GRANT FUNDS TESTING AT TWO SITES
By AL LARA; Courant Staff Writer
An old bulk oil storage facility in Glastonbury eyed for a riverfront park and a former textile mill in Vernon targeted for renovation are getting $150,000 in federal money for environmental site assessments.
The money will be split by officials in Glastonbury who want to turn the 25-acre former Field-Holstein property into a waterfront park, and officials in Vernon who want to restore the former Hockanum Mills for commercial use.
"This is a big boost, because private sector won't get involved unless there is a degree of certainty the site's not contaminated," Vernon Town Administrator Laurence Shaffer said of his town's project.
The money is part of $825,000 in federal Environmental Protection Agency grant funding for environmental assessments at 11 contaminated sites throughout New England.
The Vernon and Glastonbury sites are the only ones in Connecticut getting this latest batch of grant money. The EPA has spent about $7.45 million so far in grants under the agency's so-called "brownfields" program.
Site assessments are the first step in cleaning up abandoned and contaminated sites so they can be reused, according to Mindy S. Lubber, regional administrator for the EPA's New England office. "Brownfields" is the name given to such contaminated sites.
Under the agency's brownfields program, environmental consultants contracted by the EPA will perform the assessment, which will cost $75,000, a pre-negotiated figure. The assessments will determine the extent of contamination and estimate the cost of cleanup.
State and federal legislators including state Sen. Mary Ann Handley, D-Manchester; U.S. Reps. Sam Gejdenson and John B. Larson and U.S. Senators Christopher Dodd and Joseph L. Lieberman, all Democrats, have lobbied on behalf of the projects.
The Field-Holstein Co. property on Phelps Street is known locally as the "Tank Farm" for the 14 enormous, hulking, rusting, above ground oil storage tanks on the site. But town officials are eyeing the property, which is along the Connecticut River, for a public park.
"This will let us start and identify which of the tanks we can start to take down," said Town Manager Richard Johnson. The town is hiring a consultant to help with the removal of the tanks and to oversee soil remediation and other cleanup efforts.
"It's a critical step in realizing the dream of riverfront access," said Glastonbury Town Council member and state legislative aide Kevin Graff of the grant.
Johnson said he estimates cleanup and removal of the tanks will exceed $2 million. The town is using $250,000 set aside by the state Bond Commission to begin removing the tanks.
The Hockanum Mill is a former textile mill and machine tool facility whose owners, a real estate company delinquent to the town for just under $200,000 in taxes, is now in receivership.
On Tuesday, the Vernon town council said it would apply to the state's Community Development Block Grant program for $500,000 that would be used to renovate the West Main Street mill for commercial use it hopes will recoup the tax debt.
Officials want to stabilize and refurbish a vacant brick building at the site that has been previously proposed for use as a biotechnology company. A nonprofit corporation is ready to manage the complex. Other buildings in the complex that still house several active businesses would not be part of the improvements.
Another $300,000 in state grant money has already been used on some of the buildings for weatherproofing and building code compliance.
Early studies of the site found some contamination with asbestos and oil, but not enough to hamper development.