Five brownfield sites across Connecticut will receive a total of $2.25 million to assist in redevelopment efforts under a pilot program funded through the state Bond Commission.
The Brownfield Municipal Pilot Program was created in 2006 and expanded through legislation in 2007. Under the program, the Department of Economic and Community Development (DECD) designates five pilot projects in a variety of communities where untreated brownfields are hindering economic development. Two projects must be in cities with populations more than 100,000; one must be in a city with a population between 50,000 and 100,000; and one must be selected from a municipality with a population of less than 50,000. The fifth project is selected at the discretion of the DECD commissioner.
The projects include:
Stamford, $450,000 for the Harbor Point Partnership Project, an 80-acre former industrial site that is being redeveloped for office, housing, hotel and mixed-use development. Pilot funds will be used for remediation at the location of a new 3.25-acre public park.
Waterbury, $650,000 for the clean-up of the Cherry Street Industrial Project. The pilot funds will be used for abatement, demolition and remediation of two vacant industrial buildings. A new, 63,000-square-foot building will be built on the site to accommodate the expansion of Bender Plumbing Supply.
Community between 50,000 and 100,000 in population
Norwalk, $300,000 for remediation of the three-acre South Norwalk train station site, which is targeted for transit-oriented redevelopment.
Community with less than 50,000 in population
The Georgetown Redevelopment Project, Redding, $425,000 for remediation and removal of contaminated soil at the site of the 51-acre former Gilbert & Bennet Wire Mill. On completion, this multi-phase project will include housing, retail, community facilities and a new train platform.
Discretionary community
Shelton, $425,000, remediation of a one-acre site that will be offered for private sale and redevelopment. Adjacent to the Housatonic River, this site was the location of chemical manufacturer Axton Cross. The site is a key component of the redevelopment of downtown Shelton known as Enterprise and Commerce Park.
In related news, Gov. M. Jodi Rell has named the president of Virginia Industries of Rocky Hill, Laura Grondin, to become the new chairwoman of the Connecticut Development Authority (CDA).
Grondin, who lives in Haddam, has led the Rocky Hill manufacturer since 1999 and has been a member of the CDA board of directors since November 2007.
Formerly president of the Hartford Bearing Co., a division of Virginia Industries, Grondin has served on many public and private boards, agencies, and associations. These include: the Connecticut Business & Industry Association; the Children’s Law Center of Connecticut; the Connecticut Women’s Council, and the Greater Hartford Chamber of Commerce, Arts Council and Jaycees. She also served as a member of state government’s Brownfields Task Force. She received her bachelor’s degree from Yale University.
The General Assembly established CDA as a quasi-public agency in 1988 to provide debt financing and investment capital to help Connecticut businesses grow.
Grondin succeeds L. Scott Franz, who was elected in November to become the new state senator for the 36th District. Frantz also had chaired Bradley International Airport’s board of directors, from which he resigned recently.
