Brownfields

NOTICE OF GRANT AWARD!

The Southern Windsor County Regional Planning Commission was recently awarded $200,000 in Brownfields Assessment Funding from the Environmental Protection Agency to assist towns, property owners, or prospective purchasers of properties contaminated or suspected of being contaminated by hazardous substances.  The public is invited to review the application (see application and attachments below) and provide comments prior to the RPC submitting a work plan to EPA for this project.  The RPC will be holding a public informational meeting as part of their regular monthly board meeting on Tuesday, June 15th at noon at the SWCRPC offices in Ascutney, Vermont. 

2010 EPA Hazardous Assessment Grant Application

Application Attachments

What is a Brownfield?

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) defines brownfields as:

“abandoned, idled or under-used industrial and commercial facilities where expansion or redevelopment is complicated by real or perceived environmental contamination.”

Most recently, Vermont’s Agency of Natural Resources amended its definition of brownfields through the Vermont legislature as:

“Brownfield site” means real property, the expansion, redevelopment, or reuse of which may be complicated by the release or threatened release of a hazardous material. “Brownfield site”.

The existence of brownfields has its roots in the strict liability provisions created in 1980 by the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation and Liability Act (CERCLA), a federal law also known as “Superfund.” The strict liability standards of CERCLA that held owners, whether past or present, responsible for all cleanup costs also impacted brownfields since many potential developers and businesses wanted to avoid such unknown and potentially monumental risks.

In 1995, the EPA established its Brownfields Program in an effort to limit the liabilities to potential developers and to change the old mentality of “fence and keep out” to “revitalize and return to the community.”

For your information see:  Brownfields Brochure

SWCRPC’s Role

Since 1999, SWCRPC has been an active participant in the EPA’s Brownfields Program, which provides federal funding for assessing and cleaning up brownfields. The SWCRPC Brownfields Program (Program) has been assisting towns and property owners throughout southern Windsor County, Vermont (the Region) in the process of revitalizing brownfields. These properties, if cleaned up, have the potential to become valuable to the surrounding community. Redeveloped properties not only generate tax revenues, jobs, and stimulate economic growth, but they also create an aesthetic value of removing blight from an area.

Many large former industrial properties exist from a time when the Region was a hub of manufacturing activity. Because many of these properties are perceived as being contaminated with hazardous materials, they remain undeveloped and are eyesores in many of the Region’s towns.

SWCRPC Brownfields Program

The Program offers two avenues for assisting property owners and bona fide prospective purchasers of brownfields properties in the Region: (1) the Southern Windsor County Brownfields Reuse Project (SWCBRP), and (2) the Southern Windsor County Brownfields Revolving Loan Fund (SWCBRLF).
Petro Leaflet April 2009
Hazardous Leaflet April 2009


Southern Windsor County Brownfields Reuse Project (SWCBRP – Environmental Site Assessments)

The Southern Windsor County Brownfields Reuse Project is a program funded by EPA Assessment Grants (Hazardous and Petroleum). Property owners or prospective purchasers may take advantage of technical assistance provided by the grant. The RPC hires consultants to complete environmental site assessments on properties in the Region that meet EPA’s eligibility requirements. Generally, properties that are local priorities for redevelopment may receive technical assistance through this program. In order to put a property on the list of potential sites for assistance, property owners must fill out an owner participation form (Word ®, PDF ®)) and an eligibility application (Word ®, PDF ®). A nomination form (Word ®, PDF ®) must also be submitted for consideration in the assessment program, and if the site is thought to be contaminated only by petroleum, a petroleum eligibility application must also be submitted.

For more information on the State’s Underground Storage Tank Program and homeowner’s guides to farm and residential tank removal go to: http://www.anr.state.vt.us/dec/wastediv/ust/OandM.htm.

Phase I Environmental Site Assessment

  • Background information gathering and historical records review
  • Visual site inspections
  • Other requirements according to ASTM standards

Phase II Environmental Site Assessments

  • Subsurface Soil Sampling
  • Groundwater Sampling
  • Ecological Assessment (if necessary
  • Quality Assurance Project Plan (QAPP) required by EPA

Supplemental Phase II Environmental Site Assessments

  • Subsurface soil sampling and groundwater samping to determine the extent of contamination found in Phase II ESA

Corrective Action Feasibility Investigations (CAFI) - An analysis of alternatives for cleanup

  • An evaluation of remediation options and associated costs, while balancing environmental protection and site redevelopment goals
  • Identification of redevelopment scenarios
  • Identification of remedial alternatives
  • Engineering evaluation of remedial alternatives and selection of preferred alternative
  • Required by DEC for Redevelopment of Contaminated Properties Program (RCPP)
  • Required by EPA for grants and loans through the Southern Windsor County Brownfields Cleanup Revolving Loan Fund

Corrective Action Plan

  • A detailed plan based on the preferred alternative selected in the CAFI process

All documents created through this program are considered public information. In Southern Windsor County, several sites have been identified as brownfields and have received funding through the Southern Windsor County Brownfields Reuse Project.

  • List of properties in the Southern Windsor County Brownfields program and their current status

The Southern Windsor County Brownfields Revolving Loan Fund (SWCBRLF)
The Southern Windsor County Browfields Revolving Loan Fund is a program funded through an EPA Brownfields Cleanup Revolving Loan Fund grant. This program allows the RPC to give grants to municipalities and nonprofits, and low-interest loans to all property owners who meet EPA eligibility requirements (generally, an owner is not eligible if he/she can be considered responsible for  the contamination.) In order to receive funding through this program, owners or bona fide prospective purchasers must first fill out an eligibility application for the program. This application is reviewed by the Vermont Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) staff and by the program contact at the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). If a site is determined to be eligible for the program, an application and financial documentation must be submitted for review by the Brownfields Steering Committee at SWCRPC. All application requirements are listed below. For forms, click on the links provided or contact April Harkness at the SWCRPC offices (802)674-9201.

Loan/Grant Application Requirements:

  • Eligibility  application (Word®, PDF®)
  • Grant/Loan application (Word®, PDF®)
  •  Attachment A – Eligible Costs
  • Redevelopment plans
  • Supporting information (all previous reports including ASTM Phase I or equivalent and any other site assessment documents that were completed without EPA funding from SWCRPC)
  • Corrective Action Plan approved by Vermont DEC
  • Financial documentation (listed on the Loan application)

Brownfields Links

Vermont Brownfields Programs:
Vermont Department of Environmental Conservation
Vermont Department of Housing and Community Affairs – Brownfields Initiative

EPA Brownfields Program:
EPA New England Brownfields Page