EPA-560-F-08-304
                                                                                                     October 2008
FORMER LITCHFIELD  PROPERTY
                               Northwest Regional Planning Commission, VT
                                                              Assessment Grant
   Habitat for Humanity Sees a Former  Gas Station in Swanton,  Vermont
                             as a Perfect Fit for Residential Reuse
     ADDRESS:        134 Grand Avenue, Swanton, VT 05488
     PROPERTY SIZE:    0.90 acres
     FORMER USE:     Gasoline/service station; rental unit
     CURRENT USE:    Duplex constructed by Habitat for Humanity
     EPA GRANT RECIPIENT:
     Vermont's Northwest Regional Planning
     Commission (NRPC) received two
     $200,000 Brownfields Assessment grants
     from EPA in 2003: one for hazardous
     substances and one for petroleum.
PROJECT PARTNERS:
[Former property owner] David Litchfield;
Green Mountain Chapter of Habitat for
Humanity
For additional data and geographic
information for this and other
Brownfields Grants, please visit EPA's:
Envirofacts - www.epa.gov/enviro/
html/bms/bms_query.html
Enviromapper - www.epa.gov/
enviro/bf
    PROJECT BACKGROUND:
    This property operated as a gasoline and service station until the early 1960s, after which the owner converted it to
    a duplex rental unit. The property changed hands several times, but continued to operate as a residential rental until
    2003. That year, the Town of Swanton put the site up for sale to offset tax liens. The property was purchased by David
    Litchfield, who hoped to remodel the existing structure and continue to operate it as a rental unit; however, the building's
    condition was determined to be too poor, and the existing structure was demolished. Now looking to resell the property,
    Mr. Litchfield was contacted by the Green Mountain Chapter of Habitat for Humanity, which was itself looking for
    residential property in the area. Research about the property uncovered its former use as a service station, as well as a
    lack of records indicating whether the site's fuel storage tanks had ever been removed. To resolve these contamination
    uncertainties, Habitat referred Mr. Litchfield to the NRPC's Brownfields Program. Brownfields Assessment grants
    awarded to NRPC in 2003 funded assessments of the property.

    KEY ACCOMPLISHMENTS:
    •  The NRPC used $37,712 of the Brownfields petroleum grant and
       $5,844 of the hazardous materials grant to perform assessments,
       which confirmed that the station's underground storage tanks had
       been removed.
    •  While confirming the presence of some contaminants,  assessments
       determined that no cleanup would be required prior to reuse.
    •  Habitat for Humanity leveraged more than $83,000 for the
       purchase and redevelopment of the property, through donations
       and in-kind services.
    •  The site is now home to a duplex unit occupied by two families.

    OUTCOME:
                                    Habitat for Humanity s new duplex on the former Litchfield
                                         property, with construction nearly complete.
    A series of assessments, funded by the NRPC's 2003 EPA Brownfields Assessment grants, confirmed the presence
    of petroleum and some volatile organic compounds (VOCs) in the site's soil and groundwater. However, it was also
    confirmed that these contaminants were reducing through "natural attenuation," were not migrating, and would require
    no cleanup. These assessments also removed the uncertainty as to whether the former gas station's underground storage
    tanks had been removed, as no tanks were found. Habitat for Humanity purchased the property in 2006, leveraging
    more than $83,000 in donations and in-kind services to build a residential duplex on the property. These homes are now
    occupied by two families.
   FOR MORE INFORMATION: Visit the EPA Brownfields Web site athttr.
                               gov/brownfields/ or call EPA Region I at (617) 918-1 I I I

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