Baltic - Hanover - Versailles
Baltic Mills
Look at this old cutie! This is Mill #10; at 56,000 square feet it is the only remaining Town-owned building at the Baltic Mills site. The exposed brick end is actually the wall that connected it to Mill #1, which was demolished after the 1999 fire. This is the building from which we will be removing asbestos, in preparation for potential restoration. The photo does not do justice to the incredible granite stonework. In the foreground where the trees are you can just make out the granite tailrace, that brought water away from the mill and back into the Shetucket river, about 200 yards to the right. Note also the existing monitoring well in the lawn; this site has been the recipient of many remediation and testing activities by both the Town and the EPA since 1999.”
Sprague Selects Consultant to Oversee Baltic Mills Site Cleanup
February 2008
The Town of Sprague has retained the firm of Paul Burgess, LLC, of Stonington, in association with Eagle Environmental of Bristol, to provide environmental consulting and management services for its EPA-funded Brownfields Cleanup project at the Baltic Mills site, which was 75% destroyed by fire in 1999. The project will consist of removing hazardous building materials from the remaining granite mill building, with the goal of promoting re-use and redevelopment of the entire site in accordance with the Economic Development Commission’s Strategic Plan for Baltic Village. Sprague has also received a technical assistance award from EPA to conduct additional site investigations to obtain a comprehensive and final (Phase III) assessment of the entire property. Remediation is expected to start as soon as weather permits.
Some of us think the Baltic Mills site looks good all year round, in a crumbly sort of way, but the backdrop of fall leaves gives the remaining granite structures a rather regal look. We’re very excited that this former factory, nearly completely destroyed by fire in 1999, will be given a second chance through the hard work of community volunteers and some well-timed cleanup and feasibility study grants. In April 2008 the Town contracted with CERC (the Connecticut Economic Resources Commission) to implement a feasibility study under a $35,000 US Department of Agriculture Rural Business Opportunity grant, which will build on CERC’s 2006 study, which was funded by the Sprague Economic Development Commission. This new, extensive study will be able to show to a potential investor or developer exactly what will have to be done to the site to make it the most economically viable entity possible, given the basic parameters of the community’s desires (conformity to historic village setting, downtown and public appeal, etc.). Information gained from the study will include such details as the types of businesses most likely to succeed at the site, given the area’s demographics, the costs of renovation/construction/cleanup, tax benefits (for both the investor and the town), etc. This information comprises a large part of what an investor is seeking when interested in developing a site for commercial or mixed-use purposes. (Although the combination of business and residential development has not been ruled out for the site, the USDA grant only funds the study of business development.)
Through the $200,000 EPA Brownfields Cleanup grant, the town has retained a Licensed Environmental professional (LEP) to oversee asbestos abatement at Mill #10, the remaining granite structure on the site. Although its interior and roof have been severely damaged, the building remains structurally sound and is a good reminder of the quality of workmanship used to build these turn-of-the-century structures. Both the Sprague Historical Society and the Connecticut Commission on Culture and Tourism strongly support the preservation of this building. Although it is often more costly to renovate existing structures than to build new ones, the Baltic Mills site offers the best of both worlds—the chance to preserve one building as an example of the former mill, and the freedom to construct a mill-like complex from the ground up without having to worry about preservation, replacement of old/outdated fixtures, losing energy efficiency, etc.
On-Line Information Repository
One of the requirements of this grant is the development of a repository of information regarding the site, and the progress on its cleanup. The Town has an extensive collection of mill-related documents on file, and all are available for public review, but we will be collecting pertinent cleanup-related documents and putting them in a centralized location; hopefully many of these documents can also be kept in an online archive that you can access from this page. We will be adding to this archive periodically.
Below, for Mills Cleanup fans, are documents in our current archive
·
Baltic Mills Cleanup Application
·
First Report to EPA
·
Baltic Mills property Profile
Form
·
Baltic Mills Cleanup Workplan
·
Phase II TBA report
·
August 2007 Baltic Mills Public
Meeting, notes and comment
·
EPA Cleanup Report (post 1999)
includes photo
·
TBA Application for peninsula
August 2007
Additional Testing News
In October The EPA awarded Sprague a $100,000 Targeted Brownfields Assessment (TBA) grant to conduct additional testing on the peninsula area of the property. This area had been home to a coal-fired plant that produced the gas for the mill, and an understanding of the materials that are present in the soil will assist us and/or future investors in determining how to best address this issue. EPA is the lead agency for the hiring of a consultant, who will probably begin tests very shortly or in the Spring.
Although no longer a complete structure, the Turbine House is a marvel of aesthetic and engineering genius. It is hoped that future developers/investors will want to try and preserve this structure or incorporate it into the design of the new mills complex.”
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