United States
Environmental
Protection Agency
Washington, D.C. 20460
Solid Waste
and Emergency
Response (5101)
EPA500-F-99-062
May 1999
www.epa.gov/brownfields/
>>EPA Brownfields Cleanup
Revolving Loan Fund Pilot
Franklin Regional Council of Governments, Massachusetts
(Coalition with Towns ofColrain and Greenfield)
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. EPA is funding: assessment demonstration pilot programs (each funded
up to $200,000 over two years), to assess brownfields sites and to test cleanup and redevelopment models; job training
pilot programs (each funded up to $200,000 over two years), to provide training for residents of communities affected
by brownfields to facilitate cleanup of brownfields sites and prepare trainees for future employment in the environmental
field; and, cleanup revolving loan fund programs (each funded up to $500,000 over five years) to capitalize loan funds
to make loans forthe environmental cleanup of brownfields. These pilot programs 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
The Franklin Regional Council of Governments
(FRCOG) has formed a coalition with the Towns of
Colrain and Greenfield for the BCRLF program.
Greater Franklin County is one of the most rural and
also one of the most economically distressed areas in
Massachusetts. The Town of Greenfield, with a
population of 18,700, has experienced significant
decline in its industrial base overthe last twenty years.
Many businesses have moved outofGreenfieldbecause
there are no available industrial sites or land. This has
created a loss of jobs and pressures the Town to use
prime farmland for industrial purposes. The Town of
Colrain, with a population of just 1,760, recently lost
its major employer (and 160 jobs) and largest taxpayer.
Both Colrain and Greenfield are Brownfields
Assessment Pilots and have identified multiple sites
that are ready for cleanup and remediation activities
under the BCRLF.
BCRLF OBJECTIVES
The obj ectives ofColrain and Greenfield's BCRLF are
to:
Clean up, reuse, and redevelop brownfields sites
PILOT SNAPSHOT
Franklin Regional Council of
Governments, Massachusetts
(Coalition with Towns of
Colrain and Greenfield)
Date of Announcement:
May 25,1999
Amount: $1.0 million
BCRLF Target Area:
Two abandoned tool and die
manufacturing buildings;
demolition of the Upper Mill
site, a burnt-out building; and
the AF&F mill complex
Contacts:
Franklin Regional Council of
Governments
(413) 774-3167
Region 1 Brownfields
Coordinator
(617) 918-1209
Visit the EPA Region 1 Brownfields web site at:
www.epa.gov/region01/remed/brnfld/
For further information, including specific Pilot contacts,
additional Pilot information, brownfields news and events, and
publications and links, visit the EPA Brownfields web site at:
http://www.epa.gov/brownfields/
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Restore and enhance local tax bases
LEVERAGING
Create jobs
Provide clean industrial sites to enable growing
businesses to stay in the local communities
Educate the banking community to stimulate
participation in brownfields projects
Leverage other funding sources for brownfields
cleanup
Protect critical water resources
Develop and sustain financial resources and tools to
address brownfields issues locally
Pre serve rural communitie s
Potential sites for cleanup include:
Greenfield Tap & Die Plant an abandoned
145,000 square foot machine tool manufacturing
plant
Winer site a former tool and die manufacturing
building on a 1-acre parcel in a mixed commercial/
residential areato be reused for flood control purposes
Upper Mill sitedemolition of a burnt-out building
to enable expansion of an adjoining manufacturing
facility and possible use of a portion of the site for
wastewatertreatment
AF&F mill complex for re-use by another
manufacturing facility that is currently land-locked
FUND STRUCTURE AND OPERATIONS
FRCOG will serve as lead agency and fund manager.
The Massachusetts Department of Environmental
Protection will assist the pilot in carrying out its site
management responsibilities. The Pilotwill receive a
$ 1 million award. Initial loans are expected to be in the
$250,000 to $425,000 range.
FRCOG is the local lead agency coordinating
Massachusetts' Economic Development Incentive
Program for the Greater Franklin County Economic
Target Area, including Colrain and Greenfield. Through
this program, local communities can offer eligible
projects tax increment financing, local real estate tax
incentives, and access to state tax incentives for
qualified businesses. Three local banks have agreed to
provide in-kind services, specifically loan review and
analysis. The applicanthas identified many additional
sources of potential state and Federal funding, including,
but not limited to, the Brownfields Economic
Developmentlnitiative,the Section 108 Loan Guarantee
program, the Massachusetts Community Capital Fund,
and Massachusetts Small Cities CDBG funds.
Use ofBCRLF Pilot funds must be in accordance with
CERCLA, and all CERCLA restrictions on use of funding
also apply to BCRLFfunds.
Brownfields Cleanup Revolving Loan Fund Pilot
May 1999
Franklin Regional Council of Governments, Massachusetts
EPA 500-F-99-062
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