SENATOR KUSHNER WELCOMES $400,000 IN STATE GRANTS TO ASSESS TWO DANBURY PROPERTIES

DANBURY – State Senator Julie Kushner (D-Danbury) today welcomed $400,000 in state grants to help conduct environmental assessments of two properties in Danbury in hopes of getting them back into productive use.

Danbury has received a $200,000 state grant for the environmental assessment of the former Fairfield County Courthouse. The assessment will enable future reuse of the building as municipal office space in the historic district.

Danbury also received a second $200,000 grant for assessment activities at 13 Barnum Court, which was formerly used for hat manufacturing. The assessment work will help identify potential end uses and developers to cleanup and reuse the site.

“City officials have been debating for several months what to do with theses properties, and I believe the first step was to get some state brownfields funds to do an environmental assessment of each property so we can see what we’re dealing with,” said Sen. Kushner. “Once again I am so pleased to be partnering with Mayor Alves to  bring stare resources to Danbury to help improve the lives of our residents and the economic vitality of this city.”

The Danbury grants are two of the $18.8 million in state grants that Governor Ned Lamont announced today that will be used for the assessment and remediation of 227 acres of contaminated land across Connecticut. The funding will support 23 properties in 19 towns and cities, helping cover the costs of cleaning up these parcels so they can be redeveloped and returned to productive use

The grants are being released through the Connecticut Department of Economic and Community Development’s (DECD) Brownfield Remediation and Development Program. This round of funding is projected to attract $218 million in private investment and facilitate the creation of 450 housing units.

“Old, polluted, blighted properties that have sat vacant for decades do nothing to stimulate our economy, grow jobs, and support housing growth,” Governor Lamont said. “With these grants, we are partnering with towns and developers to take unused, lifeless properties and bring them back from the dead, rejuvenating land that can be used for so much more and can bring value back to these neighborhoods.”