Lee — Once the home of 25 paper mills, the town of Lee is now seeking to reuse some of those defunct industrial sites.
Lee Town Planner Brooke Healy presented Select Board members with options for three of these former mills during the group’s October 21 meeting: Columbia Mill at 157 Columbia Street, Greylock Mill at 715 Columbia Street, and Greenwood/Mountain Mill at 20 Forest Street.
The presentation stemmed from a grant that afforded an August 22 report filed by University of Connecticut (UConn) and student intern Chris Anderson. The project was based on an assessment plan for the “brownfields,” Lee’s former paper mill sites that may harbor possible environmental contamination and other hazards, issues to be addressed before reuse programs can move forward.
The Berkshire Regional Planning Commission (BRPC) was consulted within its Berkshire Brownfields Program. Created in 2004 using a U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) grant that allowed the group to conduct environmental assessments at brownfields sites, the program now includes funding, reuse planning, and cleanup projects. According to the BRPC website, in 2013, Lee was selected by the EPA as one of 20 nationwide Brownfields Area-Wide Planning grant recipients. A 2016 program addressed the Lee northern mills and established to cleanup and revitalize the sites with an eye toward returning to production and creative jobs.
The recent mixed-use redevelopment plan for Eagle Mill that will add much-needed affordable housing to the community is part of the process by which similar prior sites can be transformed from abated sites amid management of hazardous building materials and contaminated soils.
The UConn team studied a portion of Lee housing the three mills to determine “possible interest for the future” redevelopment of the mill sites, Healy said.
A copy of the UCONN project report that Healy presented can be found here.
What could be in store for the Columbia and Greylock mills?
Both the Columbia and Greylock mills are currently owned by Lenox Development LLC, a company that the UConn report states “has a goal of facilitating redevelopment by providing demolition and remediation services nationally.”
According to the UConn research, Columbia Mill was operated by Schweitzer-Mauduit, a former Kimberly Clark Corporation subsidy, until 2008 and sits along the Housatonic River. In operation from 1827 to 2014, its structures are now deteriorating, and the site is vacant. In 2019, it had been permitted and licensed for a marijuana cultivation and manufacturing facility, but those approvals have since expired.
The property houses 10 buildings, including three warehouses totaling more than 81,000 square feet, three industrial structures totaling more than 13,000 square feet, and an 8,300-square-foot office.
The Columbia Mill was the first supplier of newsprint made from ground wood pulp to The New York Times and produced rag-based paper products, wood-fiber pulp, flax straw, and the thin papers used in the cigarette industry. It is listed on the Massachusetts Register of Historic Places and is noted for its architecture and industry.
Like the Columbia Mill, the Greylock Mill was operated by Schweitzer-Maudit and, since 2015, has been owned by Lenox Development LLC. Set back from the Housatonic River, it is a much newer mill having been constructed in 1965, Healy said. It operated from 1966 until 2008, producing paper and treating wastewater. The Greylock Mill buildings have also deteriorated, and as with the Columbia Mill, it was proposed to serve as a marijuana cultivation and manufacturing facility. Although a 2019 special permit was approved by the Lee Select Board, nothing materialized.
The very large tract at Greylock Mill has a parcel of woodlands and houses seven structures, including two factories totaling more than 110,000 square feet and three warehouses of about 92,000 square feet in addition to roughly 6,200 square feet of office space.
“Comparing it to the Columbia Mill, the amount of issues regarding abandonment might not be the same because it hadn’t been unutilized for as long,” Healy said of the Greylock Mill.
The Columbia Mill is partially in a flood zone, and both mills are at some risk of flooding.
The mills are designated as temporary hazardous waste storage sites subject to federal reuse regulations. Pursuant to investigations in the 1980s and 1990s, Columbia Mill did not have contaminants that posed “significant risk,” and the now-banned polychlorinated biphenyl (PCB) toxins within its nearby floodplain soils “did not constitute an imminent hazard,” the UConn report provides. The Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection determined Greylock Mill has had no reportable releases. Still, the extent of previous asbestos projects at both sites is unknown, and the 2016 development plan for the town’s northern mills showed areas of concern on the two parcels.
The report shows that, with possible loading docks, the Columbia and Greylock mills could be used to house multiple tenants—manufacturing or light industrial. “There’s a lot of possibility,” Healy said.
What could be in store for the Greenwood/Mountain Mill?
The Greenwood/Mountain Mill lies along the Goose Pond Brook. In 1854, it was constructed as the Greenwood Mill by the Benton Brothers before being purchased by the Mountain Mill Paper Company in 1905. The mill was later sold to the Westfield River Paper Company that shuttered site operations in 1992. The plant manufactured paper including grease-proof food packaging and a glossy type of paper. The Lake May Power Company bought the tract in 2009 to develop hydroelectric power. Now owned by the town of Lee through a 2021 foreclosure, a UConn inspection showed the parcel’s structures to be “in a dilapidated state with various roof breaches.”
Although it was once noted for its architecture and industry, the mill has been “altered beyond recognition,” the report states.
Environmentally, asbestos was removed from the mill in the early 1990s and the site used coal for fuel until 1964. Additionally, an application to store fuel above ground was made in 1963 and, together with adjacent solid-waste and sludge landfills, amounts to a cause for concern. Other issues involving mold risk from water leaks and boiler use on the property add to the need for a formal environmental site assessment.
The Greenwood/Mountain Mill is in an area of minimal flooding but outside of a federally designated floodplain.
The report shows that the redevelopment of the Mountain/Greenwood Mill is challenging due to riverfront problems, its state of disrepair, and diminished structural integrity. However, with the demolition of its buildings, the property could be used as a local public green space, especially if joined together with an adjacent parcel to be owned by Lee. This recommendation is made in conjunction with town planning documents that reflect residents’ need for more outdoor recreation spaces. Specifically, the proposal delineates an ADA-accessible recreational site with eight parking spaces, a stream crossing, and a trail system.
“Even if these spaces aren’t used or just reused for what they originally were, there’s still the possibility for open space or [a] different use as well,” Healy said.
