United States
                       Environmental
                       Protection Agency
                       Washington, D.C. 20460
  Solid Waste
  and Emergency
  Response (5101)
EPA500-F-97-111
April 1997

                       National   Brownfields
                       Assessment  Pilot
                                                             Hartford,  CT
  Outreach and Special Projects Staff (5101)
                 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. Between 1995 and 1996, EPA funded 76 National and Regional Brownfields
Assessment Pilots, at up to $200,000 each, to support creative two-year explorations and demonstrations of brownfields
solutions. EPAis funding morethan 27 Pilots in 1997. The Pilots 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.
OVERVIEW

EPA has selected the City of Hartford as a Brownfields
Pilot.  Of the more than 1,100 acres in the city that
were once in productive use, 30 percent have been
abandoned since  1986. More than 750 buildings,
presenting unknown  environmental  hazards, are
vacant as the result of industrial migration from the
city. The industrial exodus has presented serious
economic and social problems for the city. In 1995,
62 percent of the city's population of 125,100 was
identified as living below federal low-to-moderate
income guidelines.  Between 1989 and  1995, the
number of jobs fell by 22 percent.  The city believes
that to reverse this decline it must be able to offer
inner city sites of comparable acreage and accessibility
as those  offered  by suburban locations for
redevelopment.

The pilot will target blighted and deteriorated sites in
three Hartford neighborhoods—Sheldon/Charter Oak,
Upper Albany, and Clay  Arsenal. Unemployment
rates in these target areas range from 15 to 24 percent,
and minority population rates range from 80 to 99
percent. Although each of these neighborhoods has
attempted to address  economic problems through
community-based efforts, the perception of
environmental  contamination  has  impeded
  PILOT SNAPSHOT
  Hartford, Connecticut
                     Date of Award:
                     April 1997

                     Amount: $200,000
  Site Profile: The pilot will
  target blighted and
  deteriorated sites in three
  Hartford neighborhoods—
  Sheldon/Charter Oaks,
  Upper Albany and Clay
  Arsenal.
Contacts:

Madelyn Colon
Hartford Redevelopment
Agency
(860) 543-8655
John Podgurski
U.S. EPA Region 1
(617)573-9681
podgurski.john@
epamail.epa.gov
        Visit the EPA Brownfields Website at:
        http://www.epa.gov/brownfields

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redevelopment. The city believes that, without site
investigations, potential purchasers will continue to
avoid the unknown environmental risks  at these
brownfields.

OBJECTIVES

Hartford's goal is to attract manufacturing  and
commercial industries to  brownfields sites.  Pilot
objectives are to select three brownfields  sites  for
redevelopment, conduct environmental assessments
at the three sites, develop site-specific redevelopment
strategies, and conduct community outreach.

ACTIVITIES

Activities planned  as part of this pilot include:

• Prioritizing and  evaluating brownfields sites to
  determine their  redevelopment potential,  and
  selecting three target sites;

• Conducting preliminary environmental assessments
  at the three target sites;

• Developing site-specific redevelopment strategies
  for these sites;

• Developing  a model for  community residents
  participating in brownfields redevelopment
  planning; and

• Educating  the  community about barriers to
  redevelopment.

The cooperative agreement for this Pilot has not yet been
negotiated; therefore, activities described in this fact
sheet are subject to change.
 National Brownfields Assessment Pilot                                                Hartford, Connecticut
 April 1997                                                                        EPA500-F-97-111

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