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I-park
'partners'
take a
break
By Linda Lemmon
Town Crier Editor
The partners will be taking a pause.
The agreement among four towns for the Quinebaug Regional Tech Park, “the Q,” is being amended. The three towns joining Putnam in its green technology industrial park off Kennedy Drive are “disengaging”, taking a break.
Pomfret, Scotland and Brooklyn joined the original regional approach to technology parks and each has kicked in money for the 267-acre park.
During the past eight years, the town has been clearing lots and putting in utilities. In addition, the town used a state grant to build the bridge to the park from Kennedy Drive.
However, according to Town Administrator Elaine Sistare, the sale of lots is taking longer than anticipated.
When all four towns have approved the amended agreement, she said, the three towns will get their money back.
Four lots are owned by the town. Two of them went to the Hale YMCA Youth and Family Center. The remaining two are for sale, she said. But the “sites are difficult,” she added.
Pomfret First Selectwoman Maureen Nicholson agrees. Asked why Pomfret is disengaging she said that the lots are difficult to sell. She said gravel removal was supposed to level out the site. But it did not. The site is very steep and difficult to develop. In addition, bedrock was underneath, making development expensive.
Sistare said the town will continue to market the lots and when one is sold, the three partners will be invited to rejoin. The town is marketing the lots itself.
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