Home Builder Developer - Interior Renovation and Design

Maya Lora|The Ledger

How to throw an axe

Plaid & Timber Axe Throwing Company's co-owner shows the proper form for a one-handed throw.

LAKELAND For their 33rd wedding anniversary, Joyce and Kraig Woodrow decided on a grand, if strange,gift for one another: their very own ax-throwing venue.

Ax-Caliber is the first ax-throwing joint in Polk County. The new business features a combination caf and restaurant, 14 ax-throwing lanes, two pool tables and other assorted games. You have to be at least 18 years old to throw, or 14 with a parent or guardian present.

While axthrowing has found a home in Orlando and Tampa, Joyce Woodrow thinks the coffeehouse and restaurant additions make Ax-Caliber unique.

"You're not really going to find something like this anywhere, I don't think, in the state of Florida," Woodrow, 64,said. "We just want to be different. We just think it'd be kind of, you know, iconic to have something like this which nobody else has."

Ax-Caliber, on East Orange Street near the 214 S. Tennessee Ave. parking garage, has been in its soft opening phase since Nov. 20. The grand opening is Friday.

Originally, the Woodrows were looking to open an indoor gun range that would have featured a few ax-throwing lanes. They were inspired by Kraig's twin brother, 59,who owns a gun range and ax-throwing business in New Jersey.

An uptick in shootings a few years ago made it impossible for the Woodrows to get bank cooperation on the idea, so they nixed it. The business venture was reborn as Ax-Caliber, where customers can throw axes supervised by an expert to their heart's content while sipping coffee, beer and wine.

And on Tuesday night, first-time customers had nothing but rave reviews.

"You can have fun while doing something and hanging out, you know what I'm saying," said Aaron Reese, 26. "It's not just sitting still. It's actually being interactive and stuff and not just sitting here, getting tired of talking."

Reese was throwing with his wife and two local friends. They all loved the food and coffee and said they'd definitely want to visit again. And their advice? Throwing the axis much more about the way you flick your wrist than the muscle you put into the act.

Even though Dixieland residentDavid Leslie, 50, built his son a place at home to throw axes and knives, he was still willing to pay to do it at Ax-Caliber with Sam Leslie, 18. The two split their timeinside between axthrowing and games of pool while munching on a pretzel and loaded fries, the latter of which they especially recommend.

The venue has drawn business interest. Joyce Woodrow said her December is pretty much booked up with corporate Christmas parties.

The "caliber" part of the name may seem a leftover from the abandoned gun range butit actually comes from the family-owned Caliber Coffee. The Woodrows have operated Caliber Coffee exclusivelyonline for the past four years. But now, you can snag bags of beans or a crafted drink at the caf situated in the front of Ax-Caliber.

While it mightmake them unique, the coffeehouse portion of Ax-Caliber calls for early mornings and late nights for the Woodrows. They open at 7 a.m. most mornings (except for Sundays, where they roll in at 10a.m.) and operate until 10 p.m. Monday through Wednesday, 11 p.m. Thursday through Saturday, and 7 p.m. on Sundays.

Joyce Woodrow said the owner of the building always wanted to see a coffeehouse down below so workers in the area wouldn't have to trek into downtown for a morning cup of joe.

"And we're like, we got that," Woodrow said. "So they took a chance on us because they thought this would be pretty epic here in Lakeland and Polk County."

Ax-Caliber was originally slated for an August opening. But coronavirus-related delays in shipping equipment kept pushing the opening back until the Woodrows decided to just get some version of the venue open before the holidays.

As of now, customers are encouraged to wear masks, there are paper ones available for free at the front, and employees are masked up. But you will not be asked to leave if you don't want to wear a mask until you get to your table or throwing lane. It's a position many businesses have taken without a citywide mask mandate to guide them.

While she has long-term plansto expand into other locations, Joyce Woodrow wants to focus on building up this first spot and making it a place where everyone feels welcome, good and safe, despite the effects of COVID-19. And throughout the night, she seemed to make good on her promise of a welcoming environment, greeting each customer that walked in and asking every customer about their experience on the way out.

"It's a dream of ours that we wanted for a long time and it happened and I still can't believe it," Woodrow said. "And I go home every night crying and I look at my husband and I'm like, it's actually happened! And I cry and God is good. He's truly blessed us."

Maya Lora can be reached at mlora@gannett.com or 863-802-7558.

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Ax-Caliber, first ax-throwing venue in Polk County, opens in Lakeland with coffeehouse - The Ledger

Today, LEGO is taking the wraps off its latest creation, giving us a better picture of what to expect from the upcoming 2021 wave of kits. Bringing the iconic Jeep Wrangler into LEGO form for the very first time, the new Technic modelarrives as just the latest set to debut ahead of the new lineup of kits next year. Stacking up to over 660 pieces, youll find a working winch alongside other authentic details. Head below for all of the details on the upcoming LEGO Technic Jeep Wrangler.

With 2021 now inching closer, were getting an even clearer look at which kits will be landing on store shelves once the new year rolls around. The Technic lineup is one of the more detailed ones at this point, with the McLaren Senna GTR supercar being joined by a collection of other builds that weve detailed over the past few weeks. But today, were getting a look at yet another vehicle, and it might just be the most popular one yet.

Assembling the Jeep Wrangler Rubicon for the first time, the upcoming LEG Technic kit is comprised of 665 pieces and manages to nail the look of the real world off-road vehicle. Once fully assembled, it stacks up to over 9 inches long and 4.5 inches tall.

Alongside its larger, rubbery tires, LEGO is baking in plenty of authentic details here, as well. Its eye-catching yellow and black color scheme is just the start here, as youll also find quite a few Jeep decals throughout. On the front, theres also a working winch, and underneath the build is a functional suspension system. So while itll look great on display, theres some action for younger builders to enjoy, too.

Todays new LEGO Technic unveil joins an ever-growing lineup of kits thatll be debuting on January 1. In this case, the LEGO Jeep Wrangler will launch with a $49.99 price tag.

All things considered, theres a lot of value from the latest addition to the LEGO Technic 2021 lineup. Aside from just being the first time builders will be able to assemble the iconic Jeep Wrangler, there are also plenty of other nice additions that LEGO has thought to include.

Subscribe to the 9to5Toys YouTube Channel for all of the latest videos, reviews, and more!

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LEGO brings the Jeep Wrangler to its Technic garage with upcoming 665-piece set - 9to5Toys

By Monte Leeper

Q. We were told to file a permit to rent our house next door, which an inspector came and looked at and said it was a simple permit. We had to have house plans made, and we filed them, paid their fee and waited six months, because of the pandemic. Now we got a response thats three pages long with a ton of items. The letter is titled Omissions Letter, but we really think we didnt leave anything out.

The letter includes making separate applications (with more fees) for the washing machine, a boiler, our fences, planters that hold back the earth (since our neighbors yard behind is four feet higher than ours), a patio and the back four feet of our garage, which have all been there for at least 49 years. Is this typical? We wish we had never started this permit. So much for trying to do the right thing! They want calculations for our boiler heat output versus air intake, which is confusing enough, but why do they want it from the architect when our plumber did the work and even got a permit already? This is really upsetting and confusing.

A. Your northern Nassau County town has the particular reputation for this behavior. Many architects wont even do work there, for the simple reason that they punish honesty instead of promoting ways to improve public safety.

The implication of omissions at the top of the notice is a legally irresponsible implication that accuses you and your architect of purposely or unprofessionally leaving out important facts, as if you or your architect would have imagined filing for a washing machine or patio. A washing machine application would have been part of a plumbing application anywhere else. Most communities have no such requirement for the architect, and the homeowner expects that a house with a washing machine is as common as a car with four wheels.

The inspector who came to your house was probably trying to help you with safety items, looking for the smoke detectors, escape windows and handrails, but the letter was composed by a plans examiner, who doesnt come to the house but instead goes through the files that you cant see because of the pandemic. The examiner went looking for anything and everything to reveal that there is much more they previously didnt enforce. In this age of computers, building departments have a better way to keep records about your home, and theyre trying to update, since illegal additions and amenities like fences, retaining walls, pools and decks and washing machines, I guess slipped past their radar over the years.

They also assume that plans are made just by pushing a few keyboard buttons, so why not ask for more than they ever did before? Unfortunately, the method of punishing with court hearings, fines and dismantling work isnt the only way they could handle this. Its just the way your North Shore town chooses to do it. Good luck!

2020 Monte Leeper. Readers are encouraged to send questions to yourhousedr@aol.com, with Herald question in the subject line, or to Herald Homes, 2 Endo Blvd., Garden City, NY 11530, Attn: Monte Leeper, architect.

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'So much for trying to do the right thing' - liherald

The 1972 Chevrolet K5 Blazer marked the final iteration of the first-gen Ford Bronco competitor. It came standard with now-iconic beefy looks and a 4.1-liter inline-six, which could be swapped out for a 5.0- or 5.7-liter V8 for some extra coin. The off-road-ready utility vehicle had standard front disc brakes and you could even add on a tachometer for a little extra. This specific K5 listed for sale on Bring a Trailer has a delicious secret under the hood, however: a small-block 5.7-liter LS1 V8.

Installed by Berkeley Garage this year, the engine was sourced from a 2001 Corvette with 29,000 reported miles. Take that, new Bronco.

FrankenBlazer doesnt stop there, however. After the current owner acquired the Blazer in 2019, they commissioned a complete restoration that included a four-inch suspension lift and a new paint job in Harley-Davidson Vivid Black. It sports a new 4L75E transmission, five-pinion gearsets, induction-hardened turbine shaft, eight-friction-plate clutch, and specific valve-body calibration. In short, this Blazer goes way beyond average both on- and off-road.

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1972 Chevy K5 Blazer With a Corvette V8 and Harley-Davidson Paint Is an All-American Restomod - The Drive

ROCKY RIVER, Ohio -- Since 1983, Beachcliff Market Square has been providing a smaller type of shopping mecca in Rocky River. The 110,000-square-foot, three-sided shopping center at the corner of Detroit and Wooster roads continues to pull in shoppers year round for many products and services.

The plaza is a mixed-use, open-air center. There used to be an indoor section of stores, but the profile changed when some restaurants took over those spaces. Burntwood Tavern is just one of them.

Today, the center -- whose slogan is Extraordinary is our style -- offers shopping, dining, health and wellness, and other services.

Making an extraordinary splash recently was a surprising new tenant, The Goddard School -- an unusual business to find in a shopping plaza. But manager Bill Brink explains why it is a good match.

The Goddard School opened Oct. 1, said Brink. Its the only one of their schools that is not freestanding. In Rocky River, it was getting hard for them to find a freestanding building when they needed 12,000 square feet.

Another business wanted only 5,000 square feet and couldnt find that, either.

The Goddard School needed a new space due to an increase in enrollment. Even their Westlake school had a waiting list.

I know someone, said Brink, who had a 2-year-old and was on a waiting list for 16 months.

For those who may have not been to Beachcliff Market Square, there is a large parking lot right in front of all the stores -- no long walks to your car when you shop there. And there is also a parking garage.

The Goddard School requires parents to park, come in, then sign in, in order to pick up their kids, said Brink. The parking garage is right below the school, so it offers no weather problems and its very convenient -- a perfect use of space.

But there is another reason Brink is happy with the arrangement: Parents can drop off the kids, then have breakfast, go work out or go shopping -- all right here.

Brink can rattle off the names of all the stores, services and restaurants. Some newer additions include Milan Hair Laser Removal Clinic, as well as Hand and Stone Massage. They join some of the long-lasting businesses like Planet Fitness, Erie Island Coffee and Girl Got Swing, which offers golf equipment and apparel for women.

Others include Smiles by White, West Side Preventative Eyecare, El Pita Mediterranean Cuisine, Francescas Boutique, Ann Taylor Loft, dentist Scott Shapiros Beachcliff Family Dentistry and a Cleveland Clinic family practice.

We have been blessed with a good mix of retail, services and restaurants, said Brink. It makes for a nice mix.

For a look at Beachcliff Market Square to consider for your holiday shopping, visit https://beachcliffmarketsquare.com/. For questions, email Bill.Brink@madisonmarquette.com or call 440-799-3176.

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Business is booming at Beachcliff Market Square in downtown Rocky River - cleveland.com

It's rare that things go well in 2020, and also that construction projects stay on time and on budget, but the two of those things have come together for the Estevan Police Service's station expansion with just over a month to go before things are completed.

The project is on time to finish by its projected to finish date of January 22, but won't be functional right away. According to Police Chief Paul Ladouceur, the project has been going on generally uninterrupted.

"The crews have advised us that it appears to be on schedule. Some of the stuff can be weather dependant but everything has been going very smoothly. With projects of this size, oftenyou'll come intospeedbumps along the way but it's actually gone very smoothly. It will be a welcome addition to this facility and carry us long into the future."

On the note of longevity, the new expansion isn't just set to be in use for a short time, but rather will be able to last through additions of more staff throughout theyears to come.

"One of the big things with this project is that it was designed with the ability for expansion within the facility itself. There were floor plans put in place where there could be future cubicles put in so I think this building is going to serve this community for years to come."

Once the construction of the project is done, it is still going to take some time before the police station is completely moved over. There are so many different files in different places, some where roof tiles have been moved to make sure there is room for them, some are being stored in the station's garage, and enough furniture and offices to move over that it will take a couple of months.

"Realistically I think we'll be settled on that side by March of 2021 by the time everything is moved over and we're up and running. Completion is still set for January 22 but you probably won't see us operational until March."

COVID 19 has not seemed to play a factor in construction even though it started up around the same time as the pandemic. Police staff and construction workers have been able tostay distanced apart for the entirety of the project.

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Police Station Expansion Still On Track To Open On Time - DiscoverEstevan.com

The Snapdragon 888 system-on-chip unveiled by Qualcomm this week should deliver a noticeable performance boost to next year's flagship Android phones. After all, this is Qualcomm's first 5-nanometer chip, meaning more transistors providing more power with greater efficiency. But that's not the story Qualcomm is dwelling on, as it talks up the merits of its latest mobile processing platform.

Instead, much of Qualcomm's focus with the Snapdragon 888 is to talk about how new additions to the chipset will improve your mobile photography and mobile gaming experiences the kind of thing you're more likely to notice than whether an app launched a little bit faster on one phone or another.

Think of it as Qualcomm's way of distinguishing itself from the A14 Bionic that powers Apple's latest phones or the Kirin silicon Huawei uses in its phones. Qualcomm doesn't mention any of its chip-making rivals by name. But the way it's presenting the Snapdragon 888 speaks volumes about the experiences it thinks phones powered by the new chip can provide.

Here's what you can expect from the Snapdragon 888 and when the new system-on-chip will start appearing in smartphones.

Qualcomm says its Snapdragon 888 chipset is coming to Android phones in 2021, though it hasn't said exactly when. If past releases are any indication, though, you can expect the new chip to start appearing in leading Android phones during the first three months of the new year.

Samsung's next flagship will almost certainly be one of the first phones to sport a Snapdragon 888, as has been the case for the U.S. versions of all Galaxy S releases. That would put the new chip on track for the Samsung Galaxy S21, which is rumored to be launching earlier than usual possibly as soon as January.

But Samsung will have company. At Qualcomm's annual tech summit where the Snapdragon 888 was introduced, Xiaomi said its Mi 11 phone will be one of the first to get Qualcomm's latest chip, though that phone is unlikely to ever reach the U.S.

Qualcomm doesn't make announcements about which devices use its silicon, but the chip maker did provide a list of phone makers who've pledge to support the Snapdragon 888. Beside Xiaomi, that list includes Asus, Black Shark, Lenovo, LG, MEIZU, Motorola, Nubia, Realme, OnePlus, Oppo, Sharp, Vivo and ZTE.

Performance may not be one of the major talking points around the Snapdragon 888's launch, but you should still expect big gains for the devices that use the chipset next year. As noted above, this is Qualcomm's first chip using a 5nm process, and that typically means greater power and efficiency.

Qualcomm's also come up with a new architecture for the chip, which will offer the first commercial CPU subsystem to be based on the Arm Cortex-X1. In addition to that prime CPU, which can top out at up to 2.84GHz, three Arm Cortex A-78 CPUs make up the performance cores, while four Arm Cortex-A55 comprise the efficiency cores.

In terms of performance numbers, Qualcomm says that the Kryo 680 in the Snapdragon 888 can deliver a 25% boost in overall CPU performance over the previous generation. The new CPU is 25% more power efficient than its predecessor, according to Qualcomm.

We'll need to benchmark a device powered by the Snapdragon 888 to see how that compares to current phones on the market. But a back-of-the-envelope calculation suggests that the chip will deliver a 25% boost over the Geekbench scores of some of the fastest Snapdragon 865-based phones we've tested. And that would pull it just about even with Apple's pace-setting A14-powered iPhone 12 lineup.

Qualcomm would counter that its chips are designed for sustained performance and not the short bursts that can propel phones to the lead of benchmark tests a not so subtle dig at Apple's processors.

"Snapdragon is constructed for sustainable, usable performance," said Ziad Asghar, a vice president of product management at Qualcomm, during the Snapdragon 888 unveiling. We're looking forward to getting our hands on a Snapdragon 888 device to see if reality matches our math.

As for graphics, the Adreno 660 GPU included with the Snapdragon 888 is supposed to increase the speed of graphics rendering by 35% over last year's chip, with power efficiency improving by 20%. The performance gain is the biggest yet for the Adreno GPU, Qualcomm says, which bodes well for gaming on Snapdragon 888 phones.

Enhancement to the GPU also impact how graphics are displayed, with Qualcomm promising OLED display uniformity as well as picture quality improvements.

5G continues to be a major focus of Qualcomm, so you can bet that it's a key part of the Snapdragon 888 story. The new system-on-chip includes an integrated modem, much like last year's Snapdragon 765G. Only this time, the modem is Qualcomm's 3rd generation Snapdragon X60 modem, which supports both sub-6GHz carrier aggregation and mmWave. That means a Snapdragon 888-powered phone will work with just about any operator's 5G network, including those that use dynamic spectrum sharing to extend 5G connectivity.

You should enjoy fast data speeds with the Snapdragon 888, at least where high-speed connectivity is available. The X60 is capable of 7.5 Gbps speeds. No 5G network is even close to delivering that right now, but it's nice to know that there's plenty of headroom for your phone's 5G performance as networks get faster.

One of the more intriguing parts of the Snapdragon 888's 5G support is the fact that it supports Global 5G multi-SIM, meaning you can expect 5G to extend to international roaming at least if we're ever able to leave our houses again. 5G multi-SIM support also means that you can have separate numbers on the same phone.

Qualcomm's Snapdragon chipsets power photographic features, too, and the enhancements introduced to the Spectra 580 image signal processor (ISP) are particularly noteworthy.

For the first time, Qualcomm's offering a triple ISP that can capture images from three cameras at the same time; on previous Snapdragon Series 8 chipsets, Qualcomm had used a dual ISP.

The switch to a triple ISP means being able to simultaneous snap a trio of 28MP shots, all from different points of view. Or you could capture three 4K videos all once for a wide shot, a close up and a shot of the person doing the filming from the front camera. Thanks to triple concurrency, all cameras can run in the background at the same time, so that you can seamlessly switch between lenses without a noticeable lag.

The Spectra ISP is getting a speed boost of its own with the Snapdragon 888. Qualcomm promises speeds of 2.7 gigapixels per second, which is 35% faster than the Snapdragon 865's ISP. In one second, you'll be able to capture a burst of 120 photos.

In another first for Qualcomm's chips, the Snapdragon 888 can capture photos in 10-bit HDR HEIF. That allows cameras powered by the Spectra ISP to capture photos in more than one billion shades of color, enabling end-to-end 10-bit capture and display. Previously, the Snapdragon 8 Series' ISP could support 4K still image capture, and now that's being extended to video capture with the Snapdragon 888.

Cameras on Snapdragon 888 phones should also be more adept when the lights are turned low, as the chipset introduces a new low-light architecture. That should allow the camera to work in 0.1 lux, which a Qualcomm rep described as near darkness.

More people are playing mobile games, and Qualcomm's responded by ramping up the Snapdragon Elite Gaming features it includes with its high-end processors. That's Qualcomm's push to bring desktop-quality gaming to mobile, and in the past it's introduced capabilities such as desktop forward rendering for improved lighting and updateable GPU drivers.

In addition to supporting ultra smooth gaming capable of delivering gameplay at 144 frames per second, the Snapdragon 888 also adds variable rate shading for improved game rendering. That's a first for mobile devices, according to Qualcomm, and when it's implemented by game makers, it should boost gameplay performance by 30%. That means games will run smoother and longer without taxing your phone's battery as much.

Most games on your smartphone rely on a touchscreen interface to control the action, so Qualcomm is introducing a way to make your touches count. The company's Game Quick Touch feature can improve responsiveness by up to 20% in games running at 60 frames per second; in 120 fps games, response tims are cut by 10%.

In addition to all the other components on a Snapdragon 8 series chipset, you'll also find an AI engine that impacts multiple tasks across a smartphone. The Snapdragon 888 introduces a new 6th-generation AI Engine along with a Hexagon 780 processor that's more efficient and powerful than previous versions.

Many of the improvements to the Snapdragon 888's AI engine can be traced to a new architecture Qualcomm is using. The Tensor, Scalar and Vector AI accelerators have been fused in this version, allowing them to work together as one unit so they can share memory for faster performance.

That promises a number of benefits for AI-powered features. The Tensor Accelerator's Compute capacity has doubled, while the Scalar Accelerator is 50% more powerful. Qualcomm says you can expect up to a 3x performance per watt improvement from its last mobile processing platform, with the AI engine able to perform 26 tera operations per second (TOPS). For context, the Snapdragon 865 provided 15 TOPS, which was pretty impressive when it was introduced a year ago.

All of this translates to a more responsive device when it comes to working with the camera, voice assistant and any other part of the phone where responsiveness is key. The AI engine on the Snapdragon 888 can provide capabilities like noise suppression when you're on a phone call to cancel out ambient noise around you or AI-based upscaling on videos so that you can watch them at enhanced resolutions.

Last year's top-of-the-line Snapdragon chipset included a Qualcomm Sensing Hub to help with activities such as screen awake, lift and activity detection, and audio prompts. The Snapdragon 888 introduces the second generation version of that hub, with its own dedicated AI processor. That makes the revised Qualcomm Sensing Hub even more contextually aware of its surroundings.

A demo that Qualcomm showed off at its tech summit illustrated how the sensing hub could detect where you parked your car in a multi-level garage, all without any user input. The sensing hub can also detect different sounds like a baby crying and respond with an appropriate notification.

We've talked about 5G, but that's only part of the Snapdragon 888's connectivity capabilities. This is a Wi-Fi 6-enabled device, as you might expect, so it will connect efficiently to Wi-Fi 6-ready networking gear. The Qualcomm FastConnect 6900 mobile connectivity system can support wireless speeds of up to 3.6 Gbps.

On the security front, the Snapdragon 888 supports features such as a hypervisor that can quickly switch between isolated OSes on your phone. (Think setting up work and personal profiles on phones that keep apps and other data localized to specific profiles.) This is also the first Content Authenticity Initiative-compliant smartphone camera for capturing cryptographically-sealed photos.

Perhaps one of the more noteworthy enhancements brought about with the Snapdragon 888 is Qualcomm's QuickCharge 5 technology. It's capable of supporting up to 100W chargers, with the promise of providing a 50% charge to a phone in 5 minutes. Even if your future phone doesn't recharge at that blistering speed, faster charging looks to be on the horizon with Snapdragon 888-powered devices that employ the latest version of QuickCharge.

While all those features give us an overview of what the Snapdragon 888 brings to the table, we're going to have to wait for a device powered by the new chip to fully appreciate its capabilities. Certainly, getting to test a Snapdragon 888-powered phone will let us compare Qualcomm's latest to the chips powering Apple's new phones.

But there's a lot to anticipate about the Snapdragon 888 beyond just speed improvements. The new camera capabilities in particular promise to push mobile photography forward, and the gaming features will further cement the smartphone's place as a device for serious gamers. Qualcomm has introduced a lot of key enhancements with the Snapdragon 888, and we're looking forward to see how that translates to new mobile experiences.

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Snapdragon 888: The biggest features coming to Android phones - Tom's Guide

An aerial map shows the portion of West Vineyard Street that will close for construction work starting Dec. 14. MAUI COUNTY graphic

The Maui News

West Vineyard Street between Market and Church streets will be closed starting Dec. 14 through January as construction work continues in the area, the county announced Wednesday.

The closure will reduce the amount of time needed to complete this portion of Vineyard Street as part of the Wailuku Town Improvements Project, the county said.

Crews from MIRA Image Construction will be improving roads, sidewalks, water and sewer lines and drainage systems in the area, as well as putting existing overhead electrical and communication lines underground.

Drivers traveling on West Vineyard Street from High Street will be detoured around the construction area back to West Vineyard via Church, Main and Market streets.

Portions of the municipal parking lot will remain open during construction. However, the only entrance will be from Market Street, and the only exits will be at Market and Church streets. The entrance and exit to the parking lot from West Vineyard will be closed permanently.

Detour signs will be posted. Pedestrian access to businesses and apartments along Vineyard Street will be provided, and passenger drop-off and loading areas will be designated along Market Street for those residences.

Special duty officers will also be on site to direct traffic.

For questions or concerns, contact MIRA Image Construction Superintendent David Perez at (808) 306-5206.

For the latest updates on the Wailuku Town Improvement projects, visit http://www.WailukuLIVE.com.

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Portion of West Vineyard to close for upgrades - Maui News

Residents of Nairobi's upmarket estate, Lavington have moved to court to stop the construction of a church in the area.

In a case filed through lawyer Wilfred Mutubwa, the locals claim that the construction of Lavington United Church is causing pollution through noise and effluent discharge.

This, they say, is creating disturbance at a time when most residents are schooling and working from home following the government's directive to contain the spread of Covid-19.

They further argue that development violates the zoning requirements for the upscale neighborhood and want the court to revoke the environmental impact assessment (EIA) license issued by the National Environment Management Authority (Nema) on October 24th, 2019.

The proposed development exceeds the permissible densities and heights which will irreversibly impact the local environment without any possible mitigation, court documents read.

The residents also want the court to order the church to halt construction works pending the hearing and determination of their application.

They further note that the construction has led to an increase in traffic snarl-up along Ndoto and Margaret Kenyatta roads as a result of inadequate access and exit of the proposed project, which they also claim is risking their safety.

The residents allege that the project report relied on to issue the church with an EIA license is false and intended to mislead Nema.

The church is required to submit an Environmental Impact Assessment study report in order to acquire the EIA license as opposed to an EIA project report which is not sufficient to acquire the license in the circumstance, they say.

The plot numbers in the EIA license issued by Nema are not the same as the plot number of the project site in the change of user approval issued by the Nairobi city county.

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Residents of Lavington in Court to Stop Construction of Church in the Area - Mwakilishi.com

Basalts building boom remained on a torrid pace in 2020 despite the coronavirus pandemic and it is expected to be even busier next year.

The town government anticipates that it will collect $488,000 through building permits in 2020. While that is down from $517,753 collected in 2019, it is significantly more than budgeted for this year.

Aspen Skiing Co.s workforce housing project is taking shape in Willits. It will be completed in 2021. (Scott Condon/The Aspen Times)

Workers progress on the exterior of The Arts Campus At Willits building on Wednesday. (Scott Condon/The Aspen Times)

The Stotts Mill property in Southside has been cleaned up and infrastructure work is expected to start this month. Construction on the first phase of the project will start in 2021. (Scott Condon/The Aspen Times)

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Several big projects ignited in 2020 and pumped up the towns coffers. They included Aspen Skiing Co.s 38-unit work force housing project in Willits Town Center, which obtained permits for nearly $14 million worth of work; The Arts Campus at Willits, with a $4.25 million performing arts center; and the first phase of the Steadman orthopedic clinic at $4.8 million with much more to come in 2021.

The top five building permit fees in 2020, by dollar amount, were Aspen Skiing Co. at $171,873; East Valley LLC for the Block 11 project in Willits Town Center at $89,723; Basalt Medical Properties LLC for the Steadman project foundation, $69,685; The Arts Center At Willits at $60,498; and Willits Town Center Block 11 North at $44,015.

Tim Belinski is the head of a development group that is finishing a mixed residential and commercial project in Willits and preparing to start a different mixed use project at the former Pan and Fork property downtown.

He said in a recent interview that 2020 looked bleak for construction in March and April when the coronavirus pandemic forced an economic shutdown. However, the interest of people to relocate or spend more time in the Roaring Fork Valley helped reignite residential construction once stay-at-home orders were lifted, he said.

Next year is shaping up to be even busier in Basalt. The towns draft budget for 2021 is projecting $626,000 from building permits.

A graph prepared by the Basalt planning department for the Planning and Zoning Commission last month showed all the prospective constructive activity for 2021. Here is a rundown of those projects:

Belinskis Basalt River Park LLC will break ground on the first phase of a project at the former Pan and Fork property. The first phase is 24 residential units, including four employee-housing units.

Basalt Mini-Storage is expected to pursue its second building of 20,000 square feet in Southside.

Habitat For Humanity Roaring Fork will start the last phase of Basalt Vista, a 27-unit affordable housing project near Basalt High School.

Stotts Mill is expected to start on infrastructure this month and advance next year on its project with 113 residences and a 4,000-square-foot daycare.

The Steadman Clinic will advance to the next stage on a 50,000-square-foot clinic with an underground parking garage.

Park Modern is expected to advance on an eight-unit residential building, the last in its cluster along Willits Lane.

St. Vincent Catholic Church plans to expand its parish hall in downtown Basalt.

A 5,000-square-foot automated car wash is expected to start construction at 115 Southside Drive.

Other development proposals are anticipated to go through the review process in 2021, according to the planning department. A bank will pursue construction of a 3,840-square-foot building in a vacant lot adjacent to Element Hotel in Willits.

A 12-unit apartment building is being contemplated on Emma Road, next to Harry Teague Architects.

The town staff is in preliminary discussions with a development team eyeing a multi-family development project near the Basalt Post Office.

The town government also has two major projects on its plate with the $3.3 million upgrade to the Arbaney Pool and a $750,000, first-phase development of the Basalt River Park near downtown.

Another major project in the midvalley but outside of Basalt is Ace Lanes Tree Farm project. After a year of working on infrastructure, buildings in the mixed-use commercial and residential village will start going vertical in 2021.

Building permits, special improvement fees, business licenses and liquor licenses are expected to generate about $795,000 next year or about 10% of Basalts general fund revenue.

scondon@aspentimes.com

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2021 shaping up to be busy construction season in Basalt - Aspen Times