Re: The Project II: Misgivings
Ronald
The petitioners, residents and business owners affiliated with local advocacy group Concerned Citizens for a Safe Environment, argued that FERC inadequately evaluated alternatives to the project, and failed to address foreseeable indirect environmental effects from increased gas production upstream from a compressor station and combustion downstream from the facility.
"My main concern is that the road be put back in proper working order and cuts to the owners' driveways are done properly," Chairman John Powderly said. "With this project being so big, I think you're main complaint would be, not the main road because that's somewhat our problem, but " misbehaving in the driveways of the owners."
Peck told board that the contractor has indicated most of the work will be off the road. He also said the plan, which Selectman Aaron Burke said appeared to have been "written on a napkin," did not show how many driveways would be affected.
Executive Assistant Tracie Craig said Comcast typically provides a "system plan" document for similar projects but based on a conversation with the contractor, she learned that one one was not provided for this project.
"Comcast is really eager for them to start it and they want them to be started by July 7 so that was why the push was on and when I told them that we might like a more detailed drawing and we could get (the contractor) on the July 14 meeting he really wasn't thrilled with having to wait the extra week," she told the board.
Bedford Township's Board of Trustees on July 6 voted 5-2 to accept a $245,118 bid from Library Design Associates for a carpeting and modification project at the library. The board also unanimously approved the issuance of a Request for Proposals (RFP) for the replacement and installation of the library's chiller, the heat-transfer component of its HVAC system that sits outside of the building.
The accepted bid for the carpeting and modification project includes an additional $2,000 for a performance bond to protect the township, should the contractor fail to complete the project as proposed. Funded entirely from the library's quarter-mill, five-year levy that was approved by voters in 2018, the project involves replacing the carpet in the facility's children's area, as well as in the two wings off of the main section of the building and in the conference rooms. It also includes the creation of two new study areas.
Library Design Associates will handle moving all of the library's furniture and books as needed, as they replace the carpeting. The only other bid the township received for the project did not include this component, instead stipulating that the library and township would be responsible for moving these items.
"I've been consistent with my apprehensions towards the entirety of this project," said Montri, who serves as the board of trustees' liaison on the Library Advisory Board. "...My biggest reason is that this is not what I believe was communicated to the township board and township residents when this millage was presented for a vote. I don't believe that it was sold to the citizenry or this board that it would be a quarter-of-a-million-dollar ticket to carpet the library. That's the bulk of this entire millage, for a five-year millage to be for carpeting.
Montri added that he felt the way the carpet project was presented to voters was as a somewhat minor repair project for the areas in which it is showing the most wear. He also said he would prefer to see the chiller project be completed before the carpeting project, as he feels that replacing this key component of the building's HVAC system is a more pressing concern.
"With how hot it's been the last couple of days, if the chiller goes out we'll look pretty stupid having nice carpet when we haven't replaced the chiller," he said. "We've known for two years that it needs replacing, so it's just foolish... It's another reason that, until that's done, there's no way I support getting new carpet put in the library until that is completed."
Pirrone agreed with Montri that the cost for the carpet and modification project was higher than initially estimated, saying that he feels a major part of the issue is the type of carpet that was originally put into the 17-year-old building.
"Part of the problem is that it should have never been rolled carpet from the beginning; It should have been tiled, commercial carpet," the supervisor said. "I don't know why there was ever rolled carpet put into a commercial building. You've got tiles, you can replace the tiles if they go bad. You can't do that in the library..."
Library Advisory Board member Harry Lambers disagreed with Montri about how the carpet project was presented to voters prior to the approval of the millage. He said the project was explained in material that was sent out to township residents asking for their support of the levy, and added that both it and the chiller replacement can be completed within the library's projected budget.
"This carpeting was included in the estimate to come up with the millage," Lambers said. "The people were notified that this carpeting was part of the millage in the letters that were sent out and the flyers that were sent out. The reason the millage language (on the ballot) did not state that was because that millage language was duplicated from the millage before. That way there were no lawyer fees... But on all of the flyers, one of the top items was replacing the carpet."
"So far the recommendations (the advisory board) is coming to this board with are within your budgetary guidelines," Steiner said. "I'm not saying that just because you've got money means you have to automatically spend it; Of course not. But I also am looking at the long-term of this library. Sooner or later, all of this has to be done."
During citizen comments at the end of the meeting, one township resident took umbrage with the way in which Montri objected to the carpeting project. Ann Karmol said she feels Montri is "kind of being pointlessly obstructionist."
"As someone with two kids who frequents the library - and Craig, who has a child who I hope someday will visit this library - I would like to think he would be much more supportive," Karmol said. "It's getting kind of, frankly, offensive, that he just basically obstructs, and then does not bring up any kind of issues that he's having during the (Library Advisory Board) meetings, and then comes and talks to you all in public about all these things without discussing it with them.
A proposal to build 15 housing units on Fifth Street West was approved by the Sonoma Planning Commission last week, despite less-than-enthusiastic reviews by planning commissioners and staunch opposition from some neighbors.
But with an eye toward state law that requires jurisdictions to weigh only objective standards when deciding if a project adheres to a city development code, the commission on June 2 voted 5-1 to approve the so-called Hummingbird Cottages, with Commissioner Larry Barnett opposed and Commissioner Bill Willers not in attendance.
Hummingbird Cottages is a proposal from Concord-based DeNova Homes to develop nine single-family residences and three duplexes on a 1.5-acre property at 19910 Fifth St. W. Twelve of the homes would be sold at market rates, with three others at low-, medium- and modest-rates. The duplex units would be 1,379 to 1,618 square feet and the detached homes from 1,757 to 1,918 square feet.
The proposed change would be a massive shift in scale for the pair of properties and be a marked visual change to the approach into Old Town along Route 1. The project faced some pushback from the Board of Architectural Review for demolishing homes identified as architecturally characteristic of the historic Parker-Gray neighborhood.
As previously noted, staff finds that the applicant has been responsive to comments from the Board
and staff and has made significant changes to the proposed design throughout the Concept Design
review phase. These changes include the following:
In general, the staff report said the new architectural shifts in the project will help it blend in more with the buildings around it, including those west of the property that are taller than the proposed development.
Despite an Indiana law signed last year to slow its move off long-dominant coal, several electric utilities, including NIPSCO, are moving forward with those plans anyway.NIPSCO recently said two wind farms, both joint ventures, are part of a string of renewable projects slated for completion by 2023.
In White County, the Rosewater Wind Farm, a 102-megawatt site can generate electricity for more than 25,000 homes with average usage. While just south between Benton and White counties, the Jordan Creek Wind farm is now also online with a 400-megawatt capacity, a spokesperson said.
In recent years, several other Indiana utilities including Indianapolis Power & Light Co., Duke Energy, Hoosier Energy and Vectern Corp. have announced plans to retire some aging coal plants, which often have expensive upkeep.
Gov. Eric Holcomb signed a bill sponsored by Soliday to slow coal plant closures last year. In 2019, Soliday also sponsored an unsuccessful bill to temporarily stop the construction of new power plants.
Sources stated that getting environmental clearance from the Ministry of Tribal Affairs was not a major issue since the project would not affect either forests or people on a large-scale. Besides, public hearings in two districts of Maharashtra were yet to be conducted.
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The final person that the DTS memo lists is David Walker, a rail industry veteran who worked on the Honolulu project as a track consultant with rail contractor Stantec until February. Stantec reassigned Walker back to the mainland U.S. after he repeatedly insisted to HART that it swap out the flange-bearing frogs with the more commonly used tread-bearing frogs.
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