NAUGATUCK — The borough will apply for a state grant to begin planning for a parking facility on Parcel C at Renaissance Place.
The Board of Mayor and Burgesses voted Tuesday to apply for $500,000 in financial assistance from the Connecticut Department of Economic and Community Development.
The parking facility would be located at Maple and Water streets, and serve downtown Naugatuck. It would also be used for a medical office space that would host Saint Mary’s Hospital and the train station.
The initial grant money would go toward designing the 500-space garage. The parking lot itself would cost about $10 million to construct, according to Mayor Bob Mezzo.
The grant would come with certain requirements from the state, including environmental and audit mandates, Town Attorney Ned Fitzpatrick said.
The investment would be linked to a contract with Conroy Development, the company the town is working with to revitalize downtown.
“The public investment is there to leverage the private dollars…It’s not building one without the other. It’s proceeding on a simultaneous track. They are part of each other,” Mezzo said.
Fitzpatrick said perseverance matters when it comes to applying for state funding.
“We keep knocking on their door until they answer it,” Fitzpatrick said.
