United States
                       Environmental
                       Protection Agency
                       Washington, D.C. 20460
  Solid Waste
  and Emergency
  Response (5101)
EPA 500-F-97-065
May 1997
                       Regional  Brownfields
                       Assessment  Pilot
                                                            Portland,  ME
  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.
BACKGROUND

EPA Region 1 selected the City of Portland for a
Regional Brownfields Pilot. The Pilot focuses on the
Marginal Way area because of its blighted condition
and potential as a gateway and employment center for
the City. Marginal Way encompasses a former scrap
metal yard, rail yard repair facility, foundry, and
automotive repair site surrounded by Portland's three
most densely populated and poorest neighborhoods
(Pilot area population 7,377). The decline of Marginal
Way has increased unemployment and caused the
loss of local property tax revenues. Due to uncertainty
about environmental liability,  lenders have been
reluctant to help prospective purchasers  redevelop
the site.

OBJECTIVES

Portland plans to restore the productive capacity of
the Marginal Way site. To overcome the environ-
mental risks and uncertainty causing disinvestment
in the site, Portland will conduct market research and
an environmental assessment and involve residents
and stakeholders in preparing a redevelopment ap-
proach. Obstacles associated with regulations, insur-
ance, and finance will also be addressed.
  PILOT SNAPSHOT
    Portland, Maine
Contacts:

Rick Knowland
Portland Department of
Planning and Urban
Development
(207) 874-8300
  Date of Award:
  September 1996

  Amount: $90,000

  Site Profile: The Pilot
  targets Portland's
  Marginal Way, a site that
  encompasses a former
  scrap metal yard, rail yard
  repair facility, and foundry,
  and is surrounded by
  densely populated and
  impoverished
  neighborhoods.
 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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ACCOMPLISHMENTS AND ACTIVITIES

The Pilot is:

• Conducting  environmental analysis of Marginal
 Way;

• Preparing a physical remediation plan for the site;

• Studying  a number of development and market
 approaches for the site based on the site assessment
 and remediation options;

• Developing  a property disposition  plan that will
 address property transfer, financing, and liability
 issues; and

• Conducting  community  education regarding
 brownfields redevelopment.
 Regional Brownfields Assessment Pilot                                                   Portland, Maine
 May 1997                                                                     EPA 500-F-97-065

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