NAUGATUCK: County officials approved the sale of land in the Naugatuck/Waterbury Industrial Park to Bluewater Property Group to allow the development company to officially begin a due diligence stage and determine whether plans to build an Amazon distribution facility are feasible.
The mayor’s council and the bourgeoisie unanimously approved on Tuesday, May 10, the agreement to buy and sell its 10. 4 acres to Bluewater Property Group for $2. 5 million. This comes after the Waterbury Council of Councillors approved the acquisition and sale a day earlier. agreement for the same company to officially initiate a due diligence phase on 157 acres in the city and Naugatuck.
Waterbury owns two parcels, one of 40. 8 acres and the other of 16 acres in the commercial park. Naugatuck Mayor N. Warren “Pete” Hess said the township first purchased the 10. 4-acre parcel so Waterbury could access its property. All entrances to the land are made through the Naugatuck aspect of the commercial park near the Great Hill Road area.
Bluewater Property Group Vice President Christina Bernardin said the company’s acquisition and sale deal will close the land in about a year and a half from now.
“It’s about starting feasibility studies and testing to determine if the site is viable for progression and construction. The site that has been discussed is questioned from the point of view of progression,” Bernardin said. “There’s a lot of topography in the sitio. es rock that makes it more expensive to build and build a facility. There are wetlands that want to be studied and there are inputs that want to be approved through the state, the local municipalities.
The facility would bring up to 1,000 permanent full-time jobs and the progression would bring about three hundred construction jobs, according to Bernardin.
The development company has about six months to conduct a fundamental inspection and due diligence, after the sale agreement. Subsequently, the company has another 12 months to complete the feasibility of the construction.
There are elements in position that will require the structure to begin no later than 12 months after closure, Bernardin said.
Taxes generated through the facility would be similarly divided between Naugatuck and Waterbury, according to Bernardin.
State and local processes, in addition to environmental and transit studies, will still want to be conducted, Bernardin said.
Bernardin said they will begin collaborating with their traffic engineers at the state Department of Transportation to conduct a traffic study. After the sale agreement, the company will schedule meetings early in the procedure with the county and city network in the coming months, he added.
Before the city council vote, a hybrid hearing attracted just over a dozen citizens who voiced their considerations and criticized the proposed development.
Michael Cerchia, who lives on Beardsley Avenue, said he was concerned about additional noise coming from Highway 8 Exit 29 from trucks coming in and out.
“The traffic this is going to generate is going to be incredible,” Cerchia said. “So they’re going to have to put a noise barrier on the exit ramp so that our whole community is of that. “
Thomas Hyde, director of the Naugatuck Valley Regional Development Corp. , said the due diligence component will be making sure sound quality is affected.
“If there are instances where sound quality is affected, then yes, there will be remedies for situations,” Hyde said.
Elizabeth Melendez, who lives in the Platts Mill Road area, said traffic and noise were the two issues she was concerned about.
“There are other people who are going to take a shortcut around Plats Mill for the most sensible, without knowing the neighborhood, not knowing that those are little dead ends, they are going to go in and out getting confused,” Melendez said. “We’re going to have a frantic race where a group of kids in this little pot of this community. “
Len Yannielli and Christine Yannielli, who are the Gunntown Group’s network outreach director, a cultural environmental committee, and a conservation commissioner, respectively, this progression would have negative effects on the environment.
“This domain wants to be preserved and protected,” said Christine Yannielli. “The devastation of 157 acres of forests will unnecessarily lead to biodiversity and herbal habitats and degradation of herbal resources. “
Burgess Charles P. Marenghi said the assignment was still in its infancy and was moving forward for now.
“We are not going to cancel this task in its early stages,” Marenghi said. “If there is something wrong that will have a negative effect on the community or cause serious damage to the environment, it will interfere with the process. I think for the moment we have to settle for that it had to be industrial.