State Representative Selim Noujaim (R-74), announced Department of Energy and Environmental Protection (DEEP) Commissioner Rob Klee will be coming to Waterbury to tour converted former brownfield sites in the city’s East End.
   The tour, initiated and hosted by Rep. Noujaim, will begin at 10:00 a.m. on Thursday, January, 15, 2015, and include Fairlawn Park at the intersection of Woodland Avenue and Homestead Avenue and the former Mattatuck Manufacturing site on the corner of East Main Street and Southmayd Road.
   “Commissioner Klee understands that with smart investment we can return these formerly contaminated industrial areas into clean and useful spaces for business, parks and recreation,” Rep. Noujaim said. “The future of our city lies in honoring the past while moving toward the future and I’m honored to show the Commissioner how Waterbury has already reclaimed and repurposed several of these sites, and added them to the tax rolls to help alleviate the tax burden on homeowners, while also advocating for the cleanup of other spots around the city.”
    “I am pleased to join with Rep. Noujaim to tour brownfield sites in Waterbury and help call attention to the importance of cleaning up these properties and putting them back into productive reuse,” Commissioner Klee said.  When we invest in the cleanup and redevelopment of contaminated lands, there are benefits across the board – for our environment, public health, economic development and job growth.  My agency is committed to working closely on this issue with Rep. Noujaim, the entire Waterbury legislative delegation, Mayor O’Leary, and other city officials.”
   The Mattatuck Manufacturing Company closed in the late 80’s leaving the building empty and abandoned until it was demolished by implosion in 2002. Contaminants in the soil caused the property to be deemed a brownfield until it was remediated and returned to a useful parcel in recent years. Currently, Eastside Memorial, A Casey Family Funeral Home & Tribute Center and Saint Mary’s Hospital Medical Center, which includes physicians’ offices and outpatient imaging, are located on the property.
   The tour will begin at 10:00 a.m. Fairlawn Park at and proceed to the former Mattatuck Manufacturing location at 1987 East Main St. The event is open to the media. Transportation between locations will not be provided.