Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Radon Testing topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Committee hears mandatory radon-testing requirement, votes to reserve match funding for lead program
Summary
Community Development staff told the Norwich committee that radon testing is now required on CDBG-funded rehabilitation projects and outlined expected costs and caseload; the committee agreed to reserve matching funds for the city's four-year lead hazard grant.
Wayne Sharkey, Community Development program manager, told the Norwich Community Development Committee on a March 2025 meeting that radon testing and remediation are now mandatory under CDBG-funded rehabilitation projects and outlined anticipated costs and caseload.
Radon testing will be required for every property receiving rehabilitation work funded through the city's Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) program, Sharkey said. He said current testing costs average $200 to $300 per property and that state statistics indicate roughly 28 to 30 percent of tests require remediation. Remediation costs, he said, typically run on the low end from about $2,500 to $3,500 but can vary widely depending on the building and site conditions.
Sharkey said the program typically rehabilitates about 15 to 30 units per year through the existing property rehabilitation work, and that lead-hazard activities can increase that caseload because lead abatement often is combined with other rehab work. He described the radon activity in the current reprogramming package as a supplement to the active rehab program and said the proposed radon line item was sized to allow flexibility for an uncertain number of remediation cases.
Committee members pressed on cost estimates and the range of remediation approaches. Sharkey described the two broad remediation approaches used in housing work: passive mitigations, such as improved ventilation or window vents, and active/powered systems that install mechanical sub-slab or basement ventilation. He said the choice is site-specific and depends on basement volume, house construction and access.
Separately, Sharkey described the city's request to use reprogrammed CDBG funds as a local match to a multiyear lead-hazard grant (the committee discussion referred to it as a roughly four-year matching obligation). Committee members repeatedly framed the lead match as effectively required for the federal grant award to proceed. At the committee's deliberation later in the meeting the group indicated it would fully fund the required match line item.
