Bonding commission approves $5.2M for runway
HARTFORD -- The State Bond Commission approved $5.2 million in runway safety improvements at Sikorsky Memorial Airport in Stratford at its meeting Friday.
The commission, whose agenda is controlled by Gov. Dannel P. Malloy, also approved $538,000 for rehabilitating the parking garage at Housatonic Community College in Bridgeport and $2 million for the Bridgeport Economic Development Corp. to help minority-owned businesses throughout the southern half of the state obtain bidding and performance bonds.
The Sikorsky Memorial Airport improvements have been stalled for years amid arguments by Bridgeport, which owns the airport, and Stratford. The town opposed lengthening a runway that would require shifting Main Street on the eastern side of the airport.
Under the agreement announced last year, the runway will stay the same length, but an emergency arresting system will be installed before a 2015 deadline. The project is expected to cost $51 million -- $43.4 million of which will come from the federal government, $2.4 million from Bridgeport and $5.2 million from the state.
"This plan has been around for many years," said Bridgeport Mayor Bill Finch, a former state lawmaker who got together with another veteran of the General Assembly, Stratford Mayor John Harkins, to finally hammer out a deal.
About $6 million of the project is targeted for cleaning up a former Raymark Industries landfill in Stratford.
The commission also approved an $8.9 million grant for the Westport Housing Authority to demolish 33 mobile homes at the Sasco Creek Apartments and replace them with 54 new units.
Newtown, meanwhile, was awarded $3 million to continue its planning and design phase of a new Sandy Hook Elementary School.
The Housing Authority in Danbury won a $5.1 million grant for the rehabilitation of the Glen Apartments, including the conversion of heating and cooling systems, upgraded lighting and insulation, an emergency generator, and improvements to the community building at the 100-unit elderly apartment complex.
In Stamford, $10 million was approved for railroad and road replacements.
State Rep. Gerald M. Fox III, D-Stamford, said he was pleased that the commission approved the $10 million to finance preliminary engineering for the bridge replacements and road reconstruction for the Metro-North Railroad bridges over East Main and Atlantic streets in downtown Stamford.
"The bridge replacements and related road construction is critically important to Stamford and the region," Fox said Friday. "Funding dedicated to infrastructure improvements is welcome news to commuters and our neighborhoods."
Source: http://www.ctpost.com
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