Within 24 hours of releasing an update on local grant applications and awards, Newtown’s Deputy Director of Economic & Community Development Christal Preszler was already organizing information to apply for yet another one.

Ms Preszler told The Newtown Bee January 22, just after issuing a release on recent grant developments, she attended a meeting and learned Newtown could further supplement an existing grant for environmental cleanup evaluation on a town-owned parcel in Sandy Hook.

“This grant could offset $13,000 of a $15,000 expense we would otherwise need to cover ourselves to hire a specific environmental professional we’ll need as we move forward on some hazardous material remediation,” she explained.

According to the community development officer, three grants previously awarded in 2019 have provided Newtown with nearly $1 million in federal and state monies, centered around the improvement and cleanup of Fairfield Hills campus, and a property in Sandy Hook.

“All three grants are rooted in Newtown’s commitment to environmental protection and remediation, while supporting the local economy,” she stated in the release.

In April, Ms Preszler said the Naugatuck Valley Council of Governments (NVCOG) awarded $30,000 as a result of the department’s application for $30,000 to cleanup a brownfield site located at 28A Glen Road. This Sandy Hook property was acquired by the Town of Newtown in 2013 through tax foreclosure proceedings.

The property has historically been home to machining, welding, brass wire drawing, and annealing operations. Today, the site’s five buildings contain asbestos and lead as well as other miscellaneous hazardous materials.

The grant originated with the Environmental Protection Agency’s Revolving Loan Fund, although this particular award is a grant and not a loan, and was administered and awarded through the NVCOG. The dollars will go directly towards hiring a licensed environmental professional and remediation company to oversee and dispose of drums, other containers, and associated hazardous and miscellaneous materials at the site.

Another grant focused on the cleanup of hazardous materials at Fairfield Hills. Stratford Hall is one of the brick buildings on Fairfield Hills Campus that was abandoned when the psychiatric hospital closed in the mid-1990s. A grant from the Connecticut Department of Economic and Community Development (DECD) in the amount of $30,597 has allowed for the abatement and oversight of asbestos cleanup within the structure.

The Newtown community will soon welcome a new tenant, NewSylum Brewing Company to this building.

The largest grant garnered by Newtown Economic and Community Development this year, totaling $914,981, is for the replacement of sewer mains on Fairfield Hills Campus and was awarded by the federal Economic Development Administration’s (EDA) Public Works Program.

Ms Preszler said, “The rigorous application process included submitting numerous maps, environmental and public works data, Newtown statistics, photos of current site conditions, letters of support, and engineering logistics.”

She said this financial assistance award is expected to cover half of the project’s cost.

“The improvement of sewer infrastructure on campus will replace an estimated 80-plus-year-old waste management system, and will ensure the protection of valuable environmental resources such as Deep Brook Preserve, the Pootatuck River, and the Pootatuck Aquifer,” she said.

“There is a stereotype that economic growth and environmental conservation are mutually exclusive,” added Kimberly Chiappetta, Fairfield Hills coordinator and chief author of the EDA grant. “These three grants prove that supporting our businesses and preventing negative impacts on the environment can actually go hand in hand.”