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09/18/2019 08:30 AMMayor Joseph Maturo, Jr., announced Aug. 27 that the Town of East Haven was recently awarded $635,000 in state Local Transportation Capital Improvement Program (LOTCIP) funds that have been earmarked for the town to begin Phases 3B and IV of the town’s ongoing West End Revitalization program.
“We’re thrilled to have secured these monies, which will be used to continue the beautification program this administration began between 2005 and 2007 and which will culminate in the extension of new sidewalks, streetscapes, and period lighting all the way to the New Haven line,” Maturo said.
In pursuing the funding, the town submitted an application to the State Department of Transportation through the South Central Regional Council of Governments. In an Aug. 13 letter to the town, Division Chief Gregory M. Dorosh, P.E. notified the town that its application had been approved in the amount of $635,000, which included allocations for all “contract items,” “contingencies,” and “incidentals to construction.”
“When we initiated the Main Street Revitalization program between 2005 and 2007, our intent was to beautify the entirety of Main Street,” Maturo continued. “Unfortunately, funding for the project dried up in 2007. Due to the lingering recession and the state’s fiscal woes, we continued to have difficulties securing funding to resume this project following my return to office in 2011 However, in 2017, the town was able to leverage $1.01 million in state and federal funding to re-start this initiative. This $635,000 allocation will get us even closer to our goal of extending these improvements all the way to our border with New Haven.”
Maturo indicated that the town has signed the commitment letter accepting the LOTCIP funds and intends to advertise for competitive bids from interested contractors in the coming weeks.
Maturo noted, “We are going to move quickly to confirm existing plans with our engineering team so that we can seek competitive bids, select a contractor, and get these improvements under way. We are hopeful that we will be able to begin these improvements in the early fall of this year.
“I’m proud that we are continuing to invest in our Main Street business community, as beautifying that corridor has been a key goal for our economic development team. I am even more proud to that we are undertaking these improvements without any increase in local taxes,” Maturo concluded. “We are closer than ever to competing this exciting initiative and I am hopeful that we will continue to enjoy success obtaining grants to defray the costs of the small portion of outstanding work.”