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SENATORS’ BROWNFIELD TOUR

BY ALEC JOHNSON

REPUBLICAN-AMERICAN

TORRINGTON — Excavators took a break Wednesday from crushing concrete at the former Nidec factory on Franklin Drive long enough for Mayor Elinor C. Carbone to make a pitch for federal brownfield redevelopment funds.

Carbone gave Sens. Christopher Murphy and Richard Blumenthal a tour of 100 Franklin Drive, where for the past two months a former electric fan motor factory has been torn down by its owner. The Democratic senators were on a daylong trip along the Route 8 corridor where they viewed brownfield properties awaiting redevelopment.

Carbone and Erin Wilson, the city’s economic development director, have been advocating for a total restoration of about 9 acres along the Naugatuck River stretching from Franklin Street to Franklin Drive. They envision mixed use development with potential for a hotel, apartments, restaurants and retail.

Carbone is aiming for a brownfield remediation of the former factory property, a process that started last year when the city installed a parking lot at 100 Franklin St. using a $670,000 Environmental Protection Agency brownfields loan.

See TOUR , Page 4B

U.S. Sens. Richard Blumenthal, left, and Christopher Murphy talk with Torrington Mayor Elinor C. Carbone during a tour of the Nidec property in Torrington on Wednesday.

JIM SHANNON REPUBLICAN-AMERICAN

Continued from 1B

“We are trying to take these old industrial sites that were all built along our river and turn them into productive tax producing properties,” Carbone told the senators.

The city has since received a $1 million grant to continue its work, but the city is hoping to attract a developer before expending the funds.

Asked if the city would be interested in acquiring the Nidec property, Carbone said the city is exploring all options. A $100,000 state grant will pay for an environmental study to determine the extent of the contamination.

“The economic potential is so clear,” Murphy said Murphy said he and Blumenthal are pushing for a larger amount of federal brownfield funding, as the current $200 million allocated nationwide each year is not enough.

He said to attract widescale funding for brownfields there should be a clear strategy for brownfield redevelopment along the Route 8 corridor. That, he said, could help attract federal funds for transportation projects as well.

Carbone said remediating the Nidec property will be an expensive prospect as there is known oil contamination and remediation requirements for residential properties are more stringent than for manufacturing use.

Wilson said had the city cleaned the Franklin Street property to residential levels the court would have tripled.

Carbone sent the senators home with folders of information on the city’s development dreams and said she would keep them informed as any projects move foreword.

Contact Alec Johnson at ajohnson@rep-am.com, on Facebook at RA Torrington or on Twitter @RA_Alec.

Taking Wednesday’s tour of the Nidec property in Torrington are, from left, Torrington City Planner Martin J. Connor; Mayor Elinor C. Carbone; Sen. Richard Blumenthal; Sen. Christopher Murphy; Tim Sullivan, deputy commissioner for the Department of Economic and Community Development; and Erin Wilson, Torrington’s director of Economic Development.

JIM SHANNON REPUBLICAN-AMERICAN

Demolition continues at the site of the former Nidec site in Torrington on Wednesday.

JIM SHANNON REPUBLICAN-AMERICAN

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