Town of Bethlehem Prepares a New Affordable Housing Plan

The Town of Bethlehem has written a new affordable housing plan, which state law requires that cities and towns do. The draft plan takes a close look at the small, rural town’s housing stock and identifies strategies to developing more diverse, affordable options but also some of the challenges. About two percent of the homes in Bethlehem meet the statutory definition of affordable and the plan recognizes that the town needs more.

In the United States, if a household pays more than 30 % of its gross income on housing, it is considered cost-burdened and may not be able to afford transportation, food, clothing, medical care and other necessities. From reading the report, it seems that quite a few of Bethlehem’s residents face this difficult situation. One of the report’s findings is that 21 percent of the single-family homeowners in Bethlehem have mortgage costs and taxes that exceed 30 percent of their income.  Bethlehem has 159 households that rent their home, and 59 percent of them pay more than 30 percent of their income in rent.

The affordable housing plan identifies some potential strategies that are in line with the preponderance of single-family homes and lack of municipal services in Bethlehem. Those include focusing on affordable homeownership, maintaining and rehabilitating existing housing, and building accessory dwelling units.

Some of the challenges to increasing how much affordable housing there is in Bethlehem are also identified in the plan. The town surveyed residents and found that 45 % of the respondents supported having more affordable housing in town while 40 % opposed it. When asked if a moderate increase in how many apartments, duplexes or triplexes are in town would hurt or help Bethlehem, 57.8 % of the respondents said that it would negatively impact the community. A similar number said that increasing the overall number of housing units would also negatively impact the community.

The town has posted the plan on its website so that residents can review it and may hold a hearing to take comments. Bethlehem is a member of the Naugatuck Valley Council of Governments.

Woodbury to Start Trash Reduction Pilot Program

Woodbury starts its Trash Reduction Pilot Program on Feb. 7. The town is asking residents to separate food scraps from regular garbage so that less waste goes to incinerators or landfills. Garbage disposal costs are increasing for municipalities in Connecticut and the intent of the program is save taxpayer money. The program is free to residents and a $159,100 grant from the Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection is paying for the costs.

Town officials have started alerting residents to the program, which entails putting food scraps in green bags and regular garbage into orange ones that are separated after collection. The bags with food scraps will be sent to Quantum Biopower in Southington, where the organic waste is transformed into renewable energy.

NVCOG is supporting its member communities that are participating in the Trash Reduction Pilot Programs and is helping to make residents aware of what is happening. Staff will host several information programs planned for residents in Woodbury. Those events are as follows:

  • Thursday, Jan. 19 from 6-7 p.m. Community Champion Kickoff Dinner at the Woodbury Public Library. Learn more about the program and how you can spread the word, help plan events, and give feedback. Pizza will be served.
  • Thursday, Jan. 26 at 1 p.m. Presentation at the Woodbury Senior Center with Q&A.
  • Thursday, Feb. 2 from 6-7 p.m. CT Recycling Workshop at the Woodbury Community Center. Recycling is just as important as food scrap collection. Bring your recycling questions to this fun workshop led by the State Recycling Coordinator.
  • Week of Feb. 6. Around Town. The pilot program launches on Feb. 7. Keep an eye out for our tables around the community, where you can ask questions!
  • Saturday, Feb. 18 from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. Kickoff Fair at the Woodbury Public Library. Join us in celebrating Woodbury’s new program, plus we’ll be giving away tabletop compost buckets, yummy treats, environmental tips, and more.

A total of three NVCOG members have committed to running Trash Reduction Pilot Programs. Ansonia started its program in December, and Seymour is expected to start one this winter as well.

Naugatuck and Seymour Receive State Grants for Public Housing Improvements

Naugatuck and Seymour will each receive $2 million grants that will pay for improvements to public housing complexes in those communities. The grants are coming from the Connecticut Department of Housing and Gov. Ned Lamont announced them recently.

The grant that the state is giving to Naugatuck will pay for replacing ductless heat pumps in the Oak Terrace complex that are more than a decade old and outdated. In Seymour, the Castle Heights Public Housing Modernization project is focused on interior renovations and upgrades. The project scope includes replacing smoke and CO2 detectors, accessibility improvements, replacing bathrooms, kitchens and hot water tanks, and removing asbestos. Both communities are members of the Naugatuck Valley Council of Governments.

The grants to Naugatuck and Seymour are among seven totaling $13.4 million to modernize and rehabilitate affordable housing developments around Connecticut.

Public Information Session on Route 8 Plan Scheduled for Jan. 12

Route 8 from Exit 13 in Shelton to Exit 22 in Seymour is set for repaving, new safety features and other improvements. The Connecticut Department of Transportation will hold a virtual public information session on Jan. 12 at 6 p.m., which will include a presentation on the project followed by an opportunity for people to ask questions.

Design work for the $77.3 million project is being done and construction is scheduled to start in the spring of 2023. The section of Route 8 that is the focus of this project does not meet current highway standards and the anticipated improvements will address that issue. Plans include repaving the roadway, installing better lighting, repairs to the Route 8 bridge that brings the highway over the Housatonic River, putting in new guiderails and other work. Detour routes will be provided if exit and entrance ramps need to be closed because of the work and people can sign up to receive email alerts on the project’s website.

 

 

Naugatuck to Receive State Funding for Redevelopment Project

Gov. Ned Lamont announced on Dec. 20 that the Borough of Naugatuck will receive a $6 million grant to help redevelop a parcel near its downtown green and a planned train station.

The borough and its private partner, Pennrose LLC, will provide infrastructure and site improvements to a large, underutilized parcel located 500 feet from the downtown green and adjacent to the site of the borough’s forthcoming train station. Pennrose and the borough plan to develop the parcel with 180 housing units, 80% of which will be affordable at various income levels. The plans also include 7,320 square feet of commercial space. The total project cost is $17.3 million project and the site, known as Parcel B, is at the corner of Maple Street and Old Firehouse Road.

The grant is among eight that were given out as part of the recently launched Connecticut Communities Challenge Grant program. Naugatuck is a member of the Naugatuck Valley Council of Governments.

 

Funding for Accessibility Improvements at Waterbury Branch Line Stations is Approved

The Federal Transit Administration has announced that the Connecticut Department of Transportation will receive $29.6 million to make the Waterbury Branch Line railroad stations in Ansonia, Beacon Falls and Seymour fully accessible for passengers with disabilities. The planned improvements to the century-old stations include building high-level rail platforms and installing handrails. Funding for the work is coming through the FTA’s All Stations Accessibility Program.

Poor handicapped accessibility and a lack of high-level boarding platforms have been identified as issues that hinder use of the Waterbury Branch Line. Those and other problems are discussed in a draft report of NVCOG’s Route 8 & Waterbury Branch Line Corridor/Alternative Modes Study.

 

Naugatuck Valley Council of Governments and Save the Sound Recommended for Funding to Remove Kinneytown Dam

The US Department of Commerce announced on December 14 that the Naugatuck Valley Council of Governments (NVCOG), in partnership with Save the Sound, has been recommended for funding for a project intended to lead to the removal of Kinneytown Dam in Seymour, CT. The funding is being made available through the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA) Restoring Fish Passage through Barrier Removal grant program. NVCOG requested $15 million from the program earlier this year for a project that would include decommissioning the facility, designing the deconstruction, and ultimately removing the dam and restoring the river.

Kinneytown Dam is a hydroelectric facility on the Naugatuck River consisting of two dams with powerhouses in Seymour and Ansonia, CT. It is currently owned by HydroLand, Inc. The powerhouse in Ansonia has been offline since before 2013, and the powerhouse in Seymour has not produced electricity since 2020.

Since 2019, NVCOG has been working with partners Save the Sound and the Naugatuck River Revival Group (NRRG), collectively as the Naugatuck River Restoration Coalition, to address long standing fish passage and condition issues at Kinneytown Dam. In 2019, 2020 and 2021, Save the Sound and NRRG documented that hundreds of migratory fish were gathering and dying below the dam, unable to access habitat upstream.

“The removal of Kinneytown is the keystone to restoring this river,” says Kevin Zak, President of NRRG. “This funding would go a long way in freeing this river from 200 years of neglect. Reaching this point is a result of extreme dedication, coordination, and hard work from many individuals and organizations both public and private, proving nothing is impossible. The collaboration of Save the Sound, NVCOG, NRRG, NOAA, USFWS, DEEP, local mayors, and the Federal and State Delegations, is a notable example of how to work together for the public good. This is only the beginning; the best is yet to come.”

For years, the facility has been almost a complete barrier to the thousands of migratory fish from Long Island Sound attempting to reach miles of spawning and rearing habitat in the Naugatuck River. A fish ladder constructed in 1999 at the facility has been shown to be ineffective under most conditions. The effectiveness of the fish ladder was further limited due to heavier flows over the dam’s spillway since the powerhouses have gone offline.

Now, advocates want this major impediment to the fish passage on the Naugatuck River gone. Dams all along the river have been removed and a fish bypass channel was installed upstream from Kinneytown at Tingue Dam in Seymour—but those upstream habitat restoration efforts have remained inaccessible by the passage restrictions at Kinneytown. Once it is removed, fish species like blueback herring, alewife and American shad will have full access to the length of the Naugatuck River to Thomaston.

“We have a unique opportunity to take down a dam that has only served to impede the Naugatuck River’s ability to flourish. Removing the obstruction will make an invaluable contribution to the river’s health, making it an asset for the region and the entire state of Connecticut.” said Waterbury Mayor Neil M. O’Leary and Chairman of the NVCOG.

NVCOG developed the proposed project in partnership with Save the Sound, and the nonprofit will be a subrecipient of funds through NVCOG. Save the Sound’s ecological restoration team brings decades of dam removal and habitat restoration experience to the project, and Regional Director of Ecological Restoration, Laura Wildman, played a leading role in all the upstream dam removals in the 1990s.

“The Naugatuck River, which once flowed different colors each day, is getting significant attention from the federal government,” says Wildman. “This is exciting for me because my involvement in this river started over two decades ago, when I was a project engineer focused on removing five upstream dams. Being able to finally address the first barrier on the system with Save the Sound feels very fitting and fulfilling. Our entire organization, particularly our legal team, has been tirelessly advocating for
successful fish passage at Kinneytown Dam for years. This funding ensures that this once industrial sewer will return to the life-supporting, swiftly flowing river that initially cascaded down the Naugatuck Valley.”

NVCOG and Save the Sound will be negotiating the award and project scope with NOAA. Final approval is subject to funding availability as well as final review and approval by both NOAA Grants Management Division and Department of Commerce Financial Assistance Law Division. No application is “awarded” until it has been signed by the official Grants Officer.

In addition to restored fish passage that will draw anglers to the valley, the project will also reduce flood risk upstream and downstream of the dam and establish new recreational river access. Restoring sediment flow will also benefit coastal areas downstream.

NVCOG Communities Receive State Funds to Redevelop Blighted Properties

Five NVCOG cities and towns have been awarded $5.480 million in grants from the Connecticut Department of Economic and Community Development (CTDECD) that will pay for cleaning up sites in those communities so they can be redeveloped and put back to good use.

Gov. Ned Lamont announced those grants on Monday, and they are part of an overall package totaling $24.6 in grants to assess and remediate 41 blighted parcels in 16 communities. The grants to the NVCOG members are:

  • Ansonia: A $990,000 grant for the abatement and remediation of the 2.84-acre former Farrel Corporation building located at 501 East Main Street and 65 Main Street. The adaptive re-use project by the property owner, Shaw Growth Venture, Inc., as per their redevelopment agreement with the City of Ansonia, envisions redevelopment of the existing buildings with a mix of approximately 200 affordable mixed-income residential and 20,000 square feet of commercial space.
  • Cheshire: A $925,000 grant for remediation and abatement of Building #1 of the 3.02-acre, former Ball and Socket Manufacturing Co. property located at 493 West Main Street to ready the building for redevelopment.
  • Derby: A $650,000 grant to remediate the 0.73-acre property located at 67-71 Minerva Street by the Connecticut Brownfield Land Bank, Inc. Plans by the developer, Cedar Village Minerva Square, LLC, are to demolish the building and construct a four-story, 90-unit mixed-income apartment building with ground-level parking.
  • Torrington: A $1,500,000 grant for the abatement and demolition of the former Hotchkiss & Sons Saw Mill buildings (3.55-acre site located at 199-237 Water Street and 229-239 Church Street) to enable redevelopment by Pay Dirt, LLC. Of the five existing buildings at the site, it is anticipated that three buildings will be demolished and two will be preserved to remediate and redevelop.
  • Waterbury: A $2,000,000 grant to complete investigation and the cleanup of 777 South Main Street and 359 Mill Street (total of 3.25 acres) located in the Mad River Redevelopment Corridor. Remediation will help expand the existing food hub and include construction of approximately 50 raised community garden beds, an outdoor kitchen, a beekeeping area, native plant landscaping, and a market and retail cafe.

 

The announcement from Lamont’s office has the full details on the grants that were announced on Monday.

Regional Brownfields Partnership Showcases Redevelopment at Annual Meeting

Polluted and often abandoned properties known as brownfield sites are a blight on many Connecticut communities. Bringing these critical properties back to life requires the ongoing collaboration of municipalities, state and federal agencies, and the private sector through the Regional Brownfields Partnership (RBP). At its November 30, 2022 annual meeting, the 24-town RBP recognized the accomplishments of the past year and also the enormous opportunities for large scale redevelopment that can contribute to future financial and environmental sustainability for member communities. RBP Chairwoman Sheila O’Malley, who serves as Ansonia’s Economic Development Director, observed, “The meeting defined the critical need for partners to turn these sites that were once considered hopeless into true economic generators.”

At the conference, Christine O’Neill, an environmental planner at the Naugatuck Valley Council of Governments (NVCOG), highlighted milestones from this year’s activities such as ribbon-cuttings at the Franklin Avenue apartments in Torrington and the Bank Street Park in Waterbury, the NVision 2022 environmental justice panel discussion, and earning a $3.9 million grant from the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). NVCOG’s brownfields manager Ricardo Rodriguez noted that over $1 million from this grant went to the remediation of the former Beaton & Corbin factory site in Southington where a private developer has now invested $1.5 million to construct medical office space.

Several representatives of member communities shared their success stories in reutilizing former brownfields sites. One success story includes the recent conversion of a former manufacturing site in Berlin into a development that, according to developer Anthony Valenti of the Newport Realty Group, will have nearly 100,000 square feet once completed and will form a new center for the community. Steele Center @ Farmington Avenue will mix stores, offices and 70 apartments that will allow people to live and work near the train station in Berlin. The development will consist of five buildings. The first, finished in the fall, has 16 apartments as well as space for up to four businesses. Trio Health Care, the Hop Haus Gastropub and an attorney’s office will take occupancy during the winter. Christopher Edge, Berlin’s Economic Development Director, said 13 of the apartments are rented and they too will be occupied this winter.

Christal Preszler, Newtown’s Deputy Director of Economic and Community Development, showcased the cleanup and redevelopment of the former Fairfield Hills state hospital campus to create a new municipal center along with office space and a brewery.

To learn more about the Regional Brownfields Partnership, please visit https://nvcogct.gov/who-we-are/commissions-committees/regional-brownfields-partnership/ .

 

Newport Realty Group developer Anthony Valenti, at left, and Berlin Economic Development Director Christopher Edge discuss the Steele Center @ Farmington Ave during the Regional Brownfields Partnership's annual meeting.
Attendees listen to a presentation during the Regional Brownfields Partnership's annual meeting.

NVCOG Publishes Naugatuck River Greenway Trail Design and Management Guide

NVCOG has published the NRG Trail Design and Management Guide, which sets standards for the construction and upkeep of new sections as they are built. The 34-page guide is free and can be downloaded from NVCOG’s website at https://nvcogct.gov/what-we-do/naugatuck-river-greenway/.

The NRG Trail is a non-motorized, multi-use trail. When it’s finished, cyclists and pedestrians will be able to ride or walk the length of the river without going onto local roads or encountering motor vehicles. The trail will go for 44 miles along the Naugatuck River through 11 communities: Litchfield, Harwinton, Thomaston, Watertown, Waterbury, Naugatuck, Beacon Falls, Seymour, Ansonia, and Derby.

Several sections of the trail are done and being used. NVCOG is working with stakeholders to get more parts of the trail constructed. NVCOG developed the design and management guide with guidance from the Naugatuck Rover Greenway Steering Committee to help this process along.

In the guide, readers will find useful information on design standards for trails, how to make a trail accessible to all users, signage and wayfinding, lighting and how to measure use of a trail.

Municipalities that build a trail are responsible for its upkeep. The guide tells how to control vegetation along a trail, keeping it clean, keeping it clear in the winter and how to calculate maintenance costs. Appendices cover style guides for street furniture and amenities along with information on Connecticut’s e-bike laws.

For more information about the NRG Trail and the guide, contact NVCOG Senior Regional Planner Aaron Budris, at abudris@nvcogct.gov.