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CONNECTICUT
Georgetown Approvals
Late last year Brownfield News reported on the innovative design charrette held for the 55-acre former Gilbert & Bennett Wire Mill in Fairfield County, Connecticut. Now, less than a year later, the project has received Master Plan approval from the Town of Redding for a 416-unit village, including townhouses, single-family homes, live/work spaces and lofts in a historic wire mill building.
In addition, the plan provides for over 300,000 square feet of commercial space; retail, restaurants and offices, plus a range of community facilities which include a performing arts center, 40 units of affordable senior housing, a health facility with a 50-meter pool and a pedestrian-friendly village center that places structured parking behind buildings. The Georgetown Train Station will also be recreated with sufficient parking to provide transit access to Stamford and New York.
The approved plan reflects “base line information” characterizing the site that was obtained during the spring and summer of 2003, as well as the results of the intensive week-long charrette planning process involving more than 1,000 people including local, state and federal stakeholders.
The remediation effort is part of the national trend toward taking future land use into consideration when designing remediation plans. A Tax District will allow for long-term stewardship of the property — essentially creating a quasi-municipal agency that will provide long-term management of the institutional controls by upholding deed restrictions and engineering controls that are part of the remediation program and hold open space; as well as enforce architectural standards and provide services.
The project will be phased over the next three to five years and has an estimated
total value of approximately $350 million. Initial demolition of non-historic
structures, infrastructure improvements and the initial phases of redevelopment
are scheduled to start in spring 2005.