caption, page 7:

 

Clearing

Logging machines are clearing 8 acres of the town's newly acquired high tech park. Photos courtesy of Doug Cutler.

 

 

Work

begins

on tech

park

By Linda Lemmon

Town Crier Editor

PUTNAM ---  While the logging company finishes clearing 8 acres for the new Quinebaug regional high tech park, town officials are pursuing more funding for the park.

After more than a year of negotiations connected with the 62-acre parcel, the deal was finalized two weeks, according to Town Administrator Douglas M. Cutler. Wheelabrator of Putnam Inc. gifted 62 acres off Kennedy Drive to the Town of Putnam and the town will donate some 15 acres to the Regional YMCA project. The most tedious part of the negotiations was working out the right of first refusal the Newth family had for the 62 acres, Cutler added.

The logging company is clearing 8 acres for the Y project, the access bridge between Kennedy Drive, at exit 95 off I-395, and the park road. That work should be finished this week.

Following that 100,000 cubic yards of gravel will be removed. The profit will be split between the town and Wheelabrator, Cutler said. According to the contract, the gravel must be removed by June 30.

By the end of April the town plans to put several contracts out for bid, most importantly the bridge and east and access ways for that bridge. Other contracts to be put out for bid involve utilities, bike paths, gas mains, fences and an extension of the River Trail from the Farmer's Market on Kennedy Drive. Greater Hartford YMCA officials had said that they would like to break ground when the town breaks ground on the bridge project. They had hoped for the bridge to be started in April.

In the meantime, Cutler is pursuing more than one source of additional funding for the tech park project. Currently the project has $2.97 million in state funding for the park access bridge. A Small Town Economic Assistant Program (STEAP) grant of more than $420,000 has about $319,000 left to be used. Some $150,000 of that grant was used for fulfilling the state environmental protection act issues around the bridge.

Cutler intends to put in for another STEAP grant within the next week for $500,000 for the road and utilities for the park.

In addition, the town will pursue a grant from the Manufacturing Assistance Act, from the state Department of Economic and Community Development.  The town may ask for a grant of $2 million. If the town applies by itself, it may get half that amount. If it applies with another town, making it a regional application, more than 50 percent may come in.

In addition to that, Cutler said, the town also intends to apply for a federal USDA low-interest loan for rural utilities (water and sewer). He said up to @5 percent of those USDA loans are grants. 

The state Department of Energy and Environmental Protection has grants available for recreational trails, as well. Cutler characterized those grants as "competitive." 

The total cost of the project is around $7.6 million and the net cost to taxpayers may be under $2 million. And that cost would be spread out over 30 years.

"We are being very conservative," Cutler said.