Contaminated by a former auto wrecking business—and left with property taxes on it unpaid for decades—the former Turnpike Autowreckers site at 88 Pond Meadow Road could finally become productive again. This week the town started a process that will quantify the contamination that remains and develop a plan and cost estimates to clean it up.

July 14 was the deadline for the town to receive statements of qualifications from environmental engineering consultants interested in working on this project. Funding for the work will come from a $200,000 Brownfields Assessment Grant the town received from the State of Connecticut to assess and plan for this property.

Privately owned properties like this one often remain unused because developers are not willing to buy them without knowing the cost to clean-up and prepare the site for re-use. If towns can eliminate this uncertainty by identifying the extent of contamination and estimating the cost to clean it up, developers may once again be interested in the land, and this could convert an unproductive asset into a property that once again pays taxes.

The contract work, according to the town’s request for qualifications, could include “the discovery, investigation, evaluation, mitigation, and remediation of contaminated media, surface water, groundwater, [and] soil or other contamination resulting from the discharge, spillage, uncontrolled loss, seepage or filtration of oil or petroleum, chemical liquids, solid, liquid or gaseous products, waste oil, or hazardous waste.”

Specifically, the project scope would include the completion of a hazardous building materials survey of site building and structures; a site investigation in accordance with Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection (DEEP) standards; a investigation report; and development of a remedial action plan and cost estimate that is consistent with preferred development scenarios.

All potential firms were also supplied by the town with online links to prior environmental assessments and investigations that were conducted by various firms for this property.

The contractor selection committee will be established by the town’s Economic Development Commission. That group will screen the firms’ submissions and identify three that will be asked to come in and be interviewed in early August.

The preferred firm will then be asked by the selection committee to submit a detailed proposal with fees by Aug. 25. The town anticipates awarding the contract by Sept. 8.

In November 2014, the town’s engineer, Woodard & Curran, projected that based on a targeted field assessment of known contamination areas, the property’s clean-up costs would likely be between $559,000 and $845,691. For this limited-scope field investigation, the firm’s workers examined piles of debris, dug test holes, and dug 20 trenches from which they took soil samples. What Dan Wolfram, the firm’s licensed environmental professional said they found was mostly some metals and petroleum products. Scrap was only found at a depth of one to two feet below the surface.

Woodard & Curran reported a range of clean-up costs tied to the planned end use of the property. If it were used for housing, the higher cost number and clean-up standard would apply. If a commercial or industrial use was planned, the lower number would apply.

The new study will include a more detailed investigation and preparation of the documents the state DEEP requires to begin to clear contaminated properties for re-use.