United States
Environmental
Protection Agency
Washington, D.C. 20460
Solid Waste
and Emergency
Response (5101)
EPA 500-F-00-030
April 2000
www.epa.gov/brownfields/
&EPA BrownfieldsSupplemental
Assistance
Lowell, MA
Outreach and Special Projects Staff (5105)
Quick Reference Fact Sheet
EPA's Brownfields Economic Redevelopment Initiative is designed to empower states, communities, and other
stakeholders in economic redevelopment to work together in a timely manner to prevent, assess, safely clean up, and
sustainably reuse brownfields. A brownfield is a site, or portion thereof, that has actual or perceived contamination and
an active potential for redevelopment or reuse. EPA is funding: assessment demonstration pilot programs (each funded
up to $200,000 over two years), to assess brownfields sites and to test cleanup and redevelopment models; job training
pilot programs (each funded up to $200,000 over two years), to provide training for residents of communities affected
by brownfields to facilitate cleanup of brownfields sites and prepare trainees for future employment in the environmental
field; and, cleanup revolving loan fund programs (each funded up to $500,000 over five years) to capitalize loan funds
to make loans for the environmental cleanup of brownfields. These pilot programs are intended to provide EPA, states,
tribes, municipalities, and communities with useful information and strategies as they continue to seek new methods
to promote a unified approach to site assessment, environmental cleanup, and redevelopment.
BACKGROUND
EPA awarded the City of Lowell supplemental
assistance for its Brownfields Assessment
Demonstration Pilot and additional funding for
assessments at brownfields properties to be used for
greenspace purposes. There is very little undeveloped
land remaining in Lowell, making redevelopment of
abandoned industrial sites necessary to stimulate
economic revitalization in the community. Lowell is
ethnically diverse, with a 23 percent minority
population, and economically depressed, with an 18
percent poverty rate and an unemployment rate that
increased 50 percent from 1988 to 1996. Lowell has
been designated a federal Enterprise Community
(EC). Many of the city's brownfields are located
near low-income residentialneighborhoods. The city
has had some success in redeveloping brownfields,
but suspected contamination at many sites has made
it difficult to attract developers.
This Pilot will focus its efforts on two project areas:
the Acre Urban Revitalization Area (Acre) and the
Jackson-Appletron-Middlesex Urban Revitalization
area (JAM). The Acre is blighted with incompatible
mixed land uses, obsolete street patterns, dangerous
traffic intersections, vacant and underutilized
structures, old dilapidated structures, high crime, and
PILOT SNAPSHOT
Lowell, Massachusetts
Date of Announcement:
March 2000
Amount: $150,000
Greenspace: $50,000
Profile: The pilot will target
two areas for urban
revitalization and greenspace
projects.
Contacts:
City of Lowell
(978)970-4267
Regional Brownfields Team
U.S. EPA-Region 1
(617)918-1209
Visit the EPA Region 1 Brownfields web site at:
http://www.epa.gov/region01/remed/brnfld/
For further information, including specific Pilot contacts,
additional Pilot information, brownfields news and events, and
publications and links, visit the EPA Brownfields web site at:
http://www.epa.gov/brownfields/
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economic decay. JAM includes some of Lowell's
most outstanding examples of mill architecture and a
wide range of nineteenth century Victorian
commercial, institutional, and residential architecture;
however, it still contains an abundant number of
vacant buildings and lots, poor transportation patterns,
and blight. The city is seeking to designate both areas
as Urban Renewal Projects and obtain 50 percent of
the proj ect costs from the state. An integral component
to this urban redevelopment is evaluating the
contamination anddesigning cleanup options forthese
brownfields properties.
OBJECTIVES AND PLANNED ACTIVITIES
The Pilot will use the supplemental assistance at the
Acre and JAM sites to conduct site assessments and
cleanup planning activities. Sites will be prioritized
based on consistency with CERCLA requirements,
the economic redevelopment potential, public interest,
the schedule for redevelopment, and ownership status.
Parcels under city ownership will receive a higher
priority. Further, the Brownfields Project Manager
will continue to foster existing partnerships with
important stakeholders by working collaboratively
with and providing outreach to these partners,
community members, and residents.
The Pilot will use greenspace funding to target
opportunities for small-scale greenspace creation,
such as trail ways and walkways along the many
canals that run through the JAM and Acre areas. In
addition, the Lowell Parks and Conservation Trust
has already identified a site along the Concord River—
known as Centennial Island—that would not only
continue plans to link the entire corridor but would
provide a setting for a truly unique community park.
To accomplish these objectives, the Pilot plans to:
• Compile an inventory and prioritize sites within the
Acre and JAM target areas;
• Conduct Phase I site assessments on approximately
eight sites, Phase U site assessment on approximately
three sites, and Phase II assessments on one to two
sites;
Conduct community outreach and education
activities, such as fact sheets, meetings, site visits,
and interim reports;
Evaluate the extent of contamination and develop
cleanup options for one to two selected sites in the
target areas; and
Conduct environmental assessments and cleanup
planning/design activities at Centennial Island and
the two selected greenspace sites.
Brownfields Supplemental Assistance
April 2000
Lowell, Massachusetts
EPA 500-F-00-030
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