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For Some of Maine's Former
Brownfields, Impressive
Reuse Plans
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State of Maine
he mountain of snow on a picturesque, 14-acre site on Waterville,
Maine's waterfront is ringed with "No Trespassing" signs to ward off kids
who might be tempted to climb it. For years, the site has served as the
dumping ground for snow collected by Waterville's road-clearing crews dur-
ing typically harsh Maine winters. During warmer months, the site serves as
the location for an occasional waterfront festival, its surface of patchy scrub
grass and dirt trodden for a few hours by hundreds of local residents before
again being left empty.
Nearly forty years ago, the property was home to thriving businesses and
industry stretching back more than a century. Former uses included a wood
mill and foundry, as well as tenements and housing complexes. More recently,
the site had been home to gas stations before being abandoned in the 1960s.
Though the City of Waterville had been interested in redeveloping the site for
years, it was not until an EPA Brownfields grant was awarded to Maine's
State Planning Office (SPO) that detailed assessments of the waterfront
property became possible. The city had already developed a master
redevelopment plan over the course of several years. Presented to the
community for approval in at least three public meetings, the plan called for a
balance of commercial and retail development along with recreational
greenspace such as walking trails and a promenade.
For Ron Singel, Waterville City Manager, transforming this waterfront property
was a familiar challenge. Singel had already played a role in transforming a
waterfront site in Old Town, Maine (where he also served as city manager)
from a contaminated, former industrial site to commercial and recreational
greenspace (a detailed article can be found at http://www.epa.gov/brownfields/
pdf/ ss_oldtn.pdf).
"In Old Town, we were proactive in regard to redevelopment instead of
reactive, and we tried to do the same thing in Waterville," explains Singel.
" [The Waterville site] was lucky to be one of three sites selected to make use
of the Brownfields grant. Though the site had sat vacant for nearly 20 years,
[redevelopment] interest was always there. The city was ready to move
forward."
Assessments funded by the EPA grant revealed coal ash, lead, and petroleum
byproducts. Prior to reuse, the entire site will be capped at an estimated cost
of $400,000. The city has applied for public sector funding to cover cleanup,
and expects to move forward as soon as summer 2003.
continued ^
JUST THE FACTS:
• Though the City of Waterville had
been interested in redeveloping a 14-
acre, waterfront brownfield for years,
it was not until an EPA Brownfields
Assessment Pilot grant was awarded
to Maine's State Planning Office that
detailed assessments of the property
became possible.
• With assessments complete and a
cleanup plan in place, the Waterville
brownfield has been attracting a lot of
attention from potential developers. A
redevelopment plan calls for a new
amphitheater, a cultural center, and
recreational greenspace.
• One of the two additional sites
selected to receive EPA Brownfields
grant funding includes a four-story,
66,000-square-foot building with
industrial activity dating back to the
early 1900s. This property's
redevelopment into a job training
center and additional business space is
nearly complete.
"In Old Town, we were
proactive in regard to redevelopment
instead of reactive, and we tried to
do the same thing in Waterville.
[The Waterville site] was lucky to be one
of three sites selected to make use of[EPA's]
Brownfields grant. Though the site had sat
vacant for nearly 20 years, [redevelopment]
interest was always there.
The city was ready to move forward."
Ron Singel, Waterville
City Manager
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With assessments complete and a cleanup plan in place, the site has been attracting a lot of attention
from potential developers. An updated redevelopment plan calls for a new amphitheater, a four-story
office, a restaurant, and a proposed Franco-American cultural center (Waterville was the first
major settlement in Maine for French Canadians, who made up half the city's population
in the early 1900s). The remainder of the site will serve as recreational
greenspace, with a promenade and walking trails along the waterfront. Total
redevelopment costs are estimated at nearly $6 million, with an expected time
frame of up to three years. The redeveloped site will be home to as many as
One of the two additional sites selected by the State SPO and the Maine
Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) to receive EPA
Brownfields grant funding lies approximately 45 miles west of Waterville in
the Town of Rumford. The four-story, 66,000-square-foot building on the
property was once part of the Mead Paper complex, with industrial activity
dating back to the early 1900s.
For more information contact
U.S. EPA-Region 1 (617) 918-1424
Or visit EPA's Brownfields Web site at:
http://www.epa.gov/brownfields/
In 1998, after announcing that it was leaving the specialty paper business, Mead
shut down several of its manufacturing facilities, eliminating nearly 175 local jobs.
The company considered its options for the three-acre site, where the building was at the time
serving as an equipment storage facility.
It was around that time that one of Maine's largest economic summits revealed that thousands of the
state's available jobs were going unfilled because of a lack of skilled workers. Working in partnership
with the River Valley Growth Council (River Valley encompasses 10 towns in Maine, including Rumford),
Mead realized that the site could be reused as a facility to help develop work skills and create new jobs.
The company donated the property and building to the River Valley Growth Council as the eventual site
of a new technical job training school. Approximately $30,000 of the state's EPA
Brownfields grant was used to perform assessments on the property, revealing
minor asbestos and lead contamination that is being removed during the building's
renovation. Currently underway, this $2 million site restoration project is
being funded by a $ 1.3 million construction grant from the federal Economic
Development Agency, with the Maine Department of Economic and
Community Development covering the remainder.
When renovations are finished, the building will be turned over to the River
Valley Technical Center (RVTC) for use as its dedicated training facility.
The RVTC is a corporation comprising more than 20 representatives of
public and private entities, including Central Maine Technical College, the
University of Southern Maine, local industry, a career center, government
officials, the Financial Authority of Maine, and the River Valley Growth Council. The
RVTC received $800,000 from the U.S. Department of Labor in October 2001 to
establish job training and education classes; those classes started in January 2002 in
two state locations, including the Central Maine Technical College.
The new business facility/job
training center in Rumford.
On the former Mead Paper site, the RVTC's new training facility will open its doors in November 2003,
providing job skills in both industrial and manufacturing trades. The training facility will only take up a
portion of the renovated building, and the RVTC is already taking applications from other businesses
interested in starting up or relocating there.
Brownfields Success Story
State of Maine
Solid Waste
and Emergency
Response (5105)
EPA 500-F-03-012
May 2003
www. epa.gov/brownfields/
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