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PROPOSED: Utopia Project


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Well, everyone. It's going to referendum. Now it's up to the people, the way it should be. Let's wait and see what happens.

Utopia Agreement Going To Referendum

Advisory panel, selectmen approve plan; vote tentatively set for May 23

By Katrina Gathers

Published on 4/20/2006 12:00:00 AM

Preston

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Well, everyone. It's going to referendum. Now it's up to the people, the way it should be. Let's wait and see what happens.

Utopia Agreement Going To Referendum

Advisory panel, selectmen approve plan; vote tentatively set for May 23

By Katrina Gathers

Published on 4/20/2006 12:00:00 AM

Preston

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Yes. I say extend the Shore Line East up to the site, and then either implement the Hartford/New Haven commuter rail or use a direct Hartford rail connection. Then I'd like to see RIDOT extend our proposed Commuter Rail service all the way to New London.

I've heard that Mohegan, Foxwoods, the Connecticut Southern, Providence & Wochester and New England Central would love to buy the MIDLAND (Willimantic to Hartford) rail ROW from the DOT. CSO and NEC would like it to interchange with each other (they are part of RailAmerica), P&W wants it to move frieght off the NEC (since they have to pay AMTRAK to use the rails) and the casinos would love to operate passenger service from Bradley to Norwich. Unfortunatly a few NIMBYs are againdst the plan because their KIDS play on the ROW (hey parents, tell your kids NOT to play on the tracks!)

think about what the ECRRM (Eastern Connecticut Railroad Museum) could do -- Tourist trains from Willi to Bolton Notch or to Valley Falls Park in Vernon.

Jim S

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No, I didn't see it in the courant and the announcement was made from the capitol, strange....

I did see some articles in the New London Day about the announcement and also one about the other studio development, North Stonington Studios, which will be on Pequot land with the tribe owning a 40% interest. If only I was a Mashentuckett Pequot......

Tycoon:

Fake being a Pequot. Donald Trump once said about the tribe, "They don't look Indian to me!" (He wanted to build a casino for Bridgeport, but the indian had a deal with the state that only they could.) I thought that was funny!!

JimS

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You know what, vegetation sure isn't paying the bills, but it sure didn't help New Orleans when Katrina hit. People ignored Mother Nature for years and never allocated $$ to stabilize wetlands around a city that was well below sea level..

The mentality of bulldozing rural areas, drilling the Arctic refuge for oil, and allowing development in national parks is shortsighted.....I could go on and on with this , but as this is UP and not Hardball Live, I will not go any further. I think that sprawl affects the U.S. more than any nation on Earth and it takes away from the quality of life that we expect our grandchildren to have. I was so happy ( elated) when R.I. firmly denounced plans to build state police hdq. in the Big River Management Area. It sends a message to people that character and quality of life come before business decisions.

Furthermore, casinos are not forms of economic development. They suck everything out from underneath them. Go into Foxwoods @ 2 Am on a Wednesday. Look at all the desperate addicted people sittting at the machines blowing their paycheck. I saw a woman with 2 young children @ 3am once on a Thursday blowing her mortgage payment on a slot machine. They might draw people down to play and have a little fun, but many people end up like the lady I saw....(mesmerized "by the wonder of it all")

Virgo:

Drilling the ARTIC REFUGE?? Sorry but the oil up there would help the gas prices but I won't bore you with facts on AWNR. :)

The STATE HOSPITAL site is ABANDONED and it is an EYESORE! Would you like to keep it as an ABANDONED SITE and not have ANYTHING there? Sorry, UTOPIA would be great for Connecticut (and RI and even Mass) because it would TRANSFORM an ABANDONED site into a REVENUE-PRODUCING SITE! Do I want to see the QUIET CORNER have something like this -- no, but on an ABANDONED SITE, yes.

The casinos do want people to play, but if a little old lady is there GAMBLING her mortage payment away, she needs to go to GAMBLER's ANNOYMOUS to get help.

JimS

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Virgo:

Drilling the ARTIC REFUGE?? Sorry but the oil up there would help the gas prices but I won't bore you with facts on AWNR. :)

The STATE HOSPITAL site is ABANDONED and it is an EYESORE! Would you like to keep it as an ABANDONED SITE and not have ANYTHING there? Sorry, UTOPIA would be great for Connecticut (and RI and even Mass) because it would TRANSFORM an ABANDONED site into a REVENUE-PRODUCING SITE! Do I want to see the QUIET CORNER have something like this -- no, but on an ABANDONED SITE, yes.

The casinos do want people to play, but if a little old lady is there GAMBLING her mortage payment away, she needs to go to GAMBLER's ANNOYMOUS to get help.

JimS

I live in Preston, and this thing is so huge and full of so many what ifs I'm taking a NIMBY stand on it. If they really do attract as many visitors as they claim, it'll have more traffic than Disney World. This at a 420 acre site that is a fraction of the size of 47 square mile Disney... The state is only gonna build a route 2a bypass for a Disney World sized attraction and they seriously think it's enough?

There has been no business plan submitted to Preston, and the place is gonna be run by a "dream team" of "experts" who have no practical experience in large scale construction projects, theme park operation, university administration and accredidation, resort management, or movie production. There is no guarantee that this'll be a success...

If it is a success, the region will change BIG TIME. It will go from mostly rural to completely "exurban". Think Groton, Manchester, or Warwick. At the moment, most of the surrounding towns have little to no sewer systems or water systems. Schools would have to be built. The people who work the 22,000 jobs and all the other jobs that these people create will need places to live. We will lose our heritage just so a bunch of (mob-connected) unions and Joe Gentile get their shot at making a ton of money. If anyone here went to the meetings, you would have noticed that Joe Gentile initiated most of the clapping and booing, and that when it was approved to go to the residents for a referendum 90% of the people who stood up and clapped were from the area of the room filled with Utopia guys and union workers. This is a screwjob, plain and simple. I think they get people caught up in the flashy hollywood idea and the fact that taxes will supposedly be lower as a result of this; and everyone is failing to think of how massive an undertaking this is. At the expense of a small town (and towns around it), these guys stand to potentially make billions (not that I'm against business). You can say anything you want about tax benefits, but the people in the towns that are litterally a stone's throw away from the site (Montville, Ledyard, Norwich) as well as many of the other surrounding towns stand to gain nothing but headaches and higher taxes from this deal.

I am not against development... I would not mind it at all if they somehow attracted a large corporation or two to locate to the site. The impact of a corporate campus would be far less dramatic. I've advocated for the finishing of routes 2 and 2a, widening rt 164 in Preston and Griswold, and building a light rail system. This Utopia project is of too huge a scale and filled with too many promises that may or may not be kept.

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Here's some information about the forthcoming meetings from the New London Day.

Utopia Studios is scheduled to host two public forums the first week of May. They are 7:30 to 10 p.m. Thursday, May 4, and 1 to 4 p.m. Saturday, May 6. Gentile agreed to the dates Friday afternoon.

The hospital committee will host three forums the following week. They are 7:30 to 10 p.m. Tuesday, May 9; 7:30 to 10 p.m. Thursday, May 11; and 1 to 4 p.m. Saturday, May 13.

All of the forums will be held at Preston Veterans' Memorial School.

At the May 11 forum, a town meeting is scheduled from 7:30 to 8 p.m. to read a resolution that changes the start time of the referendum. The polls will be open from 6 a.m. to 8 p.m.; the referendum is tentatively scheduled for May 23.

The original date set for the town meeting, which was May 18, has been canceled.

First Selectman Robert Congdon, a committee member, said the hospital committee will meet at 7 p.m. Wednesday in Town Hall to discuss the format for upcoming sessions. Committee members have said that they will

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  • 2 weeks later...

http://theday.com/re.aspx?re=76080918-c398...bd-603824083b30

Getting another chance to vote in support of Utopia is good news. Regardless of what some are trying to say, this proposal did receive our overwhelming support the last time it went to referendum. The benefits to the town were as obvious then as they are now.

Utopia is offering unprecedented layers of control to protect the interests of Preston. Voting

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http://theday.com/re.aspx?re=76080918-c398...bd-603824083b30

This is, unfortunately, the common viewpoint. Why are these people opposed to the littlest of things like a shopping center on route 2 in Norwich (which was blocked by local residents) but are so welcoming of Utopia, which will encourage sprawl and congestion beyond belief if it is a success. I'm for keeping this stuff around cities and suburbs, but this area still has some rural characteristics left. This will disappear. At best we'd have fairfield county type countryside left after this is put in.

I agree with you, Damus. I am from Hartford though and do not place quite the same value on our rural acreage here in CT. We have to grow smartly though, Norwich can benefit greatly from this and as a city already should provide a large Urban backbone to this thing. I think this land should be utilized to the maximum, Utopia is attempting to create a whole new definition for maximum return on this thing. This, in conjunction with a growth trend in CT's population, other projects taking shape in SE CT and around the state, and new mass transit initiatives will alter the character of SE CT.

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I agree with you, Damus. I am from Hartford though and do not place quite the same value on our rural acreage here in CT. We have to grow smartly though, Norwich can benefit greatly from this and as a city already should provide a large Urban backbone to this thing. I think this land should be utilized to the maximum, Utopia is attempting to create a whole new definition for maximum return on this thing. This, in conjunction with a growth trend in CT's population, other projects taking shape in SE CT and around the state, and new mass transit initiatives will alter the character of SE CT.

We need some of the New Urbanist people to come up to this area and run for office before it's too late... Even if planned right I'm sure there will be growing pains, ones that these "utopian" supporters of the project will be shocked to see. I think they really believe that only 22k new jobs will be created (not thinking of the ancillary jobs and future Utopia projects) and that a second span on the Mohegan-Pequot bridge will take care of the traffic. This area is in line for change seen only in perhaps the Las Vegas area in recent years, only (I fear) on a more sprawleriffic scale.

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There is no way this many people are going to be visiting this fairy tale. I just don't see 70,000 in Jan/Feb when it is 15 degrees outside. The casinos don't see that kind of patronage and they are indoor venues. I think that the state should have fought to get Pfizer to locate their global HQ there, you'd have Hwy/Rail/H2O Access along with plenty of room for a Heliport. Now all we are stuck with is a fantasy project that will more than likely never amount to half of what it claims to be. We can throw this in the same boat with Destiny USA in Syracuse, NY. I'm sorry, but as a born and raised resident of Norwich, we have seen few positives come out of the Casino construction, let alone "Utopia". I am all in favor of seeing this area grow, but be honest, this project is the biggest hype machine ever created. Joe Gentile thinks he has total control of this little hick town in the backwards end of the state. The vast majority of the 22,000 jobs created by this project will pay less than those at Foxwoods and Mohegan Sun. Working @ a hot dog stand is a great job for a teenager in the summer, but you can't support a family on it.

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There is no way this many people are going to be visiting this fairy tale. I just don't see 70,000 in Jan/Feb when it is 15 degrees outside. The casinos don't see that kind of patronage and they are indoor venues. I think that the state should have fought to get Pfizer to locate their global HQ there, you'd have Hwy/Rail/H2O Access along with plenty of room for a Heliport. Now all we are stuck with is a fantasy project that will more than likely never amount to half of what it claims to be. We can throw this in the same boat with Destiny USA in Syracuse, NY. I'm sorry, but as a born and raised resident of Norwich, we have seen few positives come out of the Casino construction, let alone "Utopia". I am all in favor of seeing this area grow, but be honest, this project is the biggest hype machine ever created. Joe Gentile thinks he has total control of this little hick town in the backwards end of the state. The vast majority of the 22,000 jobs created by this project will pay less than those at Foxwoods and Mohegan Sun. Working @ a hot dog stand is a great job for a teenager in the summer, but you can't support a family on it.

This is an indoor attraction as well. It is family themed so it will most likely outdraw the Casinos by default. There won't be many single couples visiting or groups of buddies, it's gonna be Mom, Dad, and the kids. I think that our proximately to the rest of the megalopolis easily makes this feasable. An indoor Disney Land in CT that 1/3 of the US population can drive to in under 6 or 7 hours. I personally think it's gonna be a huge hit but that's just in my judgement.

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I live in Preston, and this thing is so huge and full of so many what ifs I'm taking a NIMBY stand on it. If they really do attract as many visitors as they claim, it'll have more traffic than Disney World. This at a 420 acre site that is a fraction of the size of 47 square mile Disney... The state is only gonna build a route 2a bypass for a Disney World sized attraction and they seriously think it's enough?

There has been no business plan submitted to Preston, and the place is gonna be run by a "dream team" of "experts" who have no practical experience in large scale construction projects, theme park operation, university administration and accredidation, resort management, or movie production. There is no guarantee that this'll be a success...

If it is a success, the region will change BIG TIME. It will go from mostly rural to completely "exurban". Think Groton, Manchester, or Warwick. At the moment, most of the surrounding towns have little to no sewer systems or water systems. Schools would have to be built. The people who work the 22,000 jobs and all the other jobs that these people create will need places to live. We will lose our heritage just so a bunch of (mob-connected) unions and Joe Gentile get their shot at making a ton of money. If anyone here went to the meetings, you would have noticed that Joe Gentile initiated most of the clapping and booing, and that when it was approved to go to the residents for a referendum 90% of the people who stood up and clapped were from the area of the room filled with Utopia guys and union workers. This is a screwjob, plain and simple. I think they get people caught up in the flashy hollywood idea and the fact that taxes will supposedly be lower as a result of this; and everyone is failing to think of how massive an undertaking this is. At the expense of a small town (and towns around it), these guys stand to potentially make billions (not that I'm against business). You can say anything you want about tax benefits, but the people in the towns that are litterally a stone's throw away from the site (Montville, Ledyard, Norwich) as well as many of the other surrounding towns stand to gain nothing but headaches and higher taxes from this deal.

I am not against development... I would not mind it at all if they somehow attracted a large corporation or two to locate to the site. The impact of a corporate campus would be far less dramatic. I've advocated for the finishing of routes 2 and 2a, widening rt 164 in Preston and Griswold, and building a light rail system. This Utopia project is of too huge a scale and filled with too many promises that may or may not be kept.

Damus:

The thing about Connecticut is that the citizens of Connecticut can ENFORCE zoning laws. If the towns want to stay RURAL -- the people have the choice -- not here in South SHORE of Tampa. The Ranchs here are becoming homes and shopping centers. The zoning board of Hillsborough County is made of DEVELOPERS. :(

It is something the people of the towns (Preston, Ledyard, Montville, etc) needs to do -- stand up for the zoning! If the land is zoned for a farm -- don't let people rezone it to COMMERICAL!

JimS

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There is no way this many people are going to be visiting this fairy tale. I just don't see 70,000 in Jan/Feb when it is 15 degrees outside. The casinos don't see that kind of patronage and they are indoor venues. I think that the state should have fought to get Pfizer to locate their global HQ there, you'd have Hwy/Rail/H2O Access along with plenty of room for a Heliport. Now all we are stuck with is a fantasy project that will more than likely never amount to half of what it claims to be. We can throw this in the same boat with Destiny USA in Syracuse, NY. I'm sorry, but as a born and raised resident of Norwich, we have seen few positives come out of the Casino construction, let alone "Utopia". I am all in favor of seeing this area grow, but be honest, this project is the biggest hype machine ever created. Joe Gentile thinks he has total control of this little hick town in the backwards end of the state. The vast majority of the 22,000 jobs created by this project will pay less than those at Foxwoods and Mohegan Sun. Working @ a hot dog stand is a great job for a teenager in the summer, but you can't support a family on it.

Very well put! Refreshing to hear from somebody else on the same page....

Very well put! Refreshing to hear from somebody else on the same page....

Also, I don't think this has a long shot of getting built...and even if it did, it would be the biggest white elephant of its time...

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There is no way this many people are going to be visiting this fairy tale. I just don't see 70,000 in Jan/Feb when it is 15 degrees outside. The casinos don't see that kind of patronage and they are indoor venues. I think that the state should have fought to get Pfizer to locate their global HQ there, you'd have Hwy/Rail/H2O Access along with plenty of room for a Heliport. Now all we are stuck with is a fantasy project that will more than likely never amount to half of what it claims to be. We can throw this in the same boat with Destiny USA in Syracuse, NY. I'm sorry, but as a born and raised resident of Norwich, we have seen few positives come out of the Casino construction, let alone "Utopia". I am all in favor of seeing this area grow, but be honest, this project is the biggest hype machine ever created. Joe Gentile thinks he has total control of this little hick town in the backwards end of the state. The vast majority of the 22,000 jobs created by this project will pay less than those at Foxwoods and Mohegan Sun. Working @ a hot dog stand is a great job for a teenager in the summer, but you can't support a family on it.

I guess, PCgrad02, then you want an ABANDONED PROPERTY staying not producing revenues for the state/city? if you don't like the project, buy the land and create something on it. At least UTOPIA STUDIOS is trying to CREATE TAXES for the state and cities.

What do you want to it to become? I'd love to see a MANUFACTURING PLANT coming into Connecticut, but I doubt I'll ever see that on that site.

JimS

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Very well put! Refreshing to hear from somebody else on the same page....

Also, I don't think this has a long shot of getting built...and even if it did, it would be the biggest white elephant of its time...

Jerry:

Why will it be a WHITE ELEPHANT? I guess you are one of the NIMBYs who don't want to see Connecticut succeed! I think it would help tourism and maybe the side benefits would be manufacturing jobs (for movie backgrounds, etc?).

JimS

Utopia is going to be indoor? :unsure:

Yes it will be inside. I've heard it would be the biggest indoor AMUSEMENT PARK in the world.

JimS

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Utopia is going to be indoor? :unsure:

Yes. Utopia's INDOOR COMPONENT is what has me really SCRATCHING my head. The site UTOPIA wants to build on is only 420 acres. HOW do they expect to fit a Performing Arts COLLEGE, MOVIE Studios,and a THEME PARK that draws at least 70,000 people 300 days a YEAR on a site so SMALL?

on edit: Just for comparision, DISNEY WORLD is located on a site that takes up 47 Square MILES.

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If this things gets built, which is more likely everyday now, theres no way people aren't going to come. People also wondered who would go the the Casinos in the middle of nowhere and now we know the answer is everybody and their mother. This will be no different. I'll start taking bets on this one. Anybody wanna put some money up?

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Yes. Utopia's INDOOR COMPONENT is what has me really SCRATCHING my head. The site UTOPIA wants to build on is only 420 acres. HOW do they expect to fit a Performing Arts COLLEGE, MOVIE Studios,and a THEME PARK that draws at least 70,000 people 300 days a YEAR on a site so SMALL?

on edit: Just for comparision, DISNEY WORLD is located on a site that takes up 47 Square MILES.

damus:

Take a look at BUSCH GARDENS -- Tampa Bay. It is built in an Industrial/lower income area of Tampa.

jimS

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It is not going to be inside, you think they're going to encase 470 acres in a huge glass bubble? I DO NOT want to see the property abandoned at all, it has been for too long as it is. When the state hospital closed, they let a good deal of the remaining patients out to roam the streets of Norwich. We have a large homeless population for a city of our size. I feel that the site would have been put to better use thru a true mixed use project, not a fantasyland. The ideal location between NY and Boston would have been great for corporations to relocate to. Seeing as how Pfizer fell out of the picture, the state could have pursued other bio-tech firms to relocate, creating a mini research triangle a la NC. I would prefer the land go to real companies that pay well and have actual plans, not fantasy created by so called "dream team" execs. Where is the Hollywood support for this? The dude that played Hellboy and a woman that was in Raging Bull hardly qualify in my book. Why film in eastern CT when you can go to Toronto, even Providence or Boston. And don't give me a cost reason, you can't use a green screen for everything, people get tired of the "fake CGI" look.

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It is not going to be inside, you think they're going to encase 470 acres in a huge glass bubble? I DO NOT want to see the property abandoned at all, it has been for too long as it is. When the state hospital closed, they let a good deal of the remaining patients out to roam the streets of Norwich. We have a large homeless population for a city of our size. I feel that the site would have been put to better use thru a true mixed use project, not a fantasyland. The ideal location between NY and Boston would have been great for corporations to relocate to. Seeing as how Pfizer fell out of the picture, the state could have pursued other bio-tech firms to relocate, creating a mini research triangle a la NC. I would prefer the land go to real companies that pay well and have actual plans, not fantasy created by so called "dream team" execs. Where is the Hollywood support for this? The dude that played Hellboy and a woman that was in Raging Bull hardly qualify in my book. Why film in eastern CT when you can go to Toronto, even Providence or Boston. And don't give me a cost reason, you can't use a green screen for everything, people get tired of the "fake CGI" look.

Post some proof that it won't be inside. Everything I've read said it is. The entire site will not be encased in a bubble, that would be extremely asinine. I'm assuming there will be various buildings of varying sizes housing various attractions and funtional components. There aren't going to be alot of roller coasters and water rides, more like MGM Studios at Disney.

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You still have to go outside to get to all the attractions @ MGM, people will put up with sunny FL weather, I'm just not so sure about a New England winter. The vast majority of our tourism money is made in the summer, Mystic is returned to the locals in the winter. Nevermind the fact that these people do not have Disney money or products, Disney is it's own world.

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