Hartford Courant: Thompson Awarded $170,000 Brownfield Remediation Grant

July 10, 2018, 11:59 AM

The Town of Thompson received approval for a $170,000 Brownfield Area Wide Remediation Grant, on June 21.

The money will be used for an assessment stretching from the intersections of Routes 12 and 200 to Routes 12 and 131. It will also include a Phase Two and Three environmental assessment for 915 Riverside Drive.

The funds will come through the state's Department of Economic and Community Development. The BAR program encourages municipalities to come up with strategies to assess, clean up, and develop blighted areas.

The stretch of Route 12 in question includes the remains of the Belding Corticelli Mill and several other sites, up to the River Mill at 929 Riverside Drive. The assessment will look at parking, traffic, and pedestrian safety issues along the nearly 2-mile corridor.

The goal of the assessment will be to make the area more pedestrian and bicycle-friendly, safer for traffic, and tie the area together.

Town Planner Mary Ann Chinatti said that besides developing the old mill properties, it's important to create safe access to the French River Greenway, the Airline Trail, and conservation properties in North Grosvenordale.

Janet Blanchette is chair of the Mill Site Redevelopment Advisory Committee. She's been working on the project since 2009 when the committee was called the Belding Corticelli Improvement Committee.

They were charged with beautification efforts at the mill site at 630 Riverside Drive. When committee members started envisioning how the mill sites could be transformed, they asked the Board of Selectmen to rename them and give them a different charge: to improve and enhance the mill sites.

To read the full article, visit: https://www.courant.com/community/thompson/hc-pk-thompson-170k-grant-0712-20180710-story.html