City of Cornwall Cotton Mill Brownfield Remediation

In partnership with the City of Cornwall, the private company Cotton Mill Cornwall Inc. (CMC) will remediate and redevelop 25,940 square meters of property on the Cornwall waterfront. The brownfield site is a former cotton mill factory developed in the early 1900's that spans an entire city block. It is contaminated by widespread heavy metal and localised hydrocarbon contamination from industrial activity, and has been vacant for most of the past 20 year though the original factory buildings from the 1870’s remain on site. The majority of the contamination has been found in the soil fill used for site grading, and is mainly limited to the upper 0.6 meters. CMC will excavate and segregate identified contaminated soil from the proposed building footprint areas and interior of buildings sites. While most of the contaminated soil will be disposed of off-site at an approved waste disposal facility, any soil in compliance with commercial standards will be reused in proposed roadways and parking areas of the site. In addition, soils impacted with heavy metal within MoE requirements will be recycled at the Lafleche Lablanc Soil Recycling Center in Ontario. The remediation is supported by a community improvement tax increment grant from the City of Cornwall called Heart of the City, which provides funding to the developer equal to a portion of the increase in municipal taxes resulting from the redevelopment of the site. The site developer, Robert Pelda and RMP DEV and Construction, plans to construct 160 condos and 70,000 square feet of commercial space within the three restored historical buildings on site (Edison, Bell Tower, and the Stephens Building). In partnership with the city, they have already successfully remediated and redeveloped a portion of property across the street from the proposed development, which together form the Cotton Mill District. CMC is taking a creative approach to the project by creating commercial zones on sections of the property where it is not feasible to remediate to a residential standard. This will create a dynamic mixed-use environment and encourage economic development by providing an installed customer base of approximately 400 residents in a single city block. In addition, they plan to unearth an underground canal system on the site and create a public park. (Project description from original funding application)