The Brownfield Route 9A Project
Please come to the Town Meeting on March 16 at 1 pm at the Chesterfield School and vote YES on Budget Article #36 (come dressed comfortably and with snacks since it will take a while to get to 36!) The more residents speak in favor of our project, the better.
This building and the three parcels of land to which it is attached (Map 6A Lot D5, Lot D5.1, and Lot D6; which corresponds to 409 and 411 Route 9A) is off of Route 9A in the heart of Spofford, close to the post office. It is currently classified as a Brownfields site, which simply means that it has known chemical contamination. The contamination comes from a business that was in a building next to this one that has since been torn down, called Electro Sonics. They were in business from 1966-1984 and manufactured circuit boards. The building has sat empty since the owners abandoned it 30 years ago and between the three parcels there are nearly half a million dollars in back taxes owed.
Various efforts have been made to take clean up action on the properties since 1999, but after a long break, it was picked back up in earnest by the Economic Development Committee and its dedicated sub-committee called the Chesterfield Revitalization Group in 2019. If you look at the chart that reflects the history of the property and what has been done, and also review the next steps, you should have a pretty good idea of where we are and where we are headed. Here are the Reuse Assessment and Structural Engineering Report for the site.
The long and short of it is that we want to make sure that we are protecting the health and safety of our residents and revitalize the heart of Spofford. We are dedicated to getting the contamination cleaned up, and ensuring that it can be redeveloped into something that is good for the community. If you're interested in joining the efforts or learning more, please feel free to reach out! The CRG (Chesterfield Revitalization Group) meets the second Monday of every month at 5 pm at the town offices. The public is always welcome to attend.
Committee members: Julianna Dodson, Nancy Mendel, Deborah Kaufman, Gerry Lins, Jeff Scott, Nate Loomis, Drew Kate Dodson, Ron Rzasa, Linda Sedlewicz, Jim Allen, Michelle DellaVita.
