Noe outlined that the project may begin as soon as 2020 and extend through 2022. This would include all phases of the project, including building the shared pump station, as well as the force main pipe proposed along Route 156.

“We are just chugging along. We are moving along,” Noe said by phone interview Wednesday.

He said the associations are still in the design phase of the plans and still must line up town easements and receive permitting from various state agencies, including the Department of Transportation, which has jurisdiction over Route 156.

Otis had said in an earlier presentation to the Agency that the sewer line will be made of PVC piping and will be pressure treated before construction to prevent leaks or pipe bursts over the river.

“This follows standard practice,” Otis had said, mentioning that Old Lyme’s Point O’Woods Association completed a similar project in 2008 when it decided, after seven years of planning, to hook into East Lyme’s sewer system by running its own line along Route 156 and the Four Mile River bridge. m.biekert@theday.com (mailto:m.biekert@theday.com)

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Norwich police to start using body, cruiser cameras in a few weeks (/localnews/20191027/norwich-police-to-start-using-body-cruiser-cameras-in-fewweeks) Norwich police have purchased 88 body cameras, 25 cruiser camera systems and related equipment for $291,000, half covered by a state grant.

SECTION

11

November

Groton Officials Unveil Redevelopment Plans for Mystic Oral School Property �

Mystic Education Center Development, Conceptual Street View (Credit: Crosskey Architects of Hartford)

Groton Officials Unveil Redevelopment Plans for Mystic Oral School Property Published on November 8, 2019 — in Groton — by Cate Hewitt

GROTON — Town officials unveiled conceptual plans on Thursday for the 77-acre Mystic Education Center site that, if realized, would revitalize the long-fallow property into a villagestyle development with a variety of commercial, retail and co-working spaces, along with about 750 residential units. The property is the former state-run Mystic Oral School, once known as the Whipple School for the Deaf, at 240 Oral School Road.

“There are a lot of moving pieces and it was everyone’s desire, including the developer, to come forward at the appropriate time and I think that time is now,” said Paige Bronk, the town’s economic and community development manager, to a standing-room-only audience of about 100 people at the Town Hall Annex.

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Groton Officials Unveil Redevelopment Plans for Mystic Oral School Property

Conceptual aerial view looking north (Credit: Crosskey Architects of Hartford)

Jeff Respler of Respler Homes LLC, the town’s preferred developer for the project, deemed the school buildings unsuitable for development into apartments and instead proposed transforming the 44-acre campus into a kind of updated New England main street surrounded by newly-constructed, market-rate residential apartments. The remaining 33 acres would provide open space with walking trails and a revamped boat launch on the Mystic River waterfront.

The project is part of the town’s response to a predicted increase in demand for “amenityrich” housing specific to Electric Boat’s future younger workforce and to “closing the loop” on the 80 percent of Groton residents who commute elsewhere for work, said Bronk.

Current condition of the site (Credit: Respler Homes LLC) GO TO

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Groton Officials Unveil Redevelopment Plans for Mystic Oral School Property The project would rehabilitate the Pratt Recreation Center for use by town residents, and provide about 40,000 square feet of public recreation space, including an Olympic-size pool, gymnasium, and “other associated amenities,” according to Respler’s presentation.

Ted DeSantos, an engineer with Fuss & O’Neill, told the audience that parking would be located underneath the residential buildings to decrease the amount of impervious surface added to the site. The project woul also provide “substantial” investments to transportation infrastructure to the area.

Ray Kehrhahn, a real estate economist hired by Respler, said that the project will provide the town with about $3.5 million in yearly property taxes, roughly 320 jobs — and $25 million in payroll — in the commercial and retail spaces, and increase local retail spending by $80 million per year. Redeveloping the site would provide about 880 construction jobs over a three-year period.

Also available during the meeting were Mary and Chuck Coursey of Coursey & Company, a public relations firm hired by Respler to engage the community in the process.

“Our job is to go into the community and talk to the people, especially those who may be most impacted by the project … we’re going to reach out to everyone in all the neighborhoods because that’s where, understandably, people are going to have the most questions and concerns, and what we’re going to do is we’re going to listen to the questions and concerns and go back to the team and figure out how and if we can address those concerns,” said Chuck Coursey.

As the project moves forward, Bronk said the development would require state and local land agreements, a master lease agreement, discussions with the Department of Transportation, a special zoning permit, wetlands approval, and many other steps.

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Groton Officials Unveil Redevelopment Plans for Mystic Oral School Property

Town residents attend a presentation of the project on Thursday (Credit: CT Examiner/Hewitt)

“That’s why we’ve talked about this being a year-long approval process between state and local approvals,” he said. “Basically understand this is going to be a long process and this is the first opportunity we’ve been able to come out and advise the public.”

The site is a brownfield and will require major remediation work and approval by the state Department of Energy and Environmental Protection, said Santos.

“All of the work in planning and preparing for design for permits is informed by pricing and pro formas and looking at all of the cost and constructability and phasing of all of the on-site and off-site improvements,” said Santos. “And so in some ways a project of this scale and the benefit it can bring to the town is like a Swiss watch. There are a lot of moving parts between formal and informal process with the town and that’s why folks are saying a year — and it could take all of that.”

Bronk said the project was nowhere near any approval or permitting phase. “We are several months away from gaining any approvals. There have not been any applications made, so this is really an announcement and to some degree it’s a celebration of the work that’s taken place to date,” said Bronk. “The public will always have an opportunity to engage in those future meetings and it will take months to get through.”

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Seymour officials say lack of funds a barrier to dam repair - CTInsider.com

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Seymour officials say lack of funds a barrier to dam repair Luther Turmelle

Nov. 11, 2019

Updated: Nov. 11, 2019 6:59 p.m.

Walsh’s Country Store is one of the Seymour businesses that likely would be in the path of flood water were the Great Hill Reservoir dam to fail. A home at 321 Roosevelt Drive and the Stone’s Throw Restaurant also were identified via computer modeling as facing a threat.

Photo: Luther Turmelle / Hearst Connecticut Media

SEYMOUR — Town officials are caught between an aging dam and a hard place.

Seymour officials say lack of funds a barrier to dam repair - CTInsider.com

The Great Hill Reservoir Dam is one of a dozen in Connecticut identified in an Associated SUBSCRIBE

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Press safety analysis that are considered a high hazard for possibly breaching. And town officials are acutely aware of the problem.

“We know the dam is in poor condition,” Anthony Caserta, Seymour’s director of operations said last week. “Right now, we just don’t have the funding to do anything.”

Seymour’s position is hardly unique.

To print the document, click the "Original Document" link to open the original PDF. At this time it is not possible to print the document with annotations.

Seymour officials say lack of funds a barrier to dam repair - CTInsider.com

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make the necessary repairs to the Crystal Lake dam in that city. Middletown already has used state money once in this decade to repair a failing dam: The state Bond Commission in 2014 approved $2.1 million to boost the capacity of the Dooley Pond Dam, located near Route 17 south of Brushy Hill Road.

If Seymour officials can’t find some way to come up with money to make the repairs, Caserta said the town will consider doing a controlled breach of the Great Hill Reservoir Dam. It was not immediately clear Monday whether the Lamont administration would be willing to help Seymour, Middletown or any of the 10 other Connecticut communities where the high-risk dams are located.

The Seymour dam is 110 years old and underwent a rehabilitation in 1989, according to a 2017 report Fuss & O’Neill engineers submitted to state officials as part of the town’s Emergency Action Plan on how the community would handle a failure of the dam.

Seymour officials say lack of funds a barrier to dam repair - CTInsider.com

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suffered erosion, among other things. But the report details that, since those repairs were made, vines had grown over the front face of the dam and rooted themselves into its construction joints as well as under the concrete surface.

DATABASE: See the rating of all the dams in Connecticut The report identifies, based on computer modeling, two businesses and one home on the section of Route 34 known as Roosevelt Drive that would be at risk were the Great Hill Reservoir Dam to breach.

Stone’s Throw Restaurant and Walsh’s Country Store — which sells sheds, gazebos and other small structures — would be in the path of flood water from a breach of the dam. A home at 321 Roosevelt Drive also was identified via computer modeling as facing a threat were a breach to occur.

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The home at 321 Roosevelt Drive sits adjacent to the spot where Fourmile Brook crosses under Route 34 and empties into the Housatonic River. The restaurant is located on a property that is adjacent to 321 Roosevelt Drive.

The residence is listed as two separate apartments. Calls made to the residents of those apartments on Monday were not immediately returned Stone’s Throw Restaurant was closed Monday and messages left at the business were not immediately returned. The home phone for owner Peter Hamme was not in service Monday.

Walsh’s Country Store is located across the street from Stone’s Throw Restaurant. The owners of Walsh’s Country Store, Steven and Regina Walsh, do not have a listed telephone number and messages left at the business Monday were not immediately returned. luther.turmelle@hearstmediact.com

Lamont, businesses strike positive tone on day tolls plan unveiled | Hartford Business Journal

November 8, 2019

Lamont, businesses strike positive tone on day tolls plan unveiled

PHOTO | GREG BORDONARO

Gov. Lamont speaks at CBIA's 204th annual meeting.

By Greg Bordonaro

C

onnecticut Business & Industry Association events don’t always provide a cheery outlook, given the state’s economic and fiscal

woes in recent years, but Thursday night struck a different, more positive tone.

Lamont, businesses strike positive tone on day tolls plan unveiled | Hartford Business Journal

The CBIA held its 204th annual meeting in downtown Hartford, which opened with the chair of the state’s largest business lobby -- Pegasus Manufacturing President Chris DiPentima -- praising the Lamont administration's focus on manufacturing and workforce development.

"With his business background he has really pushed for public-private collaboration to address our state's economy," DiPentima said.

He continued: "All of us in this room are well-aware of Connecticut's challenges. It's very easy to get caught up in the negatives particularly around the state's fiscal issues. But we must focus on all the opportunities."

Later, CBIA President and CEO Joe Brennan took to the stage and commended Gov. Ned Lamont for not raising rates on major taxes. He also stressed the need for bipartisanship at the state Capitol as Connecticut continues to grapple with budget and other challenges.

"I know we can constantly find things to complain about, but there are so many good things happening, we just have to be persistent and keep our shoulder to the wheel and make things happen in the state," Brennan said.

Brennan also acknowledged that CBIA has taken heat over the years for being too negative, but he defended the organization, saying it rightly and proudly stood up to raise alarm bells that Connecticut was slipping in competitiveness.

"I thought it was the right thing to do," he said. "Since then, I think it's been a little bit harder for legislators and others to do things make us less competitive."

Both men, however, avoided talk about Lamont’s new transportation plan that includes highway tolling, which is an issue that has split the business community in the past. CBIA took heat earlier this year for not choosing sides on the issue.

Lamont, businesses strike positive tone on day tolls plan unveiled | Hartford Business Journal

PHOTO | CBIA

Pegasus Manufacturing President Chris DiPentima

Of course, Brennan and DiPentima had an incentive to play nice. Lamont was in the audience Thursday night and gave brief remarks through which he tried to establish his private-sector bona fides.

“I’ve tried to turn a new page in this state … and get a new relationship with the business community,” Lamont told around 500 business leaders in a crowded Marriott hotel banquet room.

Lamont reminded the audience of his small-business past and also touted his administration's efforts to enlist business leaders. His checklist included: • Ryan Drajewicz, his chief of staff and a former senior management associate at hedge-fund giant Bridgewater Associates.

• David Lehman, Department of Economic and Community Development commissioner, and a former Goldman Sachs partner.

Lamont, businesses strike positive tone on day tolls plan unveiled | Hartford Business Journal

• Josh Geballe, Department of Administrative Services commissioner, and a former IBM executive and tech company CEO. • Sibongile Magubane, Connecticut Department of Motor Vehicles commissioner and a former IT executive at Aetna.

• Colin Cooper, the state’s new Chief Manufacturing Officer, who was a long-time chief executive of Eastford aeroparts maker Whitcraft Group.

Lamont also boasted about some of his first-year accomplishments, including having an open-door policy with the business community, building up a $2.5 billion rainy day fund and passing a budget that didn't raise rates on major taxes, although there was an overall significant increase in tax revenues.

“We still have some work to do there,” Lamont said referencing the state budget, which faced a multibillion-dollar deficit coming into 2019.

He also threw out some red meat to the crowd saying state government is likely to see up to 15,000 workers retire over the next few years and that there shouldn’t be a need to rehire for all those positions. It’s one reason he has focused on beefing up state government’s IT backbone.

Lamont also briefly touched on his transportation plan, noting that it includes a subtle rebranding. Tolls are no longer tolls. Instead, he's calling them user fees, which indicates he hopes that might make them more palatable to the public.

He also discussed his focus on workforce development and training workers for tens of thousands of unfilled jobs in the state.

CBIA names new board members At its annual meeting the CBIA also announced 14 new board members.

They include: • Chris Allen, president and founder, iDevices LLC in Avon

Lamont, businesses strike positive tone on day tolls plan unveiled | Hartford Business Journal

• Michele Etzel, EVP and CFO, National Graphics Inc. in North Branford • John Burkhardt, SVP, Pfizer Inc. in Groton • Rohan Freeman, president and CEO, Freeman Cos. LLC in Hartford • Shelia Denton, SVP and general counsel, Boehringer Ingelheim in Ridgefield • Lucia Furman, president, Mercantile Development Inc. in Shelton • Kevin Grigg, president and CEO, Fuss & O’Neill Inc. in Manchester • Lisa Morgan, SVP and president, construction, energy and marine, Travelers Cos. in Hartford • Michael Kennedy, VP, tax and treasury, Barnes Group Inc. in Bristol • Rinal Patel, executive director of operations, RSCC Wire & Cable LLC in East Granby • Matthew Luxton, VP facilities and general counsel, General Dynamics Electric Boat Corp. in Groton • Rachel Stansel, president, Environics Inc. in Tolland • Brian Montanari, president and CEO, HABCO Industries LLC in Glastonbury • William Tommins, market executive global commercial banking, Bank of America in Stamford

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The Day - Mystic Education Center proposed as mixed-use village for young professionals - News from southeastern Con...

Mystic Education Center proposed as mixed-use village for young professionals

Conceptual plans to redevelop the Mystic Education Center in Groton as a mixed-use village for young professionals to “live, work and play” were unveiled Thursday, Nov. 7, 2019. (Crosskey Architects and Fuss & O’Neill)

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Renovation Now Complete for Boston’s 300Year-Old Eliot School  November 20, 2019

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 Boston, Daniel O’Connell’s Sons, Eliot Innovation School, Finegold Alexander

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By Lisa Kopochinski BOSTON—A $15 million renovation project for Eliot Innovation School—the oldest continuously operating school in the United States—was completed in September.

The school—which serves students in grades PK- through 8— now has a dedicated middle school facility which is located at 585 Commercial Street. Eliot School has been located in the North End for its entire history and was originally opened as the North Writing School in 1713 educating many famous Bostonians, including Samuel Adams and Paul Revere.

“I am thrilled to celebrate the opening of a new Eliot School building,” said Boston Mayor Martin

Partners and Associations

Walsh. “This school is a big part of the North End’s history and will remain the heart and soul of this community for decades to come. Thank you to all our partners who made this possible.” /

Finegold Alexander Architects served as the design architect and architect of record. The project team included: Daniel O’Connell’s Sons (Contractor); RSE Associates (Structural Engineer); RW Sullivan Engineering (MEP/FP Engineer & Code); Bryant Associates (Civil Engineer); Copley Wol Design Group (Landscape Architect); Acentech (Acoustics); Sladen Feinstein Integrated Lighting (Lighting); Crabtree McGrath Associates, Inc. (Food Service); Kalin Associates (Speci cations); Bourne Consulting Engineering (Environmental & Permitting); Fuss & O’Neill (Hazardous Materials); McPhail Associates (Geotechnical Consulting); and Tavares Design Associates (FF&E Consultant) “The Eliot Innovation School o ers students a truly unique experience,” said Rebecca Berry, president, Finegold Alexander Architects.

“The waterfront location a ords harbor, Zakim Bridge and USS Constitution views, with the Freedom Trail steps from the front door connecting students to their natural and historical environment and signi cantly enhancing the learning experience.”

The Eliot K-8 School now consists of three facilities, all in the North End. The Lower School, located at 16 Charter Street, serves pre-K, Kindergarten and rst-grade students; the Intermediate School at 173 Salem Street serves students in grades 2-4; and the recently completed Upper School at 585 Commercial Street serves students in grades 5-8.

The renovations of both the Commercial Street and Salem Street locations were designed by Finegold Alexander Architects.

Construction began in 2017 on the school at 585 Commercial Street. The new, 42,000-square-foot school facility features a digital art studio, technology classroom with robotics lab and laser cutter, media center, and 18 new classrooms that promote collaborative learning. The building features eight brightly colored projecting bays, which create “learning nooks” geared for small group instruction and collaborative learning. Exterior upgrades include a new schoolyard with play structure, new sidewalks, and an accessible entry.

“Every student deserves access to a 21st-century education and Boston Public Schools is committed to providing all of our youth with safe, joyful and innovative learning environments,” said Boston Public School Superintendent Brenda Cassellius.

“This is an exciting time for the Eliot School, and demonstrates the immense value and strength of coordinated community engagement and collaboration for the bene t of our children.”

Many of the building’s features promote sustainability and resiliency, including a new re ective roof, high R-Value insulation at the new building envelope, and glazing that maximizes natural light.

Mechanical improvements include a new electrical service located at the second oor for climate resilience, a new re protection system, and 98% e cient boilers.

The school was designed to meet LEED Silver V4 for schools’ standards. The cafeteria accommodates the My Way Cafe school meals program, which provides students with fresh, healthy food options. The building features a multi-purpose space that may be utilized by the community.

The new campus is located on the Harborwalk and is a short distance to public parks and all of the historic North End, with nearby MBTA access via North Station. The two other Eliot School campuses are also within walking distance, with students frequently traveling from one building to the others throughout the school day.

Eliot’s 730 students are evenly distributed among the three school buildings, with the Upper School currently serving nearly 250 students. The Eliot School has experienced renewal under Principal Traci Walker Gri th’s 12 years of leadership, transforming the school into a thriving, deeply connected K-8 school community. /

“The opening of the new Upper School is a true testament to our community’s and the City of Boston’s belief in public education and commitment to the Eliot School’s expansion,” said Principal Walker Gri th. “As the proud principal of the Eliot School, I am forever grateful for a community deeply rooted in the mission that a great education can transform students’ lives.”

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About Us Since 1998, School Construction News has been the news magazine devoted speci cally to educational facility construction and operations. Readers include several segments of the “building team” including school administrators, facility managers, school board members as well as architects, contractors and suppliers in the eld.

Special attention is paid to the maintenance/operations and design/construction segments.

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Personnel briefcase | Business | journalinquirer.com https://www.journalinquirer.com/business/personnel-briefcase/article_f836e6ae-12c4-11ea-8a72-6b3415e0301f.html

Personnel briefcase Compiled by JI staff Nov 29, 2019

Flood receives award Kevin Flood, PE, of Manchester received the 2019 award of merit from the New England Water Works Association. Flood is an associate at Fuss & O’Neill Inc., based in Manchester, where he is the acting water practice leader in the firm’s Water & Natural Resources business line. He has 30 years of experience in water, wastewater, and water resources.

Echols promoted

East Catholic High School graduate Nicole Echols, Class of 1995, has been named executive director for Harvest Hope Food Bank of the Pee Dee in Florence, South Carolina. She had been a donor development manager with the organization for more than five years.

Two join NBT NBT Bank Connecticut Regional President Andreas Kapetanopoulos announced that Steve Angeletti and Elizabeth Hayden have joined NBT’s expanding team in Connecticut. Angeletti most recently served as regional vice president of commercial lending for TD Bank in the southern Connecticut market. Hayden most recently served as senior commercial credit analyst for United Bank in Bristol.

Named to board

SECTION

12

December

December 5, 2019

Ahead of CT paid family leave program, this CT company adopts its own

PHOTO | CONTRIBUTED

Fuss & O'Neill employees

By Matt Pilon

M

anchester-based engineering rm Fuss & O’Neill just became a more attractive place to work.

The 320-employee rm, with of ces throughout New England, said it’s expanding its employee bene ts offerings come Jan. 1, to include paid family leave and related transitional return-to-work programs.

It’s also opening up health and welfare bene ts (including being able to roll over 22 sick days into a new year) to its part-time workers for the rst time.

The move, aimed at retaining and attracting talent, comes two years before Connecticut intends to launch its own paid family leave program, as enacted earlier this year by the legislature.

The rm follows in the footsteps of Farmington-based machine tool maker TRUMPF Inc., which boosted its parental and family leave bene ts last year.

“The expansion of bene ts for working caregivers re ect the core values of our company,” Fuss & O’Neill CEO Kevin Grigg said in a statement. “We believe that employees’ lives outside of work are just as important as their working lives. These bene ts create a more exible work environment that enhances our corporate culture to be more inclusive and exible and will help attract and retain outstanding talent.”

Grigg is one of 24 members appointed to Gov. Ned Lamont’s newly renamed Governor’s Workforce Council, which seeks to improve alignment between the education and private sectors. /

He was also awarded an HBJ C-Suite Award in 2018. In his pro le, Grigg told HBJ he wanted the public to be more aware of his “under the PHOTO | CONTRIBUTED

radar” rm.

Fuss & O’Neill CEO Kevin Grigg has implemented paid family leave and transitional return-to-work programs at the rm.

While Fuss & O’Neill has paid

for disability insurance policies for its employees that can be used to collect 60 percent of normal pay after a pregnancy, its new policy will mean full pay for up to six weeks for parental leave.

The company said it expects its workers to use the state-created paid leave program once it is up and running.

In Connecticut’s program, a new payroll tax on workers -- including Fuss & O’Neill’s Connecticut-based staff -- will start in Jan. 2021, with bene ts becoming available a year later.

The state program is expected to launch with a bene t maximum of $780 per week, which would be less than 100 percent for any worker earning more than $40,560 (without factoring in state and federal income taxes).

The bene t could last as long as 12 weeks per year.

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Home » Engineering Firm Expands Employee Benefits

Engineering Firm Expands Employee Benefits highprofile | December 5, 2019

Manchester, CT – To better meet the needs of working caregivers, which include employees of all genders who have familial caregiving responsibilities outside of work, and to continue to attract top talent, Fuss & O’Neill has announced a substantial expansion of its employee benefit offerings.

The new offerings improve existing benefits and will make a great impact on the fit between life and work, not just for working caregivers, but for all employees.

Benefit offerings include: Paid Family Leave: Benefit-eligible employees are eligible for six weeks of paid family leave at 100% of their pay. This paid leave could be used as family bonding leave, or to care for a child, spouse, or parent who has a serious health condition.

Transitional Return to Work Program: Full-time employees would be able to return to work temporarily on a part-time basis in order to care for a family member while maintaining the fringe benefits associated with their full-time status.

Expansion of Part-time Benefits: The expansion of benefits offering to include all benefits (health and welfare and paid time off) to all employees working 20 or more hours per week.

The new employee benefit program goes in to effect on January 1, 2020 for all eligible employees.

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Developers of Lincoln projects talk concerns at TRC | The Valley Breeze

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12/11/2019

Developers of Lincoln projects talk concerns at TRC

By NICOLE DOTZENROD, Valley Breeze Staff Writer

LINCOLN – Next week’s Planning Board agenda is loaded with major developments, with some controversial projects returning to the board for the first time in more than a year.

On Tuesday, members of Lincoln’s Technical Review Committee met to discuss the projects ahead of a Planning Board meeting next Wednesday, Dec. 18.

The projects on the table include the redevelopment of the Whipple Cullen farmland on Old River Road into 55-andolder condos, two mill rehabs in Saylesville, and an application to build new apartment buildings across from the MacColl YMCA on Breakneck Hill Road.

The Planning Board has until Feb. 25 to decide whether to award master plan approval to the Breakneck Hill development, which first came before the TRC last year. The committee expressed a number of concerns with the project at that time, and Town Planner Al Ranaldi stopped the project from moving on to the Planning Board by issuing a certificate of non-completeness, the first in his tenure as planner.

For the last year, Women’s Development Corp. has been working to address the committee’s concerns, which include the overall project density, traffic, and issues with ownership of a water pipe feeding the property.

The committee was previously concerned that the water pipe would be privately owned, despite running under a state road, and the potential consequences of such an arrangement in the event of a break.

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Since they first presented their plans last year, Women’s Development has come to an agreement with the Narragansett Bay Commission for the commission to take ownership of the pipe.

The nonprofit developer is hoping to earn approval to build a pair of 22-unit apartment buildings, which would be 100 percent affordable. There are still issues with project density, as Women’s Development has not yet provided the town with a percentage. While the town looks for less than 100 percent density, Ranaldi said this project is significantly more.

The project would be coupled with roadway improvements to Breakneck Hill, including a new red light and left turning lane coming off Route 146.

The Whipple Cullen Farm project is also coming back to the board for a pre-application discussion. The Planning Board previously denied John Cullen’s application to build a 55-and-older condo community on his land at 99 Old

Developers of Lincoln projects talk concerns at TRC | The Valley Breeze River Road, but the State Housing Appeals Board has overturned that decision and allowed the project to move forward.

Contractor Ken Block has agreed to come back to the board to provide a refresher on the project next week. Engineers from Fuss and O’Neill have been tapped to help Town Engineer Leslie Quish go through the extensive plans.

Lastly, two mill conversions are up for discussion, both located at the historic Sayles Mill complex in Saylesville.

The first, 60 Industrial Circle, is seeking final plan approval, pending storm water permit approval from the Rhode Island Department of Environmental Management. That application by Dakota Partners calls for 22 affordable apartment units.

In the same complex, Walker Lofts L.P. is hoping to redevelop several vacant mill buildings into apartments. That development lacked parking, so the property owner has been scooping up abutting parcels for the last year in an attempt to expand parking for future residents under the town’s requirements.

Western Oil owner Jared Raftery said he was concerned about underground utilities they may cross over into his property. “If it affects us, do we have to pay for it?” he asked.

Representatives for the developer said they’re working on mapping all underground utilities.

Raftery said his other top concern is parking, especially along the intended right-of-way. “That would be a problem for us if he stays the course,” he said, adding that he has been negotiating with the developer to secure parking spots for his company in front of the building.

Raftery said he agreed not to bid on one of the mill buildings that went to auction over the summer so that Walker Lofts L.P. could make the purchase it needed to add parking. In doing so, he said the developer agreed cars would come in through the front of Raftery’s building, not the back.

“Talk to your client, or we’ll be up in Superior Court,” he told attorneys for the developer, who maintained that their client has a legal right to access the property via that driveway.

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Comments No more new developments Permalink Submitted by jafredrikson on Thu, 2019-12-12 07:45

The town should do whatever it can to discourage new development or we will end up looking like our neighbor on “the other side of the river”. There is already a shortage of snow plow drivers also in almost every community.

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People and Property: Real Estate and Construction News From Around NH Fuss & O’Neill expands bene ts package … and more December 11, 2019 by Bob Sanders (https://www.nhbr.com/author/bob-sanders/)

Coldwell Banker Residential Brokerage in Center Harbor recently presented the Lakes Region Food Pantry in Moultonborough with a check for over $1,000. The money was collected from agents and employees of the Center Harbor office from transactions and donations made throughout the year. shown at the presentation are, from left: Bill Richards, Trish Conley, Scott Rolfe, Bob McSorley, Mary Williams and Lisa Dombroski.

Tighe & Bond Inc., a regional engineering and environmental consulting firm, has opened a new office in Portland, Maine. Senior project manager Dan Bisson heads up the new office.

Manchester-based Fuss & O’Neill has announced an expansion of its employee benefit offerings, including six weeks of paid family leave at 100% of salary; a transitional return to work program in order to care for a family member while maintaining the benefits associated with their full-time status.; and expansion of benefits (health and welfare and paid time off) to all employees working 20 or more hours per week. The new employee benefit program goes into effect on Jan. 1, 2020.

“We believe that employees’ lives outside of work are just as important as their working lives. These benefits create a more flexible work environment that enhance our corporate culture to be more inclusive and flexible and will help attract and retain outstanding talent,” said CEO Kevin Grigg.

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ZBA continues hearing on planned development - Special - southcoasttoday.com - New Bedford, MA

Special

ZBA continues hearing on planned development

By George Austin Editor Posted at 3:01 AM

SOMERSET — After about 4 1/2 hours of discussion on Monday night, the Zoning Board of Appeals voted to continue a hearing on a planned development for scrap metal storage and salt storage at the Brayton Point Commerce Center to Dec. 19.

The ZBA asked for final plans for dust and noise mitigation and for a plan to work with police on traffic monitoring at an intersection that trucks go through to get to the property.

The board also wants to get an opinion on an interpretation of a bylaw that ZBA member Joseph Fingliss brought up which he said would require Eastern Metal Recycling and Allied Salt to contain all dust and fumes on the property that they are leasing from Commercial Development Company where the old coal fired power plant used to be.

Attorney Christopher Markey, who was representing the petitioner, Brayton Point LLC, said dust has not built up on the property to the point that it goes over industry standards. He said dust monitoring would be done in two locations, one in the residential area and one on the pier where vessels are loaded with scrap metal. Markey said while the dust was not over the standards, his client was still willing to put up dust monitors.

ZBA member James Pimental said he was recommending that a mist cannon be used all of the time during loading and unloading of vessels that come to the site.

Fingliss said a video sent to the ZBA by neighbors of the site shows dust being generated during onloading and offloading of a vessel. Markey said he wanted to see the video to analyze it. He said he did not know how dust could go over a berm in the area and get to the neighborhood. He said the dust would also have to go over the ship to get to the neighborhood. Markey said there would be six to 10 ships a year coming to the site to pick up scrap metal.

On Fingliss’s interpretation of the town’s bylaw that requires dust and fumes to be confined on the property, Markey said that would be impossible. Markey said if that was the case, then no business could be developed because they all generate dust, including a bakery. He said people generate dust at their homes.

Fingliss said he was concerned with the dust from the scrap metal. Markey said he could not guarantee that 100 percent of dust would be maintained but that the applicant would stay within certain accepted levels.

ZBA continues hearing on planned development - Special - southcoasttoday.com - New Bedford, MA

Fingliss said if the dust level went over the standards, a supervisor would be notified, which could result in a reduction or suspension of operations until the situation was gotten under control.

Fingliss is an alternate member of the ZBA. He will not have a vote on the planned development, but is allowed to ask questions and participate in the discussion during the hearing.

Russell Becker, president of Enviro Analytics Groups, a division of Commercial Development Company, said the salt is covered so it does not get into the storm water. He said any salt that is spilled when it is brought there or picked up is immediately cleaned up. Pimental asked if there was a plan to construct a shed for salt storage. Becker said that could be looked at in the future.

On the subject of noise, Markey said there were eight instances of one second each when the noise levels were over standards. Those instances occurred when a vessel was at the property to pick up scrap metal.

Shawn Martin, vice president of Fuss & O’Neill, the town’s consulting engineer, said there was a 25 decibel increase in sound one day that could be quite loud. He said noise mitigation is definitely in order for the site.

Markey said they are trying to do a better job to keep the noise down by not capping off the cargo areas of the vessels at night. He said that would only be done during the day. He said the noise could also be kept down by loading the cargo lower in the vessel. Markey said demolition on the former power plant property is also causing noise.

“We’re trying to run this operation and we don’t want to bother the neighbors,” Markey said.

Markey said that during the busiest time of the year for the site, which is in September, there was a 10 percent to 12 percent increase in traffic on average. He said traffic to the site will go down by 20 percent when demolition is completed which he said could be in two or three months.

Markey said Brayton Point Road should be able to handle the trucks coming to the site.

The selectmen have put a restriction on the road that only allows trucks that weigh 15 tons or more to come to the site between 7:30 a.m. and 6 p.m.

Markey said the vast majority of trucks are using Route 6, rather than Wilbur Avenue, to access Brayton Point Road as the selectmen have asked them to. He said the more hours the trucks are allowed to use the road, the more spread out they would be in coming to the site, which could be safer for the area. Markey said the selectmen’s vote to limit the hours that trucks could go to the site was inappropriate under state law. Markey said there would be 45 to 55 trucks a day going to the site for the scrap metal storage. He said there could not be a lot more trucks than that using the site because they only have two acres to work with.

ZBA continues hearing on planned development - Special - southcoasttoday.com - New Bedford, MA

Pimental had suggested a police detail monitor the intersection of Wilbur Avenue and Brayton, but said it could also be done with a monitor at the police department connected to a camera. Markey did not prefer the police detail idea because of the cost. He said his client was willing to work with the police on that issue. He said a camera would cost much less.

Martin said the ZBA could put a limit on the number of trucks going to the site.

Markey said emergency salt deliveries might need to be done during snow storms. When there are storms, he said there could be up to 20 trucks a day going to the site for salt.

Town Planner Nancy Durfee said there would not be as many misunderstandings about the activity on the property if there was better communication with the town.

Resident Lloyd Mendes, who lives in the Brayton Point section of town, said it is unreasonable that no dust would come from the property. He noted the coal dust that came from the power plant when it operated there. Fingliss said the power plant came under the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission which superceded the townâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s bylaws.

He said that would not be the case with the current proposal.

Mendes, also a member of the townâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Economic Development Committee, said not allowing any dust from the property would ban all industrial development on the property which he does not believe is in the ZBAâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s purview.

Mendes said the ZBA should not harm taxpayers by limiting the use of the port on Brayton Point. He said Brayton Point could be the economic engine of the area. He said if the ZBA sets conditions that limit growth, it will tell other developers to stay out.

Cadorette said the number of vehicles going to the property has been a two-way discussion between the developer and the town and does not affect future development of the property.

Mendes said people moved to Brayton Point knowing it was an industrial area. He said he wants the Brayton Point site to go back to paying a lot of tax revenue to the town that helps pay for schools, police and fire service.

Resident Allen Smith said the town should ask for an environmental impact study on the Brayton Point property.

Resident Lorne Lawless said he is concerned about what is in the dust coming from Brayton Point. He was concerned that there could be mercury or lead coming from it. The developer has said the metal is processed metal that is not considered waste.

Resident Dennis Viveiros asked how the town would monitor what Brayton Point LLC says it will do on the property. Cadorette said that would be part of the conditions of the planned development. He said they will need to set conditions that can be monitored by third parties.

Based on wind he has measured in the area, resident Patrick McDonald said he does not think that dust can be

ZBA continues hearing on planned development - Special - southcoasttoday.com - New Bedford, MA

controlled on the Brayton Point site.

Resident Chuck Boucher said Brayton Point Road is a residential road.

“We’re just looking out for our homes,” Boucher said. “We’re looking out for history.”

One resident wanted air quality in the area measured 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Cadorette said that would be up to a consultant who has some expertise in that area.

Edward Souza, who worked at Brayton Point power plant, said, all in all, dust can not be contained from the site.

He said weather patterns were monitored there to control it. He said the power plant bought wind fences.

Resident Jeff Kardel said trucks are still not following the rules the selectmen set for the times they can go to the site. He said they are there before 7:30 a.m., are speeding and have no covers. He said it is putting children who go to school around that time in danger. Kardel said when a building was demolished on the property, the dust hit his house from a quarter of a mile away.

Kathy Souza asked the Zoning Board members to think about what it would be like if their mothers or children lived in the Brayton Point area before they made their decision.

Unless they agree to an extension with the petitioner, the ZBA has until Jan. 9 to have a written decision on the planned development.

The continuation of the hearing on Dec. 19 will be held at 5 p.m. at the Somerset Public Library, located at 1464 County St.

W W W . F A N D O . C O M