[CPEO-BIF] Gilbert & Bennett wire mill, Georgetown, Connecticut

[Lenny Siegel]

Brownfield expert to make presentation on G’Town Wire Mill on March 26

By Redding Pilot 
Wilton Bulletin (CT)
March 6, 2017

Georgetown and Redding have struggled for decades to find new life for the former Gilbert & Bennett wire mill. As frustrated residents know too well, this is not for lack of effort, through boom markets and bust.

We are not alone. By official EPA figures, there are approximately 450,000 to 650,000 brownfields in the U.S., with an actual total closer to 2-3 million. Recovering these industrially impacted landscapes to restore enduring economic, social, and ecological well being is a tremendous challenge.

Large-scale, all-in development has been tried twice over a 30-year span at the Wire Mill site, reflecting a lot of skill and the town’s best intentions. These massive, highly capitalized projects have not turned out to be the silver bullets they were supposed to be — not only in Georgetown, but in brownfield sites across the country. This is due in part to the crushing expense of remediation, which constrains development toward high-end residential condos in strong markets or publicly subsidized rental apartments in weak markets.  

...

For the entire article, see
http://www.wiltonbulletin.com/96372/brownfield-expert-to-make-presentation-on-gtown-wire-mill-on-march-26/

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Lenny Siegel
Executive Director, Center for Public Environmental Oversight
a project of the Pacific Studies Center
P.O. Box 998., Mountain View, CA 94042
Voice: 650/961-8918 
Fax: 650/961-8918
<lsiegel at cpeo.org>
http://www.cpeo.org