Real Quick:
Contaminated soil is the reason for the delays, but a project manager says progress has been made.
ANSONIA – A consultant told the Board of Aldermen that contaminated soil at Olson Drive should be capped off by October, more than two years after construction was supposed to begin at the site.
Brian Sirewich, an environmental project manager with Tighe & Bond, told the board at their monthly meeting Sept. 9 that soil remediation had been completed on the site. He said the next step is for the developer, The Primrose Companies, LLC, to approve a design for the cap.
The land at 31 – 165 Olson Drive is an empty field that used to be home to federally subsidized apartments.
The city sold the land to Bridgeport developer The Primrose Companies in 2022 for $510,000, in a deal that also included seventeen years of tax breaks and a since-walked-back promise from the developers to rebuild the Ansonia animal shelter. The developer plans to build a private sports complex on the site.
During the Sept. 9 meeting, two Aldermen pressed Sirewich on the timeline of the project. Alderman Bob Knott, whose ward includes Olson Drive, pointed out that the city has been publicly promising progress on the site for years. He said there’s little to show for it.
“We were all down there for a photo op, and gold shovels, and everything else that went on,” Knott said. “I’ll be dead before this field’s up.”
Alderman Tony Mammone said he was frustrated with the slow pace.
“There’s been no progress on this. I know there’s been a lot of bullets, a lot of Powerpoints, a lot of designs and pictures and all this fun stuff with it, but the city needs shovels in the ground,” Mammone said.
Mammone asked Sirewich when the city can expect capping to wrap up and for construction to begin.
“Probably a month or so. I would expect a month or so,” Sirewich said.
Sirewich said the project is taking longer than expected due to a massive amount of soil contamination found after the private developers bought the land. The city has since entered into a partnership where it secures state grant money for remediation activities on the private development project.
Sirewich said the partnership has saved millions of dollars and made development possible, but that it’s a slow-going process.
Shelton Economic Development Corporation President Sheila O’Malley – the former economic development director in Ansonia – agreed, saying the process takes time.
“It has taken some length of time to get to where we are, and I believe some of that has to do with the standards that had to be met in order for the developer to go forward,” O’Malley said.
The project has been subject to a number of delays.
When the land was sold in 2022, the developers said they expected to open the sports facility in 2023. But then an environmental assessment revealed much deeper levels of soil contamination than originally thought, from a combination of the former apartment complex and industrial waste.
In January 2024, The Primrose Companies owner John Guedes said he hoped to open the on-site soccer field by November 2024, with a 48,000-square foot all-sports training facility following this year. Neither of those ended up happening.
Also in 2024, city officials said the pledge from the developers to rebuild the Ansonia animal shelter was no longer happening. Instead, the city embarked on an approximately $1.6 million renovation project using a mix of state and city funds.
Sirewich previously provided updates on the remediation at Aldermen meetings in January and July this year. At the January meeting, Knott criticized the city’s continued involvement, saying it doesn’t make sense that public money is still going toward a private project.
The Aldermen’s next scheduled meeting is Oct. 14.