United States
Environmental
Protection Agency
Washington, D.C. 20460
Solid Waste
and Emergency
Response (5101)
EPA500-F-99-071
May 1999
www.epa.gov/brownfields/
>>EPA Brownfields Cleanup
Revolving Loan Fund Pilot
Hagerstown, MD
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 City' s available industrial land is densely developed;
however, many sites are environmentally contaminated
and occupied by old, abandoned buildings. The City
has found that greenfields siteslocated along two
interstate highways are increasingly a dominating
competitor for economic development opportunities in
the City. Central Hagerstown, with a population of
15,000, is designated as a Maryland Revitalization
Area. In this area, 12 percent of the housing units are
vacant; the average value of ahome is 23 percentbelow
the average for the City and 39 percent below the
average for Washington County; and 23 percent of the
families live below the poverty level. Hagerstown is a
CDBG Entitlement Community and has designated
districts in the Maryland Enterprise Zone program.
Hagerstown is a Brownfields Assessment
Demonstration Pilot.
BCRLF OBJECTIVES
The goal ofthe Hagerstown BCRLF is to provide easily
accessible funds for cleanup of brownfields as a
mechanism to facilitate site redevelopment. A secondary
goal is to demonstrate to local financial institutions the
feasibility of lending funds for brownfields cleanup. In
doing so, initiation ofthe BCRLF will facilitate two
PILOT SNAPSHOT
XL-
Date of Announcement:
May 25,1999
Amount: $500,000
BCRLF Target Area:
13 miles of rail corridor and a
1,500 acre Revitalization Area
Hagerstown, Maryland
Contacts:
Hagerstown Planning
Department
(301) 739-8577
Region 3 Brownfields
Coordinator
(212) 637-4314
Visit the EPA Region 3 Brownfields web site at:
www.epa.gov/reg3hwmd/brownfld/hmpage1.htm
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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goals ofHagerstown's Brownfield Assessment Pilot:
1) to remove barriers to redevelopment ofbrownfields
by creating financial incentives for investing in
brownfields; and 2) to create marketing strategies to
encourage voluntary cleanup and redevelopment.
Hagerstown's cleanup and economic development
efforts will focus on many industrial and commercial
properties along the old rail corridors, as well as within
the central urbanized area of the City. These
revitalization efforts will improve the quality of life,
create new jobs in close proximity to the City's lower
income neighborhoods, use the City's infrastructure
more efficiently, and increase tax revenues. Activities
underthe BCRLF are concentrated along 13 miles of
rail corridor and a 1,500 acre Revitalization Area.
FUND STRUCTURE AND OPERATIONS
The City of Hagerstown, through its Planning and
Economic Development Department, will serve as the
lead agency. Through an intergovernmental agreement,
the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers will assist the City
in performing the duties of site manager. To fulfill the
role of fund manager, the City is exploring using either
City staffer a local financial institution. It is anticipated
that three to four brownfield sites will receive loans in
the first round of lending. Loan fees and interest rates
will vary from "bank-like" loans to "subsidized" loans
depending upon the borrower and site. The average
loan is anticipatedto be between $ 100,000to $ 150,000
in size, and carry a five-year loan term.
LEVERAGING
The City of Hagerstown will leverage private sector
financing of cleanup projects by promoting available
brownfields cleanup and redevelopment assistance
and incentive programs, such as Maryland's Voluntary
Cleanup Program and Brownfields Revitalization
Incentive Program , HUD's competitive economic
development grants in conjunction with Section 108
loan guarantees, and the brownfield tax incentives in
the Taxpayer ReliefActof 1997. The City will pro vide
in-kind contributions through the services of the
Planning and Economic Development Department.
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 Hagerstown, Maryland
May 1999 EPA 500-F-99-071
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