Foundry pg 1 8-19-10
- Details
- Category: Past Issues
Foundry
clean-up
plan in
the works
By Linda Lemmon
Town Crier Editor
PUTNAM --- It's been three years of negotiations, court hearings, more negotiations, more fires and yet more negotiations, but the town and the owner of the former Putnam Foundry on Rt. 12 are putting the final touches on a plan to make safe the burned property.
The property was burned by arsonists in August 2007 and firefighters have been called there since.
Town Administrator Douglas M. Cutler said after the town won a court judgment a plan to make the property safe began to form with property owner Peter Pallo, through his nephew Jeff Vento. The town, Vento and Pallo are working with Hasbro Inc. of West Hartford, a environmental and construction contractor to get the property "remediated."
Hasbro has worked with Pallo before, Cutler said, and is "reinvestigating the property." The firm is putting together a pre-demolition hazardous materials survey and will then determine the cost of doing the work.
The town plans to try for a low-cost loan through the state contamination remediation fund. That fund is administered through the state Department of Economic and Community Development's "brownfields" program. When the reports are finished, the town will go to the DECD with a proposal for the low-cost loan.
Cutler said the plan would cover only the buildings, not the ground. He added that the buildings are now "pretty well secured."