WILTON — Selectmen voted unanimously Tuesday to move forward on an application for a $200,000 grant to help prepare the former Wilton Tannery site for future development.

After completing an environmental Phase II Brownfields Assessment and a feasibility study, Jean Firth from the state Department of Environmental Protection provided selectmen with assessment results and future options for the property Tuesday during a public hearing.

After hearing the options, the board voted to apply for a federal Environmental Protection Agency Brownfields grant to consolidate contaminated materials into the site’s landfill, seal and cap it. The estimated cost for this option is $240,000, she said.

The grant requires a 20 percent match from the town or $40,000 and completion of Phase I and Phase II Brownfield Assessments, which have been done.

The application is due Nov. 28.

One other option for the approximately 15-acre lot on the Route 2 prime business site would be to take no action. However, any future development would require EPA approval.

Another option is removal of all contamination and the landfill, including piles of hides and containers they were kept in, and bringing in fill to restore the site. The cost would be about $2 million.

Although the groundwater on the tannery site showed volatile components, soil borings and samplings along Wilson Stream and on the opposite side of the stream show the contamination is not moving, Firth told the board.

“It’s not leaving the site,” she said.

The feasibility study revealed the soil on site varies in contamination levels. Chromium, a metal in solvent used in dry cleaning, was found an area of solid waste along the stream, she said.

Another finding during the study was a No. 6 fuel tank with more than a foot of fuel in it buried on the property. It’s not leaking but the 10,000- to 15,000-gallon tank needs to come out of the ground, she said. The town faces responsibility for any future leakage.

“There’s quite a bit of interest in the property for development,” Town Manager Rhonda Irish said. The town acquired the property through a tax lien.

The town’s portion of the grant could be reduced through credit for work done on the property by town departments, Irish said.

Firth thought the town would have a good chance of receiving the EPA grant. She also thought the DEP might be able to help remove the fuel tank.

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