A portion of a letter from Tom Haynes to the state DECD explaining the potential of a development to be built on the Seymour-Beacon Falls border.
SEYMOUR – An application for a $16 million economic development grant was not approved by the state, Seymour First Selectwoman Annmarie Drugonis recently announced.
The Drugonis administration hoped the money would be used to build a connector road to Route 42 in Beacon Falls through land behind the Seymour Stop & Shop owned by Tom Haynes of the Haynes Development Co.
The idea was that the road would kickstart a privately funded $100 million mixed-use development project Haynes wants to build on the land – a larger version of his 30-acre “Quarry Walk” on Route 67 in Oxford.
Sheila O’Malley, Seymour’s economic development director, said the town is planning to retool and resubmit the application. The town is also searching for other grants.
First Selectwoman Drugonis talked about the rejected application during a livestream interview with The Valley Indy on May 1. The grant application was to get money from the state’s community investment fund.
“They basically said it was more of a DOT (Department of Transportation) application. They said they’re going to be doing other things with the money, so we said ‘OK, we’ll try again in a different way, we’ll try rewording the grant, we’ll try going after something else and we’ll look at it more from a DOT point of view, rather than an economic development point of view’.”
The grant that the town applied for falls under the state Department of Community and Economic Development. Matt Pugliese, the department’s deputy commissioner, said 125 applications were submitted for $508 million in funding.
Pugliese encouraged the town to try again.
“There were many more shovel-ready projects than Seymour’s at this time,” Pugliese said. “For the Community Investment Funding, we’ve never said a project is rejected, we’ve said it’s not awarded for that round. This has been a highly competitive process and we’ve seen applications come through now for two or three rounds in a row for the funding. The applications keep getting better and stronger.”
Haynes said he’s not giving up.
“We are not deterred by missing this round,” he said in a text message.“Our view is that the state has stepped up to support the Naugatuck Valley towns from Shelton to Waterbury with infrastructure and economic development but has not yet found a way to support Seymour and Beacon Falls. We believe that it’s our towns’ time and we will work harder to give the state a reason to support this development.”
Though everything is conceptual at this point, Haynes wants to build a multi-use development of housing, retail and commercial space, similar to what Haynes did with Quarry Walk – but on 200 acres.
Haynes, during a public hearing last December, said Quarry Walk created 2,000 jobs, and annually generates more than $1 million in property taxes to Oxford’s tax base.
The economic benefits to both Seymour and Beacon Falls’ tax bases from the proposed development should be significant, Haynes has said.
