By Ethan Fry, Valley Independent Sentinel (CT)

The lower Naugatuck Valley is dotted with contaminated “brownfield” properties where environmental issues related to their previous uses have thrown question marks over redevelopment plans, caused hiccups to demolition, or stalled projects altogether.

On Wednesday U.S. Senator Chris Murphy visited a similar site - the sprawling Ansonia Copper and Brass complex - to laud a new bill he says would help property owners and developers return such properties to productive reuse sooner.

…

The city reached a deal with Ansonia Copper & Brass in August 2014 in which the company agreed to demolish about 30,000 square feet of buildings and was allowed to deduct the cost of the work against an outstanding tax bill of roughly $800,000. 

Demolition began in December 2014. The city and the company are in talks to extend the deal to other parts of the 42-acre complex in the heart of the city’s downtown.

…

For the entire article, see

http://valley.newhavenindependent.org/archives/entry/sen._murphy_touts_brownfield_bill_in_ansonia/

WBTA radio (Batavia, NY)

One of Batavia’s so-called brownfield sites is destined to be re-developed into 3-three-acres of luxury apartments, Class A office space, new light manufacturing space and a restaurant/brewery.

The site is the former location of Santy’s Tire and Della Penna Construction on Ellicott Street.

As we reported yesterday morning, Savarino Companies of Buffalo has been selected to re-develop the site.

…

For the entire story, see

http://www.wbta1490.com/LocalNews/tabid/115/articleType/ArticleView/articleId/7202/Batavia-Morning-News-Mar-17-2016.aspx

By Larry Robinson, Watertown Daily Times (NY)

OGDENSBURG - The city has moved a step closer to its long-term goal of redeveloping hundreds of acres of once-contaminated property along the St. Lawrence and Oswegatchie rivers by completing the latest stage of the state’s Brownfield Opportunity Area program.

The BOA program was created in 2003 to give municipalities access to state grants to plan and investigate the cleanup and redevelopment of abandoned industrial and commercial sites known as brownfields.

In Ogdensburg, most of the municipality’s 330-acre brownfield area is located near the confluence of the St. Lawrence and Oswegatchie rivers. The sprawling tract of riverfront property contains 45 individual brownfield sites including residential, industrial, commercial and retail properties within the city limits.

…

For the entire article, see

http://www.watertowndailytimes.com/news05/ogdensburg-completes-latest-stage-of-brownfield-cleanup-program-20160316

by Cierra Johnson, WKBW TV-& News (Buffalo, NY)

LACKAWANNA, N.Y.  - Wednesday night, those living in the city of Lackawanna were updated on a state funded project designed to revitalize the now desolate area were Bethlehem steel once stood.

The meeting was the first in a series of informational gatherings addressing future development of the city’s first ward - specifically the areas near Ridge road, Route five and the waterfront.

The first portion of the informational broke down the process the state DEC is using to select, clean and develop underutilized, vacant or brownfield sites.

…

For the entire story, see

http://www.wkbw.com/news/neighbors-in-lackawanna-hear-update-on-brownfield-cleanup

Editorial, Batavia Daily News (NY)

Batavia’s Pathway to Prosperity has been a hard road to find. All the involved parties knew where they were and where they wanted to go; the trick was in getting everyone to agree on how to get there, and finding enough gas money to make the trip. With the county Legislature’s approval last week, the city is fueled up, ready to go and take along the rest of the county as a passenger.

The Legislature was the third of the three taxing entities that needed to sign on to Batavia’s Pathway to Prosperity Redevelopment Fund. The city and the city school district had already approved participation in a program that would take half of the tax revenue from increased property values for certain projects and put them into a fund for infrastructure and construction work in future developments. The area targeted is the Brownfield Opportunity Area, where development is sorely needed if the city is to move toward prosperity.

…

For the entire editorial, see

http://www.thedailynewsonline.com/bdn06/a-positive-pathway-20160222

By Molly Callahan, Meriden Record-Journal (CT)

MERIDEN - Between cleanup grants, Transit-Oriented District planning and implementation grants, and Choice Neighborhood grants, the city has received more than $24 million in state and federal money for downtown Meriden in recent years.

Any visit downtown yields the sights of a city in transition, with construction in almost any direction one looks. The former Hub site is nearing completion as a flood storage basin and park; a new train station on State Street is taking shape; a Meriden Housing Authority and Westmount Development Group joint venture at 24 Colony St. is springing up; 11 Crown St., 116 Cook Ave., and the former Factory H site are all nearing cleanup and demolition; and residents of the Mills Memorial Apartment complex are leaving and the buildings are about to be torn down.

All this, while year after year, residents urge elected officials to attract more businesses and more private development to lighten the tax burden on homeowners.

…

For the entire article, see

http://www.myrecordjournal.com/meriden/meridennews/8479300-129/brownfield-cleanup-grants-helping-reshape-downtown-meriden.html

by Eve Britton, Bristol Pres (CT)

BRISTOL - A new “ultra-clean” power plant is being envisioned at an old contaminated scrap-metal yard on Middle Street.

Officials at FuelCell Energy in Danbury have begun negotiations with the city to build the green-energy generation grid a block south of ESPN.

The 15-acre city-owned site, at 894 Middle St., has been designated a Brownfield - a contaminated site eligible for federally funded rehabilitation - by the state.

FuelCell Energy officials have expressed interest in leasing between two and three acres on the site to support seven to 12 units, producing anywhere from two to 20 megawatts of power.

Those numbers could change. “It frankly hasn’t been determined yet,” said Frank Wolak, vice president for government and business, about the company’s plans.
…
For the entire article, see
http://www.centralctcommunications.com/bristolpress/article_8b6b29ec-d130-11e5-885c-470c822cf026.html

by Bill Leukhardt, Hartford Courant (CT)

SOUTHINGTON – Cleanup work should begin soon at the former Beaton and Corbin plumbing fixture factory, vacant since 1989, marred by severe industrial pollution and gutted by an 2003 arson fire, town economic development director Louis Perillo said Friday.

A $400,000 state grant awarded Wednesday for the job will allow remediation to begin so a private developer can buy the property and build a 13,000 square foot office retail complex on the 3-acre lot, he said.

"We're really excited about this," Perillo said of the pending reuse of a prime North Main Street lot that's been an eyesore for decades. Some of Perillo's relatives once worked at the factory, one of many heavy industrial businesses here that provided jobs for decades until those firms closed shop in the 1980s.

For the entire article, see

http://www.courant.com/community/southington/hc-southington-brownfield--grant-0213-20160212-story.html

by Adam Shanks, Berkshire Eagle (MA)

NORTH ADAMS - Developers of the Greylock Mill can move forward with the cleanup of the former industrial site without fear of liability for the contamination.

The project, along with two others in the state, has been accepted into the Brownfields Covenant program, according to the state Attorney General's Office.

Under the program, the developers will enter a special Covenant Not to Sue agreement, which will reduce its liability as it revitalizes the massive, but environmentally contaminated complex on State Road.

"The covenant process was critical to understanding and containing the risks associated with the pre-existing conditions of the site," said Salvatore Perry, developer for the project. "The meetings we had with experienced professionals at [the Department of Environmental Protection] increased awareness among the many stakeholders, and fostered a collaborative dynamic to shape a reasonable plan that will clean up the Greylock Mill site."

For the entire article, see

http://www.berkshireeagle.com/local/ci_29465490/north-adams-greylock-mill-project-accepted-into-brownfields

by Bill Leukhardt, Hartford Courant (CT)

SOUTHINGTON - A company that prepares former industrial sites for eventual sale to developers is now involved in the tricky job of cleaning the polluted, fire-scarred Beaton & Corbin factory site.

The nonprofit Connecticut Brownfields Landbank won town council approval Monday night to help the town clean and resell the 3-acre site, owned by a now-bankrupt corporation that went out of business in 1989.

The town is owed more than $94,000 in back taxes by the defunct owner. Ownership is in limbo but town officials will not foreclose because it means Southington would then own the land and be legally responsible for cleaning industrial wastes that soaked into the dirt during the plumbing factory's decades of operation.

For the entire article, see http://www.courant.com/hc-southington-brownfield-clean-0127-20160126-story.html