Exide May Sell Fairfield Battery Plant Site As Soon As Early 2020

FAIRFIELD, CT — After a decades-long cleanup effort, Fairfield is measuring the progress of development at the former Exide battery plant in months rather than years.

Officials with Exide and the Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection held a meeting Thursday in Fairfield to seek public input as the state moves toward finalizing its finding that action to address pollutants on the property is complete.

Those in attendance discussed what's next for the site and thanked Exide and the state for their work on the remediation of the property, which now meets residential standards.

The site at 2190 Post Road is a 6.22-acre piece of land that functioned as a battery manufacturing facility from 1951 to 1981. It is located on a residential and commercial thoroughfare, but at the time Exide used the site for manufacturing, it was neighbored by other industrial operations. Mill Pond abuts the western border of the property.

In the years since Exide ceased manufacturing at the site, the company demolished buildings, removed underground drainage systems and storage tanks, and eliminated about 44,000 tons of polluted soil as well as about 27,000 cubic yards of contaminated sediment from the adjacent Mill River, according to a state document. The contaminants that were remediated included lead, TPH and PCBs.

The cleanup was conducted under a state consent order by a consultant hired by Exide, with the town and local environmental advocacy groups providing input to ensure the remediation happened as quickly and comprehensively as possible. The state issued a certificate of compliance with the consent order in June.

"We really appreciate all the effort that went into it and made this possible," said Mary Hogue, co-president of Fairfielders Protecting Land and Neighborhoods, at the Thursday meeting.

Alexis Harrison, also a FairPLAN co-president, said she hopes the organization can be involved in discussions of how the land will be used moving forward. Harrison and Hogue recently coauthored a letter to the editor discussing their interest in seeing a Mill River greenway incorporated into development of the site.

Representative Town Meeting member Alex Durrell, R-District 3, asked about the future of the property, and officials confirmed that Exide is considering selling the site at market value and the parcel will likely be rezoned.

The site is zoned for industrial use, according to Community and Economic Development Director Mark Barnhart, who said in an interview following the meeting that after the property is sold, he expects it to be rezoned for some kind of commercial use.

"Mixed use is probably the most likely scenario," he said.

The sale could happen in the first half of 2020, Barnhart said, and the town hopes to have a sense of plans for the site in mid- to late 2020.

"There's a lot of focus currently on growing the grand list and certainly this is an opportunity to do that," he said.

The state is accepting written comments on its tentative determination that corrective action at the property is complete until 4:30 p.m. Jan. 27. Comments can be sent to: Carolyn Fusaro, Remediation Division, Department of Energy and Environmental Protection, 79 Elm St., Hartford, CT, 06106-5127, or via email to Carolyn.Fusaro@ct.gov.

The department's determination will not be finalized until the public comment period has closed and all comments have been addressed.

To read the statement of basis for the state's finding, visit bit.ly/2SaozNz.