$1.5 million grant will make three lots ready for business in Burrillville’s Commerce Park

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BURRILLVILLE – The town of Burrillville has received an early and much hoped for Christmas present with the award of $1.5 million to prepare lots in Commerce Park for future business development.

The Rhode Island Ready Grant will fund engineering, design, site clearing, foundations, the state wetlands approval process and more for the area, according to Town Planner Ray Goff.

And according to an economic impact report prepared for the town by Camoin Associates, the investment will support 148 jobs in the state, with $5.4 million in associated earnings for local families, and around $222,000 in annual tax revenue.

It is the second RI Grant Burrillville has received in 2024. A smaller $200,000 grant received earlier this year funded water and sewer connections along Bronco Highway, a project Goff said is now 90 percent complete.

Goff noted that currently, just one business – Charcuterie Artisans, formerly known as Daniele, Inc. – operates in the 253 acre industrial zone, along with one solar field. The town purchased the land from the Lambert Family Partnership of Cumberland in 2002 with the vision for future development. Currently, the charcuterie business operates two food manufacturing, distribution and warehouse facilities on around 65 acres and a 4.2 megawatt solar farm occupies another parcel, leaving around 75 acres available.

“They’re the major land owners,” Goff said of the company selling cured meats. “We want more business.”

The funding is managed by the Quonset Development Corporation a subsidiary of RI Commerce, and the organization will be directly involved in the process, working with town officials to hire contractors, apply for permits and even marketing the lots. Goff applied for the grant and noted that to date, Burrillville is the only municipality in the state to seek the funding.

“They were kind of excited that we were interested in working with them,” he said. “It’s a unique project – with a quasi-governmental agency working with town. We will work with them hand-in-hand to find companies that would like to grow here.”

No local match is required to access the $1.5 million.

Zoned General Industrial, Goff noted that the properties hold “a lot” of wetlands and that the next step will involve applying for permits with the Rhode Island Department of Environmental Management. One of the properties must be subdivided to create three pad-ready sites, and Crossman Engineering has been hired for design work.

“Completion of this site work will add value to the parcels and make them more attractive to prospective businesses looking to move to Burrillville,” notes a memorandum on the grant presented to the Town Council.

“We will essentially be ready for a developer to come in and put up a building,” Goff said. “We know what we want to do, now we just have to go through the paperwork to get it accomplished.”

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