Nickerson said: “I am delighted that the Bond Commission agenda includes the $2 million allocation which was incorporated in the bond bill recently approved by the General Assembly in October and signed by Governor Rell. The funding, when approved, represents the State’s approximate 50% share of the third and final phase of the clean up process at the power plant site, primarily through capping the site with four feet of soil and with a rock slope apron along the shore line. This follows the 50/50 state/town sharing pattern first put in place when the state and the town shared equally in the cost of demolishing the power plant itself in 1999.

Department of Environmental Protection permits to complete the remediation are expected to be issued in the first quarter of 2008. Thus this timely $2 million bond allocation clears the way for the Town to design and build a public park on the site for active and passive recreation adjacent to Long Island Sound. This is a win for everyone – a win for the Town of Greenwich because the state continues to be a 50/50 financing partner, a win for the state because Hartford has leveraged town funds to create a public park, and above all a win for the public who will ultimately enjoy this magnificent addition to Greenwich’s open space, transforming a formerly dilapidated, heavily polluted industrial site into a gem which will serve the town forever.”