Bolinsky: Brownfield Funds Will Help Newtown & Other Towns Revitalize Blighted & Vacant Sites

More than $3.8 Million Awarded to 21 Communities to Investigate Sites for Redevelopment

HARTFORD- State Rep. Mitch Bolinsky (R-106) along with Governor Dannel P. Malloy today announced that the Connecticut Department of Economic and Community Development (DECD) has awarded $3,821,000 in grants to 21 communities to advance the development of brownfield sites throughout the state including $200,000 for Newtown, to be used to move projects forward on the Fairfield Hills Campus.

Administered through the state’s Municipal Brownfields Assessment and Inventory Grant Program, the 22 grants announced today will assist cities, towns, and regional development agencies to assess and investigate over 310 acres across 48 sites, allowing the communities to take the vital first or next step toward reuse of sites that in many cases have been underused or abandoned for decades.

Newtown had conducted initial assessment and clean-up of the buildings on the property, but there remains asbestos contamination preventing the site from attracting private investment and being fully utilized. The Brownfields grant of $200,000 will be used to fully assess the extent and cost of abating and redeveloping the rest up the property. 

“Cleaning up and remediating brownfield sites and transforming them into useful pieces of property is an immense benefit to a small community like Newtown, especially at Fairfield Hills, right in the center of our community,” said Rep. Bolinsky.

The municipal grant program was created as a complement to DECD’s larger brownfield programs to assist local governments and their development agency partners to begin the process of redeveloping priority brownfield sites.  Prior to redevelopment of a brownfield or suspected contaminated site, environmental assessments are often required to provide more information to potential redevelopers about the site’s environmental conditions.

Under the program, applicants are eligible to receive grants of up to $200,000 to fund investigation and other pre-development activities to prepare sites for future development and reuse.

Department of Energy and Environmental Protection Commissioner Rob Klee said, “These investments in brownfield assessments are the critical first step toward redevelopment of these valuable lands.  By putting these properties back into productive use we can take advantage of existing infrastructure, protect public health and the environment, and reduce development pressure on our undeveloped lands.”