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Two bills proposed in the 2025 legislative session seek to create or expand economic development zones in the town of Plainville.
One, Senate Bill 724, proposes establishing an airport development zone around the municipally owned Robertson Airport, which is located in the town’s northwest corner.
The other, Senate Bill 575, seeks to expand an existing bioscience enterprise corridor to include additional land owned by the Tomasso Group near the Hartford HealthCare Cancer Institute at the Hospital of Central Connecticut in the town’s northeast corner.
Both bills were sponsored by Sen. Henri Martin (R-Bristol), whose district includes Plainville.
Martin said the bills seek to “stimulate economic growth. Both of them are to encourage the development of the town.”
Currently, just three state airports are approved for development zones: Bradley International Airport, Groton-New London Airport and Waterbury-Oxford Airport.
According to a state website, the zone designation provides a tax abatement for businesses that meet the qualifying requirements. The incentives include a five-year, 80% abatement of local property taxes on qualifying real estate and personal property (machinery and equipment).
To qualify, the investment must be new to the municipality’s Grand List as a direct result of a business expansion and/or renovation.
“These programs are designed to encourage capital improvements to land and/or buildings,” the state website states. “Businesses must be prepared to either renovate an existing facility by investing at least 50% of its pre-acquisition value in the renovation, or construct a new facility, or expand an existing facility, or acquire a facility that has been idle.”
Plainville Economic Development Coordinator Cal Hauburger said Robertson Airport is the state’s oldest — it was established in 1911, about 20 years before Tweed-New Haven Airport and 30 years before Bradley — and that Plainville would like to encourage more development around it.
“It's a great way to differentiate Plainville,” Hauburger said, “and if we can create an airport zone and develop some sort of additional economic incentive to recruit businesses and build out that area, that's something we're very interested in.”
As for the bioscience enterprise corridor, Plainville already has areas approved for that designation.
“We have three … I guess the best way to describe them is ‘pockets’ of enterprise bioscience zones, in Plainville,” Hauburger said. “The area that Tomasso owns and they've been working on is on the border of Plainville with New Britain on the northeast corner.”
He said that while the cancer institute is located on 53 acres that is within the existing bioscience enterprise corridor, Tomasso Group owns about 100 acres in that area. The intent of the bill is to expand the zone to include the additional contiguous land.
The state law that created the enterprise corridor defines “bioscience” as the “study of genes, cells, tissues and chemical and physical structures of living organisms.” It also defines eligible businesses as those with “not more than 300 employees at any time during the preceding 12 months,” and states they must be “engaged in bioscience, biotechnology, pharmaceutical or photonics research, development or production in the state.”
Established in July 2010, the law designates specific Census block groups within five towns for the bioscience enterprise corridor designation, including in Bristol, Farmington, Hartford, New Britain and Plainville.
The law allows Connecticut Innovations, the state’s quasi-public investment arm, to provide “lease guarantees or other financial aid for facilities, improvements and equipment to benefit any eligible business which is unable to secure financing for such items on commercially reasonable terms.”
The goal for Tomasso and Plainville, Hauburger said, “is to really build a comprehensive technology and bioscience-based campus, so not only on research and development, but providing more in-person services like the cancer hospital provides.”
He added that Tomasso has “had some discussions about putting some additional housing up there, some additional restaurants based up there, and really make it a comprehensive campus for anybody who does need the services or who would work at that type of campus.”
To that end, Tomasso Group is working with the town’s Planning and Zoning Commission on the possibility of also establishing a Planned Development District in the area around the cancer institute.
“It is currently all zoned Technology Park, but if they get approval for a Planned Development District that again allows them the ability to work with Planning and Zoning to create more of a customized zone for development,” Hauburger said. “So they're not going to be beholden to any standard zoning regulations, but they can come in and work on each individual aspect with planning and zoning and get those approved so that they can develop more of that multi-use and comprehensive-type campus that they are looking for.”
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