GREATER GRAND CROSSING A team of investors has joined forces to bring luxury, energy-efficient container homes to the South Side and neighbors could move in as soon as this winter.

Vincennes Village, a collection of 12 40-foot-long modern, eco-friendly container homes, will be built at 7231 S. Vincennes Ave.

The project is the brainchild of project manager Darryl Burton, owner of Global Financial Services, and developer Anthony Casboni, former owner of the demolished Vincennes Discount Center and a retired firefighter.Onyx Architectural Services, a minority-owned firm, is the lead developer.

The homes built from 8-foot-wide train shipping containers will have ceilings nearly 10 feet high. They will have 1,200-1,800 square feet of space, two stories and three to four bedrooms. The homes will include full appliances, including an indoor washer and dryer, as well as a balcony, a covered patio and car garages.

Each home will also be energy efficient, with motion-activated lights and faucets and state of the art material anyone might find in a traditional wooden house, Burton said. Pricing for the homes will start at $300,000, developers said.

Construction on the container homes will begin in the next few months once the final blueprints are stamped by the Department of Buildings, Burton said.

Vincennes Village will welcome its first families by Christmas, Burton said.

We decided to develop a practical and innovative approach to constructing new homes, Burton said. Everything about the house will be upscale. Were bringing suburban living to a city block.

Vincennes Village was born out of a chance encounter between Burton and Casboni.

Alongside his late brothers, Casboni was the owner of Vincennes Discount Center, a family-owned business that spent more than 60 years in Greater Grand Crossing, Casboni said.

To the north and south of the business were apartment buildings that became dilapidated, Casboni said. When the city demolished the buildings, Casboni and his brothers bought the lots from the city in the early 90s, he said.

As the years went by, the Casbonis decided to semi-retire from their business and tore down Vincennes Discount Center around 2001, Casboni said.

Left with a large patch of land from the store and about 20 vacant lots from the apartment buildings, the Casbonis decided to build eight homes where the store once operated, Casboni said.

When the housing market collapsed in 2008, the brothers took a breather from building the homes, Casboni said.

But as the years trickled on, they struggled to find the right developer to assist in bringing homes to the community, Casboni said.

In April 2021, Casboni met Burton, a mover and a shaker with a creative idea to transform his vacant land, Casboni said.

It interested me because the process seemed fast and innovative, Casboni said. You can build the homes quickly, and theyre secure. Theyre durable, and they have an appealing, modern look.

Casboni and Burton have never built container homes, but theyve traveled throughout the states to look at container home communities, Burton said. What they saw solidified their decision, Casboni said.

Container homes enhance communities, Burton said. Thats what were in the process of doing. The community can be elevated.

Burton said Vincennes Village is an innovative approach to solving two nationwide problems: excess train containers and a housing shortage.

Empty train containers are permeating our planet, Burton said. And there is a delinquency in homeownership, particularly in the wards not normally served by the city, he said.

Their train container homes will repurpose a product that has been dormant and transform it into something a lot more tangible, Burton said.

Container homes can also be rehabbed and sold in half the time and half the costs as a traditional wooden house, Burton said.

Once their permits are approved, all theyll have to do is connect the containers and design the inside, Burton said. The homes will be ready in three to four months, he said.

When you compare a traditional home to a container home, youll come back to the container home, Burton said. The amenities are the same, but it requires less money, maintenance and upkeep. Homeownership becomes practical for everyone involved.

Vincennes Village will appeal to working families living in the community who want to enhance their way of living, developers said.

The homes will be minutes away from the Dan Ryan Expressway, a shopping center and the 75th Street Boardwalk.

And if the $300,000 starting price looks steep, a person paying $1,500 in rent in the neighborhood can afford the house, Burton said.

Vincennes Village will start with 12 homes, but Burton and Casboni hope to add eight more down the line, they said. Commercial development isnt off the table, they said.

The South Side has numerous vacant lots. Our goal is to permeate the communities with an innovative approach to living, Burton said. The idea is taking off. We see this as the future of Chicago.

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$300,000 Luxury Container Homes Are Coming To The South Side This Winter - Block Club Chicago

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By Tina Traster

County Executive Ed Day is mad and hes not mincing his words.

In a sharply worded letter dated Aug. 16 sent to the countys five town supervisors, Day says he is still awaiting information or suggestions on an alternative site to build a new county animal shelter while the deadline for a construction bid for the Hi-Tor Animal Shelter rebuild is set to expire in mid-September.

Despite promising to be part of the solution, to date we have not received any suggestions, calls, follow-up meetings, or promised shovel-ready locations for a new shelter submitted from anyone, Day wrote.

In July, the new shelter project, thought to be on track, stalled when the County Legislature tabled a resolution to fund the project, which called for an additional $10 million to the already earmarked $8 million for building a state-of-the-art 14,000 square-foot facility on site at the shelters current location in Pomona. In delaying the vote, county legislators raised questions over who would head up the shelter, saying they wanted more exploration on the subject.

Subsequently, town supervisors began to suggest that alternative sites should be considered for the purpose of potentially saving taxpayer money and it would be an opportunity to relocate a shelter away from the sound of fireworks at the nearby Clover Stadium. The issue over the fireworks has been going on for several years, but may be moot as officials at Clover Stadium plan to switch to quieter and less disruptive fireworks beginning next season.

This upheaval over whether to fund the shelter or where it should be sited has blown a long-awaited shelter upgrade off course, leading Day to say in this letter: You are all playing with fire by risking precious taxpayer dollars while putting the safety of these animals at risk.

Day in the letter points out that county taxpayers have already invested $524,963 in architectural and engineering services in addition to the hundreds of thousands spent over the years to keep this shelter running.

Concern over Hi-Tors future began nearly a year before the Legislature tabled the vote.

For months, questions have swirled around who will run the shelter, particularly as Rockland Green, the former Rockland County Solid Waste Management Authority, set out to change its mission to control animal management and expressed interest in taking over shelter management when the new shelter is built.

Rockland Greens Chairman Howard Phillips, who is also the Town Supervisor of Haverstraw, has repeatedly said in public forums that Hi-Tor needs new leadership, and more recently hes raised the notion that the shelter rebuild should not necessarily be constructed on the Pomona site, which has been in the making for years. He, along with the other supervisors, have been suggesting alternative sites, though at least one in Orangetown has been rejected.

Town Supervisor Jim Monaghan, who said hes open to all possibilities, said there is no suitable site in Stony Point.

Im not leading the charge but Im open to all options, said Monaghan. Im open to moving forward with current shelter if theres suitable taxpayer savings and if its good for the animals.

Town Supervisor Michael Specht, who also noted that hes not leading this effort, said theres a town-owned site of vacant land in Torne Valley that might be suitable. The remote site in the far western corner of the county, Specht said, is adjacent to Rockland Greens facilities.

Theres a location thats owned by the town thats not far from Rockland Green facility thats one of the options but at this time I have to defer to Phillips, who is taking the lead, who is the most senior of the supervisors, who is acting as the spokesman.

Phillips says the town supervisors are working to find a solution.

The cost of the bids and proposals that came back to the county were exorbitantly high and that as elected officials we needed to further investigate and see whether or not we could reduce the cost to the taxpayer, said Phillips. At the same meeting, it was expressed that there was a petition opposing the new shelter at its current location because of the fireworks from Boulder Stadium affecting the animals. It was obvious to everyone that attended that we needed to look at alternatives. We are continuing to do so and as everyone knows its extremely challenging to get everyone together during the summer.

But the New York Boulders team president Shawn Reilly said the stadium plans to switch up the fireworks for all but two of its shows with explosives that have a lower profile and that are substantially less noisy. These fireworks will be more like shooting off Roman candles as opposed to commercial grade fireworks. We want to be good neighbors, he said.

It is unclear as to whether the supervisors are casting for a plot of vacant land or are contemplating proposals on rehabbing an existing building. Either way, a modern, state-of-the-art shelter is an expensive proposition because it must take into account accommodations for ventilation, interior design, odor and noise control, security, sound buffers, bacterial controls, impermeable floors, and outdoor space for the dogs.

With his hands tied, and the construction bid at risk, Day is urging the supervisors to act.

We have an extension on the construction bid until mid-September, which will need to be reissued if it expires, and given inflationary pressures, I can only assume that would increase the cost yet again and further burden Rockland taxpayers, which must be avoided at all costs.

Responding to concerns from both legislators and town supervisors over who will run the shelter, the countys Department of General Services Purchasing Department on July 19 posted a Request for Information on Bidnet, a statewide municipal bidding website for an entity to provide animal shelter management and operation services.

The county said it was seeking to identify organizations that can either provide services at the existing facility for 24 months beginning Jan. 2023 or one that would be interested in operating a new facility when completed, or both.

Last week, just two entities both in the business of managing animals responded to Rockland Countys invitation to express interest in running the county-owned animal shelter. But only Hi-Tor, which has been running the shelter for 50 years, said it wanted to run the shelter as it exists now, and in the future when and if a new shelter is built.

In contrast, The Hudson Valley Humane Society, also located in Pomona, threw its hat in the ring but only showed an interest in running the long hoped-for but stalled multi-million-dollar shelter that has now become the fulcrum of much tension and controversy.

This recent Request for Information (RFI) underlines something weve said repeatedly, which is Hi-Tor is the only organization willing to utilize that outdated facility, said Day. Day urges the supervisors to either provide detailed alternative solutions or reaffirm their commitment to move forward with the new shelter.

See original here:
Ed Day Admonishes Town Supervisors For Inaction On Finding Alternative Site For Animal Shelter Rebuild - Rockland County Business Journal

Key Takeaways

Legacy applications are often stuck in the slow lane: aging and brittle, poorly understood and barely supported, and based on aging technologies, they are often the last applications to benefit from modern concepts like continuous delivery. Yet because of their potential instability, they are actually the applications that benefit most from concepts like a Minimum Viable Product (MVP) and its related Minimum Viable Architecture (MVA).

How can this be true? Most legacy applications are relatively monolithic and defy being released incrementally.

Once you realize that every release is an experiment in value in which the release either improves the value that customers experience or doesnt, you realize that every release, even one of a legacy application, can be thought of in terms of an MVP. Each release is really an MVP that relates to the added value that you are looking to deliver. Therefore each release also has an MVA. Concepts like MVP and MVA provide teams with a laser focus on what is absolutely necessary to test their hypotheses about what changes customers will really value.

Since the MVP concept is most often associated with new products, it might be better to think of each new release of an existing application as a minimum viable increment, or the minimum set of changes that the team thinks will result in an improvement in the value that customers experience. But since the term MVP already has currency, well continue using it.

As we noted in prior articles, an MVA is the minimum amount of architecture needed to ensure that the MVP satisfies its Quality Attribute Requirements or QARs. Since architecture, for us, is primarily about technical decisions, the MVA for a legacy application release represents the minimum set of application changes that the team needs to make to ensure that the release supports its QARs.

The release-readiness MVP criteria are typically focused on whether the release will let the team test its understanding of the desired outcomes for customers; MVPs are not "technical proofs of concept". Similarly, the release readiness of the MVA can be determined by evaluating whether the changes being made to the legacy application will ensure that the release will be able to meet the QARs for the application and, in so doing, sustainably meet customer needs.

Figure 1: MVP & MVA provide a "lens" to look at legacy systems in a new way

Process Challenges:One of the criteria for any release, and especially applications on which the organization depends, is that the application will have passed a set of tests (ideally automated) that validate that the release candidate satisfies its QARs. Running manual tests to evaluate QARs is too cumbersome and error-prone to be reliable. The lack of automated tests to determine whether a release meets its functional requirements and QARs is one of the factors that prevent organizations from delivering value in small increments.

Other factors sometimes prevent organizations from releasing in small increments, leading them to release changes in relatively large, complicated increments. These include:

With the exception of regulatory constraints, these can all be fixed but they take time and concerted effort.

Paying down debt, when you have a chance, sounds like a good thing, right?

Organizations are sometimes tempted to do extra technical work, to modernize, or reduce their technical debt because, as they may rationalize, "were going to be working on that part of the application anyway, so we should clean things up while we are there." While well-intentioned, this is almost always a bad decision that results in unnecessary cost and delay because once started, its very hard to decide to stop.

This is where the concept of the MVA pays dividends: it gives everyone a way to decide what changes must be made, and which changes should not be made, at least not yet. If a change is necessary to deliver the desired customer outcome for a release, then its part of the MVA, otherwise, its out.

Sometimes, a team may look at the changes needed to an application and decide, considering the state of the code, that a complete rewrite is in order. The MVA concept, applied to legacy applications, helps to temper that by questioning whether the changes are really necessary to produce the incremental improvements in customer outcomes that are desired.

The application may, indeed, be too far gone to be extended but, in our experience, "total rewrites" almost never succeed either (weve never seen, or even heard, of one of these projects actually delivering anything.) If youre really going back to the drawing board, dont rewrite the existing system; instead, start from the customers desired outcomes and look for different ways to deliver them.

The MVA has an effect on the MVP, especially for legacy applications. Both MVA and MVP include an important word: viability. If in evaluating the changes that the team needs to make to the application in order to deliver the MVP, they determine that it is too expensive to achieve the MVP in a sustainable way, the MVP needs to be reconsidered and potentially changed.

The Minimum Viable Architecture ("MVA") approach (see our article "A Minimum Viable Product Needs a Minimum Viable Architecture") provides you with a way to decide how much modernization is "good enough" in order to deliver an MVP. Creating an MVA as part of an MVP delivery effort helps you evaluate the technical viability and to provide a stable foundation for the product that can be adapted as the product evolves. Making the MVA architectural decisions transparent helps the organization better understand why certain choices have been made, which helps them make better decisions about how they can adapt the product to changing market conditions and evolving customer needs.

QARs drive your decisions: The most important MVA architectural decisions that you need to make may be to select the minimum amount of architecture components enabling the MVP to handle QARs that are associated with product/system characteristics such as:

For example, lets assume that you are planning to build a mobile app to support the launch of a product in a new market, using open-source or commercial frameworks that help you to quickly deliver an MVP while creating a new interface to legacy system data. In doing so, the legacy application will inevitably be subjected to workloads that it was not designed to handle. Will those increased workloads cause the legacy system to fail? Will the additional workloads threaten the ability of the legacy system to satisfy its QARs for existing users? Does the mobile application change the QARs for the legacy system?

Inevitably, new applications that access data from legacy systems will change the QARs of the legacy system by changing workload, throughput, responsiveness, and security-related requirements, among others. Legacy systems were not built to support the needs of the users of new applications, and those needs must be taken into account when deciding how much and where to modify legacy systems. In some cases, no amount of work will enable the legacy system to meet the new QARs, and in those cases, the legacy system will have to be replaced in order to enable the new applications.

Empiricism is a powerful tool for evaluating these questions, and each release of the new mobile application will, at the very least, create an opportunity to assess whether the architecture of the legacy system can support the new demands being made on it. It is likely that the development team will need to modify the legacy application to meet the new QARs. Considering the legacy application changes as part of an MVA for the mobile application will help the team decide how much change to undertake to accomplish the goals of the mobile applications MVP release.

QARs are a very useful tool for diagnosing areas for potential improvement in a legacy system. Focusing on QARs can help you limit the scope of the change to only what is minimally needed, right now in order to support the MVP. This helps to prevent sliding down the slippery slope to a "total rewrite", which is expensive, time-consuming, prone to failure, and often unnecessary for the MVP.

Limit the scope of the new functionality: Resist the temptation to go beyond the scope of the MVP and turn this effort into a much larger one by including "nice to have" features that are unnecessary for the MVP. Domain-driven design (DDD), which is an extremely powerful approach to software development, is a very efficient technique for identifying the scope of the new functionality that needs to be implemented in support of the MVP and limiting it to precisely what is needed.

Try to decouple and simplify system components. One of the challenges in working with legacy systems is that they lack modularity, many of them having been written at a time when modular code was not encouraged and most code reuse happened through "copy and paste." While it is tempting to refactor all of this redundant code, stay within the bounds of what you need to do to support the MVP. When you do need to refactor or replace code, make the new code modular and reusable. Microservices play well here as well as serverless functions in some cases. Replace code with calls to shared components or services in the applications you need to change, but also make notes for other applications that may have similar opportunities. That way, when other teams have to modify their applications to use similar services, they will have a bit of a head start.

Start shifting new work away from legacy systems. Unless it is dramatically simpler and more sustainable to implement new capabilities in the legacy system, develop new business capabilities associated with the MVP with modern technology, such as cloud-based services. If the new functionality has to be initiated from an older program, write a new component or service for the new work and just call it from the old code. Over time, the decoupling work mentioned above plus moving new code to modern technologies will shrink the amount of legacy code you need to worry about.

Using patterns such as the "strangler pattern", or the "branch by abstraction" pattern, as well as implementing a gateway to route requests to the new MVA components when applicable may be helpful for this migration. Keep in mind that all approaches and tools have limitations. For example, using the "strangler pattern" is appropriate for migrating well-defined functionality chunks from a single application, but may not be the right approach if you need to replace broken infrastructure that affects dozens of applications.

Start identifying "dead code" and opportunistically eliminate it. Use static and dynamic code analysis tools to find out what parts of the legacy system arent used anymore, within the scope of the MVA. Target dead code for elimination (but dont jump right in just yet - beware of scope creep). This can extend to reports - old systems produce a lot of them, and some (or many) may not be useful to anyone anymore; the business may have changed while the system did not. Identifying code that is no longer useful can help a team more easily see whether that code would impact the MVA. The less code you deploy, the more reliable the rest of the code, and the lighter the system use of critical system resources. Even if the team decides not to eliminate the code, they should identify the potential for removal of dead code to help other teams with their future decisions.

Organizational technology standards perpetuate legacy systems. Organizational technology standards are useful to prevent unsupportable configurations and combinations of infrastructural technologies from multiplying, but if retained too long they can keep an organization rooted in the past, unable to adapt to the future. Using the MVA concept can help an organization understand whether a new technology is truly needed to enable a team to deliver a particular MVP. With the proof that the MVA provides, an organization can decide whether the MVP is truly strategic and therefore a change in the technology standards is warranted.

Where should you store MVA data? One of the key MVA decisions is to choose a data store for the data associated with the MVP. Some of this data is likely to already exist in a legacy data store, and in most cases, additional data will need to be captured and stored. That data can either be incorporated into a legacy data store, or a new, more modern DBMS can be implemented to store the new data. The first approach simplifies data aggregation and reporting, at the cost of expanding the use of a technology that may be slated for retirement - for example, IMS/DB. It may be appropriate if a small percentage of the existing MVA legacy data needs to be added to support the MVP. The second approach constrains the use of legacy data stores, at the cost of complicating data aggregation, and should be considered if a large percentage of the existing MVA legacy data needs to be added. A variant of the second approach would be to migrate the existing MVA legacy data to the new DBMS. However, migrating data is much harder than migrating functionality, as that data may be used by multiple legacy applications out of the scope of the MVA. Attempting to do this could result in work beyond the MVA scope.

Legacy systems are a bit like an ancient city that is still a thriving metropolis: their mixture of old and new make it difficult to keep up on needed repairs, let alone substantial renovations to adapt them to rapidly changing needs. But finding a way to continuously adapt legacy systems is essential to evolving the enterprise to a changing world.

The concepts of MVP and MVA dont apply just to new applications; they provide a new and innovative way to look at scoping changes to legacy systems that prevents taking on too much change, too soon. In reality, every new application becomes a kind of "legacy application" after its first major release, and finding ways to limit the scope of change is important as applications evolve.

The MVA approach can help an organization evaluate and amend its technology standards by showing how a new technology is truly essential to supporting an MVP. It allows you to challenge technology standards with real data, rather than with just preferences and opinions.

The process of creating an MVA can help a team to evaluate which parts of a legacy system need to be modernized now, and which parts can wait. Organizations have spent huge sums on failed "total rewrite" modernizations that were, in hindsight, unnecessary. Identifying what parts must be modernized now, and what parts can wait is useful, for it gives an organization a better understanding of their technical debt, while also providing them with a much-needed filter to prevent needless work.

Legacy applications, because they are often mission-critical, need special focus on sustainability. In fact, fear of making the legacy application unstable prevents many organizations from making important and needed incremental improvements to them, making them even more brittle and risk-laden. Focusing on sustainability QARs, including growing the skills that teams need to evolve the applications, helps to make the applications more resilient over time.

Finally, its useful to keep in mind that todays "legacy" applications were, in many cases, shiny and brand new not very many years ago. These arent just applications written 40 years ago; they are also applications written just 10 years ago, or even more recently. As soon as an application is no longer being continuously updated, it starts to decay. Considering an MVA as a part of every new release helps to keep applications fresh.

Read the rest here:
Chipping Away at the Monolith: Applying MVPs and MVAs to Legacy Applications - InfoQ.com

OCONOMOWOC As the plan for the downtown Rockwell development progresses onward, the developer and city officials weighed in on some frequently asked questions. The project location is at 125-131 Main Street near the Village Green and Fowler Lake.

Questions were answered by Jeff Scrima of Rockwell Partners, LLC and Oconomowoc's economic director, Bob Duffy. Some of their answers have been edited to eliminate redundancy.

1.) What is the Rockwell project?

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Scrima: Rockwell is new mixeduse development which utilizes historic architectural design and provides public improvements including continuing the boardwalk, increasing parking, providing restrooms, and improving the village green which will enhance the renaissance of downtown Oconomowoc.

2.) Why is the project called Rockwell?

Scrima: The project name is 'Rockwell' in honor of John Rockwell, who in the 1800s helped establish Oconomowoc including constructing a mill, the first store, hotel, fire department, elementary school, library and donating land for the communitys churches.

3.) Will the boardwalk still be accessible to the public?

Duffy: During the construction the existing boardwalk will still be accessible to the public. Through the project, the city will have the opportunity to expand the boardwalk where it had existed previously behind the development, which will be also accessible to the public when completed.

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4.) How much money willRockwell invest in the project? How much money will the city invest?

Duffy: When completed, the Rockwell development is projected be in excess of $30 million in value. The city will use the increased value generated by the project for the boardwalk extension, expanded public parking, public restrooms in the building, site development, updated public utilities, storm water improvements, public roadway and crosswalk improvements, as well as the enhancement for improved utilization of the Village Green. The public amenities are estimated to cost approximately $5,457,000.

5.) How many condo units will there be?

Duffy: The project is still in the planning stages, however, initial thoughts are there will be approximately 20 units, and 2-3 commercial condo units.

6.) What will the cost or cost range of the condo units be?

Scrima: The costs are yet to be determined based upon the market and material and labor costs.

7.) What will the project do to the view of the lake?

Duffy: The existing site currently has multi-story structures adjacent to the lake. The extension of the boardwalk will provide additional public access and viewing of Fowler Lake.

Scrima: The view of the lake will improve as the public will be able to walk along the new boardwalk which is currently private property.

8.) How will theVillage Green be affected?

Duffy: Final design is underway, however, to address the downtown business and community requests for additional parking, there will be an encroachment into the existing Village Green. The enhancement to the Village Green would include incorporating solutions to remove existing storm water basins, and level off the area to enhance the utilization for community activities and events. The city will also improve the Village Green with additional parking and adding bollards or planters.

Scrima: The city will improve the Village Green with additional parking to the north and the removal of redundant sidewalks within. This will create a net increase in grass area. The city is also working on a plan to make it more event friendly - which may include leveling the green and adding bollards or planters.

9.) When is the project expected to begin and finish?

Duffy: The project still needs to gain its required city approvals to proceed. The review and approval process is anticipated to occur between August to November. The developer would commence the existing structure demolition and project construction in mid-December.

Scrima: Construction will begin after the German Christmas Market this year. We would like to do the heavy site work over the winter and have the Village Green put back together by next summer. Construction start to finish will last approximately 15 months.

10.) Have any businesses been locked-in forRockwells lower floor?

Duffy: The developer has indicated to the city there have been several businesses interested in being part of the project. However the City is not aware of specific tenants.

Scrima: We have two restaurants and a boutique grocery store which have expressed strong interest in our retail space.

11.) What is a TIF, and why is it being used for Rockwell?

Duffy: TIF districts are a tool allowed in Wisconsin aimed at eliminating blight, rehabilitating declining property values, and promoting business and redevelopment opportunities. Through the creation of a future TIF #8 Project Plan, it will determine, without the creation of the district development would not occur in a timely manner or at the values as desired by the city. In reaching this determination, the city considers and verifies through a thorough review of the developers pro forma that the project is not economically viable without public participation based on the extraordinary costs associated with demolition of structures, and redevelopment of existing sites.

In addition, the Rockwell redevelopment would not occur without the substantial investment needed to provide the necessary public infrastructure. The Tax Increment District financing tool will be used in order to fund the public improvements and enhanced public amenities, while Rockwell Partners will guarantee that the necessary development and investment occurs to ensure the necessary funds are available to cover the costs to deploy infrastructure. TIF is an opportunity for the Rockwell Development project to cover all costs, and the community receives the benefit of the public infrastructure and amenities.

12.) Why engage in a public/private partnership in this case?

Duffy: The city adopted a Downtown Revitalization Plan in 2004, which provides market-based recommendations for public and private improvements in order to create a healthy, sustainable and economically viable downtown for the city. Downtown Oconomowoc is the heart of the community where all facets of life come together: retail, dining, services, government, employment and recreation. The Downtown Plan and public/ private partnership projects have allowed the city to realize many positive improvements such as the Community Center, Village Green expansion, the Boardwalk, Fowler Lake Boat launch, as well as reconstruction of all downtown parking areas. It is through these types of partnerships the city can continue to improve, prosper and become the destination envisioned in the Downtown Oconomowoc Revitalization Plan. The city and Rockwell development partnership allows the public to benefit from the extended boardwalk, increased parking, new public bathrooms and upgrades to the village green without having to pay for these improvements out of the existing city budget.

Scrima: This partnership allows the public to get the extended boardwalk, increased parking, new public bathrooms and upgrades to the village green without having to pay for these improvements out of the existing city budget. It allows us, as the developer, to get these new improvements right next door to our project.

13.) Will traffic and business operations be impacted by construction?

Duffy: With any construction projects there will be impacts. The city will work with Rockwell development and their contractor to manage and coordinate efforts to minimize those impacts as the project proceeds.

Scrima: MSI General, our architect and contractor, has already met with the city and business owners and will work diligently to communicate and keep construction interruptions to a minimum.

*** NOTE TO READERS: If you have questions about the Rockwell project, please contact Dan Colton at dcolton@conleynet.com or by calling 262-513-2661.

Read more here:
Q&A: The Rockwell Project in downtown Oconomowoc | Oconomowoc News | gmtoday.com - Greater Milwaukee Today | GMToday.com

FORT WASHINGTON, Pa., Aug. 18, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Toll Brothers, Inc. (NYSE: TOL) (TollBrothers.com), the nations leading builder of luxury homes, through its Toll Brothers Apartment Living rental division, and PGIM Real Estate, the $208.7 billion real estate investment and financing business of PGIM, have announced a new joint venture to develop The Lindley, a 37-story, 422-unit multifamily rental community in San Diego, Calif. The Lindley, which is the first Toll Brothers Apartment Living (TBAL) project in the city of San Diego, is being financed through a $187 million construction loan facility from BNY Mellon and Wells Fargo. The equity and debt were arranged by Toll Brothers in-house Finance Department in collaboration with the PGIM Real Estate Capital Markets Team.

The Lindley was designed by the renowned Joseph Wong Design Associates and is located at the corner of Columbia Street and Ash Street in San Diegos Columbia business district. The Lindley offers convenient access to PETCO Park, Balboa Park, the Santa Fe Rail Station, and the San Diego International Airport as well as many dining and entertainment options in Little Italy, Harborview, Embarcadero, and the Gaslamp Quarter.

The Lindley will consist of 422 rental apartments and an above- and below-grade parking garage with 561 parking spaces, including capacity for 222 EV (electric vehicle) charging stations. The apartment units will feature high-end luxury finishes including LVT flooring, energy-efficient LED lighting, and smart thermostats. Residents will enjoy a best-in-class amenity package, including concierge, mailroom, secured package room, keyless entry, and more than 22,000 square feet of interior and exterior amenity space. The amenity space will feature an outdoor pool and spa, barbecue grills, pet spa and dog walk, indoor/outdoor fitness center, massage rooms, yoga spaces, sauna, coworking spaces, game room, club room, lounge, and wine bar. Rooftop amenities include a rooftop lounge, demo kitchen, and sky deck providing excellent views of downtown San Diego.

The Lindley expects to earn LEED Gold certification. To achieve this standard, all demolition materials were responsibly recycled, and sustainably sourced materials will be employed throughout. Rainwater will be collected from the site and passed through biofiltration processes before entering stormwater drainage. Environmentally friendly cleaning products will be exclusively used in the buildings operations. Residents will also be able to enjoy EV fast-charging stations. Affordable housing is also a critical part of the development project. As part of The Lindleys entitlement agreement, Toll Brothers Apartment Living is making a significant contribution toward the development of affordable housing in San Diego, which helps to fulfill the citys initiative of increasing affordable housing opportunities for its residents. This contribution will directly support the construction of 44 affordable housing units off-site in downtown San Diego.

The Lindley marks the first Toll Brothers Apartment Living project to break ground in San Diego, and the third to break ground in California. It follows the 262-unit Cameo in Orange, Calif., which was sold in 2021, and the 218-unit Rafferty in Santa Ana, Calif., which is scheduled to open its doors to residents in early 2024. The Lindley represents the continued expansion of Toll Brothers Apartment Living in California.

As our first project in San Diego, we are proudly planting our flag here with The Lindley, said Charles Elliott, President of Toll Brothers Apartment Living. We will stay true to the brand that Toll Brothers is known for and bring to this market the same quality of product and service weve been delivering for over 55 years. The Lindley is located in perhaps the most vibrant part of San Diego, which is among the most dynamic areas of Southern California. The Lindley will appeal to the most discerning residents who want the perfect blend of luxury and lifestyle in the middle of it all.

The Lindley will be a Class A trophy asset situated in arguably the most desirable neighborhood in downtown San Diego, said Cathy Marcus, global chief operating officer and head of U.S. equity for PGIM Real Estate. In addition to its high-end features and amenities, the property will benefit from strong market fundamentals in San Diego overall, which has experienced employment growth largely driven by the technology sector and migration from other major cities.

Fred Cooper, Senior Vice President, Finance and Investor Relations for Toll Brothers said, The Lindley marks the fifth urban high-rise rental project we are developing in joint venture with PGIM and complements our current partnership projects in Boston, Cambridge, Atlanta, and Washington, D.C. We are very excited to once again have the support of BNY Mellon and Wells Fargo as our construction lenders. Together, we look forward to bringing this LEED Gold-designed transit-oriented development project to fruition while also supporting the development of additional affordable housing units in downtown San Diego.

For more information about this community visit LiveTheLindley.com.

ABOUT TOLL BROTHERS Toll Brothers, Inc., A FORTUNE 500 Company, is the nation's leading builder of luxury homes. The Company was founded 55 years ago in 1967 and became a public company in 1986. Its common stock is listed on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol TOL. The Company serves first-time, move-up, empty-nester, active-adult, and second-home buyers, as well as urban and suburban renters. Toll Brothers builds in over 60 markets in 24 states: Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Illinois, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Nevada, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Oregon, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Virginia, and Washington, as well as in the District of Columbia. The Company operates its own architectural, engineering, mortgage, title, land development, golf course development, smart home technology, and landscape subsidiaries. The Company also operates its own lumber distribution, house component assembly, and manufacturing operations.

Toll Brothers was named the Worlds Most Admired Homebuilder in FORTUNE magazines 2022 survey of the Worlds Most Admired Companies, the seventh year it has been so honored. Toll Brothers has also been named Builder of the Year by Builder magazine and is the first two-time recipient of Builder of the Year from Professional Builder magazine. For more information visit TollBrothers.com.

Toll Brothers discloses information about its business and financial performance and other matters, and provides links to its securities filings, notices of investor events, and earnings and other news releases, on the Investor Relations section of its website (investors.TollBrothers.com).

2022 Fortune Media IP Limited. All rights reserved. Used under license. Fortune and Fortune Media IP Limited are not affiliated with, and do not endorse the products or services of, Toll Brothers.

ABOUT TOLL BROTHERS APARTMENT LIVINGToll Brothers Apartment Living is the apartment development division of Toll Brothers, Inc. (NYSE: TOL), an award-winning FORTUNE 500 company, and the nation's leading builder of luxury homes. Toll Brothers Apartment Living brings the same quality, luxury, and service for which Toll Brothers is known to its exceptional rental and mixed-use communities in select markets, including Atlanta, Boston, Dallas, Los Angeles, New York, Philadelphia, Phoenix, and Washington, DC. Toll Brothers Apartment Living communities combine the energy of vibrant locations with unparalleled amenities, resident services, design, and the expertise of Americas Luxury Home Builder. In 2022, NMHC ranked Toll Brothers Apartment Living the 11th largest apartment developer in the United States. The firm has developed nearly 8,500 units, has nearly 4,500 units under management, and controls a national pipeline of more than 20,500 units. For more information visit TollBrothersApartmentLiving.com.

ABOUT PGIM REAL ESTATEAs one of the largest real estate managers in the world with $209 billion in gross assets under management and administration,1 PGIM Real Estate strives to deliver exceptional outcomes for investors and borrowers through a range of real estate equity and debt solutions across the risk-return spectrum. PGIM Real Estate is a business of PGIM, the $1.4 trillion global asset management business of Prudential Financial, Inc. (NYSE: PRU).

PGIM Real Estates rigorous risk management, seamless execution, and extensive industry insights are backed by a 50-year legacy of investing in commercial real estate, a 140-year history of real estate financing,2 and the deep local expertise of professionals in 32 cities globally. Through its investment, financing, asset management, and talent management approach, PGIM Real Estate engages in practices that ignite positive environmental and social impact, while pursuing activities that strengthen communities around the world. For more information visit pgimrealestate.com.

1 As of March 31, 2022, net AUM is $138 billion and AUA is $46 billion.2 Includes legacy lending through PGIMs parent company, PFI.

TOLL BROTHERS FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTSThis release contains or may contain forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. One can identify these statements by the fact that they do not relate to matters of a strictly historical or factual nature and generally discuss or relate to future events. These statements contain words such as anticipate, estimate, expect, project, intend, plan, believe, may, can, could, might, should, likely, will, and other words or phrases of similar meaning. Such statements may include, but are not limited to, information and statements regarding: the impact of Covid-19 on the U.S. economy and our business; expectations regarding interest rates and inflation; the markets in which we operate or may operate; our strategic objectives and priorities; our land acquisition, land development and capital allocation priorities; housing market conditions; demand for our homes; anticipated operating results and guidance; home deliveries; financial resources and condition; changes in revenues; changes in profitability; changes in margins; changes in accounting treatment; cost of revenues, including expected labor and material costs; selling, general, and administrative expenses; interest expense; inventory write-downs; home warranty and construction defect claims; unrecognized tax benefits; anticipated tax refunds; sales paces and prices; effects of home buyer cancellations; growth and expansion; joint ventures in which we are involved; anticipated results from our investments in unconsolidated entities; our ability to acquire or dispose of land and pursue real estate opportunities; our ability to gain approvals and open new communities; our ability to market, construct and sell homes and properties; our ability to deliver homes from backlog; our ability to secure materials and subcontractors; our ability to produce the liquidity and capital necessary to conduct normal business operations or to expand and take advantage of opportunities; and the outcome of legal proceedings, investigations, and claims.

Any or all of the forward-looking statements included in this release are not guarantees of future performance and may turn out to be inaccurate. This can occur as a result of incorrect assumptions or as a consequence of known or unknown risks and uncertainties. The major risks and uncertainties and assumptions that are made that affect our business and may cause actual results to differ from these forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to:

Many of the factors mentioned above or in other reports or public statements made by us will be important in determining our future performance. Consequently, actual results may differ materially from those that might be anticipated from our forward-looking statements.

Forward-looking statements speak only as of the date they are made. We undertake no obligation to publicly update any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events, or otherwise.

For a further discussion of factors that we believe could cause actual results to differ materially from expected and historical results, see the information under the captions Risk Factors and Managements Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations in our most recent Annual Report on Form 10-K filed with the SEC and in subsequent reports filed with the SEC. This discussion is provided as permitted by the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, and all of our forward-looking statements are expressly qualified in their entirety by the cautionary statements contained or referenced in this section.

A photo accompanying this announcement is available at https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/c9c6664d-5eac-404e-ade6-0b37a964e83b

See original here:
Toll Brothers Apartment Living and PGIM Real Estate Announce Joint Venture to Develop 422-Unit Luxury Rental Community in San Diego, California -...

Oct. 25

Robert J. and Marilyn J Petersen, as trustees, 524 Seventh Ave. S., residential water heater without permit.

Erin N. Ray, 2222 N. Second St., residential furnace and air conditioning.

Mary M. Ries, 1135 Briarcliff Ln., residential siding, tear-off, vinyl.

Patrick Garrison, 540 Third Ave. S., residential rehabilitation after fire.

David Rose, 1320 11th St. NW, commercial sign, building fascia.

Lola Kamphuis, 709 Sixth Ave. S., residential water heater.

David A. and Susan J. Everson, 508 N. 13th St., residential plumbing.

No name (title held by All Commercial Services), 266 21st Ave. N., residential electric, relocate service.

Ricki L. and Lori Ann Gelhar, 3621 Valley Ln., residential water heater.

James C. and Eleanor E. Kurtz, 504 N. 11th St., residential water heater.

RMS Rentals LLC, 2351 Barker St., residential chicken coop.

Roger Cox, 1655 Rockwood Ct., residential water heater.

Sydney T. and Jaclyne J. Tubbs, 706 N. Second St., residential air conditioning.

TL Flatten LLC, 1306 Caroline Ave., residential roof tear-off, architectural.

Derrol Aadland, 2224 Garfield St., residential furnace.

Malinda F. Schmitt, 2328 Garfield St., residential furnace and air conditioning.

Allen M. Kallberg, 4316 Bellevue Rd., residential furnace.

Boundless Real Estate Holdings, 338 Eighth Ave. S., commercial sign, four fascia mount signs.

Shawn L. Cullinan, 3501 N. Third St., residential siding.

Robert J. and Mary Jean Smith, 803 S. 10th St., residential siding.

Todd L. and Dawn M. Ellithorpe, 570 First Ave., residential siding.

Prkg 1927 LLC, Lincoln Meadows LLC, 5000 Lincoln Way, front, Lot 162, residential roof tear-off, architectural.

Timothy and Diana Starr, 731 11th Ave. S., residential siding.

David J. and Janet R. Brown, 3828 Eagle Heights Dr., residential roof tear-off, architectural.

Prkg 1927 LLC, Lincoln Meadows LLC, 5000 Lincoln Way, front, Lot 21, residential roof tear-off, architectural.

Prkg 1927 LLC, Lincoln Meadows LLC, 5000 Lincoln Way, front, Lot 53, residential roof.

Mary McMahon, 2415 Barker St., residential siding.

Prkg 1927 LLC, Lincoln Meadows LLC, 5000 Lincoln Way, front, Lot 174, residential roof tear-off, architectural.

Prkg 1927 LLC, Lincoln Meadows LLC, 5000 Lincoln Way, front, Lot 36, residential roof tear-off, architectural.

Prkg 1927 LLC, Lincoln Meadows LLC, 5000 Lincoln Way, front, Lot 78, residential roof tear-off, architectural.

Prkg 1927 LLC, Lincoln Meadows LLC, 5000 Lincoln Way, front, Lot 92, residential roof tear-off, architectural.

Prkg 1927 LLC, Lincoln Meadows LLC, 5000 Lincoln Way, front, Lot 89, residential roof tear-off, architectural.

William and Stacy Strait, 311 N. 11th St., residential siding.

Prkg 1927 LLC, Lincoln Meadows LLC, 5000 Lincoln Way, front, Lot 128, residential roof tear-off, architectural.

Heather Ray, 67 25th Ave. N., residential siding.

Robert E. and R. L. Schneider, 811 14th Ave. S., residential siding.

Evan M. and Molly Haan, 1637 Eighth Ave. S., residential furnace.

Jerry L. and Deborah A. Lampe, 1625 N. Second St., commercial water heater.

Betty D. Bauer, 622 First Ave., residential water heater.

Laisha M. Richardson, 521 First Ave., residential electric.

Eagle Point Realty LLC, 112 S. Second St., interior commercial remodel.

Matthew A. and Jordan M. Rittmer, 1111 N. Third St., residential furnace and air conditioning.

Paul Banker, 420 Eighth Ave. S., residential water heater.

Paul Banker, 1625 N. Third St., residential furnace and air conditioning.

Paul Banker, 1625 N. Third St., residential plumbing.

Paul Banker, 1625 N. Third St., residential electric, hard-wired smoke detectors.

Douglas M. Sorenson, 2613 Cleveland St., residential electric, clear and restore panel after fire.

MACs Convenience Stores, 1530 N. Second St., commercial plumbing, add two sinks.

Cody Seeley, 1042 N. 12th St., residential water heater.

Cody Seeley, 1042 N. 12th St., residential exterior remodel.

Cody Seeley, 1042 N. 12th St., residential interior remodel, new kitchen.

Michael Stierman, 1833 14th Ave. S., residential furnace and air conditioning.

Trinity Evang U B Church, exempt, 1605 13th Ave. N., commercial electric, repair service damaged by fire.

Leah L. Woods, 2122 Pershing Blvd., residential roof.

Tina Marie and Dixie Lea Benson, 1435 25th Ave. S., residential electric.

Justin and Minerva Michel, 565 33rd Ave. N., residential water heater.

Towne and Country Clinton LLC, 1615 Garrett Ave., residential furnace and air conditioning.

Towne and Country Clinton LLC, 1624 Garrett Ave., residential furnace and air conditioning.

Towne and Country Clinton LLC, 1630 Garrett Ave., residential furnace and air conditioning.

Jim Pestka, 252 Main Ave., temporary outdoor seating, fenced-off area in rear of building.

Greg and Christine May, 1113 N. Fifth St., residential interior remodel.

Daniel D. and Carol A. Mabee, 215 Thorwaldsen Pl., residential interior remodel.

Gary E. and Susan A. Gregory, 230 Seventh Ave. N., residential interior remodel.

Ashley Elizabeth Huebner, 713 Highview Dr., residential remodel.

Mary P. Connell, 2931 Willadsen Dr., residential roof tear-off, architectural.

US Sprint Communications Co. LMTD, 1611 Lincoln Way, commercial interior remodel, fire alarm system upgrade.

Towne and Country Clinton LLC, 1625 Garrett Ave., residential interior remodel.

Mary Nolan, 826 15th Ave. S., residential roof tear-off, architectural.

Damien and Amy Martinez, 707 12th Ave. S., residential fence.

James L. Hasken and Elizabeth A. Gillenwater, 218 N. 18th St., new residential siding, tear-off, vinyl.

Wendy Bell, 734 15th Ave. S., residential roof tear-off, architectural.

Dale W. and Marjorie A. Baker, 1611 Pershing Blvd., residential fence.

Sean McCrudden, 504 Second Ave. S., residential interior remodel, gut rehab.

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Original post:
City of Clinton building permits - Clinton Herald

DUNCAN Gov. HenryMcMaster announcedWednesday a new workforce scholarship 'pilot' program'to be launched at South Carolina's 16 technical colleges.

The "Worforce Scholarships for the Future"is designed to address the historic labor crisis affecting employers in all sectors of the economy, according to McMaster'soffice.

The scholarships will be funded with $17 million in federal Governor's Emergency Education Relief (GEER) monies and will cover the cost of tuition and required fees at any technical college in the state. In addition, McMaster is asking the South Carolina General Assembly to allocate $124 million in federal funds from the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) to the South Carolina Technical College System.

"There are a lot of jobs out there, but employees are scarce," said McMaster at the press conference. "We will put them back to work and back to work in high-paying jobs. This is aunique approach."

"Today, we invest in the people of South Carolina and afford them the opportunity through the South Carolina Technical College System," added Dr.Tim Hardee,president of the South Carolina Technical College System, which is the largest higher education sector in the state.

Greenville business: Lockheed Martin jobs, Chick-fil-A food truck, Queer Wellness

General Electric employees: protest workplace vaccine mandates

There are three technical colleges in the Upstate area that could benefit from the program: Greenville Technical College, Spartanburg Community College, and Tri-County Community College.

Hardee said the manufacturing business in the Upstate needs "skilled people to be their workforce for the future."

"We will be able to tailor the program locally to different areas of the state based on demand," Hardee added. "There is a need to expand, but can't do so without having the skilled workforce."

Sara Hazzard, president and chief executive officer of South Carolina Manufacturers Alliance said at the press conferencemanufacturing makes up nearly 12% of the South Carolina workforce -- including big names in the Upstate such as Michelin, BMW, and fiber optic companies.

"This program will help alleviate financial barriers standing in the way of an individual and a career," said Hazzard.

Greenville Technical College PresidentDr. Keith Miller said there is no doubt this program will benefit Greenville County.

"We have every program and the perfect tools to roll this out and make this happen," said Miller. "I get calls from employers on a regular basis. There is a huge need across the board. The demand is truly in every area right now."

Any adult or recent high school graduate in the state will be eligible until the funds are exhausted. To make the workforce scholarship program run longer, McMaster requested an additional $124 million from lawmakers, which will allow the program to operate from July 1, 2022, until June 30, 2024.

Scholarship recipients, who will total approximately 15,000 people, will be required to maintain a 2.0 grade-point average and complete one of the following requirements:

Scholarship funds may only be used for associate degrees or industry credentials in high-demand careers such asmanufacturing, healthcare, computer science and information technology, transportation distribution and logistics, or construction.

Below are examples of the programs that would be targeted:

Earlier this year, McMaster awarded $12 million in GEER funds to the S.C Technical College System to provide short-term training programs in critical workforce areas at no cost to the individual, according to the governor's office. The funds are used to help with the costs of tuition, fees, textbooks, and materials for up to $5,000 per participant.

These short-term trainingprograms last up to 12 weeks in critical workforce areas and individuals can earn an industry-recognized credential or certificate in those areas. Approximately 5,000 individuals will have completed retraining programs by the end of the calendar year.

Currently, approximately 100,000 adults attend continuing educationcourses at the 16 state technical colleges and 50,000 attend credit-bearing courses. The Workforce Scholarships for the Future Program is anticipated to increase enrollment by 15,000.

"We are going to double down and triple down and do it better and add associate degrees," said McMaster at the press conference. "We couldn't be doing this if we didn't have the best technical college system in the world. I don't know of anywhere in the country that is running a program like this. Every time we communicate and collaborate, South Carolina wins. I am confident it's going to work."

Education and Family IssuesReporter Krys Merryman can be reached at 864.420.7111 or kmerryman@greenvillenews.com. Continue the conversation or join a new one on our Education andFamilyIssues in Greenville Facebook page or on Twitter @krys_merryman.

See the article here:
Gov. McMaster to spend remaining COVID education relief to fully fund two-year training - Greenville News

"Redevelopment in Wilton-Why, What and How,"by Lynne Vanderslice

Wilton is experiencing high interest in redeveloping under or nonperforming commercialproperties to multi-family residential. Residents are asking why is this happening, what is beingproposed and how can they participate.

Why are commercial buildings being torn down or retrofitted to build multi-family housing?The short answer is demand for multi-family housing is strong. And there is an excess supply of commercial properties. Particularly of Fairfield County office buildings, which, as of September 30th, had an overall vacancy rate of 32%. That rate was led by Wilton at 50%, Norwalk at 39% and Stamford at 37%. (Source: Cushman & Wakefield). One solution for owners of such buildings is to sell to a developer of multi-family housing.

Why is Wilton's office vacancy rate so high?Office vacancy rates have been increasing for some time. During this spring, 20 Westport Road was reported as fully vacant following the completion of Bridgewater's relocation to renovated office space in Westport, supported by a State economic development grant, and/or office space in Stamford. That one building accounted for 22% of the 50% vacancy rate. Other businesses, such as Deloitte, also relocated to Stamford with State support. Wilton is disadvantaged by the lack of direct train service to NYC and the availability of new office buildings in Stamford versus our more mature buildings.

Are there more underperforming properties in addition to those being discussed with P&Z?Yes. In addition to the 340,000 sq. ft. at 20 Westport Road, the 46,000 sq. ft. building at 45 Danbury Rd is vacant due to Beiersdorf's recent downsizing to Stamford. The Commonfund building at the Wilton train station also has a high vacancy rate. The School Sisters of Notre Dame property on Belden Hill Road, with 200,000 sq. ft. of buildings, is on the market. A number of smaller buildings near the Cannondale train station are underperforming and, given the strong market, could be expected to be developed.

What is the impact of these properties remaining vacant or nonperforming?The impact is two-fold

How is the Town responding to these vacant or underutilized properties?Proactively. Director of Land Use Management and Town Planner Michael Wrinn and I regularly meet and work with owners or representatives of underutilized properties, commercial brokers, site selectors and potential developers to recommend and facilitate appropriate redevelopment. The same occurred with Michael's predecessor.

The Planning and Zoning Commission and the Architectural Review Board hold pre-application meetings to provide feedback prior to a developer submitting an application. These non-binding meetings allow the Commission members to speak more freely and thereby improve applications.

The First Selectwoman's Office, primarily through Community Affairs Coordinator Sarah Gioffre, is focused on making it easier for businesses to access the information they need to open or expand a business by publishing a Guide to Opening or Expanding a Business in Wilton and by an ongoing effort to make land records and permitting and other information fully accessibleonline.

Why only apartments? Why not townhomes or less dense development?Developers indicate higher density is required to make their projects economically viable based on the high price of developable land and the need to provide affordable units. Market rate units must offset revenue loss associated with affordable units. Last year, Donald Poland provided WestCOG mayors and first selectmen/women with a presentation, Affordable Housing: By the Numbers, which includes financial data and analysis. The slides and the video are available on the WestCOG website.

How can residents learn more and provide input?For Planning & Zoning Commission matters, complete application and pre-application materials and agendas, minutes and meeting videos are easily available on the Town's website. Residents can sign up to receive notice of activity here. Public comments may be provided during the public hearing period, which typically occurs over several meetings. Instructions are on the meeting's agenda. The same is available on the Town's website for the Architectural ReviewBoard and the Inland Wetlands Commission.

I encourage you to engage. We all have an interest in redevelopment and the expansion ofhousing options to retain and attract new residents and to support existing and new retail,dining and service businesses.

Thank you.

Lynn Vanderslice is the first selectwoman of Wilton.

Read more:
Redevelopment in Wilton-Why, What and How By Lynne Vanderslice - Patch.com

The inaugural cohort of the Construction Management Building Blocks mentor-protg program has graduated after completing eight weeks of training with industry professionals from the University of South Florida and Skanska, a multinational construction and development company. The program was launched to assist small and diverse subcontractors in the Tampa Bay Region to grow and become more successful in the construction industry and with competitive bidding processes.

Facilitated through the USF Office of Supplier Diversity, participants received free guidance in the fundamental areas of construction business management, with topics covering environmental health and safety, field management, human resources, marketing and business development, legal, project accounting, project planning and preconstruction, and sustainability. In addition to the weekly training sessions, they visited construction sites, developed their growth plans with help fromgraduate students at the USF Center for Entrepreneurship and networked with key decision makers within USF FacilitiesManagement and Skanskas greater Tampa Bay area operations.

Keith Ware, a U.S. Navy veteran, founded Secure2ware Inc.in 2005 with aspirations to serve the community by providing alternatives to the big blue security companies. Secure2ware Inc. offers residential and commercial establishments a wide range of low-voltage services, including alarm systems, surveillance cameras and home automation.Its sister company, S2W Security Guards, also provides guards on foot or mobile patrol to protect any property or event.

Its tremendous that Skanska and USF recognize that theres a need to look out for small, minority organizations, such as mine, Ware said. There can be some challenges achieving what we call the American Dream, and Im very thankful that theyve taken the time to reach back and help others.

Small businesses often learn as they go, and for Ware, project accounting was one of those growing pains. Not only did the mentor-protg program teach him the techniques and best practices he needed to improve his business, but he appreciated the added benefit of learning alongside a mentor. Ware said he also enjoyed the field trips to Skanskas construction sites. Protgs were able to see, on a larger scale, the planning that goes into bringing projects to life and how the crew adapts and overcomes challenges along the way.

The valuable knowledge that Ive gained through the mentorship program will be a great asset to me in order to take Secure2ware and S2W Security Guards to the next level, Ware said. Were hopeful that through these strategic partnerships, we are able to foster some better relationships throughout the community.

Darrick Fullwood Sr. has been passionate about construction and design ever since an architectural drafting class in middle school. In 2007, he founded AAA Restoration & Builders Team LLC to provide quality and cost-effective construction services ranging from remodels and repairs to complete renovations and additions.

I was ecstatic to be chosen for the mentor-protg program, Fullwood said. The training has given me the confidence to take on larger projects because the mentors taught us how to break projects down, not let the numbers overwhelm us and how to seek out the proper subcontractors to assist us.

Instead of seeing small construction companies as competition, Skanska opened their doors and shared the blueprint behind their processes and software to successfully go from bid to completion.

Fullwood has already scheduled a meeting with his project manager to review the program materials to make sure that everything he learned is implemented into AAAs business model. Thanks to this training, I know my company is going to grow, Fullwood said.

Having successfully completed the program, participants will receive a construction mentor from Skanska and a graduate student mentor from USFs Muma College of Business for up to six months to assist in streamlining administrative responsibilities. Participants will also be provided scholarships to the Profit Mastery Financial Management Program led by the colleges Small Business Development Center.

The 2021 cohort, recommended by the Hillsborough County NAACP, The St. Petersburg Collective, Prospera, the Womens Business Enterprise National Council and the Manasota Black Chamber of Commerce, included:

Moving forward, cohorts will be selected annually by community partners. In order to qualify, companies must be in the construction industry and in business for at least one year. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the 2021 weekly training sessions were held virtually, but future cohorts will attend in person.

Read more:
Small and diverse business owners prepped to bolster profits with conclusion of new USF-Skanska mentor-protg program - University of South Florida

Please take notice that, on December 14, 2021, at 6:30 p.m., or as soon thereafter as the matter can be heard, at Suisun City Hall in the City Council Chambers, 701 Civic Center Boulevard, Suisun City, California, the Planning Commission will hold a public hearing to consider the below project. The public may also participate in the meeting via Zoom (login information below):

https://zoom.us/joinMEETING ID: 814 8329 4205CALL IN PHONE NUMBER: (707) 438-1720

File Nos.: SP/AR 20/1-002 (Site Plan and Architectural Review) and LM 21/22-001 (Lot Merger).

Proposal: The Proposed Project, the Marina Village Apartments, is a 100% affordable housing development located at 201 Marina Blvd, Suisun City, California. The development will offer 159 affordable rental units restricted to households earning 30%, 40%, 60%, and 70% of the Area Median Income, and one manager unit for a total of 160 residential units. The 5.20-acre site is within the Suisun City General Plan land use designations of Higher Density Residential and Mixed Use and is zoned High-Density Residential 2 (RH2) and Commercial Retail (CR). The development will consist of nine three-story garden-style residential buildings, a community building and a laundry building. See Figures 4 and 5. The unit mix will consist of 39 one-bedroom, 55 two-bedroom, 50 three-bedroom, and 16 four-bedroom units. The Project will provide 15 percent of the total low-income units with mobility features and 10 percent of the total low-income units with communication to comply with the minimum construction standards pursuant to Tax Credit Allocation Committee (TCAC) requirements.

Proposal:

Environmental Review: The City of Suisun City is the Lead Agency for this Initial Study/Mitigated Negative Declaration (IS/MND), which has been prepared to identify and assess the anticipated environmental impacts of the proposed Marina Village Housing Project (Project or Proposed Project) and mitigate potentially significant environmental effects. This document has been prepared to satisfy the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) (Public Resources Code [PRC], 21000 et seq.) and State CEQA Guidelines (14 California Code of Regulations [CCR] 15000 et seq.). CEQA requires that all state and local government agencies consider the environmental consequences of Projects over which they have discretionary authority before acting on those Projects. A CEQA IS/MND is generally used to determine the potentially significant environmental affects and mitigate those to be less than significant.

The public review period will commence on November 3, 2021 and end on December 2, 2021, pursuant to CEQA Guidelines Section 15105. If you wish to send written comments (including via e-mail), they must be received by 5:00 p.m. on December 2, 2021. Written comments should be addressed to the following:

John Kearns, Senior Planner701 Civic Center BoulevardSuisun City, CA 94585Email: jkearns@suisun.com

The ISMND and supporting documents are available at the City of Suisun City Development Services Department located at 701 Civic Center Boulevard, Suisun City, California 94585, and online at the following URL: https://www.suisun.com/departments/development-services/planning/

Location: The Project is located at 201 Marina Boulevard, Suisun City, California. APNs associated with the property are 0032-411-020, 0032-411-030, 0032-411-050, 0032-411-060, 0032-411-070, 0032-411-080, 0032-411-090, 0032-411-100, and 0032-411-110. (Figure 1. Regional Location and Figure 2. Project Location). The site is in an unsectioned portion of the Rancho Tolenas Land Grant, Township 5 North, Range 2 West (Mount Diablo Base and Meridian). The approximate center of the site is located at latitude 38.245932 and longitude -122.030675.

Applicant: Solano Affordable Housing Foundation1411 Oliver Road, Suite 220Fairfield, CA 94534

The development application is on file and may be reviewed at the Suisun City Development Services Department at 701 Civic Center Boulevard between 8:00 a.m. and 6:00 p.m., Mondays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays, and between 8:00 a.m. and 7:00 p.m. on Tuesdays, City Hall is closed on Fridays. Comments may be submitted before the meeting to jkearns@suisun.com, or at the Public Hearing to the City Clerk, or you may choose to provide your comments orally during the Public Hearing.

Pursuant to California Government Code Section 65009, if you challenge any of the above actions, in court you may be limited to raising only those issues which you, or someone else, raised at the public hearing, which are described in this notice, or which were included in written correspondence delivered to the Suisun City Development Services Department, 701 Civic Center Boulevard, Suisun City, California, 94585, at, or prior to, the public hearing.

If you have questions regarding this notice, please contact John Kearns, Senior Planner, at 707.421.7335 or at jkearns@suisun.com prior to the scheduled time of the meeting.

Marina Village ISMND Marina Village ISMND Marina Village ISMND Attachments Marina Village NOI and PH Notice Marina Village NOI and PH Notice Marina Village Community Meeting Notice

Post expires at 1:00 am on December 15, 2021

This press release was produced by the City of Suisun City. The views expressed here are the author's own.

Excerpt from:
City Of Suisun City: Marina Village Apartments Notice Of Intent To Adopt A Mitigated Negative Declaration And Notice Of Public Hearing - Patch.com