Hartford Business Journal

www.HartfordBusiness.com • May 13, 2019 • Hartford Business Journal 7 The other is New Jersey. "The Transfer Act has been a very difficult law to live with," said commer- cial realty broker Mark Duclos, who is president of Sentry Commercial in Hart- ford. "It's an environmental law that has restricted economic growth in the state." Duclos was a speaker at the recent 2019 Connecticut commercial real estate conference, where he encouraged fellow brokers and others to join the push for reforming the law. He said his firm is working on two deals right now that likely will not move forward due to the increased costs of environmental investigation and compliance with the Transfer Act. Commercial broker Frank Hird, vice president of O,R&L Commercial, has been a leading voice on the issue and he too says he's dealt with many prospective property buyers who have shied away from deals because of the Transfer Act. The Connecticut Economic Re- source Center published a study in March that concluded the potential impacts of the act are widespread, with over 470 filings under the law in the last five years. CERC also said it found dozens of property sales that were either delayed or halted as a result of the Transfer Act, costing Connecticut at least 7,000 direct jobs and $178 million in tax revenues. Push for more exemptions The Transfer Act program is admin- istered within the state Department of Energy & Environmental Protection, but properties or businesses subject to it must hire an outside environmental expert to oversee inspections and any required remediation. That expert must also file a re- port with his or her findings to DEEP, which currently has up to three years to verify that the property is in compliance with the law. A bill in the leg- islature — Senate Bill 1030 — aims to shorten that so-called audit period to 60 days. The real estate community sup- ports shortening the audit period, but says that alone won't do enough to make meaning- ful reforms. Pamela K. Elkow, an environmental lawyer from Carmody Torrance Sandak & Hennessey LLP in Stamford, said the overriding issue is that a lot of properties that don't have a history of environmental issues get dragged into the act, which can lead to a costly regulatory process. A property inspection alone, including investigation of soil and groundwater to prove that no spill has happened, can cost about $100,000, she said. Elkow is part of the coalition pushing to exempt more properties from the act. For example, currently any property that has generated more than 100 kilograms — or 220 pounds — of hazardous waste in any one month since Nov. 19, 1980, is subject to the Transfer Act. However, hazard- ous waste has a broad meaning and the act can apply to a company or property that had a one-time incident, or experienced an activity not as- sociated with their actual business. Elkow gave as an example a former day-care center property, which contained leftover cans of paint that had nothing to do with the operation of the actual business. That paint, however, still qualified as a hazard- ous waste, opening up the entire property to a prolonged and costly inspection. She supports an exemption to the law for properties that have generated limited hazard waste unrelated to the products made or services provided at the site. Another problem, Elkow says, is that an entire property may be subject to the Transfer Act even if only one section of it was used by a company that gener- ated hazardous waste. For example, if a 30,000-square-foot strip center includes a 5,000-square-foot dry cleaner busi- ness, it would subject the entire prop- erty to the Transfer Act. Elkow and others want to limit the scope of the law to just the section of the property where the activities covered by the Act occurred. "The Transfer Act as it currently is, is an impediment to growth in Con- necticut," Elkow said. In a statement, Department of Energy and Environmental Protection Commis- sioner Katie Dykes said her agency shares "the goal of modernizing the Transfer Act to ensure that it focuses on investigation and cleanup of those properties that pose the highest risk to human health and the environment, while not entangling low-risk properties. DEEP is pleased to be working with the legislature to move ahead certain immediate changes to the Act that will help speed up the process and exempt one-time generation of haz- ardous waste from triggering the Act." She added: "DEEP is also strongly committed to working with stakeholders to evaluate additional opportunities to improve the framework for remediating contaminated properties." Promoting diversity today for a more inclusive tomorrow DIVERSITY THANK YOU NCCJ would like to thank all of those who supported this year's Human Relations Award Banquet. Your contributions bring social justice educational programs to schools and young people throughout the Greater Hartford area. National Conference for Community and Justice | www.nccj.org SILVER CIRCLE Barnes Group, Inc. / Bob's Discount Furniture / The Chase Family Foundations / Cigna / Eversource Energy / Freeman Companies, LLC and 7 Summits / Hartford HealthCare / Hartford Steam Boiler Inspection & Insurance Co. / Kaman Corporation / Karl and Kathy Krapek / Laz Parking / Edward and Lois Lewis / Andrew J. and Joyce D. Mandell Family Foundation / PricewaterhouseCoopers, LLP / Root Center for Advanced Recovery / Sullivan & LeShane, Inc. BRONZE CIRCLE BlumShapiro / Carling Technologies / CohnReznick, LLP / Conning / Connecticut Children's Medical Center / Connecticut Public Broadcasting / Hartford Business Journal / Hoffman Auto Group / O&G Industries, Inc. / People's United Bank, N.A. / Brewster and Judith Perkins / Prime Materials Recovery, Inc. / Robinson + Cole, LLP / Robert T. Samuels / SBM Charitable Foundation / Turbine Controls, Inc. / University of Hartford / University of Saint Joseph / Updike, Kelly & Spellacy, PC / Wells Fargo GOLD CIRCLE Bank of America/U.S. Trust MML Capital Partners, LLP Prudential Retirement EDUCATION PARTNER DIVERSITY PARTNER MEDIA SPONSOR Comcast NBCUniversal PLATINUM CIRCLE Aetna Foundation, Inc. Rosenberg Family Webster Bank Jessica and Eric Zachs Judith Zachs Zachs Family Foundation Transfer Act applications by municipality Municipality Applications Stamford 397 Waterbury 265 Bridgeport 259 Hartford 240 New Haven 234 Norwalk 202 Danbury 194 Wallingford 162 Manchester 152 Milford 141 Source: CERC

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