Gas Line Goes Historic

Crews started digging a trench this week through the historic Ball and Socket factory property as part of the installation project for a new natural gas pipeline in Cheshire. 

A short section of the pipe's route on West Main Street turns away from the road and goes through the factory property to bypass the aging box culvert on West Main Street. The culvert carries traffic over the old Farmington Canal. 

The state Department of Transportation is scheduled to replace the culvert beginning in early July, according to town records.

Pipeline crew foreman Phil Cary of GPL Construction company of Rhode Island said the state asked Yankee Gas to locate the pipeline away from the culvert. He said the state didn't want the new pipeline to be a barrier to their construction project.

The 16- inch gas pipe was installed in a nearly five-foot deep trench that reached fairly close to the front door of the factory building. The pipe will turn 90 degrees and run under the nearby historic Farmington Canal.

Crossing the canal, Cary said, will require diverting the water, building a trench for the line and sheathing the pipe. It's expected to take about two weeks to complete.

The historic factory, commonly called the "Button Factory," is on sale for $1.25 million. The site is defined in sale literature as "An opportunity to develop a mixed-use complex along the picturesque Farmington Canal."

Realtor Steve Miller of Levey Miller Maretz, LLC of Woodbridge said in an earlier interview that of the four or five buildings on the site, the large brick castle-like building is probably the only one worth saving.

Owner Peter Dalton bought the factory building in 1996 and owns the adjacent Dalton Enterprises Company on Willow Street. He received $30,000 from Yankee Gas for the pipeline easement, according to property records.

At their May meeting the Town Council approved a request to apply for a $500,000 Small Town Economic Assistance Program (STEAP) grant to bring the Farmington Canal Trail from West Main Street to Jarvis Street.

Funding has not yet been found to pay for construction of the trail from Cornwall Avenue to West Main St.; a less-than-a-mile gap that will run west of Dalton Enterprise's Willow Street property.