Stonington -- The town has received a $139,000 state grant to conduct an environmental assessment of the Stillman Avenue mill site to assist in its redevelopment.  

The purpose of the Brownfields Municipal Grant from the state Department of Economic and Community Development is to help clean up blighted properties and allow for their redevelopment. The town has sent a request for proposals to conduct the assessment to licensed environmental professionals on the state's pre-qualified list of bidders. Proposals are due Feb. 17.

In announcing the grant, the town said it then plans to review the proposals and sign a contract as quickly as possible to begin the assessment of the property.

"This grant opportunity will play an important role in providing information regarding this underutilized and contaminated property. The assessment will allow both the existing property owner and any future potential buyer to know the facts concerning the potential cost to revitalize the property. This is important to understand the future redevelopment possibilities," said town Director of Economic and Community Development Susan Cullen, in the town's announcement of the grant.

Cullen along with members of the Eastern Connecticut Land Bank, the town's Economic Development Commission, Selectwoman Deborah Downie, First Selectwoman Danielle Chesebrough put together the grant application. 

"It was almost exactly two years ago that Town Planner Keith Brynes and myself went up to Hartford to meet with DEEP (state Department of Energy and Environmental Protection) to discuss potential revitalization options for this property," said Chesebrough. "While it has taken us a great deal of team effort to get to this stage of the project, this is a key milestone and we are looking forward to taking this critical next step toward realizing the potential of this important property in our community."

In April 2019, the town was forced to demolish the mill, also known as the former Connecticut Casting Mill, and haul away the contaminated debris after a portion of the structure collapsed into the Pawcatuck River during a heavy rainstorm. Its owner, Worcester, Mass.-based Pawcatuck Landing LLC, refused to take any action. The building debris contained lead, PCBs and asbestos.

The town, which spent $700,000 on the cleanup, placed a lien on the property. Pawcatuck Landing LLC also owes back taxes to the town.

Before being torn down, the building, which began its life as a woolen mill in the early 1800s, had been vacant for decades. In 2005, the Planning and Zoning Commission approved a plan by Pawcatuck Landing to build 15 condominiums in the former 18,000-square-foot, four-story brick mill at the north end of the site along the Pawcatuck River. An additional 24 units would have been located in two new buildings.

Those plans never came to fruition, as Pawcatuck Landing was unable to line up money for environmental cleanup of the 1.2-acre site. There have been various studies of the property over the years but the town does not have a current in-depth study of what is in the ground and what it will cost to remove it.