🔒Lamont releases $15.2M to assess, remediate brownfields

A dam-removal project and the assessment of contamination at the former home of a newspaper are among a dozen projects in 11 communities receiving a total of $15.2 million in grants and loans from the state. Gov. Ned Lamont announced Wednesday that his administration will release $15.2 million in state funding to support assessment and remediation activities at the 12 blighted properties across Connecticut. The funding will help cover the cost of cleaning up these unused, polluted parcels so they can be redeveloped and returned to productive use. The grants will be distributed through the state Department of Economic and Community Development’s (DECD) Brownfield Remediation and Development Program. The latest round of funding will support investigation and cleanup activities on a total of 267 acres and are expected to leverage more than $81 million in private investments, state officials said. The assistance announced under this funding round will assist the following projects:

• Ansonia and Seymour: A $4 million grant to The Connecticut Brownfield Land Bank Inc. to remove and manage previously identified contaminated sediments at the Kinneytown Dam, a 170.89-acre hydroelectric facility that spans the Naugatuck River in both towns.
• East Hartford: A $100,000 grant for environmental assessment and remedial planning activities for a 20.5-acre site at 832 Silver Lane. The site formerly was part of Silver Lane Plaza, which was previously occupied by a dry-cleaning business.
• Enfield: A $1.5 million loan to abate, remediate and monitor a 4.9-acre, privately owned site at 132 Weymouth Road. The property was built as a supermarket but has since been used for other purposes, including a dry cleaner and a trade school with an auto-repair training center. The project will enable the building to be reused for multiple purposes.
• Hamden: A $100,000 grant for environmental assessment activities at 344-350 Putnam Ave. The site, formerly an automobile body and repair shop, has been vacant for more than 35 years. Funding will support environmental assessment, site characterization, risk assessment and developing a remedial action plan to enable redeveloping the site into a 16-unit entry-level and affordable condo project.
• New Britain: A $2.67 million grant to the city Housing Authority to abate, remediate and demolish the Mount Pleasant public housing facility at 100 Richard St. The 19.81-acre site will be redeveloped into a mixed-income housing complex.
• Norwalk: A $200,000 grant to the Norwalk Redevelopment Agency to assess a 2.46-acre, privately owned site at 108 Water St. along the Norwalk River. This will help advance a plan to transform the property into a mixed-use waterfront development with 59 residential units, a hotel and approximately 36,000 square feet of office space.
• Norwalk: A $200,000 planning grant to the Western Connecticut Council of Governments, in partnership with Open Doors, to advance a comprehensive strategy for a cluster of underutilized properties in the Colonial Village Neighborhood of South Norwalk. These include multiple known and suspected brownfield sites associated with historical industrial uses.
• Plainville: A $541,000 grant to demolish the White Oak building at 1 West Main St. as part of Phase 3 of the ongoing remediation and redevelopment project at the 15-acre site.
• Shelton: A $1.5 million grant to the Shelton Economic Development Corp. to remediate a 1-acre site at 255 Canal St. historically used for power generation and manufacturing. The remediation will enable construction of a 48-unit mixed-income residential development with public riverwalk access.
• Thomaston: A $200,000 grant to the Naugatuck Valley Council of Governments to assess the 12.44-acre site at 165 Main St. The property previously was home to the historic Seth Thomas Clock Factory. The assessment will enable the NVCOG to establish a plan to convert the property into affordable housing.
• Waterbury: A $200,000 grant to the NVCOG to assess the 2.75-acre site at 389 Meadow St., the former home of the Republican-American newspaper. There are numerous areas of concern already identified for further investigation at this site, originally built as a train station, and the new funds will supplement those efforts. The planned redevelopment of the property includes a proposal to develop 40 residential apartment units.
• Waterbury: A $4 million grant to the Waterbury Development Corp. for Phase 3 of an abatement and remediation project of the 17.46-acre site at 698 South Main St. This grant is part of an ongoing endeavor to remediate the former Anamet factory site.