Brownfield Area-Wide Revitalization Planning Grant (BAR)
In September 2019, the City of Torrington developed and finalized a brownfield strategy for the City of Torrington. Please see the links below for the final documents.
Torrington Brownfield Area-Wide Strategy Summary
Torrington Brownfield Area-Wide Final Report
About Torrington's BAR Program
In 2015, legislation that was signed by Governor Malloy created a funding pilot to provide grants up to $200,000, awarded on a competitive basis, to be used for community visioning processes, market studies, mapping, inventory, infrastructure and streetscape planning, and conceptual designs. The City of Torrington was one of only six recipients in this initial round. The grant, administered by the Department of Economic and Community Development, will be used to establish a comprehensive brownfield redevelopment strategy supported by market analyses and developed through community outreach, and will also create and implement specific redevelopment strategies for targeted sites.
Project Objectives
- Comprehensively examine critical drivers of brownfield redevelopment and establish an institutional mechanism to guide implementation.
- Assess market forces within the "micropolitan" statistical area to develop effective actions to attract development and private investment, capture interest in arts and culture as economic drivers, and initially identify mechanisms for expanding the Naugatuck Railroad’s role in freight and tourism.
- Identify the infrastructure needed for immediate support of viable redevelopment.
- Develop implementation actions for the City’s current prime redevelopment areas, focusing on the NIDEC/River Front Recapture area and Stone Container/Bus Transit Facility.
- Understand and communicate the framework for redevelopment and the City’s economic development goals related to these properties and identify incentives needed to attractive private investment.
How to Stay Informed and Get Involved
The City has procured an interdisciplinary consulting team led by BL Companies of Meriden, to assist with carrying out the City’s BAR grant. There are a number of ways to stay informed, whether or not you wish to attend a meeting.
Four Community Meetings are planned:
Public Forum 1- March 2, 2017: Results of the market study and physical context analyses were presented and next steps in the process of examining the two Focus Areas were explained.
Public Forum 2 - May 23, 2017: Interactive Session on the Redevelopment Process and how to being thinking about a BAR Strategy for Torrington.
Public Forum 3 - June 26, 2017: Results of the redevelopment assessment were presented and focused on the two focus areas. Participants engaged in an interactive session exploring potential site development and greenway concepts.
Public Forum 4- February 6, 2018: Final Workshop that highlighted the re-design of Franklin Street and redevelopment concepts of the two focus areas. In addition, Consultants discussed the need for the Strategy and what would be presented at the final presentation.
Final Presentation - September 4, 2018: A Final Presentation was presented before the City Council on September 4, 2018. The presentation provided a high-level over view of the scope of work and teh deliverables that were produced.
The City is compiling an email contact list for those of you who wish to receive email reminders of meetings and other information. If you wish to be included, email the City at: brownfields@torringtonct.org