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Hamden, CT

A newsletter provided by the Connecticut Department of Energy & Environmental Protection Spring 2014

Newhall Neighborhood

Remediation newsletter

State issues $4 million for parksCleanup of Rochford Field and Peter Villano Park (formerly Millrock Park – see Page 4 story) took a giant leap forward in January when the State of Connecticut approved $4 million in funding to the Town of Hamden.

The state funds will cover the cost to cleanup contaminated soil at Rochford Field and restore the ballfields. The Town of Hamden will pay for the soil cleanup of Villano Park and the restoration of recreation facilities, including tennis courts and playground equipment.

Governor Dannel P. Malloy said, “Rochford Field is a popular place for Hamden residents to play baseball and spend time with family. Approval of this state funding will help remediate the land and maintain the park for its continued use.”

Cleanup of the soil is necessary to ensure that waste fill dumped in the early to mid-1900’s is isolated under a protective liner. The cleanup plan at Rochford Field is to cover the park with an impermeable plastic liner and two feet of clean soil on top. The plastic liner will prevent rainwater and snowmelt from filtering down through the contaminated soil.

According to the Town’s schedule, both Rochford Field and the park are expected to be closed in the Fall of 2014 as the town begins construction on the parcels.

Villano Park is expected to reopen in the summer of 2015. The reconstructed park will feature an open lawn area with a stage, two tennis courts, two basketball courts and two new parking areas.

Rochford Field is expected to be closed for all of 2015 as newly planted grass takes root. Athletic field grass needs a full year to become strong enough to support heavy use by sports teams. When Rochford Field reopens in 2016 it will include two baseball fields, covered grandstands with bleachers and a perimeter walking path.

The soil remediation and reconstruction project is projected to cost the town and the state a total of approximately $12 million.

Town seeks buyer for middle school

This spring the Town of Hamden will offer for sale the former Hamden Middle School on Newhall Street and some of the open land next to it – about one third of the approximately 20-acre parcel. The rest of the land will be retained by the Town for recreational use.

Early last year, the Town hired BL Companies to evaluate the interior condition of the former school building with a focus on PCBs, asbestos and methane gas. The study was done to help the Town make an informed decision on the rehabilitation or demolition of the building. The study also provides potential investors information about existing conditions within the school.

BL’s examination of indoor air quality and soil vapor monitoring did not detect compounds in air that would cause health risks to occupants of the building. The report also evaluated the potential cost range for removal of asbestos that was identifi ed in the former school.

Hamden Mayor Scott Jackson said that he was “pleasantly surprised the study found that there are no major concerns inside the former middle school. For too long there has been a great deal of

See “Buyer”, page 3

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Newhall Neighborhood Remediation Construction Update Spring 2014

New life for the old Newhall Community CenterThe old Newhall Community Center building, originally the Newhall Street School, is on its way to becoming the new Hamden Business Incubator.

Last June, the Connecticut Bond Commission approved a $5 million dollar grant for the rehabilitation and renovation of the building to house the incubator.

The Town of Hamden sold the abandoned 40,000 square foot facility, located at the corner of Morse and Newhall Street, to the Hamden Economic Development Corpo-ration (HEDC) in December. The HEDC said using the space as a business incubator will create an environment where small businesses can have access to services and amenities at below-market rates so they can invest their money in their business growth.

Opportunity for small businesses

“The idea is to provide affordable space to very small businesses so that they could grow into larger space and create jobs for Hamden residents,” said Dale Kroop the executive director of the HEDC. “The remediation and structural improvement projects were just the beginning of revitalizing the neighborhood. New park facilities and employment opportunities spearheaded by the Town will add to the quality of life and economy of the Newhall neighborhood,” Kroop added.

Groundwork for this new facil-ity was laid in 2008-09 when the Town of Hamden held planning ses-sions with the neighborhood seeking input on how to re-use

the approximate 20-acre site that houses the Commu-nity Center Building and former Hamden Middle School. Since creation of jobs was cited as a high priority by the community, the Town revised zoning of the site to allow business use.

The incubator, a facility that will be owned, developed and managed by the HEDC, will also provide small companies the opportunity to network with one another and utilize each other’s resources. These businesses will share

amenities, such as rest rooms, electricity and heating services, security, a WiFi equipped meeting space and a reception area.

The incubator is anticipated to house 20 small businesses that specialize in service and technology areas such as light manufacturing, web design and medical office administration, Kroop said.

These companies will also have access to Hamden’s Business Assistance Center which can help with business planning, growth and real estate assistance services on an ongoing basis. This organization has provided administra-tive services to start-ups and other small businesses to more than 200 clients in the town since 2005.

Growing new jobs

The HEDC projects that the new facility could create up to 40 jobs in the first year of operation, 80 jobs in three years and 125 jobs in five years. Further, HEDC estimates that the startup businesses have the potential to earn more $2 million a year and eventually generate more than $100,000 in new taxes annually to the town.

HEDC Executive Director Dale Kroop

see Community Center, next page

“New park facilities and employment

opportunities...will add to the quality

of life and economy of the Newhall

neighborhood.”

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Newhall Neighborhood Remediation Construction Update Spring 2014

The town and the HEDC are working with local entrepreneurial groups to find potential tenants for the incubator. Some of those groups include the Hamden Business Assistance Center, New Haven Manufacturing Association, SBA’s Small Business Development Center, Southern CT State University, Quinnipiac University, Gateway Community College and the Minority Supplier Development Council.

Cleanup of site

Construction for the new business incubator is already underway. In Phase 1 contractors removed asbestos from the building and repaired the roof. Phase 2 will include the renovation of the building.

A top priority in Phase 2 will be the removal of asbes-tos from the basement. The HEDC is seeking funds from the federal Environmental Protection Agency to aid with asbestos removal.

Along with the renovation, plans to remediate the grounds of the former Community Center are being developed by the Regional Water Authority. A draft Remedial Action Plan is anticipated to be presented to the public this spring. The cleanup is anticipated to begin later this year, and is expected to take about two months to complete.

The HEDC expects the business incubator will be ready for its first tenants in early 2015.

For more information see: www.hamdeneconomicdevelopment.org

A bit of history… T he cornerstone for the Newhall Street School was laid in 1917.

Within a year of opening, the school was already overcrowded and on double sessions. A new wing opened in 1924 and the final addition, housing the gymnasium and stage, was built in 1941.

For generations this school served the neighborhood’s waves of immigrants, many who did not speak English. The nearby factories first brought workers from Germany, followed by suc-cessive waves of Irish, Italians and Russians.

In November, Connecticut’s State Office of Historic Preservation added the building to Connecticut’s Register of Historic Places.

The brick, Neoclassical/Romanesque Revival style building was considered significant as an example of educational architecture of that era and for its important historical role in the development of the Highwood section of Hamden.

This designation will allow the Town to qualify for tax credits up to 25% of the cost of the project, likely to be worth hundreds of thousands of dollars.

Community Center, continued from previous page

Buyer, from page 1

Since receiving a $5 million grant from the Connecticut Department of Economic and Community Development in 2010, the Hamden Economic Development Corporation has assisted 95 Newhall households by:

• Purchasing 12 houses, demolishing 8 and rehabbing 4 for future residential use

• Repairing structural damages, such as columns and foundation cracks

• Installing more than 600 window replacements• Installing 30 new roofs• Creating new public parking• Creating affordable housing

With the structural repairs phase now complete, the HEDC is planning to rebuild six single-family homes on lots in the vicinity of Edwards Street where homes were demolished because structural damage was too severe to repair.

Planning for construction of a zero-energy model home, located on a vacant Newhall Street lot across from the Community Center, is also in the works. Stay tuned for more details in the next project newsletter.

Housing renewal continues

misinformation and a lack of current data that has prohibited us from making important and informed decisions”.

The Town hopes to identify a buyer by late spring.

Meanwhile, in the next few months, PCB contaminated soil buried behind the school will be removed by the Regional Water Authority (RWA) and brought to a hazardous waste facility. RWA, who is responsible for cleanup at the former middle school site, will consider future use of the former school as it prepares its cleanup plan for the school grounds.

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CONNECTICUT

EN

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E N V I R ON

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CONNECTICUT DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY AND ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION

REMEDIATION DIVISION

79 Elm Street

Hartford, CT 06106-5127

We’re on the web!www.newhallinfo.org

Contact Info:Dept. of Energy and

Environmental Protection79 Elm StreetHartford, CT 06106-5127

Raymond FrigonEnvironmental Analyst, Project Mgr.(860) 424-3797raymond.frigon@ct.gov

Hamden Economic Development Corporation2750 Dixwell Ave.Hamden, CT, 06518

Dale KroopExecutive Director(203) 287-7033dkroop@hamden.com

CT Department of Public HealthP.O. Box 340308410 Capitol Ave. MS#11CHAHartford, CT 06134-0308

Meg Harvey(860) 509-7748margaret.harvey@ct.gov

Rebuilt park will honor Newhall neighborhood championWhen the rebuilt neighborhood park on Millrock Road reopens in the summer of 2015 it will have a new name – Villano Park – in honor of long-time public official, Peter Villano, a resident of nearby Armory Street.

While Representative Villano had a long career of public service, including Mayor of Hamden, it was his dedication to resolving the contamination problem in the Newhall neighborhood that marked his later years as state representative.

Peter actively took his constituents case to the legislature, clearly articulating concerns, actively lobbied for funds, and mediated disputes that arose. His lobbying efforts resulted in a $5 million grant for structural repairs (see page 3) of damaged homes that supplemented the cleanup program.

Mayor Scott Jackson said, “Peter has always been an advocate for the needs of

his constituents and a champion for their inclusion in decision making processes. His leadership was critical to advancing this important and complicated project, and we all owe him a great deal of gratitude for his diligence. For all of the hard work that he did protecting the interests of residents during the Newhall remediation program, the least we could do as a community was to rename Mill Rock Park in Peter Villano’s honor.”

Former State Representative Peter Villano