United States
Environmental
Protection Agency
Washington, D.C. 20460
Solid Waste
and Emergency
Response (5101)
EPA500-F-99-088
May 1999
www.epa.gov/brownfields/
>>EPA Brownfields Cleanup
Revolving Loan Fund 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. 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 Portland, Maine BCRLF pilot will focus on the
West Bayside, East Bayside, and Parkside areas of the
City. Historically, this inner-city industrial areaprovided
employment for nearby urban residents. With the
decline of manufacturing and commercial activity,
these previously healthy urban neighborhoods
transformed into ones that are marginally surviving.
Lack of investment combined with years of
environmental degradation precipitated the near
abandonment of the area. Thirty-seven percent of the
population living within these areas live below the
poverty line and 13.5 percent are unemployed . The
West Bayside neighborhood, one of Portland's poorest
neighborhoods, has a 51 percent poverty rate.
BCRLF OBJECTIVES
Portland's BCRLF pilot anticipates that the program
will facilitate the cleanup and redevelopment of
brownfields. The pilot expects that the economic reuse
of brownfields sites will contribute to the commercial
tax base and help create jobs. The BCRLF will target
10 parcels in the Brownfields Site Assessment Pilot
area and other sites scattered throughout the City. It
is expected that the loan fund, combined with the City's
PILOT SNAPSHOT
Date of Announcement:
May 25,1999
Amount: $500,000
BCRLF Target Area:
West Bayside, East Bayside,
and Parkside areas of the City
Portland, Maine
Contacts:
Department of Planning and
Urban Development
(207) 874-8300
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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existing business loan and assistance programs, will
help Portland obtain the best possible re-use of property.
FUND STRUCTURE AND OPERATIONS
The City of Portland will serve as the lead agency, with
the City's Department of Planning and Urban
Development having lead responsibility. The Maine
Department of Environmental Protection will assist the
pilotin carrying out its site management responsibilities.
The City of Portland's Department of Economic
Development and its Downtown Portland Corporation
(DPC) will serve as fund manager. The DPC is a not-
for-profit development corporation controlled by the
City. The City anticipates funding six to eightcleanup
projects over athree-yearperiod, with aminimum loan
size of $50,000 and amaximum of $250,000.
LEVERAGING
Portland's BCRLF will work with the City' s existing
business loan and assistance programs. The fund
manager currently works with a variety of other
investment funds in Maine, including the Finance
Authority of Maine, the Small Business Administration,
Coastal Enterprises Inc., and the Greater Portland
Council of Governments. Portland will inve st in-kind
contributions for project administration (e.g., public
participation, program management, and loan closing).
In addition, the City will contribute additional
capitalization for the loan fund from other municipal
sources.
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 Portland, Maine
May 1999 EPA 500-F-99-088
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