Planning and Zoning Commission (P&Z) members have endorsed the town’s plans to seek three federal grants, which would be used toward environmental cleanup work required at three vacant buildings at Fairfield Hills.

P&Z Chairman Robert Mulholland told P&Z members at a December 3 session that the town plans to seek three grants, each in the amount of $200,000, for cleanup work at Shelton House, Plymouth Hall, and Norwalk Hall.

The funds would be sought under the terms of a US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) environmental cleanup grant program.

The town bought the 185-acre Fairfield Hills core campus and many buildings there from the state for $3.9 million in 2004. The former state psychiatric hospital closed in 1995. The facility formerly housed several thousand patients.

The sprawling Shelton House formerly served as an administration and patient care facility. Plymouth Hall held a chapel, theater, gymnasium, and recreational facilities for patients. Norwalk Hall was a dormitory for Fairfield Hills employees.

The $600,000 in grants would cover the first phase of cleanup work at the three buildings.

Toxic substances that need to be removed from the structures include lead paint and asbestos, both of which were commonly used in construction during the 1930s, when the central section of Fairfield Hills was built.

The town eventually would apply some local funding toward the cleanup work, said George Benson, town director of planning.

Mr Benson said that Shelton House and Norwalk Hall are planned for demolition. The town is seeking to save Plymouth Hall from demolition, if possible, to put it to some new use, he said.

Regardless of whether the buildings are demolished or are renovated and put to some new uses, the structures need to have the toxic substances removed from them, he said.

Due to the high cost of environmental cleanup work, no private firms have been willing to pursue redevelopment projects at the sites, he said.

On December 4, Christal Preszler, the town’s grants coordinator, said that the EPA’s environmental cleanup grants program is “very competitive.”

Much documentation must be provided by municipalities to substantiate funding requests, she said.

Even if the town receives the EPA grant money, those funds would cover only a fraction of the cost of the overall cleanup work required, she said.

Mr Benson stressed that the environmental cleanup of buildings at Fairfield Hills is necessary before any redevelopment occurs at their sites.

The design and construction of the many old buildings at Fairfield Hills has made it physically difficult for those structures to be modified for modern uses, he said.