The former Remington Arms factory in Bridgeport, which has sat vacant for decades and which the city recently began demolishing. Photo courtesy of Google Maps.

Connecticut took a step forward last week towards revamping a law that many developers and environmentalists say hobbles efforts to redevelop blighted industrial properties around the state.

The 1985 Property Transfer Act required the property’s owner to disclose any on-site contamination if they go to sell the land. If the property is contaminated, they also have to have the contamination cleaned up. While intended to both reveal the state of contamination of Connecticut’s industrial real estate and spur cleanups, advocates on all sides say it hasn’t worked. About 4,200 properties fall under the Transfer Act, and only about a quarter of them have been cleaned up since the program began 35 years ago.

Gov. Ned Lamont signed a new bill into law Thursday that seeks to renovate the Transfer Act. The bill, House Bill 7001, passed the General Assembly with bipartisan support earlier this fall during a special session. It authorizes the development of a more flexible, predictable, environmentally sustainable and socially just, “release-based” regulatory program commonly used in most other states. Under this new system, rather than singling out certain properties with onerous requirements, the state will focus compliance on contamination that poses the greatest risk to the environment, and create a uniform, predictable set of standards to guide cleanups of low-risk spills without a lot of red tape,” the governor’s office said in a statement.

“In today’s challenging times, we are doing everything we can to build a stronger Connecticut economy that is safer and healthier environment for our children,” Lamont said in a statement. “This new law will streamline cleanups of contaminated properties, bring properties back to life. There’s never been a more important time to fix regulations that aren’t working, and adopt solutions for the greater good and benefit of our great state.”