United States
Environmental
Protection Agency
Washington, D.C. 20460
Solid Waste
and Emergency
Response (5101)
EPA500-F-99-072
May 1999
www.epa.gov/brownfields/
>>EPA Brownfields Cleanup
Revolving Loan Fund Pilot
Hartford, CT
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 ofHartford has experienced an unprecedented
loss of industry and population over the last 10 years.
Hartford had been a major industrial city with heavy
industry such as firearms production, aerospace
industries, metal fabrication, industrial meters and
gauges, and business machines. Of the more than
1,100 acres of land once devoted to income-producing
uses; however, 30 percent has been abandoned since
1986. The loss of white collar and defense industry
jobshasleft26percentofHartford's 130,000 residents
living under the poverty level. The unemployment rate
in 1998 was 5.8 percent - more that double the rate of
unemployment in the State of Connecticut. Incinerator
ash left from a time when it was used as fill dirt for
property, and hazardous substances from plating and
manufacturing processes are common impediments to
redevelopment. Approximately one-third ofHartford's
land zoned for industrial or commercial purposes could
be classified as brownfields. Hartford is a Brownfields
Assessment Pilot.
BCRLF OBJECTIVES
The Hartford BCRLF will allow the City to offer
incentive s to new industry and commercial ventures to
locate on the City's pilot sites, and to create new
PILOT SNAPSHOT
Hartford, Connecticut
Date of Announcement:
May 25,1999
Amount: $500,000
BCRLF Target Area:
Twenty contaminated sites
including sites in Colt Park
South, Upper Albany, Colt
Armory Complex, and the
Parkville Neighborhood.
Contacts:
Assistant City Manager, Hartford
Redevelopment Agency
(860) 543-8655
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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business in the City. BCRLF funds will be used in cases
where a site' s contamination deters lending institutions
from providing financing forthe cost of site remediation
and project development. Hartford's BCRLF targets
the following sites:
• Colt Park South — possible site for light industrial
uses
• Upper Albany — on a major commuter route into
downtown, currently site of illegal dumping, chop
shops, drug houses, and alcohol stills
• Colt Armory Complex — a 760,000 square foot
industrial complex on 16.6 acres
• Parkville Neighborhood—an industrial/rail corridor
along the neighborhood's south side
FUND STRUCTURE AND OPERATIONS
The City of Hartford will serve as the lead agency, and
the City Manager as fund manager. The City will be
selecting a site manager. One hundred percent of the
$500,000 award will be made available as loan capital.
Community Development Block Grant or general
funds will be used to cover anticipated administrative
costs.
LEVERAGING
Funds from the City Manager's Site Remediation
Fund, as well as state sources of funding such as Urban
Act Bond Funds and Urban Sites Remediation Funds,
will be used in conjunction with the BCRLF. Federal
sources of funds include the $100,000 from the
Community Development Block Grant program and
the Economic Development Initiative. The City's
partnerships with small businesses, community
organizations, and neighborhood groups will help to
ensure that "spin off development is maximized. Staff
time from the City Manager and Corporation Counsel' s
Offices will be provided as in-kind services. Legal fees,
audit, and program evaluation costs also will be provided.
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 Hartford, Connecticut
May 1999 EPA 500-F-99-072
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