Waterford is looking to the Connecticut legislature for help in developing the former airport property.

First Selectman Rob Brule testified in favor of a bill that would allow easy access to Interstate 95 for people using the adjacent Waterford Parkway South, which is home to a Coca-Cola distribution facility as well as 188 acres of vacant industrial property known as the former Waterford Airport. The bill would allow for an easement to enable commercial and emergency vehicles to access I-95. This right of way would be created near a state weigh station on the northbound side of the highway.

Brule explained the issue at hand in his written testimony to the committee.

“The need for highway access is already apparent. Trucks traveling to the region’s Coca-Cola distribution facility currently take a circuitous route that could be significantly reduced via road improvements and highway access enabled in this legislation,” Brule wrote. “(Bill) 5309 also supports future development of the 188 acre former Waterford Airport property. Direct highway access would enable a range of uses at this location, such as warehouses, laboratories, manufacturing, or high-tech industries to provide jobs, serve our region’s expanding capacities at the Electric Boat shipyard, and support investments in wind power generation emerging in New London. The property’s potential is immense.”

Waterford hosted an airport from 1945 to 1987. Its three runways were destroyed decades ago. Now, the property is mostly a wooded area with overgrown vegetation and some litter. It’s been the subject of a number of unsuccessful development ideas since 1987. 

The process to have this bill raised has taken a monthslong effort by the town. Last July, the Board of Selectmen approved a move to hire attorney Jay Levin for $24,000 for six months to represent the town in Hartford, advocating for more access to the state-owned Waterford Parkway South, which runs parallel to I-95 north, and Waterford Parkway North, which runs parallel to I-95 south.

Brule, state Sen. Paul Formica, R-East Lyme, and state Rep. Kathleen McCarty, R-Waterford, said the roads face a bottlenecking of traffic where they meet at Cross Road, which runs perpendicular to I-95 and the parkway and goes over the highway. Brule mentioned that gaining more oversight of the parkways would allow the town to evaluate traffic infrastructure at Cross Road, supporting buildout of all available properties as well as the Millstone Power Station nuclear plant evacuation route.

The parkway roads with Cross Road and Route 85 form what Brule calls the town's "industrial triangle." He said there is significant vacant commercial and industrial land particularly along the parkway, but the issue is highway access.

“The future development of this commercially zoned parcel will most assuredly be facilitated by the construction of an access road,” McCarty wrote in her testimony. “Additionally, the construction of the access road will reroute commercial traffic directly onto I-95 highway access thereby adding to the safety and enhancement of traffic operations in the area.”

In December 2020, concrete product manufacturer Fabcon Precast became the latest in a long line of entities who have unsuccessfully sought to develop the property since 1987. At 188 acres, the airport property is value at about $4.3 million, according to the town tax assessor's office.

“We’ve had a lot of interest in this property, but the process always comes back to transportation issues and access to the property,” Brule told the committee during Tuesday’s hearing.

The state Department of Transportation submitted written testimony opposing Waterford’s request.

“The transfer of any easements that would provide access to the I-95 right of way, which is the site of the Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) weigh station, would have to be approved by the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA),” department Commissioner Joseph Giulietti wrote in the testimony. “Failure to obtain access approval from FHWA would jeopardized CT DOT’s federal funding for our transportation capital program.”

Giulietti said DOT also would have to conduct an impact study. “Access to this easement would require extensive work by CTDOT and the FHWA to make sure it is the best use of the land and therefore the Department opposes the bill as written,” he wrote.

Formica noted during the committee meeting that the new easement would accommodate the use of the weigh station. The department’s plans for the weigh station area are unclear. The department did not return a request for comment.

s.spinella@theday.com