Brownfields Cleanup Revolving Loan Fund Pilot Pioneer Valley Planning Commission, Massachusetts (Coalition with the Cities of Springfield, Chicopee, and Westfield, and the Pioneer Valley Planning Commission)


                  United States
                  Environmental
                  Protection Agency
                  Washington, D.C. 20460
Solid Waste
and Emergency
Response  (5101)
EPA500-F-99-086
May 1999
www.epa.gov/brownfields/
 >>EPA   Brownfields Cleanup
                  Revolving  Loan  Fund  Pilot
    Pioneer Valley Planning Commission, Massachusetts (Coalition with the Cities of
 Springfield, Chicopee, and Wesffield, and the Pioneer Valley Planning Commission)
 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 Pioneer Valley Planning Commission (PVPC)
BCRLF pilot is a coalition formed among the cities of
Springfield, Chicopee, and Westfield and the PVPC.
Springfield is the region's economic center, while
Chicopee was one of the first planned industrial
communities in the nation.  Although the region is
known for its industrial heritage, its unfortunate legacy
in the post-industrial era is a vast amount of vacant and
contaminated industrial sites. There are at least 629
known sites in the 43 communities within the Pioneer
Valley Region. These brownfields represent lost jobs,
environmentally  degraded neighborhoods, and
economic loss.

BCRLF OBJECTIVES

Through the BCRLF program the pilot anticipates that
it will be able to both continue to implement the
objectives of its regional economic master plan and
provide a needed service to its communities. The
PVPC BCRLF pilot goals include the following:

• Increasing urban core viability and stability by
  encouraging the cleanup and reuse of brownfields;
 PILOT SNAPSHOT
 Pioneer Valley Planning
 Commission, Massachusetts
 (Coalition with the Cities of
 Springfield, Chicopee, and
 Westfield, and the Pioneer Valley
 Planning Commission)
Date of Announcement:
May 25,1999

Amount: $2 million

BCRLF Target Area:
Sites throughout the 43-
community Pioneer Valley
Region
 Contacts:
 Pioneer Valley Planning
 Commission
 (413) 781-6045
   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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• Facilitating amore inclusive and sustainable approach
  to brownfields redevelopment by aligning developers'
  needs with the types of brownfields that currently
  exist;

• Enabling brownfields redevelopment to be an
  alternative to greenfield development by providing a
  financing source for cleanup;

• Establishing new ways to fund brownfields
  redevelopmentthrough BCRLF leveraging; and

• Utilizing brownfields redevelopmentto achieve more
  rational land use patterns, thereby reducing sprawl.

The pilotplanstogive sites located within the Federally-
designated Enterprise Community in Springfield and
State-designated Economic Target Areas preference.

FUND STRUCTURE AND OPERATIONS

The PVPC will serve as lead agency and fund manager,
while the Massachusetts Department of Environmental
Protection will assist the pilot in carrying out its site
management responsibilities. Although the fund is
administered by PVPC, Springfield, Chicopee, and
Westfield will each retain decision-making rights for
their allocation of cleanup funds. PVPC's portion of
the award will first be available  to projects in the
remaining 40 communities in the Pioneer Valley Region.
The pilot anticipates loans ranging between $175,000
and $375,000, with three or four loans made during the
initial round of lending.

LEVERAGING

Potential opportunities for leveraging include the
Massachusetts Office of Business Development tax
increment financing program, HUD Section 108
program (Springfield received a $1 to $2 million
package), and other federal programs.  In addition,
sites located in Economic Target Areas receive a 5
percent investment tax credit, a 10 percent abandoned
building tax deduction, local property taxbenefits, and
priority  status for State funding.
Use of BCRLF Pilot funds must be in accordance with
CERCLA, and all CERCLA restrictions on use of funding
also apply to BCRLF funds.
 Brownfields Cleanup Revolving Loan Fund Pilot               Pioneer Valley Planning Commission, Massachusetts
 May 1999                                                                       EPA 500-F-99-086

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