Regional Brownfields Partnership to Share Progress at Annual Meeting

WATERBURY — The Regional Brownfields Partnership, a coalition of 24 communities that works to remediate polluted and underused properties, will hold its annual meeting on Nov. 30

and showcase the progress it has made during the past year cleaning up contaminated sites.

The meeting will be at 10 a.m. at the Mattatuck Museum in Waterbury, and the partnership invites the public to attend. Two members of the University of Connecticut’s Technical Assistance for Brownfields Program will speak at the annual meeting about the services they provide to communities. Berlin and Newtown officials will discuss economic development in their respective communities. 

This annual meeting brings communities, federal and state agencies, non-profit groups, environmental professionals, and other professionals together around the topic of brownfields,” said Sheila O’Malley, chairwoman of the RBP’s executive board and director of economic development for the city of Ansonia. It’s a dynamic group of individuals whose collective knowledge and efforts have helped define brownfield issues and resolve many of them by working together. This meeting brings best practices in this field to the forefront, and I am honored to be part of this event.” 

The partnership works with the Naugatuck Valley Council of Governments to access federal and state brownfield subgrants and loans that pay for assessments of brownfield sites and cleanup. Member communities can also access guidance and expertise on navigating the environmental assessment, remediation, and cleanup process. The partnership is helping with 15 cleanup projects. 

Many brownfield sites are vacant or abandoned; the goal is to make those properties useful again. 

Our main goal is to take these contaminated sites and put them back to being tax-generating parcels,” said NVCOG Brownfields Manager Ricardo Rodriquez. 

One of those success stories is 313 Mill St. in Waterbury, the former site of the Nova Dye factory. The parcel had been vacant since the factory burned down in 2012. On Oct. 19, city officials and others held a ground-breaking ceremony for the Little League baseball park that is going up on the property. Other amenities will include a playscape, concessions stand, and bathrooms. 

The fire that destroyed the Nova Dye factory burned for nearly a week. The city of Waterbury received title to the property in 2014 and started turning it around. Early on, NVCOG assisted Waterbury in obtaining a $200,000 grant for planning the cleanup process. Working through the RBP, the NVCOG has helped Waterbury with other brownfield sites in the city’s South End to revitalize that area. 

The RBP grew out of the Naugatuck Valley Brownfields Pilot program established in 1996 with help from a federal Environmental Protection Agency grant. Member municipalities are Ansonia, Beacon Falls, Berlin, Bristol, Burlington, Cheshire, Derby, Middlebury, Naugatuck, Newtown, Plainville, Plymouth, Prospect, Seymour, Shelton, Southbury, Southington, Thomaston, Torrington, Waterbury, Watertown, Winchester, Wolcott, and Woodbury. 

If you have general questions regarding RBP membership please email: Christine O’Neill, Regional Environmental Planner, at coneill@nvcogct.gov

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