Congressman: Restoring Old Rockville Mills Is 'Worth It'

VERNON, CT — U.S. Rep. Joe Courtney was asked one of the prevailing questions Monday as he made an appearance in Downtown Rockville.

Is it worth all this time and effort and grant money to restore Daniel's Mill?

Courtney, a Vernon native, responded without hesitation by saying that the area wouldn't be the same without the old mills and said the efforts will celebrate the rich textile history of the town while adding housing.

Courtney stopped by the Vernon mill redevelopment project Monday to speak with Town Administrator John Kleinhans, Director of Development Services Shaun Gately and Jim Newbury, the owner of Bestech of Ellington, which is performing cleanup work in the Daniel's Mill portion
of the project.

Courtney helped secure a $250,000 federal grant to help fund the continuing cleanup work.

The town has received several state and federal grants for the project, but more is needed to complete the cleanup and other
parts of the redevelopment project.

"For the community of Vernon and the Rockville section, this property is really important because it is the gateway for people coming into Vernon," Courtney said.

Plus it saves a once-apparently doomed landmark.

"When you flip a brownfield it is transformational," he said. "The grant we were able to get is going to provide $250,000 to continue the cleanup."

The project will provide housing for "working people," Kleinhans said. He, too, remembers frequent trips to the area as a young man. The restoration project includes about 215 "workforce apartments" and some retail elements, which could be used for something like a restaurant, coffee shop or brewpub.

"We’re excited for the future,” Kleinhans said. “There's a lot of potential here. We had a stakeholder meeting a couple of weeks ago. A lot of residents came to voice their support for this project. We thank the congressman for his support, Mayor Dan Champagne for his leadership and vision, and all of our
community partners. The future of downtown Rockville looks bright."

Added Gately, "It's the skyline. We need to save that."

It’s a slow, complicated process, but every day the project is taking steps forward, he said. It’s also critically important to Vernon and Rockville, Gately said.

"If you just try to look at the skyline and picture it without the mills, it wouldn’t be the same place," Gately said.

All at the gathering highlighted the spectacular waterfalls on the property, the mill pond and how those features will make the project an "exciting place to live" with an eventual pedestrian walkway.