The Middletown Press (Middletown, CT)
Voters will have say in riverfront land buy
Town willing to pay $385K for 5.28-acre parcel across from park
PORTLAND — Residents later this month will be asked to approve the purchase of a 5.28-acre parcel of land along the Connecticut River.
The Board of Selectman voted Wednesday to send the proposal to a Feb. 28 town meeting.
The property, comprising three contiguous parcels — 222, 232 and 248 Brownstone Ave. — is the site of the former Connecticut Tar & Asphalt Co. It has been vacant for the past decade.
Town officials, with the backing of the state Department of Economic and Community Development office, believe the parcel can be cleaned up and repurposed for a variety of uses.
“This site has always been an economic driver in our community,” First Selectwoman Susan S. Bransfield said.
Now, town officials are intent upon “bringing it back to economic viability,” she said.
Among the possible uses for the site under study are a visitor’s center that could trace the history of quarrying brownstone in town, a waterfront restaurant and additional parking for the nearby Brownstone Exploration and Discovery Park.
The town has been negotiating with the owners of the property — the estate of the late John Balletti — for much of the past two years. It will pay $385,000 for the property, down from the nearly $900,000 initial asking price.
The town will use a short-term loan to fund the purchase, officials said Wednesday. Including costs associated with borrowing, the full purchase price will be $410,000, Bransfield said.
Because of the nature of product stored on the property, it is a brownfields site.
“A brownfield is a property, the expansion, redevelopment or reuse of, which may be complicated by the presence or potential presence of a hazardous substance, pollutant or contaminant,” according to the federal Environmental Protection Agency.
The town has been awarded two state grants: one for $200,000, used to
determine the type of contaminants and map their location, and a second for $750,000, which will be used to remediate the site.
Lilia Kieltya, a community development agent for the DECD, was present at the selectmen’s meeting to assure the board members that grant funds are ready for the town to access.
There are also tanks and buildings on the site which will have to be demolished and recycled, according to Amy Vaillancort, a licensed environmental engineer with Tighe & Bond, which is working with the town on the project.
While the town is responsible for remediating the site, Vaillancourt said much of the contaminated dirt can be left on site if it is “capped” — covered over with asphalt or concrete. Approximately 1,200 to 1,500 tons of contaminated dirt will have to be removed from the site, she said.
However, that topsoil contains “non-hazardous material” which can be can be brought to a local site instead of being trucked to an out-of-state disposal area, resulting in a savings to the town, Vaillancourt said.
If residents approve the proposal at the town meeting, Bransfield said Portland will have 90 days to sign the purchase agreement.
The clean-up program, outlined in the initial evaluation of the site, will have to be put out to bid, Bransfield said. The proposed remediation plan is “aggressive but achievable,” she said.
Work should begin this year and carry forward into 2019. The plan contains the seeds of the development plan, Bransfield added: “the clean-up, paving the parking lot, and installing the foundation for the building we hope to have there.”
Sean Hayes, owner of Brownstone Exploration and Discovery Park, “has encouraged us” to both buy the site and remove the derelict tanks and buildings, Bransfield said. He said visitors to the park “will welcome the chance to see the river.”
Hayes has also said, with additional parking, he can increase the number of people who visit the water
park, which is contained in a former brownstone quarry. This year for the first time, the park drew over 100,000 visitors.
Increasing visitors to the park benefits the town, which collects a share of fee from the park’s entrance cost.
Bransfield is anxious to develop the site. For too long, she has said, the town has been lax in pressing development along the 10-plus mile riverfront, the longest of any town in the state.
She is particularly excited about the idea of a waterfront restaurant, which could serve both visitors to the water park and residents alike.