In the 1990s, it was advised that 517/523/525 Park Street be dealt with immediately.
Earlier this month, the building formerly occupied by Allied Platers was demolished.
Getting to this point required collaboration between many departments and agencies including the Connecticut Department of Public Health, Connecticut Department of Energy & Environmental Protection, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Hartford’s Department of Health & Human Services, and the Division of Licenses & Inspections. Mike Fuschi, Hartford’s
Building Official, has been key to coordinating much of this, following the renewed attention on the property by the Livable & Sustainable Neighborhood Initiative’s anti-blight enforcement process and work by the Citation Action Committee.
But what gave this the final push was the written agreement between the EPA, State, and City to share the costs of demolition, debris removal, and site remediation. The EPA gave a grant of over $608,000 to address this brownfield located on one of the city’s busiest streets where there
are restaurants,retail spaces, and residences.
After removing contaminated building materials, the City of Hartford erected a fence around the site to secure it against trespassing and continued contamination of the surrounding areas.
While the EPA monitors and remediates contaminated soil, the CT DEEP is checking surrounding basements for contamination. Steve Frank of Hartford’s LSNI says that the State agency has already identified some off-site contamination, but now the CT DEEP can move ahead to remediate and protect those properties.
Chromium was one of the chemicals found on the brownfield site.
According to a memo from the Frog Hollow NRZ, the WIC building (547 Park Street) and Diamante Cafe (531 Park Street) both have been identified as not having contaminated water seeping into their basements or crawl spaces.
Correction: Although a message was sent from the Vice Chair of the Frog Hollow NRZ using the organization’s email, I was informed that since this was not on official Frog Hollow NRZ letterhead, this should not be referred to as a memo. The information contained in that email, however, stands uncorrected.
