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                         Brownfields Cleanup
                         Revolving Loan Fund
                         Pilot
                         Southern  Windsor County Regional
                         Planning Commission, VT
BACKGROUND

The Southern Windsor County region includes ten towns
in southeastern Vermont with a total population of 25,000.
The region borders the Connecticut River on the east, and
includes most of the Black River watershed. For much of
the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, the region dominated
the precision machine tool manufacturing industry, earning
itthe nickname Precision Valley. Otherimportantindustries
included textile, paper, and lumber mills and munitions
manufacturing.  After World War II, the machine tool
industry began to decline. Between 1980 and 1990, the
number of manufacturing jobs dropped 40 percent and
every town in the region experienced a decrease in per
capita income. These old manufacturing towns have been
left with high unemployment rates, abandoned buildings,
and environmental contamination  from a century of
industrial activity.

The Southern Windsor County  region has faced the
challenge of redeveloping the area's many large, vacant
industrial properties that are located next to residential
neighborhoods. The Southern Windsor County Regional
Planning Commission (SWCRPC) has worked with
member towns  and local development corporations to
encourage redevelopment of these brownfields. During
the past three years, SWCRPC has completed five Phase
I, four Phase II, and one Phase III environmental site
assessments with its Brownfields Assessment Pilot and
Brownfields Supplemental Assessment grants. A
sustainable source of funds to finance cleanup is needed
so the region can effectively encourage the redevelopment
of priority brownfield sites.

BCRLF OBJECTIVES

SWCRPC' s goal is to leverage private and public funds to
redevelop brownfield sites, create jobs, and revitalize
neighborhoods. The target areas for these funds are
downtowns or village centers that continue to be priority
                                   PILOT SNAPSHOT
Date of Announcement:
May 2002

Amount: $1,000,000

BCRLF Target Area:
Southern Windsor County
                                     Windsor County, VT
                                   Contacts:

                                    Southern Windsor County
                                      Regional Planning
                                       Commission
                                       (802)674-9201
 Region 1 Brownfields
    Coordinator
   (617)918-1210
                                        Visit the E PA Region 1 Brownfields web site at:
                                        http://www.epa.gov/region01/brownfields/

                                      Forfurther information, including specific Pilotcontacts,
                                    additional Pilot information, brownfields news and events, and
                                    publications and links, visit the EPA Brownfields web site at:
                                             www.epa.gov/brownfields

                                areas for growth, particularly in towns that have struggled
                                since the decline in the machine tools industry. Based on
                                environmental assessments to date, three sites have been
                                identified as candidates for initial loans.

                                SWCRPC will use  the BCRLF Pilot to provide the
                                resources and incentives for developers to purchase and
                                redevelop brownfield sites. The Pilot may serve as the sole
                                source of financing for cleanup of such sites or may serve

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to leverage other public or private funding in a
comprehensive redevelopment package.

FUND STRUCTURE AND OPERATIONS

The  Southern Regional County Regional Planning
Commission is the cooperative agreement recipient and
will serve as the lead agency. A site manager and fund
manager will be selected soon.

LEVERAGING OTHER RESOURCES

SWCRPC will support efforts by loan recipients to obtain
additional financing for cleanup of brownfields through the
Vermont Community Development Program and through
other sources of grants and loans  for redevelopment,
including the Vermont Economic Development Authority,
the U.S.  Economic Development Administration, and
revolving loan funds for community development activities
available through individual communities in the region.
Use of BCRLF Pilot funds must be in accordance with CERCLA, and all
CERCLA restrictions on use of funding also apply to BCRLF funds.
                                                         Solid Waste           EPA 500-F-02-022
                                                         and Emergency        May 2002
                                                         Response (5101)       www.epa.gov/brownfields/

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