Purchase option extended for second Norwich business park
Norwich — With local funding secured, engineering and environmental studies are underway on land in Occum proposed for a second Norwich business park, and project advocates hope to have access roads designed and a partial master plan by next summer.
The Norwich Community Development Corp. has a purchase agreement for $3.55 million on the former farmland and woodlands located north and south of Interstate 395 near Exit 18.
The Board of Public Utilities Commissioners voted unanimously Tuesday to fund $75,000 to extend the option to purchase through June 30, 2022.
A second and final option contained in the purchase agreement likely will be needed through Dec. 15, 2022, before NCDC must decide whether to purchase the property, NCDC President Kevin Brown said.
The extension approved Tuesday brings NPU’s total commitment to the early stages of what officials are calling Business Park North to $575,000 for earlier purchase options and studies. NPU will use money dedicated for economic development for the extension, the resolution approved by the commission stated.
The City Council on Sept. 7 approved a $740,000 bond to conduct engineering and environmental studies to design a proposed dedicated access road into the property off Exit 18 of I-395. Part of the money also was used to hire a Washington, D.C., law firm to explore possible federal funding to develop the business park, possibly through the Economic Development Agency or the proposed new $1 trillion federal infrastructure bill. Brown said officials are in discussions now for possible EDA funding.
“Everything’s been turned on now,” Brown said Thursday of the work proceeding on the property. Surveyors and engineers hired by NCDC using the city bond have started traversing the property for the necessary studies.
By next June, NCDC could be ready to present the roadwork design and a partial master development plan to the public, Brown said.
The $3.55 million purchase agreement with the current owners, Byron Brook Country Club LLC and M&A Holdings LLC, covers 17 parcels, including the former Tarryk and Doolittle farms, where plans for a proposed luxury golf resort fell through a decade ago.
The property has a total of 348 acres, but initial studies found that about 185 acres are developable, with another 10 to 15 acres of sloped land to be reserved for solar power structures, and 6.6 acres for roadways.
The city’s existing business park has 355 acres.
Comment threads are monitored for 48 hours after publication and then closed.
