Vermont Business Magazine More than $1.2 million in funding commitments are in place and remediation design work is currently under way at the former site of the abandoned and blighted Robertson Paper Mill in Bellows Falls. This high-profile Brownfields Economic Revitalization Alliance (BERA) project is being funded through a combination of federal, state and local sources, including grants from the Environmental Protection Agency’s Brownfields Cleanup Program ($200,000), programs from the Vermont Agency of Commerce and Community Development(ACCD) including the Brownfields program ($151,137), Community Development’s Community Development Block Grant Program (CDBG) ($150,000), and the Windham County Economic Development Program (WCEDP) ($300,000). In addition, there is support from the Windham Regional Commission’s Brownfields Assessment and Revolving Loan Fund ($301,061), loans through the Town of Rockingham’s Revolving Loan Fund ($140,000), and a grant for environmental assessment from the Vermont Department of Environmental Conservation ($10,000).
“We are fully committed to this important BERA project and believe it will act as a catalyst in the Bellows Falls area for both Island redevelopment and strengthening the downtown, while also contributing as a valuable industrial zone in Vermont,” stated Governor Phil Scott.
A historic and defining feature of downtown Bellows Falls, the RobertsonPaper Companybegan operating in the early1900sand was one of the largest producers of waxed paper in theU.S. Itclosed its doors in the mid-1980s. The site is currently owned by Island Holdings, LLC and is located on the approximately 30-acre “Island”, which is comprised of land located east of the Bellows Falls Canal and west of the Connecticut River, just to the north of the falls.
Chemicals from the former paper mill’s industrial days have led to contamination in the soil and building materials by lead, arsenic, asbestos, petroleum andpolynuclear aromatic hydrocarbons. The remediation project includes building demolition, asbestos removal, excavation of contaminated soil, and the installation of an 18-inch “cap” of clean soil intended to contain any contaminated soil left on site. Some contaminated soil will be sent off-site for disposal.
“Both the Town of Rockingham Select Board and the Bellows Falls Village Trustees have been working hard for years to develop the island area of downtown Bellows Falls, and this important industrial site in particular. We are proud to be able to materially assist the BFADC with staffing assistance and financial contributions on this project, and applaud the foresight and generosity of our federal, state and regional funding agencies that will ensure the success of this pivotal downtown revitalization project,” said Shane O’Keefe, Municipal Manager of the Town of Rockingham.
“The blighted Robertson Paper Co. is a large foot print, industrially zoned property, smack dab in the center of the 30-acre multiple resource historic Island District in downtown Bellows Falls. Redevelopment of the Robertson Paper Co. is key to continuing a stalled revitalization that began, formally, almost 35 years ago with Island feasibility and implementation studies in 1984. Here we go!”said Gary Fox, Development Director of the Town of Rockingham.
Building demolition and site remediation is expected to commence in the fall of this year.
For more information on this project, property, or the BFADC, contact Gary Fox (Development Director) at 802-463-3456 or[email protected].
For more information onredevelopment of a brownfields site, pleasevisithttp://accd.vermont.gov/economic-development/funding-incentives/brownfields-initiativeorhttp://dec.vermont.gov/waste-management/contaminated-sites/brownfields.
For more information on BERA, please visithttp://dec.vermont.gov/waste-management/contaminated-sites/brownfields/BERA.
Josh Hanford, Deputy Commissioner of Dept. of Housing and Community Development
Vermont Agency of Commerce and Community Development
(802) 828-3080;[email protected]
Frank Gardner, Brownfields Revolving Loan Fund Lead
Environmental Protection Agency
(617) 918-1278;[email protected]
Susan McMahon, Associate Director
Windham Regional Commission
(802) 257-44547;[email protected]
Isaac Wagner, Principal/Development Consultant
Wagner Development Partners
(802) 579-2363;[email protected]
Adam Grinold, Executive Director
Brattleboro Development Credit Corporation
(802) 257-7731 x 224;[email protected]
Patricia Coppolino, Environmental Program Manager
Vermont Agency of Natural Resources
(802) 249-5822;[email protected]
Gary Fox, Development Director
Bellows Falls Area Development Corporation
(802) 463-3456;[email protected]