Norwich — Democratic Alderman and mayoral candidate H. Tucker Braddock said if the city is serious about promoting Norwich Harbor and downtown for fishing, recreation and tourism, it would try to purchase the shuttered Shetucket Iron & Metal scrapyard at July 29 auction.

The auction is scheduled for noon at the 7 New Wharf Road site, as part of the business dissolution agreement among the ownership partners. The 3.68-acre property is in a federally designated floodway, severely limiting development, but the “existing nonconforming use” as a scrapyard remains valid if another scrapyard purchases the property.

“My big concern is it’s going to become a scrapyard and it’s not going to improve the economic demographic of our city,” Braddock said. “Unless we change it, we’re not going to change as a city. Part of looking to the future is to try to have something that looks like its compatible with the Preston Riverwalk, and we do not need a continuation of a scrapyard.”

Mohegan Gaming & Entertainment plans a $200 million to $400 million development at the former Norwich Hospital property in Preston, including a marina with a possible water shuttle to the Marina at American Wharf at Norwich Harbor.

Braddock plans to raise the issue at Tuesday's 5 p.m. Harbor Management Commission meeting at City Hall and will ask that the item be placed on the July 5 City Council agenda.

Shetucket Iron & Metal and its owners owe the city more than $200,000 in back taxes, but city Corporation Counsel Michael Driscoll said only $62,133 is for the real estate. The rest is back taxes owed on the personal property equipment.

Braddock said the city should pursue funding to create a park with a handicapped accessible fishing pier, a venue for summer concerts and a site for the Norwich Rotary carnival, which has been bounced around among downtown sites.

Braddock's plan and sense of urgency was greeted with mixed reactions by other aldermen and Democratic Mayor Deberey Hinchey. The mayor said she is not interested in the city buying it. The steep access road, contamination and freight rail paralleling the property were among her concerns. But Hinchey said she is willing to listen to Braddock's arguments.

“It's not a project I'm interested in pursuing after we just had to make such devastating cuts to the budget,” Hinchey said. “But I welcome anybody's proposals and plans.”

Republican Council President Pro Tempore Peter Nystrom, also a mayoral candidate, expressed the strongest opposition. Nystrom said it's not in the best interest of the taxpayers to buy the contaminated scrapyard. If another scrapyard buys it, Nystrom said the city should try to ensure that the operation is enclosed or shielded from the view of the harbor.

“The city is in no position to buy this site and clean it up,” Nystrom said. “You're years away, as far as cleanup goes.”

An environmental assessment commissioned by the city in 2003 found extensive contamination up to 2 feet deep in the soil, and up to 6 feet down in an area where vehicles had been serviced.

Braddock said the city has to decide now to try to purchase the property and could pursue cleanup grants afterward.

Aldermen William Nash, Stacy Gould and Gerald Martin all said they would be hesitant to take on the financial burden of the scrapyard property, but would be willing to listen to Braddock's arguments.

Nash, a retired city police officer, said in his patrols downtown he often thought that the property would be great for a park with all the features Braddock proposed.

“I would be 100 percent behind a fishing pier and a park there, but I don't see where we could get the money to do that. I would like to hear the proposal,” he said.

Martin, chairman of the Harbor Management Commission, said he has “mixed feelings” about the idea. Martin said the city should have followed through on its plan scuttled last year to purchase waterfront property farther down the Thames River in the Shipping Street district. The city backed off when state officials said it would not support the plan to create a new boat launch there because the property, like the New Wharf Road property, is in the federal high-hazard floodway.

Braddock was opposed to the boat launch that far down river.

“I would like to see some kind of comprehensive plan for it before I sign off on it,” Martin said of the scrapyard property. “If they come together with a plan they can sell to the rest of us, I'm open to considering the opportunity.”

For Gould, the biggest obstacles are the steep access road and rail line. Also, Gould said, a private bidder would have a cap in mind and could decide whether to go higher. What would the city's bidder do?

“All of these things would have to be addressed,” Gould said. “What's the cost to remediate that site? What's the cost to buy it? There's just too many unknowns, and they are extremely costly unknowns.”

c.bessette@theday.com