Millions in Funding to be Made Available for the State of Connecticut’s Brownfield Program

On March 13, 2020, Governor Lamont signed House Bill 5518. This is the first bill signed by Governor Lamont of the 2020 Regular Session. 

House Bill 5518 is a bipartisan bond package that includes $30 million and $17 million for fiscal years 2020 and 2021, respectively, allocated to the Department of Economic and Community Development (“DECD”).  Grants and loans will be provided by the State’s brownfield program for the assessment and remediation of contaminated properties. Pending approval from the State Bond Commission, the DECD hopes to start accepting applications for fiscal year 2020 in August / September of 2020. 

Funding for the State’s Brownfield program is competitive and highly sought after. The eligibility requirements for said funds are set out in Chapter 588gg of the General Statutes. Loans and grants typically will not exceed $4 million and the loans can feature flexible low or deferred interest payment schedules. For the first time DECD will require that, for any award of $1 million or more, the entire project must adhere to the prevailing wage laws. 

Funding may be used for items including, but not limited to, brownfields investigation, assessment, remediation, waste disposal, and consultant and attorneys’ fees. In making these financing awards, DECD has a scoring system that will consider a variety of factors. Examples include the economic impact of the project, projected tax revenues, job creation, transit oriented development, as well as the necessity for financial assistance. 

Please contact a member of the UKS Environmental Practice Group with questions regarding this Client Alert. 

David Monz, Esq. can be reached at (203) 786-8303 or dmonz@uks.com.

Mark Zimmerman, Esq. can be reached at (860) 548-2624 or mzimmermann@uks.com. 

Updike, Kelly & Spellacy, PC would like to thank associate Jeffrey Bausch for his contributions to this article. 

Disclaimer: The information contained in this material is not intended to be considered legal advice and should not be acted upon as such. Because of the generality of this material, the information provided may not be applicable in all situations and should not be acted upon without legal advice based on the specific factual circumstances.