Firm Hired To Address Batchelder Environmental Clean-Up

By Andrew Gorosko

The town has chosen a firm to develop an environmental clean-up plan for the contaminated former Charles Batchelder Company industrial site on Swamp Road in Botsford, with the intention of finding a new industrial use for the abandoned 31-acre “brownfield” property.

First Selectman Herbert Rosenthal said Wednesday that Handex, a Monroe consulting firm, has been hired by the town after an extensive review of firms in the environmental studies field. Handex will create property restoration plans for the former aluminum smelting facility which closed in 1987. The study will determine the economic viability of rehabilitating the property.

Work will include testing the extent of contamination at a fire pond, landfill, and dross piles on the property, Mr Rosenthal said. The study, which will provide alternative methods to clean up the site, will generate cost estimates for property restoration work.

Down To Earth, LLC, a Milford environmental consulting firm, aided the town in obtaining a $30,000 state loan to cover the costs of the Handex study, Mr Rosenthal said.

In 1997, the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) removed certain types of toxic waste from the site. Although heavy metals, such as lead, have been removed from the site, petroleum-based groundwater contamination problems remain. The EPA fenced off the site to prohibit access.

“It’s not as bad as originally thought. It appears the EPA got rid of most of the hazardous materials,” Mr Rosenthal said.

The clean-up problem is complicated by the bankruptcy that Batchelder was granted by US Bankruptcy Court and financial claims that have been filed against the company by its creditors.

Besides resolving health issues posed by the presence of contaminants on the property, a clean-up would make the site suitable for a new industrial reuse and strengthen the town’s tax rolls, the first selectman said. The town has not received property tax revenue on the property in about 15 years.

The town has been working with the state Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) for two years in addressing how the sprawling property can be cleaned up and again become a revenue-producing facility. The site holds a 100,000-square-foot building.

The Housatonic Railroad, a local short-haul railroad which has a spur line on the Batchelder property, is interested in having industry locate there which would need rail service, Mr Rosenthal said. Several industrial firms have expressed interest in the property, but want to know how much money it would cost to clean up the site to bring it to a point where it is suitable for new industrial uses, the first selectman said.

“We’ve got the feeling that we will come up with a plan to bring this property back” into industrial use, he said. The site lends itself to becoming a light assembly complex or a warehouse/distribution center, he said. Such firms have expressed interest in the property, he said.

Mr Rosenthal suggested that the private redeveloper of the property would assume site clean-up costs in exchange for some form of property tax relief from the town.

A draft version of the clean-up plan is expected by late August.

Arthur Bogen of Down to Earth, LLC, said Thursday, “We’re defining the specific scope of the work now.” Work includes investigating the feasibility of a groundwater cleansing system for the site, he said. Waste piles on the site might be handled by placing them in concrete enclosures, placing pavement over them, or shipping the waste away, he said. The 100,000-square-foot building on the site may be reusable, he said.

Although it is currently contaminated, the site has several advantages, Mr Bogen said. It contains a rail spur; it is relatively close to Interstate-84; it is level; and it has industrial zoning, he said. “It could be a bargain for someone willing to address [the contamination] issues,” he said.

Under current zoning regulations, up to 400,000 square feet of industrial space could exist on the site, he said.