The town of Stratford has been awarded a $2,850,000 grant from the Connecticut Department of Economic and Community Development to demolish and remediate the 10.5 acre Contract Plating site, which lies within Stratford’s Transit Oriented Development District (TOD) for mixed use / TOD development at 540 Longbrook Ave.
Of 20 brownfield remediation state-wide grants totaling $27 million announced Aug. 27 by Gov. Dannel Malloy only the one for New Haven was larger than Stratford’s.
“This grant award is a direct result of the focus, hard work and due diligence by the office of economic development and other pertinent town staff,” said Mayor John Harkins. “These funds will allow the town to clean up a long-vacant and contaminated property without placing an additional burden on the property taxpayers of Stratford.”
Regarding potential use of the Stratford site, once it is cleaned up, the town’s Director of Economic Development Karen Kaiser said, “It will obviously be market-driven based and depends on the developer. We have had several inquiries from developers with interest, including manufacturing. We can (request proposals) in the next couple of weeks. This means that we will have a shovel-ready property ready for redevelopment. This will vastly increase our chances of having this back on the tax rolls in the very near future.”
Said Malloy when making the announcement: “Many of Connecticut’s brownfield sites have been abandoned or under-utilized for decades because the costs of redeveloping these properties are too expensive for municipalities or private developers to take on by themselves. That’s why my administration has not only allocated the funding necessary to return dozens of unused and blighted properties in every corner of the state to productive reuse, but also taken significant steps to attract private investment and increase participation in our brownfield programs.”
The governor said further, “Just for comparison, since 1995, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has invested $190 nationally in brownfield cleanup. Since 2011, we’ve allocated nearly $90 million in state money. This is the largest round of brownfield remediation funding ever in the state’s history and we will continue making these investments because we know doing so will generate significant returns for our state and local economies by getting these properties back on the tax rolls, improving the quality of life in these areas, cleaning up environmental contamination and, most importantly, creating jobs for our residents.”
Awards made under this round of funding may be used for a range of brownfield remediation and redevelopment activities, including abatement, demolition, site investigation and assessment, groundwater monitoring, installation of institutional controls, and professional services fees associated with redevelopment including attorney’s fees, and planning, design and consulting fees.
All projects were rated and ranked by an inter-agency committee based on ranking criteria which evaluated the applicant’s financial need, the feasibility of both the remediation and redevelopment project and the project’s consistency with responsible growth and livability initiatives.
For more on DECD’s state brownfield redevelopment programs and additional information on the rating and ranking criteria for this funding round, visit www.ctbrownfields.gov.
Contract Plating brownfield site on Longbrook Avenue. Greg Reilly photo.