In recent years, Stratford has applied for state and federal grants to spur diverse economic activity in the historically manufacturing-heavy town that is home to Sikorsky helicopters, putting it back on the radar for businesses and developers.
The town possesses myriad brownfields left behind by industrial activities that are undergoing tax foreclosures. But within the past two months, Stratford has received approval for multiple U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and state Department of Economic and Community Development grants to start multiple cleanups.
“It”™s been a major effort of the economic development office, mayor”™s office and redevelopment agency and Brian Carey, who is our director of conservation,” said Karen Kaiser, Stratford”™s economic development director. “We”™ve all been working together as a team trying to get this money, working on foreclosures and working on marketing and redevelopment.”
The most recent funding the town received was the $2.8 million state DECD grant awarded in early February for the demolition and remediation of the former Contract Plating site at 540 Longbrook Ave. Of that amount, $600,000 will go to knocking down the buildings. The DECD will clear the 10.5-acre site, which lies within Stratford”™s transit-oriented development district, by July. A developer will be selected to create remediation plans and present them to the planning and zoning committee.
Stratford also recently received a $200,000 EPA grant to clean up the town-owned Mercer Fuel towers site at 2350 Stratford Ave. The town”™s goal is to turn the contaminated land into a tax-generating development. Stratford was one of six Connecticut municipalities to receive the cleanup fund in the latest round of brownfield grants. To date, Stratford has received nearly $1 million in EPA grants for assessing brownfields.
The town is looking to put many more foreclosed properties back on the tax roll. One of them is a superfund site at 576/600 East Broadway owned by the town. The foreclosure happened last July, and the property owed back taxes of $217,187 with the appraisal and market value of the site set at $950,000, Kaiser said. The EPA and town have been conducting weekly meetings to discuss plans to clean up the property. The economic development office has a potential lead on a developer, she added.
The agency is working to clean up and redevelop this site with the mission of implementing a plan to promote industrial, economic and commercial development.
Cleanup projects ”” including the Mayor John Harkins-initiated Stratford Redevelopment Authority signing a lease with an option to purchase a brownfield at 993 Honeyspot Road ”” continue to shape Stratford”™s transit-oriented development district.
The transit district has been a development focus since 2012 when the town received a $225,000 grant through the state”™s Office of Policy and Management to support transit-oriented growth.
Stratford is partnering with the Greater Bridgeport Regional Council to update the town”™s zoning regulations and plan of conservation and development, with the goal to retain workers and residents and attract businesses and visitors.
On the job front, the DECD has played an active role in securing more than $3 million in business express grants and loans within the past two years, Kaiser said. This program has created more than 100 jobs for Stratford and retained more than 350. The DECD has worked with four companies on the job expansion tax credit program to create 18 new jobs in the town in two years.
