Land Swap Report Being Reviewed
The Train Station Department of Transportation Garage Ad Hoc Committee issued a June report with recommendations but First Selectman John Raffa said it will not be a public document until he is done reviewing it predicting a public release during the week of July 17.
Staff from the town’s land use department, town clerk’s office, and selectmen’s office said they did not have copies of the report in their files at press time.
Tom Hennick, from the Connecticut Freedom of Information Commission, said there are few exceptions legally allowing an elected official to withhold a town committee report from the public.
Committee members Isabella Fuscillo and Henry Teskey could not be reached for comment.
Representative Marilyn Giuliano, R-23rd District, said she has read the report and it details the proposal to swap the 2-acre town maintenance garage parcel at 101 and 105 Norris Avenue assessed at $433,000 with the 5-acre DOT maintenance garage parcel at 201 Horse Hill Road assessed at $438,000.
The Norris Avenue site would become home of a new railroad station with additional parking while the Horse Hill Road site would become the new town garage.
The Connecticut State Legislature approved $1.5 million in bonding in 2005 to Westbrook for remediation of the Horse Hill Road property, Giuliano said, which would include extensive improvements such as removal of an old septic system and removal of asbestos.
The bonding will be available until June 2007, Giuliano said.
Giuliano was unsure when the building was last occupied since the DOT moved several years ago to the Old Saybrook maintenance garage.
“The slowdown (of the land swap) was caused by a shift in municipal administration,” Giuliano said, adding Raffa “did not want to proceed until as many unknowns are known.”
Although Giuliano said she would like the land swap to move forward since the state is funding improvements, the report does not answer questions regarding the total cost of remediation of the Horse Hill Road property, Giuliano said.
The state will remediate the Norris Avenue parcel by “inculpating it which may be as simple as paving over it,” Giuliano said.
Giuliano admitted that under environmental laws, liability for contaminated property falls into the hands of the property’s owner.
The report states the committee is considering having the Horse Hill Road property act as a municipal complex with a dog pound, Giuliano said.
On June 5, the committee filed its latest minutes from a February 9 meeting to the town clerk’s office.
According to committee minutes, Former Westbrook First Selectman Tony Palermo and Arthur Gruhn from the DOT signed an agreement giving the state the northern portion of the Horse Hill Road parcel to be used as a salt garage.
“The town received no consideration nor was this plan envisioned by the legislature when the transfer was authorized. It is necessary to research how and why the original agreement was negotiated,” the minutes stated, but Giuliano said the report did not specifically address this issue.
DOT Division of Environmental Planning Engineer Keith Hall said the land swap would require the state to build a new salt storage facility replacing the one at Horse Hill Road which would be owned by the town.
Palermo confirmed the state needs a salt storage facility in the area.
The building of a salt shed “can take as little as five months depending on the time of the year,” Hall said.
The committee has explored, the minutes stated, the potential for discharge of chemicals, determined whether environmental conditions require further investigation, conducted water tests on adjacent properties, reviewed site investigation performed by others, and created a remediation proposal for both properties.
The committee did an excellent job reviewing possible remediation in the report, Giuliano said.
The minutes stated that committee chairman and town selectman Robert Mulvihill talked with DEP engineer Scott Hill, “who is under pressure to finalize a transfer.”
Hill claimed, “remediation (of the state garage) was not necessary,” the minutes stated, while Teskey told the committee in February that remediation costs are the biggest uncertainty and many questions remain unanswered.
The pressure is on for Hill to finalize the transfer since several Shoreline East station projects have been completed.
In March, Senator Eileen Daily, D-33, said Shoreline East threatened to eliminate the Westbrook stop unless a new station was built soon.
According to Daily, estimated cleanup costs of the Horse Hill Road site are $146,000 and that “there is more pollution there (town garage) than on the state site.”
