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Glen Cove Showcases
Waterfront Redevelopment
Success ^
Glen Cove, NY
T
U
he City of Glen Cove has a vision for revitalizing a 214-acre area
of environmentally challenged and underutilized properties into a regional
tourist destination, complete with waterfront restaurants, boutiques, new
maritime attractions, a hotel conference center, and a pedestrian
promenade along the water's edge with ties to downtown. The
revitalization area straddles Glen Cove Creek, a 1.1-mile federal
navigation channel that empties into Hempstead Harbor. To implement
its vision for the area, the city drafted The Glen Cove Creek Waterfront
Revitalization Plan. The plan's activities, along with Glen Cove's
designation as a Showcase Community in 1998, have helped the city
leverage more than $23 million in federal and state grants and assistance
that will further the city's revitalization efforts.
Showcase Communities are selected by the Brownfields National
Partnership to demonstrate that through cooperation, federal, state, local,
and private efforts can be concentrated around brownfields to restore
these sites, stimulate economic development, and revitalize communities.
Showcase Communities serve as models for broad-based cooperative
efforts to support locally based initiatives. Showcases receive up to
$400,000 from EPA for both environmental assessments and to support
the loan of a federal employee to the Showcase for up to three years.
Showcase Communities receive additional financial and technical support
from the Partnership's more than 20 federal partners, depending on the
community need and program eligibility.
In Glen Cove, the Showcase Community staffs expertise has helped
create a partnership among city, state, and federal agencies that has
proven critical to expediting redevelopment plans. When realized in full,
these plans will result in the creation of 1,700 full-time jobs, including
high-wage/high-skill jobs and approximately 1,000 cashier, stock and
maintenance, restaurant, and sales positions—all available to local
residents. New businesses are expected to gross at least $200 million in
annual sales; the city sales tax is expected to yield $6.6 million annually;
and the school/city property tax rate is anticipated to yield $3.2 million
annually. New worker earnings generated in Long Island as a result of
the proposed development and its multiplier effects are estimated to start
at $82 million. To help Glen Cove realize these redevelopment goals, the
U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) awarded
the city a $6 million Section 108 loan, as well as a Brownfields Economic
Development Initiative (BEDI) grant for $500,000, that will help the city
to match other funds it has leveraged.
continued rf
The former Northern Type Printing
shop, a brownfield prior to
redevelopment.
JUST THE FACTS:
With assistance from a Brownfields
Assessment Pilot grant, the city
completed studies on a former
printing facility that demonstrated that
the site was not contaminated.
The city has also completed
preliminary design for an extension of
Glen Cove Avenue, financed with $9
million from the U.S. Department of
Transportation.
Glen Cove also designed and built a
pedestrian- and bicycle-friendly
esplanade along the entire north side
of Glen Cove Creek, using $2 million
in grant assistance from the state
Department of Transportation.
mease Community staff
expertise helped create a
partnership among city, state, and
federal agencies that has proven
critical to expediting redevelopment
plans. When fully realized, these plans
will result in the creation of 1,700 full-
time jobs. New worker earnings
generated as a result of proposed
development and its multiplier effects
are estimated at $82 million.
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CONTACTS:
For more information on EPA's Showcase
Communities, contact Tony Raia of OSWER's
Office of Brownfields Cleanup and
Redevelopment at (202) 566-2758
Or visit EPA's Brownfields Website at:
http://www.epa.gov/brownfields/
To support the city's revitalization project, EPA awarded Glen Cove a Brownfields Assessment Pilot
grant of $50,000 in 1997 and, with the help of this funding, the city completed studies
on a former printing facility that demonstrated that the site was not
contaminated. An environmental testing lab subsequently purchased the
property, redeveloped the existing warehouse, and began operations there in
the spring of 2000, employing 20 new workers.
Although federal partners like EPA and HUD are important to the
project's ultimate realization, the city has also turned to the state for help,
including assistance with a stormwater treatment project. Funded by
approximately $750,000 in New York state grants, the project will treat
stormwater runoff in Cedar Swamp Stream that runs for two miles
through the heart of Glen Cove and empties into Mill Pond and
Hempstead Harbor. Volunteers, including professional arborists, also
contributed through donations of plant material.
Glen Cove Creek is at the heart of the city's revitalization efforts.
However, deteriorated bulkheading has led to soil erosion from brownfields
sites into the creek, exacerbating its pollution. To alleviate this condition, in
1999 the city replaced 1,200 feet of bulkheading in the creek for $1 million.
Funded in part by a New York State Bond Act fund grant, bulkheading allows for the
maintenance dredging of the creek by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USAGE). USAGE has
completed dredging more than half of Glen Cove Creek. However, the dredged material showed the
presence of radioactive material, which is linked to the adjacent Li Tungsten Superfund site. The
dredging project is currently on hold pending the removal of radioactive contamination from the
previously dredged material. USAGE is working with EPA on planning future dredging of the Creek.
The city has also completed preliminary design for an extension of Glen Cove Avenue that will provide
a safe, efficient, and direct connection to the north side to Glen Cove Creek. The New York State
Department of Transportation (NYSDOT) is financing this $9 million construction project with funds
originating from the U.S. Department of Transportation. Construction is expected to begin by Spring
2003 and be completed by 2004.
In order to make the plan area easily accessible, a private ferry service from the
waterfront to New London, Connecticut began in March 2000. A ferry dock,
parking lot, and temporary ferry terminal were constructed and commuter
service to Manhattan began in Spring 2001, activating a $2 million NYSDOT
grant to construct a permanent ferry terminal and associated infrastructure.
The year 2000 also marked the beginning of the city's efforts to design and
build a pedestrian- and bicycle-friendly esplanade along the entire north
side of Glen Cove Creek. With $2 million in grant assistance from
NYSDOT, a portion of the walkway along the water's edge is currently
approaching completion. Apart from the Assessment Pilot and Showcase
Community, the City of Glen Cove has also been working with EPA on the
assessment, cleanup, and redevelopment of the Captain's Cove and Li Tungsten The former printing shop site is now
properties (state and federal Superfund sites) in the Glen Cove Creek home to an environmental firm.
Revitalization Area. Cleanup of the Li Tungsten site has begun, and cleanup of
the Captain's Cove site was completed in the fall of 2001. Through the New York State Bond Act
Fund, the state payed for 75 percent of the cleanup cost at Captain's Cove and the city is paying 25
percent of the estimated $4 million price tag for this project.
Glen Cove has always placed an emphasis on keeping the public involved in the status of the
waterfront's redevelopment, and offering the community the chance to share opinions during the
revitalization process. In addition to holding public meetings that included local environmental and
community organizations, the city also gathered input from local business owners, particularly those
along the waterfront who would be most affected by redevelopment.
Brownfields Success Story
Glen Cove, NY
Solid Waste
and Emergency
Response (5105)
EPA 500-F-02-158
December 2002
www.epa.gov/brownfields/
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