PROPOSED: Utopia Project

[MadVlad]

There was just an article in yesterdays Hartford Courant about people filming in the State. They were filming some Bollywood (Indian movies) movie in Union Station in New Haven the other day. The guy filming it was super impressed with CT and said he'd be coming back...

[HartfordTycoon]

yea.. another thing that comes to mind is that Utopia could attract all of those hopeful hollywood wannbees to the East coast instead of the West to some degree.

If Utopia were to become a huge success... i'm sure it would create a snowball affect in so many different ways.

Kind of exciting when you think about it. I just hope we dont start building massive 8-lane highways to access this area of CT.

Yeah that's what I have been saying. Something of this magnitude could reverse our stagnant population growth and begin a new era in state history. Let's not forget about the proposed North Stonington Studios nearby and numorous other satelite developments in the works.

[beerbeer]

Another Courant article today 1-20-06. The next 60 days shoud tell the tale.

[blink55184]

Another Courant article today 1-20-06. The next 60 days shoud tell the tale.

got a link to it?

[HartfordTycoon]

Film Industry Tax Incentives Proposed To Boost State Economy

Package Would Make State Competitive With R.I. And Mass., Rep. Amann Says

Incentive Article

and from the Norwich side of the Hospital.....

Norwich Moves Forward On Hospital Site

City Council Authorizes City Manager To Sign Deal With State For Property

Norwich acquires Hospital Property Adjacent to Planned Utopia Studios

[drc72]

Any word on the project so far? And to Virgo honestly this project could never be a bad thing. Look how much the casinos have improved southeastern CT's econemy. Man if this project takes off, we could then be looking at a long term economic boom. Of course little Rhody will benefit frim this as well. I highly doubt Hartford will feel negative effects from this, or Providence for that matter.

[damus]

Any word on the project so far? And to Virgo honestly this project could never be a bad thing. Look how much the casinos have improved southeastern CT's econemy. Man if this project takes off, we could then be looking at a long term economic boom. Of course little Rhody will benefit frim this as well. I highly doubt Hartford will feel negative effects from this, or Providence for that matter.

Norwich Bulletin's Utopia section

It's now up to Utopia to come up with their traffic report. They have until April 12th. I really hope this project happens for the area. If handled properly this will solidify the area's economy and cement the region as one of the top tourist destinations in New England.

Too bad the idiots that voted in idiotic representatives in Hartford like Edith Prague are more interested in pandering to greedy geezers to get elected than doing what's really important, like building "driveways to the casinos". There was a guy who presented at the Mystic Hilton years ago some time after Foxwoods opened who proposed the state complete route 2 to westerly, route 2a to route 2, widen route 164, and use existing rail lines plus new right of way adjacent to the completed route 2. He was ran out of the building and criticized by both local papers... Would've come in handy now with this and the North Stonington project looming.

I wonder how many of the people who oppose so vehemently new highway construction complain about the traffic.

http://www.norwichbulletin.com/apps/pbcs.d.../603220310/1002

Here's another view from the local idiots: creating a bypass (highway) around the casino is just as bad as doing nothing. Preston First Selectman Bob Congdon proclaims that he'll eat his hat if the average speed on this is under 60 mph.

http://www.norwichbulletin.com/apps/pbcs.d.../603220306/1002

[HartfordTycoon]

Just a heads up. An announcement should be made tonight regarding a decision on whether this project moves forward or not. I'm sure if not myself, someone will have it up here as soon as the news comes out. Let's keep our fingers crossed, those of us who support it anyway. If you're against it, I'm rooting against you tonight, sorry this is too big to pass up.

[damus]

Just a heads up. An announcement should be made tonight regarding a decision on whether this project moves forward or not. I'm sure if not myself, someone will have it up here as soon as the news comes out. Let's keep our fingers crossed, those of us who support it anyway. If you're against it, I'm rooting against you tonight, sorry this is too big to pass up.

Well ... I for one lean towards favoring it. My mother's actually going to the meeting tonight so I may hear about it if she stops by on the way home from town hall. I'll be sure to pass any info on if she does. Also, for anyone who hasn't heard about the meeting tonight, here ya go.

http://www.norwichbulletin.com/apps/pbcs.d...NEWS01/60405015

http://www.norwichbulletin.com/apps/pbcs.d.../604050311/1002

According to their study, phase one of the project will not put the mohegan-pequot (rt 2a) bridge over capacity, but look at the contradictions here. Currently the bridge handles 2,600 cars per hour at peak hours. The capacity is 2,900. I find this traffic study hard to believe.

[drc72]

Just a heads up. An announcement should be made tonight regarding a decision on whether this project moves forward or not. I'm sure if not myself, someone will have it up here as soon as the news comes out. Let's keep our fingers crossed, those of us who support it anyway. If you're against it, I'm rooting against you tonight, sorry this is too big to pass up.

Hopefully it will pass.

[sp1dey]

Anything happen last night?

[redbaron]

Anything happen last night?

Looks like it was just a meeting on traffic considerations. Here's an article from the Norwich Bulletin on the meeting: http://www.norwichbulletin.com/apps/pbcs.d.../604060311/1002

[HartfordTycoon]

It was a meeting about traffic, but it looks like the town's concerns have been addressed with the new bridge bypass being built. From the response to the meeting and the comments I have read I would say this is a go at this point. The Mayor of Norwich has also become a vocal supporter of the project for obvious reasons.

[drc72]

So is this a done deal or what?

[HartfordTycoon]

Not yet, the town council will have to give final approval and send it for a vote by the residents. Once it goes to referendum, it will surely pass judging by the results of the last one.

[drc72]

News reports are saying that it's looking really good.

[damus]

News reports are saying that it's looking really good.

http://www.norwichbulletin.com/apps/pbcs.d.../604110306/1002

I'm getting kinda sketpical ... their report estimates this thing is gonna get more visitors than disney world. I wish some objective 3rd parties would look over the proposal, this sounds a little outrageous to me. Where are all of these people (100k on the busiest 4 days, 74k and up on 207 days) coming from? If this is gonna be as big as they say it is the state will need to build more than the 2a bypass, they'll probably need to finish route 2 and possibly turn GNL into a real airport.

[drc72]

http://www.norwichbulletin.com/apps/pbcs.d.../604110306/1002

I'm getting kinda sketpical ... their report estimates this thing is gonna get more visitors than disney world. I wish some objective 3rd parties would look over the proposal, this sounds a little outrageous to me. Where are all of these people (100k on the busiest 4 days, 74k and up on 207 days) coming from? If this is gonna be as big as they say it is the state will need to build more than the 2a bypass, they'll probably need to finish route 2 and possibly turn GNL into a real airport.

Who cares? Let's get this thing rolling. It makes economic sense for the region and traffic issues are a fixable thing. This is too good of an opportunity pass up for the state.

[damus]

Who cares? Let's get this thing rolling. It makes economic sense for the region and traffic issues are a fixable thing. This is too good of an opportunity pass up for the state.

I'll care when I can't get to work in Groton from Preston in a reasonable amount of time because the state never built the roads they need to support the project. As everyone knows, the state is painfully slow with things such as taking people's property through eminent domain, securing funding, and building the roads. The route 2A bypass is garbage as it would only move the traffic jams to routes 12 and 2 assuming the disney world level traffic combined with the casino traffic doesn't overload the bypass itself. I'm all for development, but this area has crapty infrastructure for what it's got now, and something of the magnitude Utopia projects it will be would need more than what they're proposing.

[damus]

By the way

Utopia meets deadline

Utopia Studios met the 5 p.m. deadline today for submitting the documents Preston officials requested.

Utopia officials were given the deadline Monday night at the end of an almost four-hour meeting to review a study on the impact the project would have on traffic in the region. The documents are not part of the traffic study.

Utopia said, for four days of the year, its proposed $1.6 billion entertainment complex at the former Norwich Hospital property would be as busy as Disney World in Orlando, attracting 100,000 visitors a day.

Town leaders have not said whether the entire submission, including a recent traffic report, would earn a vote at a referendum.

The Norwich State Hospital Advisory Committee is meeting tonight to analyze the documents and further discuss the traffic study. Utopia

[drc72]

I'll care when I can't get to work in Groton from Preston in a reasonable amount of time because the state never built the roads they need to support the project. As everyone knows, the state is painfully slow with things such as taking people's property through eminent domain, securing funding, and building the roads. The route 2A bypass is garbage as it would only move the traffic jams to routes 12 and 2 assuming the disney world level traffic combined with the casino traffic doesn't overload the bypass itself. I'm all for development, but this area has crapty infrastructure for what it's got now, and something of the magnitude Utopia projects it will be would need more than what they're proposing.

The state needs to get off their ass and start improving transportation. They raise all these taxes and say they are improving transportation, but I hardly see anything these days.

[TaylorG4444]

with Utopia potentially getting that many visitors a year who can bet your ass that something will be done concerning air travel. I don't think that the airport in Groton can phycically grow though. Isn't surrounded by marsh and wetlands? I'd also expect to see more flights at Bradley take off (have an airport bus service)....possibly even international flights depending on how big this attraction grew to.

[damus]

with Utopia potentially getting that many visitors a year who can bet your ass that something will be done concerning air travel. I don't think that the airport in Groton can phycically grow though. Isn't surrounded by marsh and wetlands?

It has Bluff Point State Park right across from it, and if this were 40 years ago you could bet your ass they'd be bulldozing it out of existence soon, along with parts of the surrounding neighborhoods.

I did get to meet Joe before the meeting, I was at the pizza place next door to the school picking up dinner and saw him, so I said "what are you doing here?" and chatted it up with him for a few minutes. He's definately a smooth talker. I asked him how they're gonna provide transportation for a resort the size of disney world (only on 500 or so acres instead of the thousands disney has) and he almost convinced me that the extra span for rt 2a would be good enough. He said that he feels that transportation was "his responsibility too" when I prefaced the question with "I know this prob. isnt your department", but when I told him I'd like to see the town complete route 2, he said "yeah, well that's something the town's gotta decide". Yeah I got a contradiction out of him, but he still impressed me with his persuasiveness and friendly demeanor. He's got a little Clinton in him. I told him who I was and he immediately told me to say hi to my cousin and mother, who I'm sure only had as much contact with him as I did. The thing about people like that is, they can f*ck you and you might not realize it and think of them as your best friend until it's too late to do anything. He may be the greatest guy in the world, but the project he's proposing can have huge positive or negative impacts on my quality of life and I'm not gonna trust him just because he's a friendly guy.

I just got back from the Utopia meeting at the elementary school tonight, it passed 6-5. It was the first big meeting I attended and I got a really shady feeling from the whole deal. There is no feasibility study, no indication where they're gonna get the money. Meanwhile, you got a bunch of union workers and guys who look like mobsters all huddled into one corner of the room. Joe Gentile was initiating a lot of the clapping and cheerfulness (and even one chorus of boos) whenever anything good (or bad) was stated about the project. The real telling part about the meeting was out of all the people who gave the vote a standing ovation, at least 90% of them were the union workers and the utopia folks that don't live in the area and only care about the money, not what this project can do to our quality of life. I hate NIMBYs, but this isn't a business park with 10,000 employees where everyone comes and goes at the same time (which in a town of less than 10k is still huge), but this is an attempt at a displacing Disney World as the nation's premier tourist attraction. Who's to say that this won't fail? If they do build it and it's a success, does anyone here think the state's gonna actually build the transportation infrastructure required to make this work in a timely manner? The local infrastructure will need major upgrades too. Sewers (which this town doesn't even have), water pipes (again...), new roads, schools, etc etc etc. This is a huge undertaking. The saving grace about this is the town is guaranteed millions of dollars even if nothing is built once this is passed.

There will be at least 5 more meetings about this in May before it goes to the town for a referendum, including two presented by Joe Gentile & Co., and I'm still willing to be convinced that this is in the best interest of the town that I live in. I was 100% for this project a year ago, but the more I hear about it and the more I think makes me more and more skeptical.

It's not "APPROVED" yet..

[SOCOM]

Gentile and Co. are going to pay for the whole project with their own money, right? If that is the case, I don't see why they would build this monster without a good chance of success.

I'm all for this project but the transportation scares me too...and I don't even live within 100 miles of Norwich. But the fact is everytime I get on I-95 in Fairfield County it's a a parking lot, it doesn't matter if it's 1pm or 5 pm. I can't imagine what I-95 east of New Haven must look like during rush hour considering it's only a four lane highway. I heard CT is going to widen I95 to 3 lanes all the way to New London, but that is going to take a decade and won't accomplish much of anything by then.

CT is supposedly one of the most progressive states - why haven't we done a damn thing about improving mass transit?

[damus]

Gentile and Co. are going to pay for the whole project with their own money, right? If that is the case, I don't see why they would build this monster without a good chance of success.

I'm all for this project but the transportation scares me too...and I don't even live within 100 miles of Norwich. But the fact is everytime I get on I-95 in Fairfield County it's a a parking lot, it doesn't matter if it's 1pm or 5 pm. I can't imagine what I-95 east of New Haven must look like during rush hour considering it's only a four lane highway. I heard CT is going to widen I95 to 3 lanes all the way to New London, but that is going to take a decade and won't accomplish much of anything by then.

CT is supposedly one of the most progressive states - why haven't we done a damn thing about improving mass transit?

As one of the committee members said ... Disney spent a lot of money on EuroDisney and it also was a disaster. Their "dream team" is full of people who do not have much experience with the theme park business, the movie business, or running a college. They don't give out too much of their plans saying their schemes are proprietary and would be damaging if their competitors could get their hands on them (i guess that's a good enough excuse...). They're promising us that it's all gonna be perfect, nothing is...

I don't understand CT at all... The past 40 years or so has witnessed a state with everything going for it blow it. We have higher taxes and a worse business environment, bad roads, and no transportation. The state is full of terrible sprawl. "Progressive" states like CT seem to have been sitting on their hands over the past few decades. While more business friendly southern states have grown, most of the "progressive" states have remained stagnant. California only gained in population because of its immigrants, many of the educated class has fled for more affordable areas. Hopefully the central New Haven to Springfield rail is a success and the state can be encouraged to expand on that.