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Assessment Pi
Rutland Redevelopment Authority, VT
BACKGROUND
EPA has selected the Rutland Redevelopment Authority
for a Brownfields Assessment Pilot. The City of Rutland
(population 17,292) is a 250-year-old rail center and
manufacturing city in west central Vermont, bordered by
the Green Mountains, Taconic Mountains, and Champlain
Valley. Historically, the community's economy has focused
on agriculture, stone quarrying, lumberproduction, foundry
operations, and manufacturing. As aresultofthese activities
and increased business sprawl into areas outside Rutland,
the city contains many abandoned or underused sites with
real or perceived environmental issues. In particular,
historical use of sites within and surrounding the city's
railroad switching yard indicates the potential for release
of hazardous substances, including volatile organic
compounds, toxic metals, polychlorinated biphenyls, waste
solvents, and cyanides. The Pilottargets three sites adjacent
to the original railyard in downtown Rutland and between
the city's current business park and central business
district.
Within the vicinity ofthese brownfield sites, the residential
community consists of low-income rental properties and
blue-collar housing. Rutland's unemployment rate is 3.4
percent, compared to the state average of 2.9 percent.
The city has had a higher unemployment rate than the
statewide average throughout the last 10 years. Seventeen
percent of the city's households have incomes of less than
$ 10,000 per year, while 32 percent have incomes between
$10,000 and $24,000.
OBJECTIVES
The city' s obj ective is to facilitate the timely and beneficial
reuse of vacant and underused properties in the vicinity of
the city's railroad switching yard, while complementing
the city's ongoing rail relocation project. The Pilot plans to
accomplish this objective by evaluating environmental
conditions at the target sites and developing site reuse
plans for light manufacturing, distribution centers, and
commercial services.
PILOT SNAPSHOT
Date of Announcement:
May 2002
Amount: $200,000
Profile: ThePilottargetsthree
former industrial sites located on
or near the city's railyard for
redevelopment into an industrial
or commercial complex.
Rutland Redevelopment
Authority, Vermont
Contacts:
Rutland Redevelopment
Authority
(802)775-2910
Regional Brownfields Team
U.S. EPA Region 1
(617)918-1424
Visit the EPA Region 1 Brownfields web site at:
http://www.epa.gov/region01/brownfields/
For further information, including specific Pilot contacts,
additional Pilot information, brown fields news and events, and
publications and links, visit the EPA Brownfields web site at:
www.epa.gov/brownfields
ACCOMPLISHMENTS AND ACTIVITIES
Activities planned as part of this Pilot include:
• Conducting Phase I and Phase II environmental site
assessments on the targeted properties;
• Preparing cleanup, reuse, and quality assurance plans;
and
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• Conducting community outreach activities to ensure
public involvement.
The cooperative agreement forthis Pilot has notyetbeen negotiated; therefore,
activities described in this fact sheet are subject to change.
Solid Waste EPA 500-F-02-064
and Emergency May 2002
Response (5105) www.epa.gov/brownfields/
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