UTOPIA, THE
MOVIE STUDIO not a reality yet, nor does it look as if it will ever
happen; this does not stop on-going
development or developers elsewhere in the Southeastern part of
CT...and Foxwoods expands (but not the gambling part, we
assume). Norwich downtown redevelopment appears to place a high
value on historic features...and a transportation center. G&B; What
about decaying old mill? Ledyard zone change on Tribe land (but not the
reservation). Native Americans buried here?
Transportation Center out to bid...
wind turbines at senior center?
archaeological study
puts limits on development of Norwich Hospital site;
rejects two bids for their part of
Norwich Hospital site; hires new Town Manager (story
here about old Town Manager, who is intending to run
for Mayor in 2009, according to news reports);
has an old factory
oozing into
River, entertains discussion of a new
community within its border;
renewed with antique
details ("
Rose City");
Newly
renovated mixed-use
Wauregan
Hotel in renewed downtown
Norwich;
State archaeologist details significant sites on Norwich Hospital
property
DAY
By Claire Bessette
Published on 8/17/2009
Norwich – Three archaeological sites on the Norwich portion of the
former Norwich Hospital property may contain significant early Native
American artifacts, including one that dates back 10,000 years, the
state archaeologist told the Norwich Hospital committee today.
State Archaeologist Nicholas Bellantoni was invited to the Norwich
Hospital Site Development Committee to explain markings on a map
showing potential archaeological sites on the Norwich side of the
hospital.
Bellantoni said all three sites contained artifacts such as stone tools
or shards of tools that date back 4,000 to 10,000 years. The site that
appears most significant with the oldest artifacts is located in the
northeast corner of the property near a now-vacant subdivision of
physicians’ homes.
A second site is along Route 12 near the former nurses’ residential
building and the third is along the Thames River on a steep slope near
the railroad tracks.
Bellantoni offered to help city officials better characterize the sites
and work on a future site development plan. The easiest method, he
said, would be to avoid the sites, thus preserving them for future
generations.
But developers can apply to mitigate the site, commissioning an
excavation that would remove a significant sample of artifacts to
document prehistoric activities there.
A third option would be to bring in additional fill and cover the site
undisturbed – such as by creating a parking lot – again to preserve the
site for future study.
Preston Asks Norwich To Combine
Efforts On
Former Hospital Property
DAY
By Claire Bessette
Published on 7/7/2009
Norwich - Preston
officials are ahead of Norwich in the effort to obtain and develop the
former Norwich Hospital property, but leaders of that town's effort
urged the city to catch up and join forces to pursue a master
development plan together.
The Norwich City Council Monday approved a resolution to start the
city's process to acquire the 60 acres of former hospital property in
the city. A second resolution established a committee to oversee the
acquisition process and plan for development.
That portion caused some debate among the council, as Mayor Benjamin
Lathrop proposed names of the committee, while some aldermen wanted
more time to seek more public input on who might wish to serve on the
committee.
Aldermen voted 5-0 in favor, with Lathrop and Council President Pro
Tempore Jonathan Jacaruso absent, to approve the first resolution to
acquire the hospital property. The council voted 4-1 to approve the
committee as the mayor proposed, with Alderman Robert Zarnetske voting
against the resolution.
Robert Mills, executive director of the Norwich Community Development
Corp., urged the council not to delay voting to establish the
committee. He stressed that it took Preston several months to iron out
all issues and legal red tape to acquire its portion of the hospital
property. Norwich has until early February to complete its acquisition.
Mills said Preston has a goal of completing a master development plan
within four months with heavy public input. Addressing the council's
desire for more public input in Norwich, he said a rough outline of the
committee's work calls for a public-input meeting at the start.
”Preston is moving forward and they need us to rapidly catch up,” Mills
told the council.
Kent Borner, chairman of the Preston Redevelopment Agency, told the
Norwich City Council his agency “is on the fast track,” despite having
been established just six weeks ago. He and Preston First Selectman
Robert Congdon urged Norwich officials to follow suit so the two
municipalities can write a master development plan together.
The new Norwich Site Development Committee for the Former State
Hospital will oversee the acquisition process and “consider, plan and
recommend to the Council of the City of Norwich potential development
for said site, to meet with interested parties and prospective
developers interested in development of said site, including
representatives from the town of Preston.”
For the immediate future, the Norwich committee will include Mayor
Lathrop, aldermen William Nash and Francois “Pete” Desaulniers, City
Manager Alan Bergren, Planning and Development Director Peter Davis,
Mills, Norwich Public Utilities General Manager John Bilda and at-large
members John Paul Mereen and Tucker Braddock.
Zarnetske said his concern was that the current council started its
term promising to seek broad input from the public on committees, and
hasn't done that. He suggested residents should be invited to submit
resumes via the Internet to express their interest in serving on the
committee.
Nash said the council could add names to the committee at a future
meeting without delaying Monday's vote.
Joint Venture Hints Of New Development In
The Region
Northland, Tarragon join
forces to
focus on multifamily housing
DAY
By Karin Crompton
Published on 4/1/2008
Northland Investment Corp., one of the finalists to develop the former
Norwich Hospital property, announced late Monday afternoon that it has
formed a $2 billion multifamily joint venture with Tarragon Corp., the
troubled developer that at one time juggled a number of major proposals
in the region.
The venture creates a partnership with the potential to spark
developments that would change the look of southeastern Connecticut.
Between them, the companies have proposed luxury resorts, golf courses,
and thousands of units of housing across the region.
For now, though, the joint venture focuses only on multifamily housing
— although Northland chairman Lawrence Gottesdiener hinted that the
companies “continue to work on other strategic investments together.”
The joint venture is not a merger or a buyout, and the companies remain
independent in other areas.
Their holdings locally include 1,000 apartment units in New London and
Groton: the Gull Harbor, Nutmeg Woods and Ocean Beach Apartments in New
London and Groton Towers in Groton.
In the joint venture, the privately held Northland would provide
capital and stability to Tarragon, a publicly-traded company that last
year experienced a cash crunch and saw its stock price plummet.
At one point, Tarragon's stock, which a few years ago traded in the
mid-$20 range, fell to 50 cents a share and the NASDAQ threatened to
delist the company for failing to file a quarterly report. Because
Monday's announcement came after the closing bell, it hasn't yet
affected Tarragon stock, which closed the day at $2.15 a share, up 15
cents.
Northland, in turn, increases its multifamily portfolio by 50 percent
and becomes one of the top 50 multifamily owners in the country,
according to the company. Northland's portfolio jumps to more than
21,000 units in a dozen states, including 5,000 in Connecticut.
The joint venture, called Northland Properties LLC, will also buy four
Tarragon properties for $166 million, including one in Manchester and
another in Westerly.
In December, the companies worked together on a $156 million deal that
saw Northland buy six multifamily properties in Florida and South
Carolina from Tarragon.
Monday's announcement seemed a natural outcome. It brought together
Tarragon, which spent much of 2007 selling off assets to pay debts, and
Northland, which swept in last year to buy properties from struggling
investors at a fraction of their original price.
“We are a contrarian investor,” Gottesdiener said in a phone interview
Monday. “We waited throughout the heady days of the last few years and
were very disciplined in those overheated markets, and we generally
attack and grow in recessions.
“Through this joint venture we've now bought a billion dollars in real
estate in the last 12 months. It's been a lot work, but it's a lot of
fun today.”
Gottesdiener said Tarragon has a “great apartment portfolio” that, when
merged with Northland's, creates cost savings and strategic
investments. The two companies' portfolios overlapped in a number of
states, particularly Connecticut, Tennessee, Florida and Texas, he
said, and the venture helps Northland increase its access to capital
and leapfrog into the top 50.
Gottesdiener said there is a lot less competition now that many
companies are pulling back.
“This provides us with a scale and platform that will really poise us
for continued growth,” he said. “We're not done here. This is just a
jumping-off.”
Northland also agreed to potentially loan Tarragon $50 million, which
would give Tarragon a chance to buy back some of its debt at a
discount, Gottesdiener said. The loan is backed by Tarragon's interest
in the joint venture, he said.
Northland will hold a 77.5 percent controlling interest in the venture,
Tarragon the remainder.
Company officials from Tarragon could not be reached to comment Monday.
In a press release issued by Tarragon on Monday, Chairman and CEO
William Friedman said the formation of the joint venture, along with
the property sales, is expected to reduce Tarragon's consolidated debt
by about $600 million.
A year ago, Tarragon officials were involved with a half-dozen towns in
the region in addition to the Mohegan Tribe.
The company proposed a $125 million development on Route 1 in
Stonington that was to include condominiums, a marina and retail;
planned a spa, golf course and more than 3,700 residential units on
three sites in Montville; showed interest in 40-plus acres of
undeveloped land near St. Bernard School; and was one of four finalists
to develop Preston's 419-acre portion of the former Norwich Hospital
property.
A development unit of Tarragon also partnered with Voloshin Capital to
win prime-developer status from the New London Redevelopment Agency for
a three-plus-acre parcel on the corner of Bank and Howard streets near
downtown.
But the partnership's failure to meet deadlines required by the
redevelopment agency and pending lawsuits involving Tarragon and
Voloshin led the agency to revoke the “prime developer” status in May.
The Stonington project is also dead, according to the town planner.
And one of the Montville projects, a 515-acre residential development
on the “Chesterfield site,” has also fallen by the wayside, according
to Marcia Vlaun, the Montville town planner. Vlaun said she couldn't
comment on any other potential plans and pointed out that Tarragon had
never filed applications for any of the proposals.
Vlaun did confirm that Tarragon still owns or holds options on land in
Montville, including the 700-acre area where the firm proposed a resort
tentatively named “Thames Landing East.”
Burst Pipe Causes Further Damage to
Wauregan
DAY
Published on 11/23/2007
Norwich - Just four days after a grease fire and a burst sprinkler pipe
displaced nine people from their apartments at the Wauregan Hotel,
another sprinkler malfunctioned early this morning causing further
damage.
Lisa Catan, who lives in a basement apartment at the newly renovated
building, said that at about 1:30 a.m. today, a sprinkler pipe broke,
forcing many of the people who had been previously displaced out of
their homes again.
Catan said the Red Cross was on the scene, calling their help
“wonderful.”
“I think I’m
going to build an ark,” she said with a laugh.
Grease Fire Leads To Water Damage At
Wauregan
DAY
By Claire Bessette
Published on 11/19/2007
A grease fire on the fourth floor of the newly renovated former
Wauregan Hotel in Norwich led to at least 12 apartments sustaining
water damage.
The fire started on an occupant’s stove. The resident tried to put it
out with water, which caused the flames to flare up, setting off the
building’s sprinkler system.
The fire was easily contained, but during the dousing, a pipe burst,
flooding the other apartments and parts of the main lobby on the ground
floor.
At 4 p.m., fire trucks were blocking parts of Main St. and Broadway,
causing rush-hour traffic to back up. Traffic on the streets is
restricted, but is still moving.
For more details, see Tuesday’s edition of The Day.
Market
Study Dissects Norwich's
Downtown; Rose City Renaissance officials to reach out to potential
businesses
DAY
By Claire Bessette
Published on 11/14/2007
Norwich — A newly released marketing study for downtown suggested the
city already has a growing market to attract customers to restaurants,
retail stores and service businesses in the urban and waterfront
districts.
Rose City Renaissance officials outlined the findings of a marketing
study done last spring by Greenberg Development Services of Charlotte,
N.C., to about 15 downtown residents, business representatives and city
officials Tuesday.
Among the surprises, Rose City Renaissance President Les King said, was
the finding that downtown Norwich has more young professional residents
than the state average, potentially giving the city a strong customer
base to attract new businesses.
The study broke down the existing population into descriptive
categories. Low-income blue-collar workers, called “micro-city blues,”
make up 35 percent of the population within three miles of downtown.
Middle-class traditional families, as “city centers” who tend to go to
movies, bowling alleys and similar entertainment venues, make up 30
percent of the population in that same area. These residents use
technology services, restaurants, upscale retail and travel services.
The marketing group, which toured downtown and conducted numerous
interviews in the spring, said the most difficult factor in the Norwich
market is the impact of the region's two gigantic casinos. Restaurants
and retail stores at the casinos are counted in regional marketing
studies used by businesses to determine whether to locate in an area.
But they cater to casino visitors rather than the local population.
King said those studies show southeastern Connecticut is oversaturated
with restaurants and retail stores because of the casinos. Rose City
Renaissance needs to persuade potential restaurant or retail developers
that there is an existing market need outside the casinos.
Greenberg gave Rose City Renaissance a lot of homework over the next
three years, the most difficult perhaps being to try to figure out the
impacts of the casinos on local markets. The study said very few casino
customers visit downtown Norwich. While thousands of casino workers
live in this area, population statistics don't count resident aliens
living here on temporary work visas.
Norwich also has attracted dozens of foreign college students coming
here for several months at a time to work at the casinos. This group
provides the city a glint of the college experience, as the students
don't have cars and prefer to socialize in the downtown urban setting,
the report said.
Greenberg asked Rose City Renaissance to contact 10 new potential
businesses “this year” in an effort to attract them to downtown Norwich
using the demographic statistics available. Another graphic in the
report showed that millions of dollars in purchases for everything from
furniture and computers to clothing and sporting goods are being made
outside the three-mile radius of downtown.
King said Rose City Renaissance needs to figure out what types of
businesses to try to recruit based on the statistics — chain stores or
restaurants, privately owned businesses, or first-time small business
owners. The agency also might target the growing ethnically diverse
population to attract businesses that would meet their needs.
King said the new downtown experience must be taken into account as
well. Better lighting is needed for the growing nighttime pedestrian
traffic. Trash pickup on Friday mornings could detract from the
Thursday night ambiance on Main Street sidewalks.
“It's all incremental,” Rose City Renaissance Executive Director
Richard Kramer said. “If you start solving the small problems, the rest
will start to work itself out.”
Chairman
Of Norwich's Hospital Advisory
Committee Resigns
DAY
By Claire Bessette
Published on 10/30/2007
Norwich — In a strange sequence of events Monday, the chairman of the
advisory committee formed to help the city review proposals for the
former Norwich Hospital property issued a brief recommendation that the
council hire an expert consultant, possibly start the process all over
again and then promptly handed in his resignation.
Anthony Alessi told the council that he has been involved in reviewing
and recommending future uses for the former Norwich Hospital property
for the past six years dating back to when the state tried marketing
the properties. He, former Alderman Todd Postler and departing Alderman
John Paul Mereen were named to the advisory panel last summer as the
city was about to advertise for proposals.
Alessi told the council Monday that his group's original recommendation
back in summer stands — that the city hire an expert consultant to
study the property, meet with neighbors and propose specific uses
before the city seek development offers. Then, he said, the city could
market the property for specifically those uses. He speculated that the
city would get more submissions in that scenario.
“We want out of the process,” Alessi said.
But Postler and Mereen did not resign, the two said after the meeting.
Northland Investment Corp. — one of two finalists for the 419-acre
Preston portion of the hospital property — submitted a proposal called
“Norwich Green,” a $250 million development that includes four
neighborhoods, a central green, and 50,000 square feet of “destination
retail.”
Bourbon Street Norwich LLC is proposing a $267.9 million development
that seeks to recreate many elements of New Orleans' famous
entertainment district. The proposal includes 125,000 square feet of
mixed-use retail and entertainment space as well as a residential
component that is not yet defined.
The proposal includes an indoor water park with surfing pools that
would provide year-round surfing and the capability to host national or
regional surfing competitions; hotels; a movie studio; and an
exotic-car club with helipad.
Mayor Benjamin Lathrop, noting that representatives from one of the
prospective developers were in the audience, said the council would
take Alessi's recommendation “under advisement,” but would review the
two proposals in the near future. Lathrop did not rule out hiring a
consultant either to review these proposals or to start the process
over again.
“It's not as if we won't be talking to you in the near future,” Lathrop
said, directing his comments to members of the Bourbon Street Norwich
LLC group.
After the council discussion, Lane Brunner, president of development
for Bourbon Street Norwich LLC, said he was not concerned that the two
proposals would be discarded. He said he and two other representatives
from the development group came to the meeting to show the council that
they are “very much interested” in the property.
Lathrop said Norwich has time to make those decisions, and it would
fall to the new City Council to take on the topic after the election.
Two
Developers Interested in Former
Hospital Property in Norwich
DAY
By Claire Bessette
Published on 10/15/2007
Norwich -- Two developers submitted proposals by today's 4 o'clock
deadline for the 61 acres of the Norwich State Hospital property that
lies within the city.
Bourbon Street Norwich, a $267.9 million proposal, would be a mixed-use
project that would include retail, industrial, commercial and
entertainment components, possibly involving a film studio. The
developer is John Hollis.
Norwich Green is the name of a proposal from Northland Development
Corp., which is one of two developers proposing a major project on the
Preston portion of the hospital property.
The Norwich proposal has a "conceptual budget" of $250 million and is
mostly residential. It would include 700 year-round and seasonal
housing units in four clusters around a green, and 50,000 square feet
of "destination retail and recreational resources."
18-Story Hotel Proposed For Norwich
Waterfront; Marina Development Is 'Right Project At The Right
Time'
DAY
By Claire Bessette
Published on 9/7/2007
Norwich — After two decades of trying to lure a full-service hotel and
banquet facility to the Marina At American Wharf, Ronald Aliano
believes his dream finally could come true.
Aliano and attorney Theodore Phillips and members of a recently formed
development team announced plans for a $40 million to $45 million
full-service, 18-story, 240-room hotel on property encompassing part of
the marina and the adjacent Marina Towers building.
The announcement was the highlight of a nearly two-hour press
conference hosted by Mayor Benjamin Lathrop Thursday to give updates on
major economic development projects under way and new projects in the
city.
Aliano has formed a partnership with Joseph Pacitti, president of PRA
Development & Management Corp. on the project. PRA is the developer
of the Hampton Inn under construction on Route 82 at the Interstate 395
Exit 80 interchange.
The group has reached a tentative agreement with the Hilton hotel
chain, Aliano said, but no contracts have been signed.
“In all probability, it will be a Hilton,” Aliano said. “The Hilton
people have demonstrated their interest. They've been up. They like the
site.”
Phillips said the developers plan to apply for permits immediately and
hope to start construction by the end of next year.
Lathrop told the crowded City Council Chambers Thursday that Aliano has
had a vision for the city's waterfront that dates back 20 years when
the marina was built. The new proposal would “help make our harbor
truly a world-class venue,” the mayor said.
“In the past 20 years, I have been approached by many, many
individuals,” Aliano said. “I have been very, very impressed by Joe and
his team.”
Aliano smiled briefly, admitting he has been “a sucker like everyone
else” at times when it came to mega marina development proposals. About
12 years ago, Aliano had hoped to reach a partnership with the
Mashantucket Pequot Tribal Nation on a major waterfront development
that would have virtually encircled the harbor. Last year Aliano was
working on plans with Utopia Studios' developer Joseph Gentile on a
project that called for two 37-story towers for hotel and banquet
facilities.
Aliano also admitted to several “false starts” as developers proposed
projects he felt were not appropriate for the city's prime waterfront.
This time, he said, “it's the right project at the right time.”
•••Aliano and Vijnan Chandra, vice president of PRA's hotel division,
said marketing studies show the need for a full-service hotel with
banquet and convention-hall facilities. Although the region's two
casinos remain the major attraction for any hotel including this one,
Aliano said there are groups that will not hold conventions at casinos
— although their participants may visit the casinos after hours.
Chandra said southeastern Connecticut now has hotel services for the
“extreme ends” of the demand market, with the casinos meeting the
demand for events attracting large numbers of participants with
high-end services. Smaller hotels serve local events and smaller
crowds. But the region doesn't have a top-quality facility for 500
participants at reasonable rates.
The developers also plan to offer packages, shuttles and local tours of
the region and possibly boat tours down the Thames River.
•••
Plans are very preliminary for the hotel itself, members of the
development team said after the press conference. As did others who
were called to the podium Thursday, the hotel developers had rushed to
meet Lathrop's scheduled press conference.
The hotel would be built at the West Main Street entrance to the
marina. Aliano said the marina operation would continue, with a
possible expansion of 60 to 65 boat slips.
Details of the design remain sketchy. Renderings unveiled Thursday
showed a modern-style tower, with a curved façade overlooking
Norwich Harbor. That design likely would change, Aliano said, as would
sketched outlines of a parking facility.
Phillips said the project team could not reveal details about parking
arrangements yet. City Council candidate Christopher Coutu made parking
the first question posed to the developers when Lathrop called for
questions from the audience.
Aliano has been a crusader in recent years against unsightly parking
garages at the city's waterfront. He strongly objected to the new Water
Street garage built to accompany the $19 million Mercantile Exchange
office complex.
As a member of the Norwich Community Development Corp., Aliano led the
opposition to several designs of the proposed $20 million regional
transportation center across West Main Street from the marina. Last
summer, NCDC finally reached an agreement on a modified design.
“I do not want another parking structure on the waterfront,” Aliano
responded to Coutu. “Whatever is done would be tastefully done.”
Norwich Ready To Develop Hospital
Site; Council approves language of city's requests for proposals
DAY
By Claire Bessette
Published on 8/21/2007
Norwich — The city will begin advertising for developers for its
61-acre portion of the former Norwich Hospital property as early as
Wednesday after the City Council voted unanimously Monday to approve a
15-page request for proposals on the property.
Mayor Benjamin Lathrop said he will meet Wednesday with Acting City
Manager Joseph Ruffo to iron out final details before the document is
mailed to potential developers and advertised in various publications.
According to a schedule listed in the document, proposals would be due
by Oct. 15, with presentations to the public by respondents scheduled
for December. The city would select preferred candidates in January and
negotiate a development agreement in February. Formal approval by the
city is expected next March.
“It's been a long time coming,” Alderman John Newson said.
Lathrop agreed, but praised city attorneys and the City Council for
their careful review of the proposed document. After the meeting,
Lathrop said the document protects the city of Norwich throughout the
process, requiring firms to commit to an environmental cleanup of the
site and to submit qualifications for developing the property,
conceptual designs and financial documents to prove the they have the
ability to perform the work.
“The site has the potential to serve as the gateway to the city of
Norwich for vehicular traffic entering the city from the south along
Route 12,” the proposal request stated. “While the city is mindful that
the larger parcel of former Norwich State Hospital property lying
within the town of Preston is subject to development, the city will
require that the site be developed in a thoughtful and attractive
manner to benefit the city.”
Preston officials earlier this summer selected four finalists for their
419-acre portion of the Norwich Hospital property.
The developers — Northland Investment Corp., Tarragon Corp.,
Starwood/JHM Preston Venture and Preston Gateway Partners — have until
Sept. 28 to submit their responses to Phase II of Preston's proposal
process.
Lathrop said he plans to send the Norwich request for proposals to the
four finalists in Preston, as well as other developers who have
expressed interest in the Norwich piece.
During a brief discussion on the council floor, aldermen gave
assurances that there will be plenty of public input on the proposals
and the selection process.
“It's very important that the community has input,” Alderwoman
Jacqueline Caron said. “... It really doesn't work unless the community
is happy with what's coming to Norwich.”
Why include these stories about
Utopia here? Is there a reason why both parts of the hospital
site should be developed by the same developer?
Gentile's
Pledge To Library Is A No-show; Otis Deadline Passes With No
$500,000 From Utopia Studios
DAY
By Claire Bessette
Published on 8/18/2007
Norwich — Otis Library received no check from Utopia Studios developer
Joseph Gentile Friday, the final deadline imposed by the library board
of trustees on Gentile's pledge of
$500,000 to name the children's library after his daughter.
The library waited more than a year for the pledge — a promise made
with much fanfare at the podium of the City Council Chambers — to come
to fruition. Last month, the board agreed to impose a final deadline in
the hopes of either speeding things along or preparing for a
contingency plan to replace the $100,000 per year for five years
anticipated from Joseph and Cathy Moriarty Gentile.
“We didn't expect to have any word, really,” said Barbara Poirier,
president of the Otis board of trustees Friday afternoon. “It's been a
difficult year.”
Poirier said the library board will meet Monday to receive an update on
the situation.
Gentile did not return phone calls Friday. Late Friday, Utopia
officials released a three-page letter they said was faxed Friday to
Otis Executive Director Robert Farwell. The letter from Utopia Studios
Development Corp. attorney Christopher Thompson said the library board
has failed to meet conditions that Utopia Studios Development
stipulated in its original agreement — that the project use all-union
labor and that Utopia officials be allowed to audit the library's
budget of expenditures for the project and the allocation of all funds
raised to ensure that union labor was used and that all donations were
“appropriately allocated.”
The letter further stated that the board of trustees was to keep all
terms of the agreement confidential and accused some board members of
“being determined to derail this generous offer with their own agenda.”
Farwell said late Friday that he had not seen the letter. He said
Gentile had not raised the issue of union labor during discussions
until well after the project was built, and he did not recall any
agreement to turn over all financial documents to Utopia.
Farwell said he did not know what Thompson meant by references to
members of the trustees. He said he would bring the letter to the board
meeting on Monday.
Farwell found Thompson's allegation against the board of trustees
“incomprehensible” and rejected any claims of a hidden agenda.
Poirier declined to comment on the allegations in the letter but echoed
Farwell's statement that no mention of union labor was made until after
construction was completed, and that came in a “convoluted” draft
agreement the board received. The board sent back a simplified proposed
agreement similar to other donation agreements and never heard back
from Gentile.
In July, the board decided to impose a formal deadline for the pledge.
Farwell said library officials had received no communication from
Gentile since the deadline was imposed.
The library executive board will meet Aug. 28 to decide on a new fund
drive plan to replace the money, used to help fund the $10.5 million
library expansion, Poirier said.
Otis officials could approach current donors to ask for help with the
shortfall, seek new donors — perhaps from among new developers who have
come to the city and region — or launch a new public campaign to seek
smaller donations.
“At this point, that's the only thing we can do,” Farwell said of the
options.
The city itself cannot be a source, Mayor Benjamin Lathrop said Friday.
The city already has contributed $800,000 to the project, the maximum
allowed in bond money without a referendum. The city also offered
$525,000 in collateral to back the library's $2 million loan from Dime
Bank for the project. But Lathrop said the city could not turn that
money into a grant for the library.
The loan allowed construction on the $10.5 million library expansion to
move forward immediately and was based on the pledges from major donors
— including Gentile's $500,000 — expected to come in over time.
Lathrop said he talked to library officials Thursday in anticipation
that Friday's deadline would go unanswered. Lathrop has been critical
in the past that the pledge was never put in writing. On Friday, he
turned that criticism toward Gentile for leaving the library short of
key funding at the end of the capital campaign.
“It's unfortunate,” Lathrop said. “The library relied on that money,
and how many times did he reassure them through press releases and
phone calls? It was all rhetoric.”
The Gentiles made their pledge in front of a packed house June 29,
2006, in the City Council Chambers. The pledge of $100,000 per year for
five years would secure naming rights to the new children's library.
Catherine Patricia Gentile, then 5, sat on the step at the base of the
podium playing and giggling. At one point, someone handed her flowers.
The festive atmosphere came at a time when Gentile was head of the
proposed $1.6 billion Utopia Studios development at the former Norwich
Hospital grounds in Preston. Months later, as the pledge became due,
his relationship with Preston soured as financial securities and solid
plans for that project failed to materialize.
Otis officials started to doubt his pledge would come as well. Verbal
deadlines came and went in December, January, February and March. In
April, Gentile issued a press release saying his Utopia Development
Corp. “remains committed to its previous offer to support the Otis
Library.” The press release said his firm's attorneys looked forward to
meeting with Otis officials to “finalize the terms” of the verbal
agreement.
Gentile's pledge is the only large contribution that remains
outstanding in Otis' $2.4 million capital campaign, Farwell said. None
of the other pledges were made with such complicated, last-minute
demands.
“He made a very public commitment to the library, and said it was not
contingent on the success or the long-term commitment to the Utopia
Project,” Farwell said. “... We've been very patient ... and it's been
over a year now, so we need to see something beyond the promises of
good intentions.”
Utopia:
Pledge in Peril
By MICHAEL GANNON
Norwich Bulletin
August 18, 2007
NORWICH -- The Utopia Studios Development Corp. has released a letter
saying Otis Library has endangered a pledge of $500,000 for its
building fund.
A copy of a letter to Otis Library Director Robert Farwell was faxed to
the Bulletin Friday night. In the letter, dated Friday, Utopia General
Counsel Christopher Thompson wrote the library board did not employ
union contractors for repair work as stipulated in a May 14 agreement
and did not abide by a confidentiality agreement connected with the
donation.
"It has become apparent to the USDC that there are individuals within
your board of trustees who are determined to derail this generous offer
with their own agenda, which is contrary to the best interest of the
library project," Thompson wrote.
The money was pledged in June 2006 by Utopia CEO Joseph Gentile and his
wife, Cathy Moriarty Gentile. A condition of the grant was the
children's section of the building be named in honor of their daughter,
Catherine P. Gentile.
At the time, Utopia was the preferred developer for the former Norwich
Hospital property in Preston, where it was proposing to build a $1.6
billion entertainment complex. Preston ended its association with
Utopia in November, after the Long Island-based company failed to meet
major criteria of the agreement.
Friday's letter states if the library board wishes the corporation to
follow through with the donation, it must execute and return the
original proposal to Utopia officials; provide three weekdays for
Utopia auditors to verify the project's expenditures and financial
specifics; and "affirm the willingness of each individual board member
to maintain the confidentiality of the terms" of the agreement, all
within 30 days.
Farwell said Friday night he had not seen the letter yet.
"Certainly we have been very patient in working with Utopia," he said.
"Discussions have gone on for over a year and there have been some long
periods of silence."
He said he would have a better sense of the studio's position after
reading the letter. But in Preston, First Selectman Robert Congdon said
he was not surprised.
"I don't think this comes as a surprise to anyone in southeastern
Connecticut," he said. "Utopia has failed to meet its obligations with
the state hospital and other land use issues... It's certainly
disappointing because the Otis Library had a commitment. They've had to
scramble to replace those funds. I think they've replaced some, but not
all of it."
Gentile
Says He's Committed to Otis
Library Pledge
DAY
By Claire Bessette
Published on 3/1/2007
Norwich - Joseph Gentile issued an assurance today that he remains
committed to his $500,000 pledge to Otis Library to name the children’s
library for his daughter, saying only the timing of the gift has been
altered.
Gentile and his wife, Cathy Moriarty Gentile, last summer pledged
$500,000 to the $10.5 million Otis Library expansion campaign,
originally saying the first $100,000 installment would come at the end
of the year. Library officials then were told to expect the donation by
the end of February.
The agreement is not in writing.
“Our attorneys are looking forward to meeting with the appropriate
members of the Otis Library’s Executive Board in order to finalize the
terms of the verbal understanding previously discussed which
unfortunately, to date, has yet to be memorialized in an agreement,”
Joe Gentile said in a written press release this afternoon.
Library Executive Director Robert Farwell said he had not heard from
the Gentiles and did not receive the press release. Farwell plans to
schedule a meeting of the executive board within the next two weeks.
“I’m very pleased that Mr. Gentile has made this statement, and the
executive committee will be interested in talking to him and his
representatives and consumating this agreement in documentary form,”
Farwell said.
Former
Hospital Site Still Attracting
Developers; Konover Officials Meet in Preston And Norwich
By M. Matthew Clark , Special To The Day
Published on 3/9/2007
Konover Development Corp. came courting Preston's Norwich Hospital
Advisory Committee Thursday, its second pitch of the day regarding the
former state hospital property. Prior to the presentation in
Preston, two representatives from Konover and the company's lobbyist
met for more than an hour with a group including Norwich Mayor Benjamin
Lathrop and Norwich Alderman John Paul Mereen.
“We're here simply to introduce ourselves to the committee,” R. Michael
Goman, president and CEO of Konover, told the Preston group.
Konover is the second developer to discuss the possibility of
developing the entire 480-acre tract of land rather than just the 419
acres in Preston. Northland Investment Corp. met with both the Preston
committee and Lathrop in January to discuss the development of the
entire property as well.
“We're interested in seeing if we can do something in conjunction with
Preston,” Mereen said earlier in the day. “If that doesn't pan out, we
have to make pretty darn sure (the developments) are complementary.”
Goman told Preston officials he and his associates had made a
preliminary review of the land and called the property “a very
interactive site, clearly a site that would be best-suited to a
mixed-use plan” of development, but provided no further details.
One of many developers to come before the advisory committee since the
town's deal with Utopia Studios Ltd. died in November, Konover
specializes in commercial retail development. Most of the projects
listed on the group's Web site are supermarkets and retail plazas. The
firm's clients include national retailers such as Dick's Sporting
Goods, Circuit City and Wal-Mart, among others.
Last month the Town of Groton's Planning Commission denied an
application by Konover to build a 200,000-square-foot Wal-Mart
SuperCenter on Route 184; Konover has since filed a lawsuit in New
London Superior Court appealing that decision, claiming the commission
is requiring more than the standard regulations.
Preston First Selectman Robert Congdon said the decision in Groton
would have no bearing on the committee's opinion of Konover and said he
was pleased with Thursday's meeting.
“The three people that were here tonight were very professional,
experienced and knowledgeable,” Congdon said.
Goman called the earlier meeting with Norwich officials “a good
conversation.” In addition to Lathrop and Mereen, the Konover group met
with Director of Planning and Development Peter Davis.
All three Norwich officials said they were impressed with Konover's
credentials. Davis said he was pleased that company Vice President
Dusty McMahan is involved in the project. McMahan had worked to develop
a commercial retail center in the Occum section of Norwich several
years ago. The project died, however, when the state Department of
Transportation refused to shift the location of its highway maintenance
facility off Interstate 395 Exit 83.
“It's good to see that he's a part of this group,” Davis said.
Lathrop said he hopes to meet with Congdon next week to arrange a
meeting between the Norwich committee and the Preston committee. Soon
afterward, Lathrop said, he hopes the two towns will be ready to put
out a joint request for proposals for developers who might be
interested in the entire property.
Lathrop then would turn over the hospital development process to the
Norwich committee, comprised of Mereen, former Alderman Todd Postler
and Norwich physician Anthony Alessi.
Norwich, Preston Might
Seek Joint Proposals for Hospital Property
DAY
By Claire Bessette
Published on 2/12/2007
Norwich and Preston are considering putting out a joint request for
proposals that would offer the former Norwich Hospital properties in
both municipalities to interested developers.
Norwich Mayor Benjamin Lathrop and Preston First Selectman Robert
Congdon met this morning to discuss how development of the former
hospital property in both towns could be complementary. Both
municipalities have a three-year agreement with the state to market the
property for development.
Lathrop said the joint RFP would allow flexibility if developers come
forward interested only in the 419 acres in Preston or the 60 acres in
Norwich, but also would allow the two towns to hear proposals
encompassing the entire campus.
The next step will be to call a joint meeting between the Preston
Norwich Hospital Advisory Committee and a Norwich Hospital Liaison
Committee formed by the Norwich City Council last year.
Preston in November terminated its development agreement with Long
Island-based Utopia Studios for a proposed $1.6 billion entertainment
center at the Preston hospital property. Congdon said today that town
officials hope to complete mediation talks with Utopia within a month
and put out a request for new proposals in early March.
The timing fits well with Norwich's plans, Lathrop said. The city
received state approval of its three-year purchase option for the 61
acres in Norwich only two weeks ago.
"I want to move forward with this as soon as possible," Lathrop said,
"as soon as we can do an RFP."
Norwich
Portion Of Hospital Property
Now On The Market; State gives city three years to woo developers
DAY
By Claire Bessette
Published on 2/6/2007
Norwich — One year after the Norwich City Council approved a resolution
accepting the state's terms for taking control of the city's portion of
the Norwich Hospital property, the state has agreed to the same terms.
Norwich officials on Friday received a copy of the agreement signed by
Attorney General Richard Blumenthal that gives the city a three-year
option to market the 61 acres of former Norwich Hospital property that
lie within city boundaries. The agreement was signed by City Manager
Robert Zarnetske after the City Council approved the agreement on Feb.
6, 2006.
The signed contract now allows Norwich to start marketing the property
for development. Prior to receiving state approval, city leaders had
told interested developers they could not act on any proposals until
the city controlled the property.
“Now the clock starts ticking,” Mayor Benjamin Lathrop said Monday.
Lathrop hopes to meet with Preston First Selectman Robert Congdon this
week to discuss how the two municipalities might work together to
ensure complementary development on the former hospital property.
Norwich last year established a liaison committee to work with a
subcommittee of the Preston Norwich Hospital Advisory Committee.
Lathrop said those two groups may start meeting again.
“It makes a lot of sense to try to do something that complements each
other at the very least,” Congdon said.
The Norwich committee consists of Anthony Alessi, Alderman John Paul
Mereen and former Alderman Todd Postler.
Preston has been hearing presentations from interested developers for
the 419 acres of former Norwich Hospital property in that town. In
November, the town terminated its agreement with Utopia Studios, the
Long Island developer that had proposed a $1.6 billion entertainment
resort. Utopia objected to the termination, and the town and Utopia are
waiting for the mediation process to begin.
Utopia also had expressed interest in the Norwich portion of the
hospital property. Last September, the Norwich City Council approved a
resolution to begin negotiations with Utopia, using the law firm Murtha
Cullina, LLC. But Utopia officials never responded to the city's letter
directing the developer to contact the attorneys to begin negotiations.
“Certainly we would like to collaborate with our neighbors in Preston,”
Lathrop said, “but if it's going to be tied up (legally), as I expect
it will be with Utopia, we might go on with our own development
proposals.”
Lathrop said when it comes time for Norwich to start meeting with
developers, he would recommend that they give presentations to the full
City Council during informational sessions. In Preston, developers have
given presentations to the Norwich Hospital Advisory Committee in
sessions that have been open to the public.
Peter Davis, director of planning and development for Norwich, created
a map of potential development sites for the city's portion of hospital
property. Davis estimated about 40 acres would be suitable for
development, given steep slopes and wetlands on some of the property
Norwich Transportation Center Design Wins NCDC Approval; $20 million
project still needs approval for environmental permit
DAY
By Claire Bessette
Published on 2/1/2007
Norwich — The Norwich Community Development Corp. board unanimously
endorsed a new design for the proposed transportation center Wednesday,
saying it would provide an attractive gateway to the city's waterfront
and downtown.
Following the vote, officials overseeing the $20 million project said
they hope a public hearing in March on the project's environmental
permit application will be the last hurdle to clear before construction
can start.
The design has been the most controversial aspect of the long-delayed
project. Expected cost overruns and structural requirements forced the
board to ditch a previously endorsed plan. When architects returned to
the board in December with alternatives, the designs were flatly
rejected.
Revised drawings presented to the board Wednesday by project architects
Mickey Krockmalnic and Bruce Hultgren accentuated brick features and
toned down concrete pillars. The NCDC design committee recommended more
cosmetic changes that Krockmalnic said would be easy to incorporate
without affecting the project budget.
NCDC board member Ronald Aliano, owner of the Marina at American Wharf
directly across West Main Street from the proposed transportation
center, had been the strongest critic of previous designs. Aliano made
the motion Wednesday to approve the latest architectural renderings. He
said his past criticism was worth the effort, and Krockmalnic thanked
him for his persistence in demanding an aesthetically pleasing design.
“I think it's time we start contributing to the community in terms of
aesthetics,” Aliano said after the meeting. “This will be a draw to the
community.”
NCDC President David DiBattista said he hopes there is enough money in
the project budget to upgrade fencing and lighting at the two West Main
Street bridges near the proposed transportation center. The bridges now
have modern street lights and chain-link and wire-mesh fencing.
The NCDC had hoped to present the transportation center design for City
Council approval Monday, but has delayed that presentation until March
5 to incorporate the minor changes recommended by the committee and to
bring samples of some of the materials to be used in the façade.
The transportation center will become the main terminal for Southeast
Area Transit commuter buses and will have a 220-space parking garage.
In the future, the NCDC hopes to add ferry service tied to the large
vessel dock at the marina and possible passenger train service. The
site is near freight-train tracks.
The timeline for construction is critical. Because the project has been
in the works since 1994 and hasn't yet progressed past the design
stage, the agency could lose $2.65 million in longstanding federal
grants if construction doesn't start before Sept. 30. The money is
reserved for construction.
Construction cannot begin until the project receives environmental
permits. A draft environmental study has been completed. A public
hearing is scheduled for March 26 at Norwich City Hall. A 45-day public
comment period on the report will begin Feb. 20.
Copies of the report will be available for public review at the city
clerk's office, Otis Library and at the NCDC office at 75 Main St.
Now
It's Norwich's Turn To Cut A
Deal; After Utopia, city soon will get chance to market part of
hospital
property
DAY
By Claire Bessette
Published on 11/28/2006
Norwich — City officials may soon be able to market the 61 acres of the
former Norwich Hospital property located in the city.
A state legislative committee has approved Norwich's three-year
purchase option for the state-owned land. The state has a similar
agreement with Preston, where Utopia Studios had planned a $1.6 billion
entertainment complex on 419 acres.
Last week, Preston's selectmen voted to terminate a development
agreement with Utopia. The Finance, Revenue and Bonding Committee
voted unanimously Monday to approve the option with Norwich.
“It's exactly the same agreement between the state and the city (as the
one between the state and Preston),” said state Sen. Andrea Stillman,
D-Waterford, a member of the committee. The proposed option has
been delivered to the legislature's Government Administration and
Elections Committee, which must approve it.
The proposal would then proceed to the office of Attorney General
Richard Blumenthal for his approval.
Mayor Benjamin Lathrop, City Manager Robert Zarnetske and city attorney
Karl-Erik Sternlof testified before the finance committee Monday,
expressing the city's interest in marketing the Norwich portion of the
former hospital property. Lathrop speculated that the committee
had waited to see what happened with Utopia Studio's agreement with
Preston before acting on Norwich's option. The City Council had
approved the option agreement back in February, and city officials had
been awaiting state approval before marketing the property.
The city has agreed to take responsibility for any environmental
cleanup on the property, which is expected to cost far less than the
$39 million it's expected to cost to clean up the Preston portion.
Lathrop said that once the city receives the option, he would recommend
that it immediately start marketing the site, which at one time was a
residential neighborhood for doctors who worked at the hospital. The
homes were abandoned when the hospital closed in 1994, and the yards
are now overgrown with trees and weeds. Some of the houses have been
vandalized.
Lathrop said he believes the houses are structurally sound and that the
subdivision could be revived. As for the main piece of hospital
property, he cited portions of the city zoning regulations that govern
the “planned development design district” where the hospital is located.
“It is the intent of these regulations to promote uses within the
district that encourage balanced economic development,” the regulations
say.
The list of permitted uses includes marinas, docks, yacht clubs,
boating clubs, open space or parks, government offices, health clubs
and technology research and industries, computer or computer software
businesses, health-care technology research facilities or hotels.
Lathrop said he is excited about the possibility of attracting
biomedical facilities to the property.
Joseph Gentile, chief executive officer of Utopia Studios Development
Corp. — an entity separate from Utopia Studios, which had proposed the
Preston project — had requested the city's portion of the hospital
property as part of a proposed $500 million redevelopment in Norwich.
Gentile proposed using the property for dormitory housing for
performing arts students, employee housing and parking.
City officials have had no formal contact with Gentile since last
week's vote in Preston. However, Gentile told Ronald Aliano, owner of
the Marina at American Wharf and a potential partner in the Norwich
project, that he was still interested in pursuing the Norwich project.
Preston's
Decision To Pull Plug Stuns
Norwich Officials
DAY
By Claire Bessette
Published on 11/23/2006
Norwich — City officials said they were shocked by Wednesday's
unanimous vote in Preston to terminate the agreement with Utopia
Studios, and feared that it would jeopardize the Long Island
developer's interest in a $500 million downtown Norwich revitalization
project.
“I'm very surprised, speechless,” said Ronald Aliano, the Norwich
businessman who had been working on a partnership proposal with
Gentile. “After so much work on both sides of the aisle, to come to
such an abrupt ending escapes realism.”
Aliano, owner of the Marina at American Wharf, said he spoke to Gentile
late Wednesday, and that the Long Island developer still expressed
“great hope” that the project in Preston could go forward.
Regardless of that situation, Aliano said, Gentile told him he would
continue pursuing the Norwich development.
“I'm very encouraged,” Aliano said.
Gentile issued a written statement to the media following Preston's
vote. The statement did not address the Norwich development, and Utopia
spokesman Thomas C. Downie said Gentile would not issue any further
statements late Wednesday. The $500 million proposal by Gentile's
Utopia Studios Development Corp. calls for converting the marina
property into a hotel and luxury condominium complex, with twin
37-story towers, an entertainment complex on Hollyhock Island to the
north and luxury housing surrounding the harbor.
Aliano has been attempting to find a partner developer for the marina
property for several years to bring a hotel, full-service banquet
facility and perhaps a culinary school to the waterfront. Norwich
Mayor Benjamin Lathrop said he too was stunned by the Preston decision.
He had expected the Preston group to find Utopia in default or to grant
an extension and continue discussions.
But the mayor deferred to Preston's research and expertise.
“They didn't meet all the deadlines,” Lathrop said. “I'm surprised,
totally. Astonished and dazed. Apparently, it couldn't meet the
requirement.”
A much smaller portion of the Norwich Hospital property is in the city
of Norwich. Gentile also had wanted that piece to be part of the Utopia
development. Norwich officials never had committed to turning
over the property to Gentile. The City Council voted in October to
start formal negotiations with Gentile on the downtown and waterfront
proposal, but with the Preston deadline looming, talks never got under
way.
Lathrop said even if the Utopia development is dead in Preston, he
would not expect the city to have trouble marketing its portion of the
hospital property. Unlike Preston, Norwich doesn't yet have a
purchase option with the state for the land. But Lathrop said the city
has had interest in the property by prospective developers.
Lathrop also was concerned that the termination would cause Gentile to
back out of his pledge to donate $500,000 over the next five years to
the Otis Library's $10.5 million expansion project.
The first annual installment of $100,000 is due in December. Otis
Library Executive Director Robert Farwell said he would call a meeting
of the library Board of Trustees after Thanksgiving weekend to discuss
the issue and to contact Gentile.
“I'm sure the board will meet and consider our options,” Farwell said.
“Certainly we would like to hear directly from Mr. Gentile.”
Farwell said he hopes Gentile and his actress wife, Cathy
Moriarty-Gentile, still will want to honor their pledge and have the
library name the children's library after their 5-year-old daughter,
Catherine Patricia Gentile. Farwell said if the Gentiles cancel
their pledge, the board would have to consider how to replace that
money in the capital campaign.
“We're certainly looking forward to naming a room after their
daughter,” Farwell said.
Lawsuits
Against Gentile Raise Questions; Blumenthal: Allegations against
Utopia Studios chief warrant investigation
DAY
By Paul Choiniere
Published on 11/1/2006
Preston — State Attorney General Richard Blumenthal said Tuesday that
allegations raised in a series of New York lawsuits against would-be
Utopia developer Joseph Gentile need investigating before Utopia takes
over the former Norwich Hospital property.
Meanwhile, House Speaker James Amann, D-Milford, said if the claims of
fraud raised by Gentile's partners in New York are as serious as
alleged, he cannot imagine Utopia Studios Ltd. getting the necessary
financing for the $1.6 billion project. The Day reported Tuesday
that Gentile and his Gallery Development Group
face three lawsuits in connection with a Manhattan condominium
development project, The Gallery at Chelsea. Minority partners accuse
the development group directed by Gentile and his partner, Stanley
Perelman, with fraud and misuse of construction funds.
Gentile's group has also sued minority partners, laying the blame for
the project's failure with them. Begun in late 2003, the project
stalled by the end of 2004, with only a foundation built and later
filled in, and at least $3 million spent.
Amann has been a major backer of Utopia because of the thousands of
construction and permanent jobs that could be created by the project
with its hotels, theme parks and movie studios. He said it appears the
town is adequately protected by the development agreement should the
Utopia project fail. Both officials said the lawsuits may be
simply a heated business
dispute, in which case, Amann said, he would expect Utopia to go
forward.
Blumenthal, however, said the allegations are serious and that answers
are needed.
“My office is prepared to work with Preston and state agencies to
investigate these allegations as appropriate,” Blumenthal said. “They
may be no more than claims made in a civil lawsuit, which sometimes are
exaggerated and sometimes are proved.”
Before any transfer of the state property to Preston, and then to
Utopia, a process that requires the developer to meet certain
requirements, including those of the state Property Review Board, will
allow for questions and documentation, Blumenthal said. Town
officials, meanwhile, said they were unaware of Gentile's legal
entanglements when they forwarded to voters a development agreement
that was approved in a May 23 referendum.
That surprised Amann, who said he would have expected that the town and
its attorneys would have thoroughly investigated everything about
Gentile's development record.
•••••
Town officials said Gentile has shared little with them about his prior
development projects, one reason they crafted a demanding development
agreement for the former hospital property.
“This would have been nice to know of before we voted on it,” said
Jerry Grabarek, a selectman and a member of the Norwich Hospital
Advisory Committee that reached the agreement with Gentile and Utopia
Studios Ltd.
The advisory committee sent the agreement to the town's voters on a 6-5
vote, with Grabarek among those voting no.
“People were blinded by the green,” said Grabarek of the referendum
vote to approve the project, which would result in a dramatic increase
in the town's property-tax base.
Committee members said they did not reveal Gentile's legal and
development problems at public informational meetings leading up to the
vote because they did not know about them. Resident Keleigh
Baretincic said they should have.
“I think they should have been investigated a bit deeper. I had asked
the question prior to the vote if the town had done a background check
on the individuals involved in the project and the answer was no,” said
Baretincic, who in the weeks leading up the vote directed the group
Preston Residents for Responsible Development.
The group, since disbanded, had urged rejection of the development
agreement. First Selectman Robert Congdon, an advisory committee
member who
supported the agreement, was undergoing knee surgery Tuesday and was
unavailable to comment. Committee member Kent Borner, who also
supported the agreement,
expressed confidence that the town's agreement is so well crafted that
there is little risk of the kind of legal dispute that engulfed the New
York condo project.
“Both sides must perform or there are consequences,” Borner said. “I am
very comfortable with our (agreement) and don't foresee anybody playing
any legal shell games.”
Grabarek said the disclosure of the New York lawsuits cannot color the
committee's actions.
“It has to do with character, but it doesn't have anything to do with
the business deal he (Gentile) is doing with us right now,” he said.
Utopia faces several deadlines Nov. 20, according to the terms of the
development agreement. It has completed a final, “phase three”
environmental study of the property, now under review by the town's
consultants, and will have to set aside a performance bond to pay for
the cleanup, about $38 million. By Nov. 20, the developer is also
required to place $13.3 million in
escrow to cover the taxes and other town fees assessed during the
initial four years of environmental cleanup, demolition and
construction. Utopia must produce a development schedule and contracts
with the architects, designers and other professionals it would use to
plan the project.
If that and several other procedural obligations are met, Utopia would
then take control of the property.
•••••
Gentile has also had recent discussions with officials in Norwich about
undertaking a major redevelopment project in that city.
Mayor Benjamin Lathrop said the revelations wouldn't change the city's
process for negotiations. He said the city had planned to do “our own
due diligence” before reaching any agreement on Utopia Studios
Development Corp.'s $500 million proposal for downtown Norwich and
waterfront developments.
The City Council voted in September to start negotiations that could
lead to Gentile being named preferred developer for a project that
would include high-end condominiums, a hotel and banquet facility at
the city's waterfront and other development throughout the
downtown. Lathrop said Gentile has not responded to the city
attorney's request
to set up meetings, but added that he is aware that Gentile faces
deadlines on his proposed Preston development.
Lathrop does plan to ask the council later this month to seek requests
for development proposals on three city-owned properties: the former
Reid & Hughes department store; a vacant lot adjacent to the
Catholic Charities building; and the former Norwich Public Utilities
building, which Gentile had included in his revitalization plan.
Ronald Aliano, owner of the Marina at American Wharf and a would-be
partner with Gentile on the waterfront development projects, said he
could not make a judgment on the allegations in New York.
“I'm not in a position to make a determination on who is right or
wrong,” Aliano said. “In business, there's always certain accusations
and allegations. It's premature to make judgments on the allegation. A
lot of business deals end up in litigation. Initially, it does not look
good on Mr. Gentile, but one never knows until the verdict is in.”
Aliano said Gentile has always been forthright in their discussions.
“I have no reason to alter my view,” he said. “I haven't seen anything
to change my view.”
A
Much-Needed Moratorium
DAY editorial
Published on 11/29/2007
Back in the old days when North Stonington's most challenging issues
involved dairy farms and the future of the town's only restaurant, the
Dew Drop Inn, the Planning and Zoning Commission could get its business
done by meeting once a month for an hour or so.
In recent times the beleaguered commission has been inundated with so
many complex applications that often pit those who want to promote
economic development against citizens who hope to preserve the town's
rural character, its weekly meetings last for hours, sometimes past
midnight. At the same time the panel has been trying for months to
update the town's 43-year-old planning and zoning regulations.
Next week, harried officials are calling for a time out. The commission
will hold a public hearing Dec. 6 on its own application, submitted by
Senior Planner and Zoning Official Craig Grimord, for a nine-month
moratorium on any new applications involving residential, community
facility, agricultural, commercial and industrial uses.
We agree that such a moratorium is long overdue and urge residents to
support it.
Since the 1992 opening of Foxwoods Resort Casino just up the road,
North Stonington, like many towns in southeastern Connecticut, has
faced mounting pressures to build new motels, stores and other
commercial establishments, and even had to consider regulations for
what would have been unheard of in town not too long ago: massage
parlors and adult-entertainment businesses.
In addition to numerous commercial and industrial applications, the
commission also has had to act on assorted residential development
projects, and recently, after considerable debate, approved a floating
zone for mixed-use village districts. It now also is in the throes of a
complicated and controversial plan to create an affordable-housing
district. Earlier this month it rejected an application for a floating
zone to allow for age-restricted cluster housing.
Not surprisingly, the commission has struggled to reach a consensus on
these issues. As Chairman G. Russell Stewart III points out, “We have
members on the commission that couldn't agree that it's Thursday nights
that we're meeting. ... So to come up with stuff that we can agree
upon, it's going to be a job.”
Because North Stonington has so much open space, which so many
residents cherish and so many developers covet, it is literally and
figuratively at a crossroads. The town needs to step back, take a deep
breath and decide how it sees itself, not just this year or the next,
but for generations to come.
Such a moratorium is not unique in the region. Other towns experiencing
similar economic-vs.-preservation pressures have employed the measure.
Stonington, for instance, has imposed a one-year ban on new
applications for development on a section of Route 1.
Perhaps fortuitously, the moratorium would come at a time when
development could be expected to slow down because of the housing
crisis and credit crunch.
Undoubtedly, some opponents will see the proposal as an attempt to curb
all construction, but proponents must resist being boxed into such a
corner. North Stonington has shown a willingness to support responsible
development that adds to the town's tax rolls without diminishing its
rustic charms. A moratorium will allow planning and zoning officials to
continue to do so.
Plan For Self-contained Community 'Bigger
Than Anything This Town's
Seen'
DAY
By Jenna Cho
Published on 1/7/2007
North Stonington — Were 116A Wintechog Hill Road to be developed the
way Rick Contino sees it, the town's housing units would increase by
about half its current total of 3,000. Contino, a developer, had
a workshop session Thursday with the Planning and Zoning Commission,
where he discussed informal plans to subdivide the 162-acre property
into 1,620 mixed-use residential units. No application has been filed —
the workshop was one requested by Rick Contino/Ririto LLC for
informational purposes only.
“It's just an extraordinary project,” said Craig Grimord, zoning
enforcement officer. “Bigger than anything this town's seen before.”
Residential units would range from assisted living, condominiums and
apartments to single-family homes and clusters. Grimord noted
that the town's 3,000 or so housing units are spread out over 54 square
miles, while this particular project would be concentrated on 162 acres
of land situated between Lantern Hill Road and Route 2.
Grimord said Contino mentioned the possibility of including a small
retail component to the project because the development would yield a
self-contained community. If the developers follow through with
the project proposal, Grimord said they told the commission it could
take some 10 years to complete the project. Grimord said this was the
first proposal he has seen on that parcel of land in his five years as
the town's zoning officer, and the first of its size.
He said the developers would need to first apply for a zoning text
change to allow for the type of mixed residential units they are
seeking in that one location.
First Selectman Nicholas Mullane II said Friday that while the town has
encouraged cluster-type residential developments, preliminary plans for
the Wintechog Hill Road project show that the number of residential
units may be too dense for that plot of land. Mullane said he was
concerned that the high density of the suggested development might
strain the town's ability to service roads and emergencies there.
It may also raise issues of whether there is adequate water supply and
sewage package plant capacity to handle 1,620 new residences
concentrated in one area.
North Stonington
Shooting For The Starring Role
By MARK PETERS, Courant Staff Writer
September 16, 2006
Connecticut's ambitious foray into the movie business is starting to
net some starring roles.
Lucrative new tax credits have Bristol-based ESPN re-creating the
Yankees' 1977 pennant run in eastern Connecticut for a mini-series.
Later this fall, Joaquin Phoenix and Jennifer Connolly will film
"Reservation Road" in Fairfield County. Uma Thurman has already been in
New Haven to shoot "In Bloom."
Connecticut has had some success in film before. Each year, a few
movies shoot scenes in the state, from "Cannonball Run II" in 1984 to
"War of the Worlds" in 2004.
But the three current projects are part of the state's move away from
bit parts. Connecticut wants to become a place where films are made
from start to finish, not just a place to shoot scenes of a New England
town green or old factory building. On July 1, the state put in
place some of the broadest and most lucrative tax credits in the
country for film, TV, commercials, video games and music videos.
Productions get a 30 percent tax credit for money spent in-state on
goods, service and labor. If a company doesn't have Connecticut tax
obligations, it can sell its credits to other businesses.
The incentives are already attracting national attention and tens of
million of dollars in productions, but competition from other states
and countries is fierce and constant.
The foray goes beyond tax policy. To attract a permanent presence by
the film industry, the state is trying to attract all the components
required, from union labor to precision camera companies. Industry
officials say such mundane items will matter if Connecticut wants
permanent jobs and staying power in film and television.
"If it really works out, you will have a tremendous advantage compared
to other states," said Mark Smith, former director of Louisiana's film
and television office. To fend off North Carolina, Rhode Island
or even Bulgaria, Connecticut needs the in-state infrastructure that
makes it cheaper and easier to produce projects here, industry
officials said.
"The holy grail is for business to move here," said Fred Litty, senior
vice president for media service at Sonalysts Inc., a defense
contractor that also has film studios in Waterford. At the same
time, the industry needs local businesses to cater to the varied, and
sometimes demanding, needs of film and television production.
On Thursday, business owners interested in the industry gathered at the
Bushnell Center for the Performing Arts in Hartford to meet with state
film officials. A crowd of about 30 chatted in a regal meeting room
amid large movie posters. Hotel managers, accountants, car rental
people and municipal development officials took notes on how to serve
the industry.
"The film business is like a regular business on steroids," said Ellen
Woolf, project manager for the film division of the Connecticut
Commission on Culture & Tourism, referring to the strict deadlines
and intensive work schedules common in the trade.
Connecticut businesses are already getting some benefits from the tax
credits. For example, the "In Bloom" production has been renting 4,000
nights at hotels in the Stamford area this summer. The film office
estimates the combined budgets for "In Bloom," "Reservation Road" and
the ESPN series, "The Bronx Is Burning," at $36 million, most of which
will be spent in the state.
So far, estimates don't exist for what the long-term growth of the film
industry could mean for job creation and overall spending, state
officials said. Therefore it's impossible to know how much the tax
credits will cost the state. The credits come at a time when the
state is searching for new ways to fuel its economy, which has had slow
job growth in recent years.
The three current projects are being shot primarily in Connecticut. The
last film to spend that much time and money in the state was "The Ice
Storm" in 1995. Its story of dysfunctional life in Fairfield County in
the 1970s won critical acclaim for director Ang Lee. Other films have
used Connecticut's scenery, from "Mystic Pizza" to "The Stepford Wives."
The new films are doing the same, but are also letting streets,
stadiums and buildings substitute for out-of-state locales because of
the savings the tax credits provide. For example, "The Bronx is
Burning" will shoot New York scenes in New London and Yankee games at
Dodd Stadium in Norwich.
Rental cars and hotel rooms are supposed to be just a start. What state
officials want is constant production of film, television and Internet
projects. But the state doesn't have the infrastructure for that yet.
Heidi Hamilton, director of the state's film division, ticked off some
of the things the state needs: places for post-production work,
experienced available film crews and a studio in Fairfield County large
enough to host a television series.
Hamilton said she recently met with Lions Gate Entertainment about
bringing a TV series to the state.
North Stonington Studios Project May Go
Elsewhere; Company says plans still viable, but ultimate site is up in
the air
DAY
By Paul Choiniere
Published on 8/30/2006
North Stonington — North Stonington Studios, with its film and
television production studios, theaters, a performing arts school and
retail establishments, may not be built here after all, a top executive
involved in the project said Tuesday.
“What we are doing is still working on the feasibility of that
particular piece of property and the size of our project as it relates
to the property,” said Georgette Smart, chief executive officer of
North Stonington Studios. “We are proceeding in good faith, and the
project is totally alive and it is going to move forward. It is a
matter of where.”
Smart would not provide details about what issues may be keeping
company officials from proceeding with development on the 495-acre
property located on prime real estate just south of Interstate 95 and
east of Route 49.
“It is a matter of examining the size and if that works for our needs
and all of the additional approvals of the zoning and just looking at
the full cycle of what needs to take place and make an assessment based
on that information,” she said. “We want to stay in the North
Stonington area if possible.”
The property is owned by the Mashantucket Pequot tribe, owners of
Foxwoods Resort Casino, which has provided the development group with
an option to purchase the property that expires July 13, 2007. Kenneth
M. Reels, a former tribal chairman, is listed as a member of the
company's executive management team.
Bruce MacDonald, a Mashantucket spokesman, had no immediate comment
Tuesday on the North Stonington Studios project.
Last February, after a series of emotional and lengthy hearings, the
town's Planning and Zoning Commission approved, by a 3-2 vote, a series
of zoning changes to allow for such a project. Before construction can
ever begin, however, the developers would need the same commission to
approve a series of special permits for specific construction plans.
Since the zone change was approved, there have been no new developments
with the project, at least not publicly. No specific site plans have
been submitted.
Smart's statement that the project might not be built on the North
Stonington property marked the first time anyone associated with the
project has equivocated. Up until now, Smart has insisted that planning
for the project was moving forward on schedule.
And while vacillating on the location, Smart was adamant the project
would be built somewhere.
“The project is totally alive, it's not in jeopardy at all,” she said.
“Hopefully, this piece of property will work for us, but if not we will
look for alternatives.”
Representatives of North Stonington Studios, a limited liability
company, have visited the former Plainfield Greyhound Park property
adjacent to Interstate 395. The company also is planning a development
project at Plainfield's former high school, involving computer software
production and data storage, which Smart has said is unrelated to the
plans in North Stonington.
She would not speculate on alternative sites if the studio project is
not built in North Stonington.
Other major players in the North Stonington Studios project include
Joseph Caldrello of New London, co-CEO and treasurer, who ran numerous
car dealerships in the region before losing them in bankruptcy, and
Frank Capra Jr., president of EUE Screen Gems Studios in North
Carolina, listed as the senior project director.
Caldrello and Capra did not return calls seeking comment.
Key
Zoning Change OK'd In Ledyard; Would Permit Tribe To Pursue Water
Park
DAY
By Amy Renczkowski
Published on 12/22/2007
Ledyard — The Zoning Commission approved a zone-change request
Wednesday that would permit an indoor water park to be built along
Route 214.
Commissioners voted 3-2, with Eric Treaster and James Mandeville
opposed, to change five Mashantucket Pequot Tribal Nation-owned parcels
along Route 214 from a residential zone to a resort commercial cluster
district. Zoning Enforcement Officer Scott Duffus said the change
allows the tribe to develop things such as a hotel, motel, restaurant,
golf course, amusement park or water park.
In September, the tribe expressed interest in developing an indoor
water park with Wisconsin-based Great Wolf Resorts Inc., the leader in
indoor water-park resorts in North America. The location for the Great
Wolf Resort is still unspecified.
Duffus said he hasn't received confirmation from the tribe outlining
their plans. Representatives from the tribe could not be reached
Friday.
Commissioner Mark Spruance said the tribe is working on a master plan,
which will be finalized by spring. Spruance said he voted in favor of
the zone change because Ledyard has a limited amount of commercial
development. The tribe's proposal seemed like a “viable plan.”
Duffus said all traffic in that area would be on Pequot Trail and would
enter and exit out on the light on Route 214. The intersection of
Pequot Trail and Route 2 is being designed to handle this type of
traffic.
Zoning Commission Chairman Bill Geer said he voted to approve the zone
change because it'll benefit the town. He said the development borders
mostly tribal land and, with the proposed traffic plan, the impact
looks to be minimal.
The regulations for the resort district, currently specified for 398
acres of tribe-owned land north of the tribe's reservation, were
amended last year to allow for uses that include water and amusement
parks. The resort district is the only district in town that would
allow for the development of a Great Wolf Lodge Resort.
The town created the resort district in 1992, with tribal input, to
encourage tax-generating commercial development, but none have gone up.
At a public hearing in November, residents opposed to the zone change
expressed concerns about traffic, light pollution, minimal impact to
their taxes and not properly controlling growth in town. Some said the
development would be intrusive for residents.
Spruance said if the tribe files a special-permit application, the
commission could regulate the impact, size, and the night and light
pollution.
Ledyard Mayor Seeks Regional
Cooperation; Major developments
affect more than just host town
DAY
By Paul Choiniere
Published on 9/21/2006
Norwich — Stung by criticism that her town, in hopes of generating
commercial development by the Mashantucket Pequot tribe, approved
zoning changes along Route 2 without acting in concert with its
neighbors, Ledyard Mayor Susan Mendenhall called Wednesday for a
greater spirit of regional cooperation.
“Now the towns are basically pitted against one another,” Mendenhall
said, addressing fellow elected officials from throughout the region.
“It's all about generating the property tax dollars.”
The region, she said, needs to develop some mechanism to address major
planning and zoning issues on a regional basis. It is beyond the
ability of small towns to consider all the implications of the major
projects that appear on the horizon, she said.
Mendenhall made her comments at the start of the monthly meeting of the
Southeastern Connecticut Council of Governments.
The tribe, operators of the Foxwoods Resort Casino, appears to be
eyeing the Route 2 corridor near its casino for a major resort
development. Unlike development on the reservation, however, the new
enterprise would be taxable and subject to approval from town land use
commissions.
Tribal officials have not released any details about their development
plans.
In neighboring Preston, voters on May 23 approved a development
agreement that could pave the way for the massive Utopia Studios Ltd.
project on the former Norwich Hospital property.
That $1.6 billion project would include 4,500 hotel rooms, enclosed
theme parks, movie studios and a performing arts college.
“The issue that Preston and Ledyard have is not going to go away and,
in fact, it is only going to get worse given the development we are
facing in the future,” Mendenhall said.
The Ledyard mayor did not offer specifics for dealing regionally with
large-scale development issues but said she saw a role for the council
of governments, a largely advisory group that is the closest thing
Connecticut has to regional governance.
Ledyard, Preston and North Stonington all added “resort districts”
along Route 2 to their zoning regulations in the early 1990s, hoping to
spin off some development from the casino. The strategy has met with
little success.
Last month, acting on an application from the tribe, the Ledyard Zoning
Commission agreed to broaden the types of development it would permit
along Route 2, including condominiums, time-share units; parking
garages; multiplex cinemas; gas stations; amusements; water parks;
bowling centers; mini-golf; boat rentals; business and government
offices; campgrounds; and retail stores of up to 50,000 square feet,
which would accommodate so-called “big box” retailers.
Ledyard approved the changes despite opposition from the Reference
Committee of the Regional Planning Commission, which reviews zoning
changes that have ramifications for neighboring towns. The committee,
part of the COG, concluded the zone change in Ledyard “would have
adverse inter-municipal impacts” and “would significantly intensify the
already intense activity in (the) area.”
Officials in Preston and North Stonington also questioned Ledyard's
decision to move forward without consulting its neighbors.
Those towns only learned of the proposal when they were mailed copies
of the tribe's application, as required by state law.
“In retrospect, should their planner have met with our planner and gone
over this first? Yeah, probably,” said Preston First Selectman Robert
Congdon. “But hindsight is 20-20. The important thing is that we work
together going forward.”
The tribe has said it also plans to seek similar zone changes in
Preston and North Stonington, but no applications have yet been filed.
At a recent meeting of the Regional Planning Commission there was
discussion of creating a subcommittee with representatives of Ledyard,
North Stonington and Preston to monitor future development plans along
Route 2.
As for Utopia, Congdon said the town should know by Nov. 20 if the
project will be moving forward.
That is the deadline set for the developer to meet a series of
requirements in the development agreement.
If the project does move forward, Congdon said Preston officials expect
to work closely with the neighboring towns of Ledyard and Norwich in
planning for the impacts of the entertainment complex.
The council of governments is also planning to do a regional analysis
of large-scale developments, such as Utopia and the current expansion
of the Foxwoods Resort.
Bright Lights, Traffic Plights In The Works
For Ledyard
DAY
By Charles E. Potter Jr.
Published on 9/16/2006
The Ledyard Zoning Commission held a public hearing Thursday for
residents and other concerned citizens to express their views on the
Mashantucket Pequot Tribe's proposal to amend the zoning regulations in
the Resort Commercial Cluster District zone. The town's planning
commission unanimously approved the proposal last week. The zoning
commission, with minimal public fanfare, followed suit Thursday night.
The tribe has plans to develop a destination resort and, perhaps, other
new ventures in a partnership with MGM studios.
The scant public attendance might have been because it's too late to
take up the discussion as to what changes residents would willingly
endure in the town's quest for tax dollars and property tax relief.
Most people — even those who arrived after the emergence of Foxwoods
Resort Casino — did not move to Ledyard anticipating that it might very
soon come to resemble Ocean City, Md., or Las Vegas, or Disney World.
But that, I believe, is the future.
Don't get me wrong. I'm not passing judgment on the change that to be
seems afoot. I just think, despite the obvious message sent by two
unanimous decisions, that it's time to simply and clearly state to the
residents and neighbors, including Preston, North Stonington and the
rest of the region, that bright lights, long lines of traffic and
millions more tourists are on the way up Interstate 95, I-395, and all
side roads in between, to Route 2. If that's not your idea of
southeastern Connecticut, it's time to pack up your property and pick
your next paradise.
If, or when, Ledyard reinvents itself as a full-scale resort
destination, that will also become the future of Preston and North
Stonington. I have to believe that a similar future awaits everything
along Route 2 from Norwich to Misquamicut Beach in Westerly. If the
music is loud enough, the neighbors will dance.
The resort commercial zone was created in 1992 for the purpose of
attracting development of taxable land and businesses in the shadows of
the untaxed reservation, upon which sits the cash-cow casino. The
regulations allow for the construction of hotels, restaurants, sports
facilities and theaters, among other things. So, even before Thursday
night, there was potential for Route 2 to have boomed with development
that might have chased away a lot of folks.
But the development didn't happen.
Apparently, when the town couldn't attract development from the
outside, it couldn't resist the tribe's proposal, which came in the
form of text changes that eliminate building height restrictions and
permit water and theme parks, amusements, time-shares, condominiums and
retail shops of up to 50,000 square feet, among other things.
There's no turning back now.
It would take substantial imagination to believe that, if the resort
zone became a successful tourist destination, and if Utopia becomes a
reality in Preston, that Ledyard could resist allowing resort-type
development along the Route 12 waterfront. And, even if it didn't, what
would the town be like if those two other “ifs” play out?
Ledyard Approves Zone Changes;
Mashantuckets Had Sought Amendments For Planned Resort
DAY
By Jenna Cho
Published on 9/15/2006
Ledyard –– The Zoning Commission voted unanimously late Thursday night
to approve the Mashantucket Pequot Tribe's request to amend zoning
regulations to accommodate a major resort development the tribe wants
to build in the northeast corner of town.
“The vote was a positive decision for the taxpayers of Ledyard and an
example of the progress that can be made when the tribe and town work
together,” tribal spokesman Bruce MacDonald quoted Tribal Secretary
Charlene Jones as saying after the meeting.
The zoning text amendment sought by the tribe pertains to a resort
district north of the tribe's reservation and its Foxwoods Resort
Casino at the edge of the Preston and North Stonington borders. Jones
has said the tribe is interested in building a “destination resort” on
land the tribe owns in all three towns.
The 5-0 vote Thursday night followed a public hearing at which eight
people, including Preston First Selectman Robert Congdon and Preston
Selectman Gerald Grabarek, spoke for and against the proposed changes.
Those favoring the text amendment said a resort would introduce a
much-needed commercial tax base to the town.
Resident Nathan Weiss said Foxwoods was one of the “pillars” of the
community and that the town depended on its success. He encouraged
further casino and tribal development.
Resident Fred Riccioli said he, too, welcomed tax relief. But he said
there was a “history of lack of trust” between the town and the tribe
and that the town should carefully consider what negative impacts a
resort could have on the town.
He pointed to the recent lawsuit the tribe and a third-party vendor
filed against the town over taxation of leased slot machines. The
lawsuit alleges that the town cannot tax leased property on the
reservation, in part because the slot revenues are vital to the tribe's
operation as a sovereign entity.
Riccioli said he worried that if a resort is successful, the tribe may
try to have the U.S. government take into trust the land the resort
would occupy, removing it from the town's tax rolls.
“We have to be assured that it's going to be Ledyard and not the town
of Mashantuckets,” Riccioli said.
Congdon said that he was neither in favor nor against the proposed
changes to the resort district. He said Preston welcomed the fact that
the tribe was interested in developing on land outside its reservation,
thereby adding to a town's tax base.
But Congdon said he hoped the town would consider the impact that
development of a family resort could have on neighboring towns.
William Geer, chairman of the Ledyard Zoning Commission, introduced a
letter of support from the town's Conservation Commission.
The Preston and North Stonington planning and zoning commissions sent
the Ledyard panel letters opposing the zoning change. Preston's
commission said the change could lead to development having adverse
impacts along the Route 2 corridor. North Stonington's commission
worried that the allowed uses under the amended resort district
regulations would result in increased traffic on Route 2 in North
Stonington, negatively affect properly values in the area and pollute
the drinking water supply in the Shewville Brook watershed.
Planning Panel Backs Tribe's Major
Development; Proposal Now Goes To Zoning Board Hearing
DAY
By Jenna Cho
Published on 9/8/2006
Ledyard –– The Planning Commission voted unanimously Thursday night to
endorse a proposed zoning text amendment that would accommodate a major
resort development planned by the Mashantucket Pequots.
The endorsement, which carried several conditions, was passed by the
three commission members present — regular members Kenneth Koe and
Roger Tremblay and alternate Ed Lynch — who said the proposed zoning
regulation changes were consistent with the town's Plan of Conservation
and Development.
Mashantucket Pequot Tribal Council Secretary Charlene Jones, who
attended the meeting with the tribe's engineer, Walter Kunzmann, said
after the session that the tribe plans to create a “destination resort”
that could incorporate land the tribe owns in Preston and North
Stonington as well as Ledyard.
The proposed changes to Ledyard's Resort Commercial Cluster District
regulations must be approved by the town's Zoning Commission, which is
scheduled to conduct a public hearing on the matter at 7:30 p.m. next
Thursday.
Jones said she could not discuss specifics of the tribe's plan to
develop the resort along Route 2 but said the project is not connected
to the tribe's expansion of its Foxwoods Resort Casino, which it is
pursuing in a partnership with MGM Mirage.
Ledyard's resort district lies north of the tribe's reservation and
Foxwoods at the edge of the Preston and North Stonington borders.
Jones said the tribe will seek similar resort-use amendments to
Preston's and North Stonington's zoning regulations so that the tribe
can develop land it owns in all three towns while following consistent
regulations.
“If it was just unified, it'd be easier to develop,” Jones told the
commission Thursday.
Jones, Kunzmann, the three commission members who were present and
Brian Palaia, Ledyard's director of planning and development, added two
changes to the proposed text amendment before the commission's vote.
One was a provision emphasizing pedestrian accessibility within the
resort. The second, prompted by Tremblay, reworded the tribe's proposed
allowance of recreational-vehicle campgrounds to state that such
vehicles cannot stay at the campgrounds for more than 30 days except
when their admission is renewed in the warmer months, between April and
October.
The commission also required that vehicles be removed when the owners
depart the campgrounds for the season. Tremblay said he was concerned
the proposed campgrounds would otherwise become trailer parks.
The town created the resort district in 1992 to encourage
tax-generating commercial development.
Jones said Thursday that the tribe has worked well with Ledyard
officials throughout the process of revising the district regulations.
“A decade passes and things change and needs, desires and goals
change,” she said. “And now we realize that in order to bring families
here, we need more here.”
Jones said the envisioned development would have “amenities to
complement (Foxwoods).” It would attract families not just with gaming
at the casino but with various recreational opportunities that would
include “food, drink, lodging, sports, entertainment and shopping,”
according to the proposed regulation change.
“We want to be able to have customers come and stay in the area and
experience southeastern Connecticut,” Jones said.
Tribe Seeks New Zoning in Ledyard;
Change could mean development of destination resort with MGM
DAY
By Paul Choiniere
Published on 8/30/2006
Ledyard — The Mashantucket Pequot tribe has requested a zoning change
along Route 2 in the northeast corner of the town, which, if approved,
would provide the opportunity for a major resort development by the
tribe and its new partner, MGM Mirage.
According to a memorandum of understanding between the Mashantucket
Pequot Tribal Nation and MGM Mirage, dated April 24 and filed with the
state, the new partners plan to create a “destination resort” along the
Route 2 corridor adjacent to the reservation.
“(The tribe) will offer to develop such portions on a 50-50 joint
venture basis with MGM through a joint venture established by the
parties and owned by them on an equal basis. The parties will each
contribute 50 percent of the equity required,” the memorandum says.
The document does not specify what would be included in the destination
resort, nor its size and scope, but the proposed zoning change offers
some clues.
Technically known as a text amendment, the change would dramatically
increase the construction opportunities that would be allowed in the
“Resort Commercial Cluster District.”
That zone, intended to encourage tax-generating commercial development,
already allows hotels, restaurants, sport facilities, art galleries and
theaters.
Under the proposed amendment, additional approved uses would include
condominiums, including time-share units; parking garages; multiplex
cinemas; gas stations; amusements; water parks; bowling centers;
mini-golf; boat rentals; business and government offices; campgrounds;
and retail stores of up to 50,000 square feet, which would accommodate
so-called “big box” retailers.
Brian Palaia, the town's director of planning and development, said
there appears to be “several hundred acres” in the resort commercial
district, almost all of it owned by the tribe.
Bruce MacDonald, a tribal spokesman, had no comment Tuesday on the
tribe's plans for the property.
The stretch of Route 2, which leads from Foxwoods Resort Casino west
through the towns of North Stonington, Ledyard and Preston, is seen by
all three towns as providing the best opportunity for tax-generating
commercial development.
So far, the dramatic growth of the casino, which is on the
Mashantuckets' reservation, has generated much traffic for the
surrounding towns, but little economic growth. Property on the
reservation is exempt from taxation, and in the decade since Foxwoods
opened there has been little spin-off development in the towns.
Now Ledyard appears to be upping the ante. Rather than writing rules it
hopes will encourage development, it has invited the tribe to suggest
the zoning language it needs for its development purposes. The text
amendment was filed last month by Walter Kunzmann, a professional
engineer for the tribe.
The proposed regulations have to be reviewed by land-use boards.
At 7:30 p.m. Sept. 7, the Planning Commission will evaluate the
proposal and then pass it along to the Zoning Commission. Should the
Planning Commission review the changes negatively, it would require a
two-thirds vote by the zoning panel to get them approved.
The zoning panel will conduct a public hearing on the changes when it
meets at 7:30 p.m. Sept. 14 in the Town Hall Annex.
Mayor Susan Mendenhall said she has had frequent discussions with
tribal officials about how to work with them to advance their business
plan.
“Their long-term plan is to develop that Route 2 corridor and open it
up to resort and commercial development,” she said.
Town Council Chairman Fred Allyn Jr. took the same position.
“They were encouraged to bring in the regulations they want,” he said.
“On the financial end, I, personally, would love to see tax revenue to
help us with our tax problem. There are always concerns about the
environment when you have development, but they have done a good job of
monitoring that. They will certainly do the job right.”
The three casino towns have taken different approaches to the
opportunities provided by Route 2, which in North Stonington, east of
the Ledyard border, is zoned residential. First Selectman Nicholas H.
Mullane II has said the town would consider zoning amendments to allow
commercial development by the tribe, but is seeking projects with lower
impact than allowed by the proposed Ledyard amendment.
Possibilities discussed, he said, have included upscale condominiums
catering to corporate casino customers and equestrian facilities.
“Theme parks and water slides? That was not the type of development we
were looking for,” Mullane said.
Mullane said he could not speculate about what the intensified
development suggested by the proposed Ledyard zone change would mean
for the Route 2 corridor.
“The Mashantuckets have always been difficult to read as to what's
their big picture,” Mullane said. “Maybe this is a glimpse of what MGM
thinks they need.”
Preston, meanwhile, also has designated properties along Route 2 as
“resort commercial.” Town Planner Kathy Warzecha said the regulations
in Preston are similar to those in Ledyard, but so far the tribe has
made no request to amend them.
Warzecha said she would be concerned about such an expansion of the
regulations, particularly allowing residential development and parking
garages, and, if proposed in Preston, would seek some type of special
permit process to give the town greater control over development.
She estimated that about half the property in the zoning district along
Route 2 in Preston is controlled by the tribe.
Norwich transportation center funded;
Norwich regional project nears building phase after years of delays
By Claire Bessette, Day Staff Writer
Article published Mar 6, 2010
Norwich - After more than 15 years of planning, a location change and a
cost escalation from an original estimate of $4 million to the final
$22 million, the proposed regional transportation center on Falls
Avenue is going out to bid.
The Norwich Community Development Corp. announced Friday that the
long-delayed project has received all state, local and federal
approvals and has all funding in place to start construction. The
project, called the intermodal transportation center, includes a
three-story parking garage and a main commuter bus terminal for
Southeast Area Transit. City officials hope for future links to ferry
service and passenger rail using the nearby Norwich Harbor and freight
rail tracks.
"It feels good to get going," NCDC Executive Director Robert Mills said.
Mills said the most recent delays in getting final contracts and bid
documents approved by state and federal officials should benefit the
region. NCDC officials worked with state and federal transportation
authorities to win approval to bid the project in four components to
allow more local construction companies to bid on the project.
The project is expected to bring 200 jobs to Norwich over the span of
the 22-month construction period, Mills said, and NCDC's goal is to
keep as many of those jobs as possible within the region.
Most large transportation projects are bid to huge general contractors,
many of which are from out of state with their own subcontractor
arrangements, Mills said. Local trade firms are invited to review the
list of prime bidders at the NCDC office at 77 Main St.
The four components are: site work, precast concrete, general trades
(which includes everything from masonry to painting, ceilings, tile,
floors and canopies), and mechanical, which includes electrical,
plumbing and elevators.
"We're not allowed to have a requirement for local employment, but by
structuring it this way, we're trying to drive it into the local
market," Mills said.
The bid packages will be advertised on Sunday and Monday, with bids due
by 2 p.m. April 14. The bid opening will take place at 2 p.m. that day
at the Holiday Inn. Construction is expected to start May 17, but Mills
said major work probably will start in June, and be completed in 22
months.
For information or to view plans and specifications, contact Project
Manager Peter Polubiatko at (860) 887-6964 or pete@askncdc.com.
The regional transportation center first was proposed in 1994 as a $4
million project to be located on the so-called viaduct parking lot
behind Main Street. After several years of planning and some money
spent for preliminary environmental and archaeological studies on that
site, state Department of Transportation officials ordered the project
moved to the harbor area to take advantage of possible future commuter
ferry service and rail lines between Norwich and New London.
Officials finally settled on the site at Falls Avenue on Hollyhock
Island between the east and west branches of the Yantic River, a site
that has been criticized by Mayor Peter Nystrom and especially by an
adjacent business, Thayer's Marine & RV.
With utility relocation work already under way, Thayer's has erected a
large banner and sign assuring customers that the business will remain
open throughout the construction period.
The "8-24
process" in action?
Norwich planners oppose
purchase of 61-acre site; Planners oppose purchase of 61-acre
siteApproving option to
acquire former hospital property just got tougher for Norwich City
Council.
By Claire Bessette Day Staff Writer
Article published Dec 9, 2009
Norwich - The city Plan of Conservation and Development doesn't say the
city should be acquiring the contaminated former Norwich Hospital
property and spending taxpayer money to clean it up on speculation for
future development, the planning commission voted Tuesday.The sharply
divided commission voted 3-2 to send a negative recommendation to the
City Council on whether to acquire the 61-acre former hospital property
in Norwich and lead the effort to find developers for the property.
A negative recommendation means the City Council needs a two-thirds
majority vote to approve acquisition of the property. Norwich must
inform the state by Jan. 24 whether it will exercise its three-year
option to acquire the former hospital property.
Reached at his City Hall office after the commission meeting, Mayor
Peter Nystrom said the vote was "not something I anticipated." He
admitted the negative recommendation would make it much more difficult
for the council to approve the acquisition. Nystrom said the
current slow economy combined with the tight local budget and
continuing cuts from the state also make it a very difficult issue for
the new mayor and council to tackle.
"I don't know where people (on the council) stand," Nystrom said.
"I haven't polled them. I'm not supposed to poll them. It makes it that
much more difficult."
Nystrom will schedule a public hearing on the hospital property
acquisition at the start of the Dec. 21 City Council meeting, and said
he does not expect the council to vote that night. He wants aldermen to
take a little more time to consider the issues and take in public
sentiment.
Nystrom said a few months ago, he was solidly behind acquiring the
property, but he said he is finding it increasingly difficult to commit
the finances necessary to find developers for the hospital property.
The planning commission was charged with making a recommendation to the
City Council on whether the city should acquire the property based on
the Plan of Conservation and Development.
Director of Planning and Development Peter Davis pointed out sections
of the plan of development with goals for attracting economic
development, cleaning up contaminated properties and expanding the
Norwich business park as supportive of the hospital property
acquisition. Davis is a member of the Norwich Hospital Site Development
Committee that studied the pros and cons and costs of acquiring the
property.
The study committee's report put total pre-development costs at $8
million, including an estimated $5 million for a final environmental
study and cleanup, $2.8 million to extend utilities to the property and
$229,000 for "carrying costs" for annual maintenance and security.
Commission member Jeremy Booty, who supported the hospital acquisition,
said having the commission make a decision either way was troublesome.
He thought it best for the commission to give no specific
recommendation, leaving the weighty decision to the city's elected
officials. He regretted that a negative decision could be a deciding
factor on its own, forcing a difficult two-thirds majority by the City
Council.
Planning commission members struggled with the issues presented by the
Norwich Hospital acquisition, especially given that there is no
proposed specific use for the property at this point. Commission member
Frank Manfredi said the real question was whether the city should
acquire the property "on speculation," and he did not agree with that.
"Why should we be in the business of buying real estate on
speculation?" Manfredi asked.
Member P. Michael Lahan said looking through the plan of development,
he could find no goals about the city acquiring large tracts of
contaminated land and paying to clean it up for future possible
development.
Voting in favor of sending a negative recommendation were Chairman
Ralph Page and members Manfredi and Lahan.
Booty and Vice Chairman Arthur Sharron voted against the negative
motion.
Wauregan to repair sprinkler
pipes; Norwich apartment building has had frequent breaks
DAY
Article published Nov 24, 2009
Norwich - The owners of the Wauregan Hotel apartment building will
replace ground floor sprinkler piping in response to a city order to
correct frequent sprinkler pipe breaks during the past two years.
Owner Becker and Becker Associates has filed suit in New London
Superior Court in an effort to recoup the costs from companies the
owner believes are responsible for defective piping.
The $20 million Wauregan renovation opened in the fall of 2006 amid
great fanfare.
But within a year, cheers gave way to fire sirens, as sprinkler pipe
breaks set off fire alarms that brought apparatus screaming to the
corner of Main Street and Broadway and forced evacuation of the 70
apartments.
By summer 2009, fire officials had become frustrated and ordered Becker
and Becker to find a solution by Dec. 1. The Fairfield-based company
will replace the troublesome plastic ground floor sprinkler piping with
steel pipe.
The three ground-floor apartments were vacated in summer, with tenants
moving to other units in the building. Work started recently to remove
drywall ceilings to make way for the new piping. Company President
Bruce Becker said he hopes to be able to rent the apartments next month.
According to fire marshal records, there have been 11 sprinkler pipe
breaks at the Wauregan from November 2007 through August 2009, nearly
all in the ground floor apartments.
The problems started on Nov. 19, 2007, when a grease fire in a
fourth-floor apartment triggered the sprinkler system in that area. But
a ground floor sprinkler pipe burst and flooded three apartments far
from the fire.
Subsequent breaks seemed to be triggered by the required quarterly
sprinkler system testing, prompting the owners to ask city fire
marshals to allow less frequent tests to reduce the strain on the
system.
That plan was flatly rejected, as Deputy Fire Marshal James Roberts
cited state regulations along with the building's history of problems.
"Given the problems you have been experiencing with the system, less
frequent testing would increase the likelihood of not detecting further
issues that may preclude the system from working properly should the
need arise," Roberts wrote in a June 3 letter.
On July 29, after three more pipe breaks, Roberts ordered a permanent
solution.
"I am growing more and more concerned with each passing day that the
reliability of the system will be compromised in the event of a fire in
the building," Roberts wrote.
Roberts said replacing the ground floor sprinklers appeared to be
acceptable, but he warned that further repairs might be ordered if the
problem persists.
Becker said Monday only one break has occurred outside the ground floor
area, and that might have been "a fluke." He said the company could
expand the repair job depending on the outcome of the lawsuit and
reimbursement.
Attorney Deborah Monteith of the law firm Neubert, Pepe & Monteith
PC, representing Becker and Becker, said company officials could not
discuss costs of the repairs or details of the lawsuit pending in New
London Superior Court.
In the lawsuit, Becker and Becker's subsidiary Wauregan Development LLC
named as defendants plastic pipe manufacturer Victaulic Co., renovation
contractor Viking Construction Inc., subcontractor Viking Supply Net
and Allstate Sprinkler Inc. the contractor that installed the sprinkler
system.
The company also named Allied Tube & Conduit Corp., which installed
some steel piping in the Wauregan sprinkler system. Becker said it is
believed that a substance in the steel pipe caused the already
defective plastic pipe to weaken.
If further repairs to the sprinkler system are needed, it could present
logistical problems, Becker said, because the building now is fully
leased, except for the three ground floor units, and there is a waiting
list of interested tenants when those units reopen.
"We're pretty confident when we take care of these three apartments,
that will take care of our short-term problems," Becker said.
NPU
plans wind turbines at senior
center
DAY
By Claire Bessette
Published on 9/13/2009
Norwich - When Norwich Public Utilities officials went looking for a
site to demonstrate how wind power could generate electricity, they
decided a highly visible perch with some wind would be better than the
open fields atop Plain Hill, where the winds are strongest in the city.
NPU officials are planning to build two wind turbines on the grounds of
the Rose City Senior Center on Mahan Drive as a pilot project that
would cut utility bills to the senior center and show the public and
city schoolchildren how the technology works.
”It's our strategy to pilot each emerging and effective technology,”
said Jeff Brining, NPU's energy efficiency program director. “We have
solar panels on the firehouse. Admittedly, wind in Norwich is not very
productive. There is some wind, but not enough for large turbines.”
The project is expected to cost about $40,000 to $50,000 and NPU would
use energy efficiency funds and grant money.
Utility officials are considering two different designs for the wind
turbines - the more traditional propeller-blade windmills and a second
pole that would hold a corkscrew-blade device that would turn on a
horizontal axis. The turbines would generate three to five
kilowatts of electricity - each roughly enough to power a single-family
home.
”It's not a huge benefit, but it will help offset the costs of running
the senior center,” Brining said.
Norwich Human Services Director Beverly Goulet, whose office oversees
the senior center, said she welcomes the opportunity to save money on
the facility's electricity bills. Her only concern about the project
was placement of the towers so they would not interfere with the
already tight parking and with traffic flow at the senior center.
The wind towers would be 35 to 50 feet tall and would be constructed on
the grassy portion of city-owned property between the senior center and
the city's skateboard park. Wiring would be underground. In
essence, Brining said, the senior center's electric meters would run
backwards as the wind turbines pump power into the building. A
bigger benefit might be the educational opportunity that working wind
turbines could present to local students, including those at the new
Norwich Technical School across Mahan Drive from the senior center.
NPU is also working with Three Rivers Community College to enhance its
energy efficiency program, which could lead to an associate's degree
program in energy management. NPU considered building a wind
turbine at the college, but the low-lying campus does not have “great
wind.” A small solar panel might be a better option, Brining said.
As for permits, the project is considered “an accessory use” to the
senior center, much like installing an emergency generator, said Peter
Davis, the city's director of planning and development. NPU would need
zoning and building permits. Brining said officials hope to apply
for permits this fall and start construction by December. There
should be little to no impact on the neighborhood, Brining said. The
turbines would not be very visible from surrounding neighborhoods, and
the noise would be minimal.
He said noise levels from the corkscrew turbine would be about 4
decibels, and the propeller about 50 decibels - about the same as a
window air conditioner.
13 Displaced After Norwich Apartment
Fire
By JOSEPH WENZEL
Fox 61
7:05 AM EDT, July 7, 2009
Fire officials are trying to figure out the cause of an overnight three
alarm apartment fire in Norwich. No one was hurt, but 13 residents have
been displaced.
At 2 a.m., fire crews arrived to a three-story apartment complex at 70
Union St. in Norwich. When the fire crews arrived they saw fire
shooting through the third floor windows. When fire crews arrived, they
believed that four people were in the building, but fire crews
discovered that the people had gotten safely out of the building.
Fire crews had trouble getting water to the fire and there was also
power lines in the way. The fire is believed to have started on the
three floor, causing major damage to that floor. There is also damage
to the second floor. The cause is under investigation.
Seven adults and six kids are being helped by the American Red Cross.
Four people including to infant twins were taken to an area hospital
for evaluation. Fire officials said that no one was injured.
Copyright © 2009, The Hartford Courant
Zoning
issue among 8 with hearings set
for Monday; Norwich council to consider rule on age-restricted
complexes
DAY
By Claire Bessette
Published on 1/2/2009
Norwich - The City Council has a busy agenda for its first
meeting of the year Monday, including eight public hearings on proposed
ordinances starting with a proposal to eliminate the controversial
zoning regulation that allows densely developed age-restricted housing
complexes.
The zoning regulation was approved in January 2007 and led to the
controversial proposal to build 185 condominiums on 60 acres on rural
Scotland and Hansen roads. Neighbors rallied against the project and
gained City Council support for a successful effort to get a state
legislative committee to designate the land as rural on the state
conservation map. That would prevent sewers from being extended there.
The city Inland Wetland, Watercourses and Conservation Commission and
the Commission on the City Plan both voted against permit applications
for the project, but Norwichtown Development LLC has filed appeals
against both agencies.
A second active adult community project calling for 90 condominiums
fronting on Hunters Road and Merchants Avenue is still pending before
the planning commission. A public hearing is scheduled for Jan. 20 on
that application, which would be reviewed under the existing ordinance
even if the council votes Monday to repeal the ordinance.
The council meeting begins at 7:30 p.m., Monday, with the public
hearing starting shortly after the meeting opens.
Following the controversial zoning proposal, the council will delve
into six ordinances that would offer various economic development
incentives to developers downtown, along the waterfront and throughout
the city. Incentives range from the downtown enterprise zone tax breaks
already in place, to commitments by the city to make public
improvements in the vicinity of a development project, incentives to
provide public access to the waterfront and a city tuition grant to
business owners to train themselves in grant writing.
Prior to the regular meeting, the City Council will hold an
informational meeting at 7 p.m. in council chambers to hear
presentations from city officials and others on the financial costs and
projected benefits of the programs.
The proposals are leftover recommendations from the council's defunct
Administration, Planning and Economic Development Committee, disbanded
in September. But the proposals themselves emanated from Rose City
Renaissance, the city's Main Street program, efforts to improve the
business climate in Norwich.
More staffing required?
City Manager Alan Bergren said that the new incentive program might
require additional city staffing to administer the various grant and
assistance programs. Bergren said he held recent staff meetings with
officials from Rose City Renaissance to analyze the proposals. That
information will be presented to the council Monday.
City Comptroller Joseph Ruffo said if the council approves the
ordinances, the city might need to place some money for the programs
into the 2009-10 budget. Most of the programs call for paying for the
incentives using a portion of the new tax money generated by the new
development, but Ruffo pointed out that some start-up money would be
needed for the initial projects.
Richard Kramer, executive director of Rose City Renaissance, said his
agency does not anticipate having a direct role in running the proposed
incentive programs. That would be a city function, he said.
Kramer said the downtown enterprise zone tax credit program - which
calls for phased in property taxes on new construction or building
improvements over seven years - already is in place. The ordinance
would formalize the program.
Kramer stressed that most of the new proposed incentives would not be
aimed at huge development proposals, such as the plan for a 20-story
Hilton Hotel on Norwich Harbor, but instead for the smaller business or
building owners throughout the city.
Rose City Renaissance started working on the incentive package, along
with officials from the Greater Norwich Area Chamber of Commerce, about
two years ago, Kramer said. The fledgling Main Street program asked a
potential developer to send a letter to the city asking what
development incentives would be available.
What the person received was a confusing mish-mash of responses, some
describing programs that had been discontinued, some on letterhead
listing names of city employees no longer in Norwich.
Kramer said many of those problems since have been corrected among city
agencies and departments. The package of ordinances would allow Rose
City Renaissance, the chamber and the city itself to offer a definitive
incentive package to developers.
Norwich
Outlines Plan For Former
Hospital Site; City will seek assistance to market 60-acre parcel
DAY
By Claire Bessette
Published on 8/12/2008
Norwich - A group of city officials and business leaders reached
consensus on three main issues regarding the city's portion of Norwich
Hospital Monday: get some professional help to market the property
nationwide, hire an environmental consultant to figure out the exact
cleanup costs and buy the property.
Mayor Benjamin Lathrop convened his second economic development forum
Monday to make recommendations on how Norwich should market the 60-acre
hospital property within the city. During the 90-minute discussion,
several participants and even one neighbor of the hospital property
said the city should go ahead and exercise its option with the state to
buy the property for $1 and agree to pay the cleanup costs.
City Corporation Counsel Michael Driscoll interjected cautionary
advice, however, saying the estimated $1.5 million cleanup cost
projected in a preliminary study commissioned by the state likely is
too low. He said if the city takes ownership of the property, the city
would be responsible for cleaning it, and the state Department of
Environmental Protection would set the requirements.
Driscoll reminded the group of the Occum Riverfront Park. Cleanup costs
of the charred factory remains initially was set at $1 million, but
slowly escalated to $5 million as state environmental officials
continually ordered more extensive testing and more soil removal.
The way to avoid that cost would be to find a developer who would be
willing to pay the cleanup costs before taking over ownership.
Driscoll also said that if the city buys the property, it would have to
insure it and secure it from vandalism.
But the strongest consensus among participants, as expressed by former
Alderman John Paul Mereen, was “buy it.” Mereen favored creating a new
business park on the property, which would allow the city to develop it
over time to the best uses.
Davis said the city could work on the separate issues simultaneously.
Robert Mills, the new executive director at Norwich Community
Development Corp. offered to work with Davis to rework the original
request for proposals for one or more developers for the hospital
property. The City Council rejected the two bids received last year for
the property.
At the same time, the city will seek bid proposals for an environmental
consultant to do a more comprehensive study of the property for
anticipated cleanup costs.
Driscoll suggested Mills and Davis consult with attorneys from Murtha
Cullina, the firm that wrote the initial RFP, for legal language on
both advertisements.
No time frame was set for advertising the property, but Mills said he
would like the most time possible devoted to marketing the property to
potential developers. Once the RFP is ready, Mills agreed the city
should hire a professional consultant to market the property
aggressively nationwide. City officials must inform the state by Jan.
24, 2010, whether they want the property.
After the session adjourned, Lathrop said he hopes to have a draft
request for proposals for the hospital property and for an
environmental consultant within a month.
Norwich
back to square one on hospital
property; City council rejects both developers' bids
DAY
By Claire Bessette
Published on 6/17/2008
Norwich — The city will start over in its effort to find
commercial development for the former Norwich Hospital property, with
the City Council's vote late Monday to reject both bids received last
summer for the 61 acres in Norwich.
Mayor Benjamin Lathrop has scheduled a forum for June 30 to discuss how
the city could market the property for development a second time.
Lathrop has been discussing the issue with officials at the state
Office of Policy and Management and state Department of Public Works
for written confirmation that the city can market the property as three
distinct development parcels.
Lathrop hopes to have written confirmation by the date of the forum.
The council voted 6-1 to reject the two bids, with Alderman Robert
Zarnetske dissenting.
Lathrop argued that the two bids received last year from Northland
Investment Corp. and Bourbon Street Norwich LLC were centered too much
on residential development. While the city still encourages residential
development elsewhere, Lathrop said he hopes to bring more commercial
development to the hospital property.
John Hollis, a principal in Bourbon Street Norwich LLC, addressed the
council at the start of the meeting and answered questions of the
aldermen during discussion of the resolution to reject both offers.
Hollis said he agreed with Lathrop that the city should strive for top
quality commercial development on the Norwich Hospital property. Hollis
said his firm's proposal meets that goal. He vowed that his company
would remain in the process and would come to the June 30 forum. He
said he would go along with the city's plan to market three separate
parcels — noting that Bourbon Street Norwich LLC's original plan called
for developing the property in three segments.
“We are here to stay,” Hollis said, noting that the firm has financing
in place for the project.
He said he even welcomed the chance to compete with other developers in
a new round of proposals.
Zarnetske was angry at Lathrop for saying they should reject the two
proposals while the mayor worked on “a different strategy” for
marketing the property. But Zarnetske supported the idea of having a
forum to discuss the proposals and other options.
Alderman Francois “Pete” Desaulniers too supported the idea of having
an open forum.
But Alderman Christopher Coutu tried to table the issue of rejecting
the two submissions to have a forum on just the two proposals. His
motion failed 5-2, with only Coutu and Zarnetske voting in favor.
Alderman Mark Bettencourt said starting the process anew would give the
city more flexibility in reviewing the Norwich Hospital property once
again.
Hollis said it was a misunderstanding from the start that Bourbon
Street Norwich focused on work-force housing. He accepted
responsibility for the error, saying his partner used that term to
describe apartment units above the proposed retail spaces meant for
project employees.
Alderman William Nash said he personally liked the Bourbon Street
Norwich proposal and apologized for the misunderstanding. He said
starting over would help overcome that problem.
Bourbon Street Norwich LLC proposed a $267.9 million mixed-use
development that would recreate many elements of New Orleans' famous
entertainment district. The proposal included 125,000 square feet of
mixed-use retail and entertainment space, as well as a residential
component with work-force housing.
The proposal included an indoor water park with surfing pools that
would provide year-round surfing and the capability to host national or
regional surfing competitions; hotels; a movie studio; and an exotic
car club with a helipad.
Hollis offered a “picture” of his firm's proposal at the start of the
council meeting and said he hoped to have the chance to meet with city
officials to present the plan in detail.
Prior to the meeting, Charles Coursey, a spokesman for Northland, said
his firm had not heard from Norwich officials “for quite some time”
since the proposals were submitted and figured the city was awaiting a
decision in Preston. Coursey said Northland officials learned about the
city's plan to reject the bids through newspaper accounts.
Coursey said Northland remains “very interested” in the Norwich portion
of the hospital property and would be patient to see how the new
process progresses.
Northland's $250 million proposal for Norwich, called “Norwich Green,”
matched the upscale theme the company proposed at the Preston part of
the former hospital property, but included work-force housing on the
Norwich side.
The plan called for 700 units of seasonal and permanent residences,
most of which, as in the firm's Preston proposal, would be marketed to
the 55-and-older community.
Preston officials have turned the decision on what to do with its
419-acre part of the former hospital property over to the voters,
giving them a choice between Northland and Preston Gateway Partners,
LLC — both of which also call for extensive residential development —
or turning control of the property back to the state, rejecting both
bids. Preston will hold a town Meeting at 7:30 p.m. Thursday at Preston
Veterans' Memorial School and will hold a referendum July 1.
Norwich
Hires City Manager; Former
East Hampton official starts job Dec. 3
DAY
By Claire Bessette
Published on 11/20/2007
Norwich — At first glance, the town of East Hampton and the city of
Norwich don't seem to have much in common.
But Alan Bergren encountered plenty of issues and challenges in his 25
years as East Hampton town manager that will help him in his new
position as Norwich city manager.
Bergren, 56, was hired officially by the City Council Monday to be the
new chief administrative officer. Bergren will start Dec. 3 with a
still-to-be-determined salary, but Mayor Benjamin Lathrop said he hopes
to have a signed contract later this week.
“I'm just looking forward to this great opportunity. It's very exciting
times. Norwich is a great city,” Bergren said Monday. I'm truly honored
to have this opportunity. This is kind of a culmination of my
professional career. I hope to stay for quite a while.”
Bergren served as East Hampton town manager from 1982 through early
October. His career came to an unceremonious end, when the Chatham
party, which holds a majority in the council, voted in spring to
dismiss Bergren after several months of closed-door sessions.
The council said only that they were displeased with Bergren's handling
of development issues in the rapidly growing Hartford suburb.
Throughout the controversy, Bergren made no comments to the press. He
retained that stance Monday, saying he would not criticize the elected
body he reported to.
“I never speak ill of elected officials,” Bergren said. “I worked well
for many years with the Democrats and the Republicans. A third party
took office. East Hampton has changed quite a bit.”
That attitude helped Bergren in his interviews with the Norwich City
Council, which in spring decided to seek a replacement for former City
Manager Robert Zarnetske after a tumultuous 17 months in office.
Zarnetske clashed with aldermen and Mayor Benjamin Lathrop frequently
over various issues and the way the city does business.
“Mr. Bergren brings a great deal of enthusiasm and deep respect for
professional local government administration and is known for his
engaging and inclusive management style,” Lathrop read in a statement
after the appointment was made official. “Mr. Bergren looks forward to
working with me and the newly elected City Council in moving the city
of Norwich forward.”
Zarnetske left office in June. One month later he became a city council
candidate, and two weeks ago he was elected to the council. Bergren
hadn't met Zarnetske until Monday, but the two shook hands prior to the
start of Monday's council meeting.
Zarnetske will be sworn in as a new alderman Dec. 4, the day after
Bergren starts his post in Norwich.
Bergren foresees no problems in getting along with Zarnetske, or any of
the five new members of the City Council that played no role in his
appointment.
“I'm a very easy person to get along with,” Bergren said earlier
Monday. “I take my lead from the elected officials. In East Hampton, I
was successful because I worked with everyone.”
After Bergren's appointment Monday, Lathrop read a prepared statement
that reviewed some of Bergren's record in East Hampton. There, he was
successful in bringing four federal Environmental Protection Agency
grants to the town to study and clean contaminated former mill sites.
He helped usher in a new sewer system and worked on bringing a new
municipal water system to the town. The water system, however, was
defeated at a recent referendum.
Norwich has had sewer and water systems for decades, but Norwich Public
Utilities has embarked on a $100 million sewage-treatment upgrade plan
that calls for extensive upgrades to the sewer system throughout the
city along with renovations to the treatment plant. The city's water
system has proven to be inadequate for the development that has
occurred.
And Norwich is fraught with contaminated mill properties.
Although East Hampton has not seen the immigrant influx that Norwich
has experienced in recent years, the town has seen rapid residential
growth and the pressures that come with it, including the demand for
commercial development, Bergren said. Like Norwich, East Hampton has
its historic urban center, based on the old bell-manufacturing
industry. Rural neighborhoods want to keep their character.
East Hampton also has a history as an elite resort town centered around
Pocotopaug Lake.
Bergren has toured Norwich neighborhoods and villages and found
similarities to East Hampton in how people identify themselves with
their villages. He saw the East Great Plain Fire Department hanging
Christmas lights Sunday and has watched the city's own streetscape
Christmas decorations go up during the past week.
Members of the new City Council have said repeatedly that they hope to
open up city government to the new immigrant residents and other
newcomers by reaching out into their neighborhoods. Bergren said he
could offer no immediate ideas on the subject, saying he hopes to
become better acquainted with the city during his first few months in
office, and again, help implement whatever proposals the council put
forth.
Bergren, originally from New Britain, has a master's degree in public
administration from the University of Hartford and an undergraduate
degree in history from Connecticut College. He recited East Hampton
town history like a professor.
And he knows at least one tidbit of Norwich history that mingles with
family history. Bergren said “many, many decades ago,” one of his
father's sisters studied to be a nurse as a young woman. But she
contracted tuberculosis and was taken to the Uncas on the Thames
Hospital in Norwich, then a tuberculosis quarantine hospital. His aunt
died there at age 23.
Bergren said he learned of the pending opening in Norwich and was
interested in it even before the East Hampton Town Council voted to
replace him in June.
He said he was looking for a larger town and new challenges to
culminate his career. He noted that former longtime Mansfield Town
Manager Martin Berliner retired from that position and quickly became
interim and later permanent city manager in New London.
“In Connecticut, city managers tend to stay longer in municipalities,”
Bergren said. “Eventually, you look for new challenges. Sometimes you
need a change to rejuvenate yourself.”
Thayer Building Renovation Coming Along
In Norwich
DAY
By Claire
Bessette
Published on 10/17/2007
Norwich — The old directory in the chalky, dusty lobby of the Thayer
building details a scene frozen 10 years ago, giving visitors the
office numbers for the Norwich Community Development Corp. and the
Norwich Tourism Office, among the tenants.
“I keep it there in case they want to come back,” said Gary Tse,
managing director of the Thayer Development Group, which is giving the
nearly 100-year-old office building at the corner of Franklin and Bath
streets a $3 million renovation.
On Tuesday Tse, a real estate investor from Manhattan, led Mayor
Benjamin Lathrop and Director of Planning and Development Peter Davis
on their first tour of the building since construction started in
March.
Leading the group through a maze of metal framing for walls and
doorways, Tse described the layouts for apartments, offices and
hallways.
One spacious office complex that fronts on Franklin Street already is
leased to Tse's brother-in-law, Glastonbury attorney James Tsui, who
specializes in real estate transactions. Tse said Tsui is anxious to
give his firm a Norwich presence.
“He's been very, very eager to get in,” Tse said. “He handles a lot of
real estate transactions, and the volume of transactions among Asians
is steadily growing, and he needs a presence here.”
Tse is seeking tenants for two other retail or office spaces at street
level. Two large three-bedroom apartments will occupy the rear of the
main floor, each about 2,000 square feet.
The four-story 1915 building isn't quite rectangular, leaving
odd-shaped rooms in some apartments and extra-wide hallways in places.
In total, the project will have 29 apartments ranging from one-bedroom
to three-bedroom units.
Upper stories will feature panoramic views of downtown seen through
large bay windows. Tse said he received calls from local historic
preservation advocates concerned that he would replace the large
windows and their unique copper trim. He replaced the window glass, but
kept the trim and the size.
Lathrop and Davis were impressed at the progress and the potential for
the building where not so long ago the stink of mold and a petroleum
leak permeated the air.
Davis praised Tse for tackling the environmental problems to the
“highest standard,” beyond what the state Department of Environmental
Protection would have required. Tse responded that he did not want to
risk a $3 million investment on any potential future environmental
issue.
Norwich architect Fred Marzec and local contractors are working on the
project, on which Tse hopes to complete construction by February.
All apartment units will have separate utility connections to prepare
for the future possibility that the building could be converted into
condominiums. The building has a 12-space parking lot in the rear on
the Bath Street side. The city will provide additional spaces at a
nearby municipal parking lot, Lathrop said.
“I'm not concerned about parking being a big problem,” Tse said. We're
from New York, where parking at your building is a premium. We have to
walk.”
Mill fires common in New
England...example here.
Oily Substance Still Spilling Into
River; Officials Are Testing, Trying
To Find Source At Old Capehart Mill
DAY
By Claire Bessette
Published on 7/14/2007
Norwich — City and state officials will focus on the immediate problem
at the abandoned Capehart Mill complex in Greeneville before asking
questions about the larger issue: what to do with a decaying,
dangerous, contaminated mill that would cost millions of dollars to
clean up.
State and federal environmental crews spent a second full day at the
Capehart complex in Greeneville trying to contain an oil spill in the
Shetucket River and determine its source. The spill is coming out of an
old mill canal tunnel beneath the building.
Ron Wofford, emergency response coordinator for the state Department of
Environmental Protection, said tests have been taken on several
possible sources to try to match those materials with the substance
causing the sheen in the river. Test results are not yet available.
More tests are being done to determine if the material is hazardous.
Test results of the substance in the river and the tunnel Thursday
evening determined the material to be a lubricating oil likely used in
heavy machinery, such as metal cutting machines, or in transformers.
“We're sampling all liquids that are accessible to see if it matches
what's in the river,” Wofford said.
As expected, the DEP and federal Environmental Protection Agency took
over the spill response from the city on Friday. The state has hired
Connecticut Tank Removal Inc. of Bridgeport to contain and soak up the
spill. The company has installed hard containment booms in the river
and absorbent booms designed to soak up the oil but not river water,
Wofford said.
The booms will be monitored during the weekend. Wofford could not
predict how long it would take to clean up the spill or to identify its
source.
Much of the former Capehart Mill is collapsing and unsafe, limiting
access to potential leak points. Wofford said the source could be
anywhere. As the building shifts and concrete cracks, new crevices
could form to allow any liquid a pathway to the river.
Neither state nor city officials have been able to contact
representatives from the defunct ownership group, called Foot of Fifth
LLC. The owners have abandoned the property, owing the city of Norwich
nearly $600,000 in back taxes, plus interest and other liens.
On Thursday, the city hired Clean Harbors Environmental Services of
Bristol to respond to the spill. The cost will be added to the liens on
the property if necessary, said Acting City Manager Joseph Ruffo.
DEP spokesman Dwayne Gardner said once the spill is contained, state
and federal officials would meet with Norwich city officials to discuss
long-term environmental issues at the decaying mill. Gardner said there
might be funding sources to tap for a possible cleanup, depending on
how city and state officials decide to proceed.
“We will have to consider the larger environmental issues,” Gardner
said.
Ruffo met with city fire officials Friday to discuss updates of the
spill containment. He too said the city would concentrate on the spill
before asking state and federal officials to address the larger,
long-term issue of the mill's condition. Ruffo said city officials are
awaiting the DEP assessment of the property.
“It has to be addressed,” he said. “It's only going to get worse.”
POKO Partners LLC of Port Chester, N.Y., gave a presentation to the
City Council June 4 on a proposal for a $60 million development of the
mill into about 250 apartments and town-house condominiums. The council
took no action the proposal. Ruffo said the city likely would have to
advertise for development proposals before
selecting a preferred
developer.
The
Z-Factor In Norwich
DAY editorial
Published on 6/28/2007
The local election just got very interesting in Norwich. Former City
Manager Robert Zarnetske has filed candidacy papers to run as a
Democrat for City Council. His move into elective politics comes less
than one month after he accepted a buyout agreement and resigned as
manager under pressure from the council and Mayor Benjamin Lathrop.
This is not the normal course of action for a city manager. Typically
these professional managers shake the sand from their loafers and seek
employment in a new municipality. But Mr. Zarnetske did not follow the
usual course to the city manager's chair.
Prior to taking the job as assistant city manager five years ago, Mr.
Zarnetske spent 10 years as a legislative aide to U.S. Sen. Christopher
J. Dodd, D-Conn. He was appointed city manager in July 2005. But his
tenure lasted just 17 months. He clashed with Mayor Lathrop over the
respective responsibilities of the manager and mayor. He railed against
closed-door deals and corner cutting. The council felt he was
overstepping his bounds.
His entry into the council campaign suggests his true passion is
politics, not administration.
“Down to my bones I believe in good government,” Mr. Zarnetske said. “I
believe you can do effective work to bring about good government as an
appointed or an elected official. I don't know how to sit on the
sidelines and not contribute to the city's future.”
Trained as a lawyer, Mr. Zarnetske said he had no interest in managing
another town or city.
“I came back up to Connecticut because I wanted to be in Connecticut. I
wanted to return home. I am wedded to the place far more than the
concept of being a city manager,” he said.
Mr. Zarnetske said he wants nothing short of total reform in the way
politics is done in Norwich. He called for a City Charter change to
better define the roles of mayor and city manager. He said the charter
is grounded in 1940s-style governance and needs an overhaul. For
example, the Public Works Department is prohibited from cutting grass
and doing other work on school grounds, leading to an inefficient use
of resources, Mr. Zarnetske said.
Like a board of directors
He wants the council to work similar to a board of directors,
fashioning policy by gathering information and listening to the input
of the manager. True debate and discussion should take place in open
session, Mr. Zarnetske said. Instead, policy is too often set through a
series of phone calls to line up votes, the actual meetings and
hearings serving as no more than window dressing, he said.
Having such a discussion will be healthy. Mr. Zarnetske joins a crowded
field and may very likely have to win a primary to gain a place on the
Democratic council slate.
His election to the council could set the stage for a contest that
would make for fantastic political theater in 2009 — a Democratic
primary between Mr. Zarnetske and Mayor Lathrop for the office of mayor.
“I want to get through this first,” said Mr. Zarnetske when asked about
a possible run for mayor. “This is a completely new step for me. I have
never run for elected office. Let's see if I can get elected and do a
good job. Questions that can be answered in a year and a half can wait.”
That statement leaves the door wide open.
Developers
Vie For Norwich Site
DAY
By Claire Bessette
Published on 5/1/2007
Norwich — Three developers submitted proposals Monday for the former
Norwich Public Utilities building at 34 Courthouse Square, one of the
last remaining vacant buildings in the core of the downtown. The
city's Redevelopment Agency will review the bids, possibly later this
week, Assistant City Manager Jennifer Gottlieb said.
One proposal was submitted by a new development partnership. Killingly
developers Domenic Carpionato and Robert LaBossiere, a longstanding
partnership that has built or renovated several major residential
projects in the city, and Harold Panciera, III of Providence, lead
developer in a $3 million renovation on Chestnut Street, have formed 34
Courthouse Square Partnership, LLC.
The group proposes a $650,000 renovation of the three-story former
utilities headquarters across from the Norwich Superior Courthouse. The
partnership, which also proposed buying the building for $25,000, would
create a full-service restaurant on the first floor and offices on the
second and third floors. The group submitted a letter of interest from
Guytanno's Restaurant principal Guy Gengarella of Westerly. Gengarella
said he would open a casual restaurant “with upscale flair.”
CAP Realty, LLC submitted the highest priced renovation proposal, and
would pay the city only $1 for the building. The proposed nearly $1.3
million project would include a restaurant and bar on the basement and
first floor with a new deck built over an alleyway. CAP would renovate
the upper two stories for office space.
CAP Realty is negotiating with the owner of Tony D's, a New London
restaurant.
CAP co-owner Scott Capano is vice president of Five Star Supermarkets,
which owns local Shop Rite stores in Norwich and New London. Capano
also owns the building at 130 Main St., which he recently renovated to
house the Harp & Dragon Irish pub.
In his proposal Capano said the renovation proposal would make the
vacant building a “vibrant, impressive structure,” that would be a
gateway to downtown.
The third proposal, submitted by Total Development & Construction,
LLC of West Hartford and architect Total Design/Dadi Associates, also
calls for a $650,000 renovation with a $40,000 purchase price. The firm
has provided renovation services to prominent downtown Norwich
developer Janny Lam, who has purchased and renovated several buildings
along Main and Water streets.
The most recent project by Total Development is Lam's renovation of the
historic former Chelsea Landing pub.
The group has proposed a Kinco copying and printing business for the
first floor of the former utilities building. The second story would be
renovated as office space, and the group would like to develop two
apartments on the third floor.
In the future, the group would like to build new stories on the
building to add more residential units, it said in its proposal.
Manager's
Departure Raises Concerns
About Period of Transition
DAY
By Claire Bessette
Published on 3/12/2007
Norwich — When Robert Zarnetske was selected as the new city manager
without a search in summer of 2005, he promised from the outset to
bring reform to the city and challenge the way the city conducted
business.
With three years of experience as the assistant city manager, he had
ideas about how to overhaul some departments and procedures. He pledged
to increase ethnic diversity to “make City Hall look more like the
city.”
He made strict interpretations of the charter and ethics ordinance,
asking for written disclosure statements from aldermen on potential
conflicts of interest related to the community development block grant
and other issues. He questioned hiring procedures for filling vacant
positions.
But even at the time he was hired, Zarnetske admitted some of these
changes might not succeed in Norwich.
After a tumultuous 14 months, Zarnetske announced Wednesday he does not
plan to seek a renewal of his two-year contract when it expires Dec.
31. He cited continuing conflicts with Mayor Benjamin Lathrop and
waning support on the City Council. Zarnetske left the door open a
crack that he could reconsider if the council asks, but that seems
unlikely in the current atmosphere.
Zarnetske's announcement Wednesday came after one alderman informed him
late Tuesday that six council members were ready to launch a national
search for a city manager either to replace him or at least make him
compete for the job that was handed to him.
Most aldermen were upset with Zarnetske's announcement — made public at
a Norwich Rotary meeting just minutes after letters were faxed or
e-mailed to the City Council. The issue could dominate the March 19
City Council meeting.
Political observers have varying positions on the dispute. Some agree
that Zarnetske overstepped his authority as the city administrator and
tackled council business or micromanaged city offices. Others say it's
business as usual and the council was just angry that Zarnetske
insisted on following rules. Or maybe the sweeping changes were too
many coming too quickly.
New London attorney and Norwich resident Glenn Carberry said none of
that matters now. Carberry represents several developers working on
major projects in Norwich. The disruptions, whatever the cause, could
hurt their projects.
He said he plans to caution potential new developers about taking on
new projects in Norwich at this time, comparing the disruptive
atmosphere to the political infighting that has dominated Canterbury
government for the past several years or to squabbles in New London
last year.
“We are going to brief all of our clients on the serious danger that
this standoff could pose to the functioning of government in Norwich,”
Carberry said Friday. “In any institution, there's always an issue of
the week, issue of the month. Some aren't issues of substance but of
personality and such. It's just a distraction from getting the stuff
done that has to get done, from my experience working with a lot of
governments.”
Carberry declined to discuss specifics. He currently is representing
developers working on the $200 million proposed Byron Brook Country
Club in Occum, a proposed $40 million conversion of a Ponemah Mill
building into luxury apartments and the $5 million condominium
development at the former Marina Towers at Norwich Harbor.
Those projects already have received local planning permits, but the
city needs to facilitate the widening of a road in Occum to the Byron
Brook development. The Marina Towers developers are working with the
Norwich Community Development Corp. to make sure the project
complements the proposed $20 million transportation center across West
Main Street.
“My major concern is that there are some important projects or
proposals, and things that are going on in Norwich that could really be
jeopardized if there is gridlock or inactivity and paper pushing
instead of real action at City Hall over the next year,” Carberry said.
City officials vowed not to let that happen.
“My role hasn't changed and won't change, whether Bob is the city
manager or not,” Lathrop said. “We won't stop progress. Out of my
office, we'll make sure there is a smooth flow. We've got too many
things going on. I'll do my job, and I know Bob's going to say the same
thing.”
Zarnetske said he too was concerned about the “continuity of government
services” during the next several months and the perception that things
might be too disrupted to get things done.
“I have pledged my absolute and complete commitment that the task of
city government will continue,” Zarnetske said.
Alderman John Crooks, a member of the council's Administration,
Planning and Economic Development Committee — which meets Monday at 5
p.m. — said if any disruption occurred, he would ask fellow aldermen to
address the situation immediately.
“The City Council will not tolerate any slowdown of productivity,”
Crooks said. “I personally would get involved to ensure that no
projects get held up. But Bob deserves the chance to improve his
behavior. If there is continuing breakdown, I will approach my
colleagues about the possibility of him leaving early.”
Other outside observers wonder whether the city has interest in seeing
Zarnetske's other reforms to completion.
Sheila Hayes is a member of the Diversity Committee Zarnetske
established to attract more minority employees. The committee has had
its ups and downs in the past several months and is finding the job
rather difficult, she said. There are so many procedural roadblocks to
change.
Written tests — in English — are required for virtually all positions.
The committee hopes to ease that requirement for entry-level labor
positions, for example. There are conflicting regulations on the number
of candidates a department head must interview.
Hayes hopes the city doesn't lose momentum on this change amid the
political turmoil.
“I believe (Zarnetske's) efforts were not wasted,” Hayes said, “but we
need to change some things internally in order for the city to become
more diverse. I'm not seeing resistance from the department heads. I
think people were on board. It's just that people are not seeing how to
do it.”
Keith Ripley, who attends nearly all City Council and other agency
meetings, thought it ironic that the council's method for replacing
Zarnetske is to conduct a national search.
Ripley has criticized the council for doing business outside the
public's view and welcomed the new commitment to disclosure of public
conflicts.
“I'm really sorry to see it,” Ripley said of Zarnetske's pending
resignation. “I thought we were really getting ready to move in the
other direction. I guess not.”
Norwich,
Developer To Forge Boathouse
Pact; City to split costs to help fledgling boating program
DAY
By Claire Bessette
Published on 10/4/2006
Norwich –– City officials will negotiate a proposed public-private
partnership with a Killingly developer that would call for the city to
pay an estimated $214,000 to build a boathouse for the city's fledgling
recreational boating program as part of the $15 million renovation of a
former mill in the Shipping Street district on the Thames River.
After a lengthy executive session, city Planning Director Peter Davis
said he would discuss with developer Dominic Carpionato a proposed
lease that would have the city pay for “building out” space within
Carpionato's building to house kayaks, canoes, small sail boats and
related equipment. The space also would be used for boater safety
courses and other activities.
The developer would pay to shore up an existing boat launch at the
property located at 27 Terminal Way off Shipping Street. The building
is located on the Thames River south of Norwich Harbor.
The city used a grant to start kayak and canoe lessons in the summer of
2005, and the program has been popular from the start. City officials,
led by Mayor Benjamin Lathrop, a strong advocate of recreational
boating and an avid rower, have been seeking a site along the Thames
River and Norwich Harbor for a boathouse.
In addition to the lessons and a small-craft boat launch, city
officials hope to see crew races along the Thames River from the new
launch to the harbor.
Carpionato did not attend Tuesday's meeting.
Davis said that if the deal can be reached with Carpionato, it would be
presented first to the Harbor Management Commission and then an
ordinance would be brought to the City Council for the $214,000
appropriation. It is not yet known where the money would come from in
the current city budget, or whether it would be bonded.
Carpionato several months ago had proposed a public-private partnership
with the city in which he would commit about 5,000 square feet of space
to the boating program in the former Cadle Building. Carpionato plans a
$15 million renovation that would convert the former waterfront mill
into residential, commercial and restaurant space.
Bloom
Is Back On The Rose City
By ROBIN STANSBURY, Courant Staff Writer
September 17, 2006
The signs of the renaissance of Norwich are visible across the city.
In the construction of hundreds of condominiums. In the opening of
restaurants, coffee shops and art galleries downtown. And in the
transformation of rundown or abandoned buildings into new multifamily
housing units.
There are less tangible - but no less genuine - signs of improvement
as well, such as plans for the rebirth of former textile mills as
upscale apartments, or the even more grandiose proposal for two
high-rise luxury condominium towers and a marina.
And, perhaps most important, there's the change of attitude. Not only
are outsiders pouring millions of dollars into Norwich, but many who
live and work in this gritty city - hard hit by the closing of its
textile mills and later by the loss of hundreds of high-paying defense
jobs - are beginning to believe in the Rose City's rebirth.
"When I moved here 3½ years ago and people asked where I wanted
to buy a house and I said Norwich, they said, `Why would you want to
live in Norwich?'" said Ellen Lind, publisher of the local newspaper,
the Norwich Bulletin. "Today, no one would say that to you."
That's because today, Norwich is experiencing a housing boom that not
only provides moderate-priced housing for the thousands of workers from
the two Indian casinos, but also develops luxury housing being
purchased or rented by professionals such as local doctors and lawyers.
And buyers are lining up.
Take the recent open house held in a model unit of a new, 70-unit
condominium complex on the city's eastern edge. A half-hour before the
9 a.m. start time, a line of potential buyers for the units starting at
$225,000 stretched 50 feet down the sidewalk. By the end of the day,
every unit was taken.
That's just one of dozens of condo complexes being built or converted
in this city of about 36,000. In fact, developers have constructed
about 2,000 housing units in Norwich over the past two years, with
another 1,000 underway or planned for this year. The vast majority are
condominiums; about 300 units are new apartments in the heart of
downtown. By comparison, Middletown issued permits for 322 units of
housing last year. New Britain issued 74.
The demand for housing has pushed prices higher in recent years, with
the median sales price growing 87 percent in the past five years in
Norwich, to $186,750 in 2005. Even in the super-heated housing market
of the early 2000s, that is a rate of growth about 35 percent higher
than the state average.
"This is our first significant climb out of the 1980s housing crash,"
said Peter Davis, the city planner. "We are on the move."
The initial demand for housing in Norwich was driven almost exclusively
by workers from the two nearby Native American casinos - about 8 miles
from the city's center. The workers were attracted to Norwich because
its median housing price is one of the lowest in the region. As the
casinos have expanded, so, too, has the need for housing.
Instead of courting developers who wanted to build only single-family
developments, Norwich took a different approach, luring proposals for
multifamily housing as a way to stimulate economic development.
"Everyone is afraid of multifamily housing because of its impact on
schools," said Davis, who arrived in the city in 1989. "But we did
research on the use of multifamily housing to pull people back to urban
cores. We knew it had worked in other, bigger cities," such as
Portsmouth, N.H.
What they found, Davis said, is that condominium developments such as
the ones now being built in Norwich rarely have a significant impact on
schools - nationwide, a typical 100-unit development has an average of
19 children. And that's been true in Norwich, he said.
"I didn't agree with his approach at first," said Mayor Benjamin
Lathrop. "But you can't argue with the results. We are rebuilding our
middle class because that is what we lost."
And now Norwich is seeing development it couldn't have imagined 10
years ago, including the $200 million Byron Brook Country Club in the
northern end of the city, which comes with plans over 10 years, for 658
luxury condominium units, with prices starting at about $400,000. (And
recently the developer of the $1.6 billion Utopia Studios movie and
theme park project next door in Preston has presented plans to expand
his project in Norwich by developing a marina with the construction of
37-story luxury towers, housing, restaurants and condominiums.)
"It would have been something people would have found hard to believe a
few years ago," City Manager Robert Zarnetske said of the 18-hole,
PGA-rated golf course.
That's not to say that everything in the city is, well, utopian.
Lind, the newspaper publisher, said the city still has "two steps
forward and one step back occurrences," such as the recent closing of a
new coffee shop downtown, or the failed plans from a developer who
wanted to convert a former mill into new apartments. The mill, which is
an environmental hazard, is abandoned and falling apart as the city
waits for someone else to step in.
Affordable housing also remains an issue in the region, although
city leaders argue that Norwich is shouldering more than its share of
quality housing for the region's lowest paid workers.
The demand for housing in the city has pushed both median sales prices
and local rents higher. As recently as 1999, the median sales price for
a condominium in Norwich was $67,750, according to The Warren Group, a
Boston-based publishing firm. Through July, the median condo price is
now $180,000 - an increase of 165 percent.
Rental prices vary widely depending on the location and quality of
the building. But in one upscale new complex, which has attracted
medical staff from the local hospital, two-bedroom apartments are
renting for up to $1,500 a month - a price unheard of in Norwich just a
few years ago.
But developers are also completing projects for middle- and even
lower-income tenants. At the Wauregan
Hotel, a historic, 1855 building
in downtown once billed as the most luxurious hotel between Boston and
New York, 73 rental apartments are scheduled to open within days, with
prices for one- and two-bedroom units ranging from about $650 to $970 a
month. Studio units that will rent for only $300 have been reserved for
those earning less than $15,000 a year.
Bruce Redman Becker, president of Becker & Becker Associates, the
Fairfield-based developer of the project, said half the units are
already rented, and the rental office receives about five new
applications a week.
That was hard to believe when he first learned of the possibility of
revamping the old hotel. Becker said he was one of about 200 developers
in 1997 who received information by mail from city leaders about the
project - but was one of only two developers who showed up for the
informational meeting.
"The experience of being in Norwich today is so much more uplifting
than it was a decade ago," Becker said. "There's a buzz there now. I'm
not alone in thinking that things are on the upswing there."
City leaders didn't stop at courting new development. They also went
after current homeowners and landlords to fix up the outside of their
homes - with fresh paint or siding, and to maintain attractive lawns
and landscaping.
Last year, the city sent more than 800 letters to homeowners who were
violating city ordinances to maintain their homes and collected more
than $100,000 in fines.
Others haven't needed to be forced. Many of the large Victorian homes
near the city center have been renovated by homeowners looking to
reinvest in their properties, a remodeling trend evident throughout the
city. In fact, homeowners spent about $52 million on renovation
construction permits in 2005, according to the city building office,
almost doubling the amount spent the year before.
The list of projects goes on, and on and on.
Local real estate agents said Norwich has not been immune to a market
slowdown - inventory is up in the city this year, about double what it
was two years ago, and asking prices are beginning to come down,
especially on single-family homes that need renovations. But they
agreed that casino workers would continue to bring demand to the city.
"All of this is going to bring people back downtown, and that will help
the city as a whole," said Licia Sas, an agent with Network Real Estate
in Norwich. "Slowly but surely things are changing."
City leaders predict that Norwich is on the path to reinventing itself,
if not completely regaining the status it enjoyed a century ago as a
city of prominence on the eastern seaboard. They see the Thames River
that once sent explorers from Long Island Sound inland and later served
as a major shipping lane remade into a tourism water-highway, bringing
gamblers and visitors to a newly designed marina with upscale shops and
hotels.
Whether that vision materializes remains to be seen. But the difference
is that now, at least, the city is imagining it can pull it off.
"For a very long time Norwich was very down on itself," said Lind, the
newspaper publisher. "Today we are very aware that there are a lot of
out-of-town and out-of-state developers who are bringing [their] money
here. They are bringing with them a new kind of thinking. You can't
miss the positive things that are happening here."
Victorian bridge design sets tone for Norwich
development
The final touches added to the Laurel Hill Bridge this
week could be a preview of future facelifts across the city.
State workers hung railing -- painted "Norwich Green" -- and decorative
rose medallions to complete the Victorian style given to the newly
renovated downtown artery. The work marks the end of the $4.6 million
replacement of the bridge, which reopened to traffic just before last
Thanksgiving.
Now city leaders are circulating draft copies of design standards that
would encourage, and in some cases require, specific styles, signs,
landscaping and adornment on new construction and redevelopment in
Norwich.
Les King, president of Rose City Renaissance and one of the creators of
the draft standards, said one of the greatest benefits from the design
rules is they will help the city build on its heritage and historical
value.
King said the bridge project is a perfect example of how a functional
project could be turned into a facelift for the downtown. And he said
most developers would be receptive to the guidelines, as long as
they're spelled out up front.
"If a developer comes in and can look at standards for what the city
would like to see, then the architect knows what they'd like to see
before designing it," King said. "It doesn't cost any more to design it
one way than it is another way. It's once it gets into the pipeline
that it becomes costly to change it."
Scott Capano, whose family recently renovated the building at 130 Main
St. and opened the Harp N Dragon restaurant, said it makes sense to
encourage aesthetic improvements to street-level developments,
especially in the downtown. But he is wary of having hard-and-fast
rules that could deter developers.
"I believe flexibility is a must," he said. "When you write something
too stringent, it can prevent future growth."
The draft design standards address that concern, stating in the
introduction: "The guidelines that use the word 'should' are meant to
be applied, but with flexibility. They indicate that the city is open
to design features that are equal to, or better than, those stated --
so long as the intent is satisfied."
Bruce Becker, of Becker and Becker Development in Fairfield, is nearly
finished with his reconstruction of the former Wauregan hotel downtown
and has taken pride in restoring historic elements of the structure. He
said he's excited to see Norwich officials making design standards a
priority, but echoed Capano's concerns the standards not be too
restrictive.
"The important thing is there are some general guidelines that the
property owner can use as a starting point," Becker said. "What's also
as important as the standards is having a financing vehicle to help
people make improvements to the streetscape ... and it's important for
there to be oversight to make sure there is a high level of
maintenance."
Along with the design standards, city leaders are considering a package
of economic incentives that could include funding of some type to
assist small business owners in making structural improvements. Both
the incentives and the design standards should go before the City
Council this fall for review.
City Manager Bob Zarnetske said the push for design standards from city
agencies feeds into the strengthening tourism market for the city and
the region.
"There's a renewed appreciation for the value of good aesthetics and a
recognition that our bread is increasingly being buttered by the people
coming here for the Norwich experience," he said.
Design styles (as reported in Norwich Bulletin):
Encouraged that commercial
and multifamily parking be located in the rear of the buildings.
Required visual prominence for
building entrances -- using elements such as an overhang, canopy, glass
windows, ornamental lighting fixtures or pots and planters with flowers
-- to make the openings welcoming and easily identifiable from the
sidewalk.
Required screening of blank walls
that are larger than 50 feet and do not have windows. Such surfaces
would need to have some adornment, such as masonry, decorative
tilework, medallions or artwork.
Encouraged new development should
incorporate architectural elements of the character of Norwich, using
appropriate material, window proportions, cornice or canopy lines, roof
treatment or colors.
The complete 46-page design standards draft can be
viewed at the Rose City Renaissance office at 77 Main St.
Norwich,
Utopia Officials Meet
DAY
By Claire Bessette
Published on 8/29/2006
Norwich - City officials held their first meeting with Utopia
Studios Development Corp. today, describing it as a “meet-and-greet”
session with no formal negotiations on the group’s proposal for a $500
million downtown and waterfront development.
Utopia has asked to be named master developer for a project that would
include high-rise hotel and condominium towers at the Marina at
American Wharf, luxury condominiums along the waterfront and an
entertainment center on Hollyhock Island built above the city’s sewage
treatment plant.
Mayor Benjamin Lathrop, City Manager Robert Zarnetske, planning
director Peter Davis and Norwich Public Utilities General Manager John
Bilda and attorneys from the city’s bond counsel, Murtha Cullina LLP of
Hartford, represented the city in the initial meeting at the law firm’s
Hartford office.
Joseph Gentile, chief executive officer for Utopia Studios Development
Corp., Norwich businessman Ronald Aliano, owner of the Marina at
American Wharf and a partner in the proposed project, Utopia attorney
Chris Thompson, Norwich attorney Stuart Greenfield and lobbyists Judy
Malone and Patrick Sullivan attended the meeting for Utopia.
Last week, Gentile asked that the city not use its corporation counsel
in the discussions because attorneys from that firm also have
represented Aliano.
“It was pretty informal today,” Lathrop said. “It was meet-and-greet.”
Lathrop said future sessions could become more detailed and serious. No
second session has been scheduled.
Gentile's
billions imposing
By DOROTHY SCHNEIDER
Norwich Bulletin
August 26, 2006
NORWICH -- Mortgage broker Brian Fowler took note of the former Norwich
Public Utilities building at 34 Courthouse Square earlier this year
when he moved his office into the downtown.
He thought it would be a great, visible location for offices or some
other commercial use and he voiced interest to city officials as they
started forming a plan of how to sell, auction or bid the long-vacant
structure.
But now Fowler will be going up against billion-dollar developer
Joseph Gentile, who unveiled a $500 million plan for Norwich two weeks
ago that includes the NPU building and another vacant downtown
structure, the Reid & Hughes Building.
Gentile has proposed building 37-story twin towers at the marina, an
upscale theme park on Hollyhock Island, a retail plaza above Chelsea
Harbor Drive and 100 high-end housing units where the Norwich Police
Department now sits. Gentile also hopes to supplement his $1.6 billion
Preston project with dormitories and a high-end hotel on Norwich's 63
acres of the former Norwich Hospital property.
"He has a half billion in this project... and $1.6 billion backing his
other project," Fowler said. "For any local businessman, that's kind of
tough to compete with."
City officials pledged to continue plans for some type of public sale
of the NPU and Reid & Hughes sites, even though they've entered
into discussions with Gentile until Sept. 10 about his hope to achieve
preferred developer status over city-owned properties downtown and
along the waterfront.
Mayor Ben Lathrop said the city's decision on the two downtown
properties does not reflect any misgivings about Gentile's proposal.
He said he is merely trying to be fair to the seven people who have
shown interest in the NPU building and the three eyeing the Reid &
Hughes site.
"My intent is to move Norwich forward," Lathrop said. "I'm very excited
about the potential development of Utopia and will work to move that
forward."
Marina owner Ron Aliano, who is partnering with Gentile on portions of
the plan, said the two city properties are not as integral to the
overall proposal as others. But he and Gentile would both be concerned
if the sites went to a developer that sat on the properties, he said.
"Joe (Gentile) would be the last individual to thwart the efforts of
good developers," Aliano said. "We would just be fearful of the wrong
person (getting them). ... But we have a bright mayor and a bright city
manager and I'm sure they're going to weed out all that stuff and serve
the community's best interests."
Gentile has declined to comment on the proposal further until he meets
with city officials for discussions.
City Perk owner Shawn Magliano also has expressed interest in the NPU
building and said he still would like to develop the site into a
restaurant and business, even though "my pockets aren't as deep as
(Gentile's)."
But, from his standpoint as an existing downtown entrepreneur, Magliano
said he's weighing his personal interest in the NPU site against the
potential of major downtown development such as Gentile has put forth.
"I look at the situation from both levels," he said. "I'm glad that
site is still eligible for all of us (to bid on), but I sense it may
have upset Utopia's plans and I don't want to see any glitch in their
plans.
"I would like to have the building, but I would like to see Utopia come
to town for the betterment of all of us," Magliano added. "In the end,
it's a win-win situation. Regardless, something good is going to come
out of it."
City
Officials, Gentile To Meet on Norwich Plan; Utopia chief seeks
master developer status for $500 M harbor development proposal
DAY
By Claire Bessette
Published on 8/22/2006
Norwich –– City officials will start discussions with Utopia Studios
developer Joseph Gentile to obtain more details about his request to be
named “master developer” for a $500 million development project that
would encompass Norwich Harbor and much of the surrounding property.
Gentile presented his plan last week to the City Council's economic
development subcommittee during an 80-minute session highlighted by a
slide show of color renderings featuring twin 37-story towers at the
Marina at American Wharf, condominiums on land surrounding the harbor,
and pedestrian bridges traversing busy roadways and waterways.
But on Monday, Gentile and Norwich businessman Ronald Aliano, a partner
in the proposal, waited in council chambers outside the closed doors of
the adjacent council meeting room during an hourlong executive session.
When the aldermen emerged, they voted unanimously to authorize Mayor
Benjamin Lathrop and City Manager Robert Zarnetske, “supported by such
staff as deemed appropriate,” to meet with Gentile to obtain more
details about the project, any anticipated financial commitments by the
city and whether the city should hire outside consultants to assist
with future negotiations.
The city officials have until Sept. 10 to get the information, but that
deadline could be extended by the council.
Zarnetske said he expects to schedule the first meeting with Utopia
officials today.
Gentile is chief financial officer of Utopia Studios, which has
proposed a $1.6 billion development of the former Norwich Hospital
property in Preston. He requested that Norwich name him master
developer for a separate $500 million project under his Utopia Studios
Development Corp.
After the vote, Gentile said he couldn't say yet what answers he might
be able to provide to the city by the Sept. 10 deadline. He said he
expects to work with city officials to define the project in more
detail, and to set conditions and time frames needed before the city
could approve him as master developer.
Gentile stressed that most of the proposals in the $500 million plan
were not his own. He credited Aliano with writing the “waterfront
vision” concept that was approved by the City Council three years ago.
That plan targeted key areas of the waterfront, from Hollyhock Island
at Norwich Harbor down the Thames River to the Shipping Street area.
In a letter sent to Lathrop last week, Gentile asked for control of
seven specific city-owned properties, including the former Norwich
Hospital property located in Norwich, property on Hollyhock Island,
Shipping Street and “miscellaneous” city-owned properties along the
shoreline and downtown. Gentile also requested air rights over Market
Street and Chelsea Harbor Drive to build over the streets and to create
pedestrian bridges.
Several aldermen said they were excited at the prospect of having a
half-billion-dollar plan to consider, but they added that current
developers with projects already in the works around the harbor would
not be hindered by talks with Utopia. Several condominium and mixed
development projects already have been approved, including one on the
banks of Norwich Harbor directly across from the Marina at American
Wharf. Killingly developer Dominic Carpionato has purchased a large
former mill building on Shipping Street –– where Gentile also expressed
interest –– and plans a multimillion-dollar project.
Alderman John Paul Mereen said it was important for aldermen to make it
clear that current developers should not be discouraged by the Utopia
plan.
“It's exciting to see proposals come into the city,” Mereen said. “It's
exciting to see such ideas. It's the first step on a long road.”
Norwich,
Utopia in sync
By DOROTHY SCHNEIDER. Norwich Bulletin
August 21, 2006
NORWICH -- Even though Joseph Gentile's $500 million development plan
for the city waterfront still needs to be put under the microscope,
many locals feel confident his goals parallel the city's long-term
objectives for the site.
Gentile presented plans Tuesday night to build 37-story twin
condominium towers at the marina, an upscale theme park on Hollyhock
Island, a retail plaza above Chelsea Harbor Drive and 100 high-end
housing units where the Norwich Police Department now sits.
Previous city plans haven't contemplated high-rises or a theme park
development on the waterfront. In fact, city zoning regulations don't
allow for structures more than seven stories high. But that provision
can be waived in the downtown and waterfront districts if the fire
marshal shows the city has the necessary equipment to fight a fire in
such a tall building, said Zoning Enforcement Officer Paulette Craig.
But most believe the themes of Gentile's development are in keeping
with the city's plans.
"We've been dreaming for 30-plus years of having a more vibrant city,"
said Lottie Scott, who has lived downtown for 27 years. "We've been
wanting to have something exciting that would bring people back walking
the streets and restaurants to eat in. ... To have more of that would
be absolutely wonderful."
Tom Marien, Redevelopment Agency chairman, agreed much like the
downtown development plan his agency adopted in 1996, Gentile's
includes more housing, hotel facilities, retail, restaurants and arts
business in the downtown. And unlike the singular developments done in
downtown in the past, Marien said Gentile's large-scale plan would help
sustain all its pieces.
"What has always been one of our problems with bringing more things
like retail downtown is how do you develop the critical mass to support
it?" Marien said. "But this proposal is instantaneous critical mass."
Mayor Ben Lathrop said the main goal for downtown always has been
putting more feet on the street.
"Then supply them with a market and all the amenities to help them
sustain," he said. "You want to capture your audience."
Lathrop said there's a lot more review to be done of Gentile's plan
before city leaders will know whether it holds the right answers for
Norwich, but he said he's excited to learn more.
When he first began discussions with Gentile about the proposal,
Planning Director Peter Davis said he steered the developer toward
community standards that already are in place. Davis said this approach
wasn't unique for Gentile.
"Our job is to implement the city's plan and that's the base you start
from," he said. "It's important to maintain the character of Norwich
and build off of that. ... There are a lot of assets and there is a lot
of momentum going on."
Rick Kramer, executive director of Rose City Renaissance, Norwich's
Main Street program, was impressed to hear Gentile's plans for
pedestrian traffic and retail additions downtown. He felt as though
Gentile listened to what people in Norwich said they wanted before he
designed his plans.
"(Gentile) has taken what people have been talking about and he's given
us his interpretation of what Norwich is looking for," he said. "He's
put the bricks and mortar to what we've been talking about."
David DiBattista, president of Norwich Community Development Corp.,
believes there are several plans that could help "turn the corner" in
Norwich, but said Gentile's is certainly one of them.
"It would certainly stir interest, and the snowball effect would be a
good thing for Norwich," he said.
Davis said people should not discount even the most surprising elements
of Gentile's plan because other developments in the region have
consistently defied tradition.
"If you had asked me what I thought 10 years ago about southeastern
Connecticut being home to the worlds two largest casinos, I would've
thought you were nuts," he said. "But based on what we've got on our
doorstep now, I don't think anything should be immediately discounted."
Our
view: Norwich must take time with downtown proposal
Norwich Bulletin Editorial
August 20, 2006
Joseph Gentile has big plans for Norwich that could well provide
the city’s signature for the next hundred years. The vision calls for
investing $500 million to re-create the face of Norwich Harbor and the
downtown waterfront.
Monday, Gentile will ask the Norwich City Council to draft a resolution
naming him master developer and preferred developer of the project. The
council should do so, but must create a thorough and ongoing review
process to learn every detail and include the public at every
turn. That said, this is a terrific plan. It shows the vision
Norwich has long lacked or has been too timid to carry out.
Gentile and developer Ron Aliano propose a stretch of downtown to be
“Utopia’s Magical Mile,” home to mixed-use entertainment, shops and
restaurants. Hollyhock Island would feature a Renaissance-themed park,
yacht club, ferry terminal and rowing house, along with the venture’s
crowning glory: twin 37-story towers that would house luxury
condominiums with at least one world-class restaurant.
Again, this milestone initiative can be our future. But the city must
be smart. The half-billion-dollar plan cannot be “fast-tracked” the way
Chestnut Street was.
Mayor Ben Lathrop admits the city may have moved too quickly on that
project, which was OK’d after just three weeks of public bidding and a
monthlong review by city committees.
Questions were also raised about Alderman John Newson’s involvement in
negotiations because of his attorney-client relationship with the
developers. He released details of the relationship and also recused
himself from all votes pertaining the project, removing any appearance
of impropriety. The project, aimed at rejuvenating six blighted
buildings between 86 and 122 Chestnut St., is already under way and
will create 30 high-end one- and two-bedroom condo units.
Chestnut Street may turn out to be a terrific initiative, but Norwich
must get the Gentile/Aliano plan right. A project of this magnitude
demands attention to every detail. It’s easy to get caught up in the
glee of the moment; that can’t be allowed to fog sound judgment.
So what should Norwich do? First, look to Preston, where the leadership
was smart enough to know what it didn’t know and acknowledge as much.
Preston formed the Norwich Hospital Advisory Committee to vet Gentile
and track every aspect of his proposal for Utopia Studios’ theme parks,
performing arts school and movie studios.
As a city, Norwich probably has in place the resources and expertise
Preston lacked and caused it to form its advisory panel. That said,
Lathrop, City Manager Bob Zarnetske and Planning Director Peter Davis
should certainly invest the time in a conversation with Preston leaders.
And, during the city’s multi-layered process for reviewing the plan,
Norwich residents must be kept abreast of developments. But the scope
of this plan requires a multi-pronged public-outreach strategy. Again,
Preston is a model. The town went out of its way to get public input.
By doing so, buy-in for the plan was stronger in the long run. But
opponents also asked tough questions that led the town to do the same.
The process worked.
Yes, Norwich must hold regular public hearings. But it should think
bigger. Any public city meeting should be taped and made available on
the Internet. Put information out on the Norwich Now! Web site or even
create a new Web site that offers every bit of detail of every facet of
the plan. Set up mechanisms for residents to ask and e-mail questions.
Let Gentile and Aliano host hearings.
Examine each part of the plan in detail, instead of holding meetings
that address the whole plan at once.
While Gentile is to be commended for bringing forth his proposal, for
decades Aliano preached the uniqueness and beauty of this property. And
for decades, Aliano was unsuccessful in advancing his proposal.
Recently, he said, “The community, for some reason, lost its sense of
self-respect and confidence.” He’s right.
Still, he built the Marina at American Wharf, with a restaurant and 200
boat slips, a glistening diamond for the city. Now Norwich is
poised to rebuild its destiny. With its convergence of three rivers,
striking topography and architectural charm, this is a genuinely
beautiful location others will be pleased to discover. The master
developer status Gentile seeks would allow him — and the experts he
hires — to design all he has in mind for the city.
This doesn’t mean Gentile and Aliano are given free rein. It means,
just as Preston did with the initial Utopia Studios plan, a careful
review. The city, first and foremost, must be in the driver’s seat with
both hands on the wheel. Norwich should provide the opportunity
to get this project built. The council also should ensure it and the
public are kept well-informed.
The lesson of Chestnut Street is too important to ignore.
Be
Careful, Norwich; Don't be too
quick to turn over the keys to the city to Utopia.
By Day Staff Writer
Published on 8/20/2006
Even before this part of Connecticut has had a chance to digest
Utopia's ambitious plans for the Norwich Hospital property in Preston,
the venture's leading spokesman has asked the government in Norwich to
embrace a vaguely outlined $500 million plan to reinvent downtown
Norwich.
One hopes the city will be circumspect about a plan of this scope with
so few particulars. Responding to a question about the nature of a
theme park in the plan last week, Joseph Gentile sounded as though he
was formulating the plan in his head as he spoke.
The very magnitude of the proposal ought to inspire extreme caution by
Norwich's elected officials. The city would become home to two of the
tallest skyscrapers in Connecticut. Next door to them on Hollyhock
Island there would be another of the indoor theme parks that are also
featured in the Utopia project in Preston. Mr. Gentile said the
proposed condominiums would be home to the new community of wealthy
filmmakers and executives who would come to the area to work at Utopia.
He predicted the venture would bring 100 millionaires to Norwich.
The idea behind the proposal seems to be to make downtown Norwich an
annex to the entertainment complex at Utopia. Mr. Gentile wants the
city to name his development company as a “master developer” in the
city and preferred developer for several properties. The proposal he
has presented to the city would rearrange the downtown, including
moving Police Headquarters.
That's quite a lot to absorb in a short time, especially considering
the fact that Utopia hasn't yet proven that it can carry out its $1.6
billion project at Norwich Hospital. Before that can occur, the
developers have to guarantee the funds for an environmental cleanup and
line up the capital for the first phase of the project. These are among
the requirements the developer must fulfill this fall before the
project can move ahead. Preston, which voted in a referendum to give
Mr. Gentile a chance with his plans, awaits the proof that this
untested developer with grand ideas and a gift for hyperbole can
deliver on his promises.
Norwich needs to carefully study the implications of this proposition
before it begins making long-term commitments to Utopia. One
consideration is regional. The kind of development Mr. Gentile has
described substantially would add to the traffic and other
infrastructure impacts of the Utopia project, issues as yet unresolved
with the Utopia venture. But it also would change the character of the
city dramatically, making Norwich virtually a factory town for Mr.
Gentile's enterprises next door, should they materialize. And the city
ought to know from its history the price for being too dependent on one
industry.
The people of the city should have something to say about that before
the government turns over the keys to the city.
The City Council is expected to consider Mr. Gentile's proposition
soon, possibly at Monday's meeting. The council needs to be careful.
There's nothing wrong with looking at Mr. Gentile's plan. In fact, it
would be remiss of it not to. But it should do so with the same level
of due diligence and natural skepticism that Preston and the Norwich
Hospital Advisory Committee have exhibited and still are.
Everyone is still waiting for Mr. Gentile to fulfill his part of the
deal for the Preston project.
Studio plan in Plainfield on fast
track (another
related story or two or three here)
By FRANCESCA KEFALAS, Norwich Bulletin
August 19, 2006
PLAINFIELD -- Architectural and engineering designs for a proposed
Center of Excellence will not take long to complete, said Georgette
Smart, chief executive officer of Global Enterprises and Associates.
Plans for a center, housing three separate but collaborative businesses
in education, health care and entertainment and creating 75 high tech
jobs at the old Plainfield High School on Route 12, were first publicly
revealed Thursday night at a Board of Selectmen meeting. But, Smart
said the company has been doing its homework and investigating the
region and its needs.
"I like to say we back into our plans," Smart said. "We work to better
understand the community and the people and see what its needs and
concerns are. It's the old phrase a win-win, and it truly becomes that
when you better understand what a community wants and needs."
Smart is also the CEO of North Stonington Studios, which she heads with
Frank Capra Jr., president of EUE Screen Gems in Wilmington, N.C. The
studios and the center will be separate companies, but will work
collaboratively, Smart said.
Plans for North Stonington Studios, Smart said, are in their "final
stages." North Stonington Studios proposes movie studios, an academy of
arts and sciences, a high-end retail village with 20 to 30 shops and
restaurants and a 200-room hotel on 488 acres near Interstate 95 in
North Stonington.
Utopia Studios developer Joseph Gentile also proposes movie studios,
theme parks, hotels and a performing arts college in Preston.
What the community needs most are jobs and industry, said Linda
Bartlett of Plainfield. "Our kids have to leave the region to get good
jobs. Anything that can help keep the kids in the region will be great."
The 75 jobs that could be created at the center would earn a mean
salary of $58,000, far above the mean household income of $49,000 for
Plainfield, as reported in the 2000 census.
The lowest wage jobs would be in the $30,000 to $40,000 range,
according to the plan presented selectmen.
Higher-end jobs would range from $50,000 to above $90,000. According to
the plan, the center will inject $5.8 million into the local economy
from employee salaries alone.
Northeast Chamber of Commerce Executive Director Betty Kuszaj said
salaries in the ranges being discussed would be a boost to the region.
"Any time you bring in jobs that pay better than the mean salary, it's
good for the local economy," Kuszaj said.
But the people involved with the center believe the spin-off will be a
potentially huge boost to the region.
Wayne Holmes, executive vice president of development for FAME, the
entertainment business to be housed in the center, said a film-based
economy can and will be jump started through the center.
The film industry will require support businesses, such as caterers,
lodging, dry cleaners, restaurants, car rentals and more.
For every one production job, there are two non-production jobs, Holmes
said.
"You can speed up the process of building an economy 10-fold, if you
know how to plan and develop," Holmes said.
Josh Klein, owner of Altered Customs on Route 12, said he would be
happy to provide any specialty vehicles a movie production might need.
Kuszaj said if the trickle down being discussed becomes a reality, many
businesses already here will benefit.
Gregory Cephas moved to Plainfield in October. The idea of having an
industry based on intellectual property and creativity is exciting, he
said.
"The region can use this kind of innovation," Cephas said.
Tracey Zak said she works at the post office and knows there are more
and more unemployment checks coming into the region. High-paying jobs
are not easy to come by, Zak said.
"Why not have a movie industry here?" Zak said. "Why not here than
anywhere else? If there are two developers looking at the region, that
means we have something to offer."
Brittany Kaeppel said she hopes the center will help take some of the
tax burden off residents.
Town Planner Lou Soja said the old high school is considered a historic
structure. Because of that designation, zoning regulations allow for
flexible reuse as long as the historic structure is preserved, Soja
said. Not having seen any plans, Soja said he is not sure what the
center would entail, but he does not believe there would be significant
zoning concerns.
The plan, however, will need a special permit, which requires a public
hearing.
Smart said she and her colleagues were excited by the building, even
though it would be cheaper to build from the ground up.
.
Downtown Norwich Plan Has Critical
Link To Utopia; $500M proposal ties city's future to fate of
Preston theme park
DAY
By Paul Choiniere
Published on 8/15/2006
Norwich — Joseph Gentile's proposal to spearhead a $500 million
investment in downtown Norwich introduces a new dynamic into his plan
to complete a $1.6 billion project in neighboring Preston.
If Norwich's elected leaders buy into Gentile's vision, it would tie
their city's future to the success or failure of the Utopia Studios
Ltd. project at the former Norwich Hospital property in Preston,
potentially creating additional pressure on Preston to complete its
deal for construction of the massive theme park, movie studio and hotel
complex.
Gentile, chief financial officer for Utopia, will present his plan for
Norwich to the City Council's Administration, Planning and Economic
Development Committee at a 5 p.m. meeting today in City Hall. Broad
outlines of the plan leaked out in news accounts over the weekend.
Ronald Aliano, owner of American Ambulance and the Marina at American
Wharf in the city's harbor, has said he will partner with Gentile in
the development project. The most eye-catching aspect of the plan would
be twin 37-story towers on tiny Hollyhock Island, housing hotel rooms
and condominiums, though renderings of the project show the towers as
substantially smaller. The island is now home to American Wharf.
Gentile envisions that the towers would host well-to-do Utopia patrons,
as well as visiting actors involved in movie productions at Utopia
studios in Preston. Hollywood types and Utopia executives would
reportedly be among the target groups to purchase condominiums.
Other plans reportedly include additional studios to complement the
Utopia operation, a Victorian-themed attraction and shops. The downtown
would be linked to Utopia Studios a mile to the south by rail and boat.
Before any of that could happen, however, Utopia must meet the
stringent requirements of the development agreement approved by Preston
voters in May. Without the Utopia development, the Norwich plan does
not appear viable, certainly not on the scale being proposed.
“I think if the Preston project comes to fruition, Norwich would
benefit. I've said that since day one,” said Preston First Selectman
Robert Congdon.
Congdon said Preston officials must concern themselves primarily with
making sure Utopia meets all the requirements of the agreement approved
by voters, regardless of the implications that process may have for
projects elsewhere.
When asked about the possibility of tying the downtown's future growth
to the success or failure of the Utopia plan in Preston, and the
pressure Norwich might bring to get the Preston project approved, City
Manager Robert Zarnetske offered a diplomatic response.
“Norwich city government is first and foremost concerned with the
welfare of the citizens of Norwich, and has to pursue projects and
ideas that are going to benefit this city,” he said. “We have no
interest in causing any injury to sister jurisdictions. We are
interested in projects that create synergy between communities.
“We think the wonderful attributes of this city speak for themselves
and are a sufficient attraction that developers are going to want to
locate here regardless of what is happening elsewhere.”
Alderman John Paul Mereen, chairman of the committee that will hear
today's presentation, said he is eager to listen to the details. One of
the key questions to be answered, he said, is how the city's sewage
treatment plant will be upgraded to handle such massive development,
and who would pay for it.
“It's exciting. I would love to see it happen,” Mereen said of the
development plan.
Mereen said that if the council buys into the concept, he can envision
a fast track to giving Gentile and Aliano “master developer” status to
better refine their redevelopment ideas. Providing “preferred
developer” rights, giving the developers exclusive development
privileges, would require far more detailed plans and a careful legal
review, he said.
As with the Utopia project, financing remains among the biggest
uncertainties. According to published reports, Gentile has said Luxmac,
Covino & Co., which will provide seed money to get the Utopia
project through the preliminary planning stages, would arrange the
financing for the Norwich development. The company primarily focuses on
high-end real estate development.
The global investment bank Bear, Stearns & Co. Inc. would be the
primary financial backer for Utopia, according to documents Utopia has
filed with Preston. While expressing an interest in the Utopia project,
Bear Stearns has not formally agreed to underwrite it.
Utopia sparks skeptics
By JASON TSAI
Norwich Bulletin
August 14, 2006
NORWICH -- City officials will get a look at Utopia Studios developer
Joseph Gentile's vision for a $500 million transformation of Hollyhock
Island this week.
At the City Council's agenda-setting meeting this afternoon, the
council is expected to schedule its first review of the plans for Aug.
21. The city Administration Planning and Economic Development Committee
will review the plans Tuesday night when it meets at 5 p.m. in City
Hall in room 335.
Residents Sunday questioned aspects of the proposal, which was first
reported in Saturday's Bulletin. Gentile's vision for the city includes
two 37-story condo towers.
"It's a great idea," said 32-year-old Randy Wright. "Just maybe better
for someone else's town."
Gentile is also proposing a $500 million theme park and a high-end
retail project for the Norwich marina area. It would be anchored by the
twin condo towers, called the Utopia Renaissance Towers. If
eventually approved, the overhaul would transform the marina into a
destination for Hollywood actors and employees of Gentile's $1.6
billion entertainment project in Preston, he said. But for some
who shaded their eyes Sunday to peer across the water at the harbor at
Howard T. Brown Memorial Park and visualize towers, the dream was hard
to grasp.
"Just construction-wise, how are you going to do that?" said Ashley
Baril, 26, of Colchester.
Sterling resident Terrie Castagna, 43, worried about traffic and said
she'd spent too much time Sunday morning trying to find parking for her
car and 17-foot boat.
"I don't think it's going to change the downtown, even if it goes
through," said Castagna's husband, Aaron.
For instance, despite the development of the nearby Mercantile Exchange
office complex, Aaron Castagna said "undesirable-types" still frequent
the Main Street area.
Gentile's proposal, however, is not strictly limited to the Norwich
marina; some facets would change the downtown. Chelsea Harbor
Drive and Market Street are being pictured as "Utopia's Magic Mile" --
a mixed-use, entertainment-themed development with offices, galleries,
shops and other attractions.
The former Norwich Public Utilities building at 34 Courthouse Square,
which has gone unused for years, is envisioned as an office building
with possibly a Norwich welcome center, Gentile said. Jorge
Dabdoub, 47, of Norwich, who brought his family to harborside Putts Up
Dock miniature golf, called the plans "hard to swallow."
"I love coming here. It's so peaceful," Dabdoub said. "I don't want the
natural beauty of the place taken away."
Gentile: Norwich, Then New
London: Utopia Studios
developer has big plans to revitalize four river cities
By Claire Bessette, Julie Wernau, Day Writers
Published on 8/13/2006
Norwich — Utopia Studios Ltd. developer Joseph Gentile said Saturday
that New London is one of four cities along the Thames River he plans
to revitalize as ancillary economic hubs meant to feed the $1.6 billion
theme park, hotel and movie studio planned for the former Norwich
Hospital site.
“We're providing the anchors that are going to be the catalysts, and
we're hoping that local developers and local business owners are going
to fill in the rest,” Gentile said.
Tuesday, Gentile will present plans for what Norwich city officials are
calling an “unprecedented” development project that would transform the
city into a bustling tourist area and transportation hub to serve
Utopia Studios. Gentile is expected to present the $500 million
development project — centered at Norwich Harbor and the city's
downtown — to the Administrative, Planning and Economic Development
Committee of the City Council at 5 p.m. at Norwich City Hall.
Gentile has not revealed his financial backers, saying only that
different parts of the various project are backed by multiple and
various individuals and institutions. Norwich City Manager Robert
Zarnetske said he still has not seen “anything official” for Norwich.
“One of the issues that obviously will have to be dealt with is the
financial planning behind this. So far we have not been privy to any
financial information,” Zarnetske said.
Gentile would not say yet what his plans were for New London, but said
the city will be next on his radar after Norwich.
Gentile called it a “diamond-shaped marine pattern that starts and ends
in New London.”
He would not provide copies of a draft for the Norwich project. In both
cities, Gentile said, he plans to take advantage of underutilized areas
— such as freight train railroad tracks, harbors and vacant buildings.
“I'm a big believer in taking the assets you have to work with and just
dressing them up,” he said.
Norwich officials hope the city will find its own utopia in Gentile's
dollar.
Gentile hopes to be named as the master preferred developer for much of
downtown and the waterfront, taking control of several city-owned
buildings and at least one city street, Market Street. In the process,
Gentile said he would cap the city's landfill to provide parking,
update the city's Norwich treatment plant and provide other services
the city is struggling to afford with more than 200,000 square feet in
vacant buildings.
“We're obviously absolutely delighted to work with any developer who
has a vision for the City of Norwich,” Zarnetske said.
Ronald Aliano, owner of the Marina at American Wharf and along with
other properties in the waterfront area around Hollyhock Island, would
be a partner in the major portion of the project.
“These are very exciting times for the city of Norwich, and I think
that Joe Gentile realizes the potential of our community. Norwich is in
the catbird seat between two major casinos, and with the fruition of
the Utopia project in Preston, we're going to see people coming to
eastern Connecticut,” Aliano said.
While the master plan is still evolving, Aliano said two existing
buildings on the marina property would be replaced with two 37-story
luxury towers, each with a restaurant at the top and views that could
reach Long Island Sound. One would be a full-service luxury hotel with
a nightclub at the top, and the other a luxury condominium, with
parking fitted into the base of the two towers.
Gentile said he imagined various Hollywood-types would stay at the
condominiums for months at a time while working on movies at the
Preston studios. Others, he said, might purchase the condos, which
would, he said, be “expensive” and be outfitted with room service and
other amenities usually reserved for upscale hotels.
The marina would also house retail shops and several additional
restaurants, Aliano said. Additional parking would be on the “back
side” of the marina, facing West Main Street.
“It will be an amazing change for the marina site,” Aliano said, “but
the aesthetics would be maintained with the two super towers.
Renderings will show the property very, very well and will be a
complement to Norwich.”
On the western mainland, Aliano said the plans call for approximately
100 high-end, gated condominiums on the hillside between West Thames
and High Street. All would have waterfront views and interiors with
large open spaces for entertainment, akin to the luxury condos on
Nantucket or Martha's Vineyard.
“We believe the market exists because of the number of high-paying jobs
in the Utopia program,” Aliano said. “We feel there's a need for that
currently.”
On the downtown side of the harbor, Aliano said the plans continue to
change, but would encompass the block between Water Street and Chelsea
Harbor Drive, much of it owned or leased by the Mashantucket Pequot
Tribal Nation. Aliano said the original intent was to build housing in
the block, perhaps with offices and retail shops.
Gentile would be looking for air rights over Chelsea Harbor Drive, with
a walkway and elevators, which Gentile called “Utopia's Magical Mile,”
that would “land” at the Howard T. Brown Memorial Park or the marina
and send visitors from the harbor area, through a number of upscale
galleries and restaurants, and into downtown. Aliano said where the
walkway lands is still uncertain and would depend on engineering
studies.
“Design factors must be considered,” Aliano said. “Joe has a concept of
building over Chelsea Harbor Drive and Market Street, building a
complex that would enhance the waterfront visually.”
The project would continue across West Main Street from the marina,
encompassing the northern, city-owned end of Hollyhock Island. Gentile
said that in addition to parking, an upscale theme park with rides and
entertainment would have an “American Victorian Renaissance Theme
grounded in history and preservation.”
The city sewage treatment plant dominates the northern half of the
island, visible from the Route 82 Tom Sweeney bridge that crosses the
two branches of the Yantic River and Hollyhock Island between them.
Gentile has a plan to help the city with the major renovations and
upgrades needed to the sewage treatment plant and to “develop
structures above and around these facilities that would basically and
undeniably hide the sewage treatment plant from view,” Aliano said.
Aliano would not elaborate on details about his partnership with
Gentile, but said it also involves a waterway linkage between the
Utopia project at Norwich Hospital and the Marina At American Wharf.
Currently, the city has no passenger train service, but the future
could bring that service to the proposed $21 million regional
transportation center also in the works on Hollyhock Island across from
the marina.
“The most pleasing thing about this is an overall development
philosophy,” said Crooks, who added that Gentile's plans have so far
come forward in draft form and piecemeal and will now be presented as a
whole for the first time.
Trolley-style buses could bring travelers from future ferries into
downtown and to surrounding tourist attractions, Aliano said.
“I've been looking for a 'utopia' for Norwich for a number of years,”
Aliano said. “If ever there's a possibility of realizing it, it's now.
I think we have a City Council that is responsible, receptive to proper
development. With a proper development presentation, the City Council
will be receptive to the project coming to fruition.”
Gentile said he is also interested in taking over the Norwich portion
of the Norwich Hospital property for dormitories for thousands of
students who would attend a performing arts college in Preston.
“It's Utopia. Utopia's the perfect place to work, to live and to play,”
Gentile said.
Fairfield developer buys former dog
track
DAY
PLAINFIELD, Conn. (AP)
Posted on Dec 21, 11:54 AM EST
Plans for a domed car racetrack at the site of the former Plainfield
Greyhound Park are dead with the purchase of the old dog track by a
developer who plans to build a shopping center.
Starwood Ceruzzi has bought the former dog track for more than $7.5
million, according to town officials and land records. The
company agreed to pay for the three parcels that make up the 137-acre
site of the former dog-racing track, which has been closed since
May. The largest payout went to the track's principal owner,
Connecticut Yankee Greyhound Racing Inc., which received about $4.3
million, according to land records.
The new owners also agreed to pay $38,000 in delinquent taxes that
Connecticut Yankee owed the town. The deal seems to end plans by
Trumbull-based developer Eugene Arganese, who had proposed an auto
racetrack. That plan fell apart after the Planning and Zoning
Commission rescinded a decision to allow the project.
"If you're looking to put a retail-based business area over there,
there's no controversy with that whatsoever," First Selectman Kevin
Cunningham said. "That really helps residents in town to stay and not
go to other retail areas. Those are responsible developments."
As for Arganese's proposal, Cunningham added, "We didn't even have a
plan for a racetrack. We never even saw a plan for that."
Earlier this week, Starwood Ceruzzi was involved in the purchase of
another defunct gambling facility in Connecticut. The company
signed a deal Monday to purchase the former Milford Jai Alai facility
for about $14 million to build a shopping complex to be anchored by the
Lowe's home improvement store. The city of Milford, which bought
the property for about $12 million two years ago, said it closed on the
sale Monday.
In addition to Lowe's, the property will include a 120-room Hilton
Gardens Inn, two yet-to-be-named restaurants and a bank.
Conflict Casts Shadow On School
Project:
Griswold First Selectwoman Wants To
Replace School Building Committee Chair Everett
Special To The Day
By David M. Hendricks Jr.
Published on 8/26/2007
Griswold — As members of the School Building Committee clash, a new
state regulation looms over the town's recently approved $70 million
school construction project.
View E-Mails Between School Building
Committee
A closed meeting Monday among key committee members and attorneys, and
a meeting among various town boards Wednesday, have been scheduled.
Last week First Selectwoman Anne Hatfield, citing a need for someone
with more experience, said she no longer thinks School Building
Committee Chairman Frank Everett is the right person to lead the
committee as it oversees the construction project approved in a
referendum in June.
“I'd like to see someone that has a knowledge of procedure and
experience on different commissions to do the job right,” Hatfield said.
The project includes a new elementary school and renovations at the
town's middle school. Construction should be completed by 2011, and 74
percent of the eligible cost would be covered by the state, leaving the
town to pay the remaining $23 million.
Everett and Hatfield have argued at meetings and exchanged heated
e-mails that have been copied to the entire committee. Because of that,
Hatfield wanted to make clear that her opinion is entirely
professional, not personal.
Meanwhile, Everett said Hatfield hasn't told him personally that she
wants him removed, but she did suggest in an e-mail that, “If you can
not fulfill your duties as chairman, I would strongly suggest we have
another member of the committee replace you in this capacity.”
“When anyone tries to stand up to Anne Hatfield and do what's right,
there's a smear campaign,” Everett said.
The 11-member committee, which has been meeting for about a year,
selected architectural firm Kaestle Boos to do pre-referendum work on
the project.
At that time, Hatfield said, members of the committee promised Kaestle
Boos the entire contract, and town attorneys had to insert language
into the referendum that would allow such a decision. When asked which
committee members had done so, Hatfield said she doesn't remember
exactly who it was.
Everett said Hatfield, along with the rest of the committee, made that
decision.
The referendum didn't solve the committee's problems, however. The town
still doesn't have a written contract with Kaestle Boos and is relying
on an oral agreement until the contract is finalized.
And new state legislation could prove a problem to the whole process.
Section 25, subsection B of Public Act 07-249, recently brought to the
attention of the full committee by a resident, requires orders and
contracts for architectural or construction management services to be
awarded to the lowest responsible qualified bidder if the project is
funded by the state.
The act was passed at 11:30 on the last night of the legislative
session by unanimous votes in both houses, state Rep. Steve Mikutel,
D-Griswold.
“That's not the way business is normally done,” Mikutel said, but
continued that everyone felt a mandatory competitive bidding process is
necessary when spending large amounts of money on a building project.
State Sen. Andrew Maynard, D-Stonington, who represents Griswold,
agreed.
“I've been through a local building project, and a significant amount
of money is spent on architectural management and construction fees,”
Maynard said.
Mikutel, who represents four towns including Griswold, said he has been
following the work of the School Building Committee closely. When he
heard of its issue with the act, Mikutel said he had an attorney
contact the state Department of Education.
In his understanding, Mikutel said, an oral contract “properly entered
into” prior to July 1 would not need to go out to bid, even if the
written contract were not signed by July 1.
Kaestle Boos CEO Charles Boos, who regularly attends committee
meetings, said he would rather not comment on the contract.
He has repeatedly asked for a contract at meetings, and his company has
already begun work on the project.
Speculation that the town might be stuck paying for the entire $70
million project is just that, speculation, Mikutel said. “That's not
going to happen,” Mikutel said. “If this project is built, it will be
built with state reimbursement.”
Mikutel said it appears that the contract signing has taken longer than
it should have and that “something broke down in this project.”
“I think that the local, petty politics seem to have inserted itself
into the process,” Mikutel said. “People need to put politics aside”
and move forward, he said.
Hatfield and several members of the committee have a long list of
disagreements, including how long to advertise for a construction
manager for the project, whether or not town hall is holding up the
contract for the project's architect and what is in the best interest
of the town.
The content of the last committee meeting was completely overshadowed
by several near-shouting matches and personal attacks.
At one point Hatfield called state police after accusing Everett of
threatening her.
Troop E in Montville has no record of any police reports containing
either of their names, however. Everett said that is an indication of
how seriously her claim was taken. Hatfield wouldn't comment on the
incident.
Hatfield, Everett and Stuart Norman, another committee member who is
also vice chairman of the Board of Education, are scheduled to meet
with town attorneys on Monday. Hatfield has described the meeting,
which has no agenda, as confidential, and Everett said he does not know
what will be discussed. It is not open to the public.
That content of the Monday meeting may be a prelude to a special
meeting tentatively scheduled for Wednesday, to which the Board of
Finance, Board of Selectmen, Board of Education, School Building
Committee, town attorneys and others have been invited.
The agenda to that meeting, which is open to the public, does not have
to be posted until 24 hours before it takes place. Hatfield said that
agenda hasn't been finalized.
Schools Superintendent Betty Osga said that any delays in the project
as a result of committee infighting are of less concern to her than the
“climate in the community.” She said she feels that both Hatfield and
Everett have worked “incredibly hard” on the project
Link to more about water issue above
New boss takes helm at Groton Utilities; Director to
start work Monday at $165,000 position
DAY
By Katie Warchut
Published on 7/31/2008
Groton - The new director of Groton Utilities, Paul Yatcko, will begin
his new job on Monday, more than nine months after the resignation of
former director Glenn Wilson. Yatcko, who was appointed by the
City Council earlier this month, is from Vineland, N.J., where he was
the director of municipal electric utility for nearly seven
years. He has a bachelor of science degree in electrical
engineering from Newark College of Engineering and a master's in
business administration from Rutgers University. His new salary is
$165,000.
Vineland, a community of 40,000 near Atlantic City, has the only
municipally-owned electric-generating utility in New Jersey. It has
about twice as many customers as Groton Utilities.
City Mayor Dennis L. Popp said he was looking for a director with
public power experience who would understand the relationship the
utility company has with the city. The Vineland Municipal Electric
Utility gives a cash payment to the city, as does Groton Utilities,
Popp said.
”He understands working in that environment,” Popp said. Popp
said he also wanted someone familiar with purchasing electricity, as
the city will have to continue to be cautious in its purchasing as
prices go up.
Yatcko comes to Groton shortly after being let go by a new
administration in Vineland that promised to bring change. Mayor Robert
Romano let Yatcko and other top officials go, according to the Daily
Journal of Vineland. Yatcko was that city's highest-paid
employee, with an annual salary of $172,845. Romano eliminated Yatcko's
position entirely and transferred his responsibilities to the director
of the power plant, saving the city money.
The Daily Journal also reported Yatcko owed the city more than $5,000
in overused sick time, and his paychecks were docked to cover the
shortfall, leaving some councilmen to criticize his work attendance.
Popp, however, said Yatcko explained the situation to Groton officials.
Popp said Yatcko's sick, personal and vacation time that began accruing
on Jan. 1 was cut in half when he left, and he had already used much of
it, for the appropriate reasons. Popp said he talked to Vineland's
former mayor, Perry Barse, about it.
”There were no suprises, nothing people weren't open about,” Popp said.
Yatcko's phone number in New Jersey is no longer in service, and he did
not return an e-mail seeking comment. Groton city councilors
confirmed that the council was made aware of the Vineland situation
before they appointed Yatcko.
Councilor Hubert “Fritz” Poppe was the only councilor to oppose the
appointment, but Poppe did not publicly state why. He did not return
phone calls seeking comment.
”Politics can get ugly sometimes,” said Councilor David Hale. “What's
important is the experience he brings to the table in running a
municipal utility.”
Councilor Marian Galbraith, who was part of the selection committee,
said any concerns she had were “completely allayed” in her discussions
with Yatcko.
”He will be a fine fit for the city,” she said. “We need somebody at
the helm and I think he'll be fine.”
The city used Colorado-based Mycoff, Fry & Prouse LLC, who are
recruiters for the utility industries, in its nationwide search.
The firm interviewed six to seven candidates, and the selection
committee of Popp, city councilors and utility commissioners narrowed
that down to three before choosing Yatcko. By charter, Popp chooses the
utilities director with City Council approval.
Popp oversaw Groton Utilities during the vacancy, he said, though he
said he was not paid for the duties even though they fell outside his
mayoral job.
”Everybody helped out and we kept it all together,” he said. “Now we'll
have a captain of the ship and a leader to take us
forward.”