Botsford Brownfield—

Town Enlists Agent To Pursue Batchelder Cleanup

By Andrew Gorosko

and Jan Howard

The town has enlisted a nonprofit corporation to work toward a cleanup of the industrially contaminated Batchelder property on Swamp Road in Botsford, with the eventual goal of finding a new industrial use for the site.

First Selectman Herbert Rosenthal said this week that the Connecticut Resource Development Corporation (CRDC) will serve as the town’s agent in obtaining approximately $135,000 in federal grant money designated for cleanup work at the 44 Swamp Road site, which has a variety of environmental contamination problems. Such contaminated properties are known as “brownfields.”

Former US Representative James Maloney, who heads the nonprofit corporation, met with the selectmen March 15 to discuss how the corporation would help the town in its continuing effort to clean up the property and find a new industrial use for it.

As a former congressman, Jim Maloney, president and general counsel for the CRDC, was instrumental in initiating the grant for environmental issues at the property, and Congresswoman Nancy Johnson followed through regarding the funding that was granted last July.

Making presentations before the Board of Selectmen regarding the Batchelder property, in addition to Mr Maloney, were Town Attorney David Grogins, attorney Ted Backer of Pinney, Payne in Danbury, and environmental consultant Arthur Bogen.

“The town is interested in cleaning up the environmental issues at Batchelder so it can become a productive industrial piece of property again,” Mr Rosenthal said.

Mr Rosenthal estimates that the town has lost $1 million or more in revenues because real estate taxes have not been paid on the property for about 20 years. Creating a new use for the property would place it back on the town’s property tax rolls, according to the first selectman.

In the fall of 2002, the US Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) earmarked federal funds toward an environmental cleanup of the industrially contaminated Batchelder property.

The town has been working on finding some new use for the site for the past several years. Town officials acknowledge that their marketing of the Batchelder brownfield has been a “tough sell.” The site lies south of the Wickes Lumber Company’s lumberyard.

Extensive environmental cleanup work would be needed at the vacant 34-acre site before the Batchelder property could be used again. The property, which contains extensive toxic waste piles, has been abandoned since 1987. An analysis of contaminated industrial waste at the site indicates it would cost up to $1.365 million to sufficiently clean the property to make it suitable for some industrial reuse.

The vacant Batchelder property has been the scene of repeated criminal trespassing, arsons, and vandalism during the past several years.

In 1997, the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) spent about $300,000 to remove certain forms of toxic waste from the site, including heavy metals and solvents. The EPA then fenced off the contaminated site to restrict access.

The site’s cleanup problem is complicated by the bankruptcy protection that The Charles Batchelder Company was granted by US Bankruptcy Court, and by financial claims that have been filed against the company by its creditors. The property has been in bankruptcy proceedings since 1985.

Interest In A ‘Clean’ Site

Mr Rosenthal said this week that a number of firms have expressed interest in redeveloping the Batchelder site, but most of those companies only want to accept a clean site for new construction, not an industrially contaminated property. A clean property would be easier to market for a new industrial use than a contaminated property, he said.

Ms Stocker said that two firms have expressed interest in constructing an industrial building at the property, but both companies want to acquire a “clean” property, not one with industrial contamination problems.

One firm expressed interest in building a 100,000-square-foot factory, and the other suggested construction of a 150,000-square-foot industrial building there, she said. Ms Stocker did not identify the companies.

According to the town, the site lends itself to becoming a light manufacturing complex or a warehouse/distribution center. Under current zoning regulations, up to 400,000 square feet of enclosed industrial space could exist on the site. Current zoning for the property would allow light manufacturing, heavy manufacturing, research and development facilities, offices, a distribution complex, or warehousing.

According to Mr Grogins, the Batchelder property is not worth more than the cost of cleanup of the site. The property is estimated to have a $700,000 to $1 million market value. It is estimated that the cost of the cleanup would be $1.3 million plus the cost of demolition.

Mr Grogins said that funds are needed to move forward with a remedial action plan. “Potential buyers are interested only if the property is cleaned up,” Mr Grogins said.

Mr Grogins said trustees appointed by the court have indicated interest in the CRDC proposal to hold the property through a bond-for-deed to keep the bankruptcy court from abandoning it.

Under the bond-for-deed, the title does not pass, but CRDC would own the contract. The bankruptcy court has to agree, Mr Backer said.

Ms Stocker said the bond-for-deed would move the property out of the court to the corporation. At the same time, the town would be marketing the property and seeking an end user.

She said Mr Grogins, Mr Backer, and the trustees’ attorney have been working on this proposal for a couple of months. “The trustee is interested in it as an opportunity to settle the bankruptcy,” she said.

Mr Bogen said Monday if the property goes from the trustee to Mr Maloney’s organization, “It keeps the mission alive. If the property is abandoned, the opportunity to get resources diminishes.”

He said this proposal would allow public funds to turn the property around and reduce the cost of cleanup.

“When the $1.3 million cost goes down, a deal is more likely,” he said, adding the property would never move unless those costs come down.

Mr Grogins said the proposal is “really a creative idea to solve a difficult problem. We have to convince the trustee that this approach has more chance for success. We have to figure out how to hold the property while getting the property cleaned up.”

Mr Backer said, “The trustee wants to resolve this, and the town is equally concerned in making this a viable property. The proposal would give the town time to vet people who want this land while allowing CRDC to move ahead.”

The selectmen were assured that with CRDC as the town’s agent, the town would be involved in all decisions regarding the property.