Six Lakes

New Haven Independent: Spring Rains Delay Six Lakes Testing

Six Lakes Park Coalition organizer Justin Farmer. Photo credit: Brian Slattery.

The Olin Corporation is late in delivering its report about its investigation of contamination at Six Lakes, the 102.5-acre stretch of Olin property in southern Hamden that was once a munitions testing area and toxic materials dumping ground and, left alone for decades, is now a forested ecosystem with a diversity of wildlife usually seen in more remote places. The reason for Olin’s delay: spring rain, according to John Duff, environmental analyst at the state Department of Energy and Environmental Protection (DEEP).

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New Haven Register: Could a contaminated, 102-acre property in southern Hamden become Connecticut’s next state park?

HAMDEN — In 1969, local conservationists first approached the owner of a 102.5-acre contaminated property in the southern part of town about cleaning it up and turning it into a state park.

More than half a century later, Six Lakes is still heavily polluted and closed to the public, despite growing calls for remediation and a strong desire from the state to preserve more undeveloped land as open space.

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three people at table talking

New Haven Independent: Six Lakes Park’s Future Sought

Trails for wheelchairs and strollers. A pavilion for events and education programs. Kayaking and fishing.

All these ideas and more emerged from a meeting at Thornton Wilder Hall at Miller Library in Hamden, held by Six Lakes Park Coalition, as the coalition invited the public to submit input on what a future state park in the middle of Hamden might look like, and how it might best serve the community around it.

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New Haven Register: Hamden’s Olin Powder Farm sees first tests in years, but more studies needed to uncover contamination, officials say

HAMDEN — Olin Powder Farm recently underwent its first environmental testing in years, but more studies are needed to uncover the extent of contamination at the 102.5-acre site before it can become valuable open space for residents, officials said…

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Six Lakes pond

New Haven Independent: Petition Demands Private Oasis Cleanup

Hamden environmental groups and Newhall neighborhood leaders are renewing a push for the state to force Olin Corporation to clean up, remediate and open a 102.5‑acre forest and wetlands site so that residents can finally enjoy the closed-off land.

That site of contention, which sits in the heart of Southern Hamden, nestled between the Dixwell Avenue shops to the west and the Newhallville neighborhood to the south, is called the Olin Powder Farm.

It includes over 100 acres of meandering paths through mature oaks, hickories, and pines, and ponds teeming with aquatic life.

And it has been privately owned and fenced off from the public since the late 1880s.

A coalition led by Save The Sound, CONECT, and the Hamden Land Conservation Trust is petitioning for Commissioner Katie Dykes of the Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection (DEEP) to prioritize ​“the environmental cleanup and remediation of the Olin Powder Farm in southern Hamden and issue a new remediation order for the Olin Corporation.”

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