REDDING — Town officials are taking steps toward preparing the old Gilbert and Bennett Wire Mill property for redevelopment after obtaining its title in February after years of battling over the future of the site.
The town spent years in a lengthy legal fight over the millions of dollars in unpaid taxes and lack of site development but regained ownership in February when the title transferred over.
First Selectwoman Julia Pemberton hit the ground running in preparing the land for its future redevelopment, though she anticipates major improvements are still years away. Pemberton said there were a couple of steps the town had to take prior to procuring the property’s title to ease the transition.
Before the town took ownership, Pemberton applied to the state’s Municipal Brownfield Liability Protection Program, which Redding was accepted into. The mill site is considered a brownfield property, meaning it is a location where, “the expansion, redevelopment, or reuse of which may be complicated by the presence or potential presence of a hazardous substance, pollutant, or contaminant,” according to the United States Environmental Protection Agency.
“That [Municipal Brownfield Liability] protects the town from liability for any of the cleanup of the contamination of the property,” Pemberton explained. “By the same token, we’re protected from any federal liability for the same contaminants and cleanup under the Stafford Act.”
A group of local and state officials advised Pemberton that the next best step was to apply for an assessment-only grant. Although the town has a remediation list to work from, it is antiquated, dating back to 2005.
Pemberton’s pre-application for a brownfield assessment grant was approved and now she is working on the full application.
If the town garners the assessment grant — awarding a maximum amount of $200,000 — it can begin a site appraisal.
“An assessment is a historical look at what’s been done to determine what has already be done and where we would begin in the next phase of working to prepare this property for redevelopment,” Pemberton said.
“This is our first step in getting a baseline for what has to happen next,” she added, noting it should be a “relatively straightforward step.”
Although the town has a remediation plan to work from, it is antiquated, dating back to 2005. Pemberton said plenty has changed since then but Redding’s needs for a walkable downtown village and multi-use development with affordable housing remains the same.
“Georgetown will solve a lot of the problems we face with a tax base that is entirely residential,” she said.
Despite taking forward steps with the property, some tax issues are still looming over the property.
“The foreclosure wiped out tens of millions of dollars in debt,” Pemberton said. “It did not foreclose out the bonds, so there’s a $14.5 million general obligation bond that was issued by the Georgetown Special Taxing District. The town is not obligated to repay that debt, but it does sit on the land, making it very difficult to transfer the property to a for-profit developer.”
Pemberton has negotiated with bondholders to work out the remaining kinks but anticipates more needs to be done at a future date.
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