Source: http://www.nhregister.com, May 9, 2016
By: Mark Zaretsky
With three pieces of heavy equipment moved onto the waterfront future site of The Haven high-end outlet mall and more on the way, work began Monday to clean up environmental contamination that remains from decades of oil storage and processing.
Two excavators and a skid steer brought in by environmental contractor Red Technologies LLC of Bloomfield began clearing weeds from the property, abandoning monitoring wells and digging and grading to install a silt fence to begin the work on 4.13 acres at 105 Water St., former home of Connecticut Refining.
Work also will take place on 1.45 acres at 16 Elm St., former home of waste oil processor National Oil, to remove contaminated soil under a $2 million contract with the city, funded by a brownfield grant from the state Department of Economic and Community Development.
The work is the first visible sign of activity on the site since previous state-funded environmental cleanup took place a couple of years ago.
Work will begin on a larger scale next week, said Todd Mahler, senior project manager for Red Technologies, which was low bidder on the work with a bid of $1.34 million and was awarded the contract Feb. 11.
“We’re very excited to see construction on the site,” said Mayor Ed O’Brien, calling it an important step forward for West Haven. He was joined at the site by Commissioner of Planning and Zoning Joseph Riccio Jr., among others.
While the work is not to construct the project, which still requires Planning & Zoning Commission approval, “They’re doing this work to get the land ready to do The Haven,” O’Brien said. “The state gave us the money in advance of doing The Haven.”
“The state is not giving us this money to do housing,” he said, reacting to frequent speculation by critics that somehow the development might not get built and the city might then see high-density housing there instead.
The property is located along Water Street south of Elm Street, just on the West Haven side of the Kimberly Avenue bridge. It is where the West River widens into New Haven Harbor.
Developers Sheldon M. Gordon and Ty Miller have proposed to build a $200 million, 347,826-square-foot waterfront development project. The project’s 230,000- to 250,000-square-foot first phase would include 60 upscale stores along with seven restaurants and a waterfront promenade with a 200-seat amphitheater and launch ramp for non-motorized small craft such as canoes and kayaks.
The first phase would be on what are now 55 properties bordered by Main Street, First Avenue and Elm Street. At this point, the developer has yet to reach agreement with two property owners, one of whom owns two properties, and the city recently authorized theuse of eminent domain, if necessary.
A settlement with the owner of Nick’s Luncheonette leaves the S & S Mini Mart Citgo, next-door to Nick’s at Elm Street and First Avenue, and houses at 341 First Ave. and 349 First Ave., both owned by Robert McGinnity, as the last remaining holdouts.
The cleanup project will include removing 7,000 tons — 320 truckloads of contaminated soil — and bringing in a total of 23,000 tons of clean structural fill, said Darrick Jones, associate vice president of Leggette, Brashears & Graham Inc. of Shelton, the engineer on the project.
The contaminated soil will be replaced with at least two feet of clean fill. The work is expected to take at least three months, Jones said.
The work also calls for demolition and removal of some below-ground structures, including remnants of building and oil tank foundations, Jones said.
While limited environmental cleanup previously was done on the site, the additional work is necessary because what was acceptable to leave in the ground when the plan called for buildings to be built on the land closest to the water is not acceptable now that the land will mostly be parking lots, along with a promenade and amphitheater, he said.
“Under DEEP (state Department of Energy and Environmental Protection) regs, you can leave certain impacts under two feet of clean fill and asphalt” when you’re building a building above it. But for a parking lot, the regulations are different, Jones said.
Developer The Haven Group LLC changed the plan after engineers found the property closer to the water was too soft to support the buildings, officials have said.
The city awarded an $111,000 contract to LBG in early 2015 to oversee the cleanup.
The City Council unanimously approved the Haven South land disposition agreement and agreed to sell the 105 Water St. parcel on New Haven Harbor to The Haven Group for $901,000 on June 10, 2015.
The project would create 800 full-time and 400 part-time jobs, plus 800 construction jobs using all Connecticut-based contractors, and generate $2 million in annual property tax revenue for the city, the developer has said.
The state House and Senate last year approved Gov. Dannel P. Malloy’s request to provide up to $30 million in tax increment financing, with bonds the developers would pay back through more than $15 million in incremental sales tax they expect the project to produce.
The Haven Group has spent $15 million so far on the privately financed development, the developer has said.