SPRINGFIELD, Vt. – Gov. Phil Scott visited Springfield Thursday, Sept. 16 for a special announcement of $25 million in state funding for the remediation and redevelopment of brownfield sites in the state. The press event took place in front of the boarded up entrance to the Jones & Lamson building, which is scheduled for demolition starting in early October.
According to the governor, this is the first time state dollars have been designated for brownfield remediation. Normally, this work has been funded exclusively by the U.S. Environmental Protect Agency. Brownfields are properties where contaminants from previous industrial or commercial use are present and require cleanup prior to development.
“These types of facilities once supported their local economies but because the environmental cleanup makes it too costly to redevelop, they sit vacant and have been a barrier to the community’s economic growth. Helping communities overcome these funding hurdles will not only create new economic opportunities across the state, but has tremendous environmental benefits,” said Gov. Scott. “This is exactly why my Administration proposed we use $25 million in surplus dollars for brownfields and I’m grateful to the Vermont Legislature for supporting this initiative.”
The $25 million will be allocated to brownfield projects across the state through the Agency of Natural Resources and the Agency of Commerce and Community Development.
ANR has designated $14 million to support projects under Vermont’s Brownfield Economic Revitalization Alliance. The J&L building project received $3.7 million, joining sites in St. Albans and Burlington to be awarded this funding.
At the press event on Thursday, Bob Flint of the Springfield Regional Development Corporation shared that the J&L building is “the mother of all brownfields” with its high volume of different contaminants on the property and obstacles like the Black River behind it.
The J&L building, once an integral manufacturer of the thriving machine tool industry in the Precision Valley, has sat empty since 1986. In 2002, SRDC purchased the plant following the bankruptcy of the Goldman Industrial Group. Since that time, SRDC has been working toward remediation and redevelopment of the substantial property.
Flint shared, “Behind me is 12 acres, four-lane highway, full water sewer [facility], the fastest internet in the country, near the interstate – heck yeah, we can develop this! We’re looking forward to having that opportunity.”
At the Monday, Sept. 13 Springfield Selectboard meeting, Flint along with Tom Kennedy, executive director of the Mount Ascutney Regional Commission, Dan Voisin, director of Environmental Assessment and Remediation Services at Stone Environmental, and Bill Finn, environmental director of Costello Dismantling Company, shared the details of the scheduled demolition with the board.
According to Voisin, the demolition is scheduled to begin in early October, but the community will start to see preparation work in the coming weeks including fencing, brush clearing, and erosion control.
The project will be broken into two segments with the larger portion being demolition and the smaller being abatement of the boiler building, which will take place first. The schedule will be dependent on weather, and it’s anticipated that it will take about four months to complete with a possible winter shut down.
Finn added that a temporary road will be constructed behind the building so trucks can pass through to haul away material. The project will begin behind the building and move towards Clinton Street. The temporary road will direct the trucks around the entrance to the LBL Fabrications and exit on Bridge Street through the Edgar May Health and Recreation Center parking lot. Parking for the Edgar May will be designated near the office entrance of the J&L building.
The town can expect about 20 trucks per day on the site, but they will be contained to the site. Critical to permitting is that materials must be wetted at all times, and trucks and personnel will go through decontamination before leaving the site every day.
“Today, we turn the page,” Flint concluded on Thursday. “We will always honor the legacy of what this building has meant to Springfield and to our history, but today we can transition to cleaning up this site for the health and safety of our community, but also for the economic opportunity this iconic property will once again represent for Springfield and for the state of Vermont.”