HOLDEN — A Princeton Street site could be cleaned up as the town moves forward with plans to eventually take and sell the site for development.
The ECC property has been a contamination issue for years, but Town Manager Peter Lukes said that the town “continues to move forward with remediation.”
With plans for redevelopment and spending more for more soil removal, the intent is “to demolish the barn on the property and eventually the remaining main building,” a costly undertaking, he said. The industrial site has been closed for years.
But Lukes said the town itself has not spent any money so far, using funds from sources such as the state DEP.
“I believe in the next 12 to 18 months the town will be in a position to take the property,” Lukes said.
The town will then be in line to access more funds for brownfields remediation. Many government funds are available only for municipally owned sites.
“We’re getting closer and closer as time goes on,” Lukes said, crediting Town Planner Pamela Harding for her efforts.
He said the property, about 14 acres, could eventually be offered through an RFP process for commercial development.
The site is a former electroplating manufacturing facility operated by ECC Corp. from the 1950s until 2005. The site includes a two-story brick and cinder block manufacturing building on 14 acres in a residential area of Holden, according to EPA information. Prior to the construction of the ECC facility, a historic mill operation was once located on the property.
The facility is currently inactive and unoccupied. Hazardous substances (including acids, bases, oxidizers, flammables, cyanide and compressed gases) were present in tanks, drums and compressed gas cylinders in the building, an agency report stated.
The town did acquire property located in front of the ECC site, Lukes said, and will demolish a building there soon.
