The Connecticut Department of Economic and Community Development has awarded $3,821,000 in grants to 21 communities to advance the development of brownfield sites throughout the state. Five of the sites are in Fairfield County.
The grants were capped at $200,000 and are termed “predevelopment” with the idea of making the sites viable for building.
Work will include investigation of the so-called Webster Lot at 55 Martin Luther King Jr. Drive in Norwalk via a $200,000 brownfield redevelopment grant. The city received another $200,000 to investigate a 4.9-acre site that is currently a parking lot near the South Norwalk train station for the feasibility of mixed-use, transit-oriented development.
Bridgeport will receive $200,000 for the investigation of 13.2 acres on two parcels, the Remington Shaver site and 60 Main St., the site of a proposed mixed-use development with affordable housing and public open space.
Shelton received $79,000 to study 1.7 acres known as the Rolfite property for mixed-use redevelopment.
Newtown received $200,000 to investigate 9 buildings on the Fairfield Hills campus.
“Cleanup and redevelopment of disused properties is a smart and efficient way to breathe new life into Connecticut”™s cities. This grant represents yet another step in our ongoing effort to revitalize SoNo, and I thank Gov. Malloy for making this project and others like it a priority for the state,” said state Sen. Bob Duff, D-Norwalk.
