WILTON – Representatives of regional, state and federal agencies joined local officials at the site of the former tannery on Route 2 & 4 this afternoon, celebrating both the successful Brownfield Program clean-up of the formerly-contaminated property as well as the launch of the Wilson Stream Business Park.
“I think some people thought it might be easier to look the other way,” Town Manager Rhonda Irish said in her opening remarks about the property.
The brief ceremony was held on the field that stretches out behind the tannery, atop approximately 12,000 cubic yards of consolidated soil, hides and other material, encapsulated within layers of barrier material and clean loam.
“When we used to walk out here,” Irish said. “[The ground] was spongy.”
The town acquired the property in 2010. Representative Russell Black (R – Wilton), then a selectman, recalled walking the grounds over the past several years and finding scraps of leather coming out of the ground. Of particular concern was the accumulation of material beside Wilson Stream, with treated hides leaching into the water.
“There was a lot of big questions,” Black said of the town’s decision to acquire the property. “It was scary. What was going to happen to this site?”
Irish, the selectmen and other town officials worked with representatives of the Maine Department of Environmental Protection, the Maine Department of Economic and Community Development and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to obtain two grants: $200,000 through the EPA and $150,000 through the DECD. The Wilton Public Works Department provided some in-kind labor to meet grant matches, while the town contracted with Ransom Consulting, Inc. in 2013 to oversee the project.
Initial elements of the clean-up began in November 2013, with the removal of a buried oil tank as well as asbestos from the tannery building. Ransom Consulting considered covering the contaminated material in place, Ransom’s Nicholas Sabatine said, but decided instead to consolidate it within a natural hollow further away from Wilson Stream. The majority of the excavation was undertaken in July and August 2014, by E.L. Vining & Son. In some cases, Sabatine said, piles of hides were found to be 15 to 20 feet deep.
Work was complete in the spring, following some minor site restoration efforts to close out the grants. The town had already been seeking a buyer since November 2014, with no luck. The goal, Irish noted Thursday, had always been to get the property back on the tax rolls.
In May, the Wilton Selectboard accepted the redevelopment proposal of the former tannery made by brothers James and John Black and turned over the 15 acres of land and the 62,000 square foot steel and concrete complex of buildings for $1. In exchange, the Blacks said at the time they plan on investing between $250,000 and $500,000 in the redevelopment of the property.
John Black of Wilson Stream Business Park, LLC, plan for redevelopment included the demolition of unsafe structures, using the existing, structurally secure buildings for storage needs of existing landscaping and firewood businesses, and to construct a new business location for Nichols Trailers. Also in the plans is the construction of telecommunication offices, with fiber-optic cable being run in from the Wilton Road.
Work on the property has been ongoing through the summer. Earlier this month, Black said he hopes to move his worm casting production, Earth Keeper Casting, into the former tannery facility before winter hits. Thursday, he also noted that a company had inquired about the possibility of locating a solar power farm on the property.
“A lot’s been done,” Black said Thursday. “A lot more needs to be done.”
A number of officials from the state’s Congressional Delegation and agencies involved in the clean-up spoke to the importance of finding a developer for the site.
“A lot of sites we clean up and they sit there,” EPA’s Amy Jean McKeown said. “It’s a big success story.”
Russell Black, who recalled when the tannery was in operation, said that he envisioned returning to the site and seeing people working once more.
“It’s a 15-acre site on one of the busiest highways in the state of Maine,” Black said.
