United States
Environmental
Protection Agency
Washington, D.C. 20460
Solid Waste
and Emergency
Response (5101)
EPA 500-F-00-049
April 2000
www.epa.gov/brownfields/
v>EPA Brownfields Supplemental
Assistance
Springfield, MA
Outreach and Special Projects Staff (5105)
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 for the 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
EPA awarded the City of Springfield supplemental
assistance for its Brownfields Assessment
Demonstration Pilot and additional funding for
assessments at brownfields properties to be used for
greenspace purposes. Springfield, with a population
of 156,983, sawits labor force decline by almost one-
thirdinthe 1980s. The city has a federally designated
Enterprise Community (EC) and a commonwealth
Economic Target Area (ETA). The poverty rate in
the EC is 40 percent, twice the rate in Springfield and
four times the commonwealth's rate. The city has a
limited amount of vacant industrial space, which tends
to be older, environmentally contaminated, and
incompatible with modern industrial processes. These
conditions have an adverse impact on adjacent
residential communities.
Springfield established its own Brownfields
Redevelopment Program in 1995 as a core element of
its overall economic strategy. Since the initial EPA
Pilot grant in 1998, the inventory of brownfields that
are ready for assessment has grown to 11 properties
that are located in four major planning areas of the
city—Carew-Bond-Patton, Taylor Worthington,
Brightwood, and Indian Orchard (the first three are
PILOT SNAPSHOT
Springfield,
Massachusetts
Date of Announcement:
March 2000
Amount: $150,000
Greenspace: $50,000
Profile: The Pilot will target
more than a dozen brownfields,
most of which are located in
the city'sfederally designated
Enterprise Community,
including a planforopen space
creation at the Rebecca M.
Johnson School site.
Contacts:
Office of Planning
City of Springfield
(413)787-6020
Regional Brownfields Team
U.S. EPA - Region 1
(617)918-1209
Visit the EPA Region 1 Brownfields web site at:
http://www.epa.gov/region01/remed/brnfld/
Forfutther information, including specific Pilot contacts,
additional Pilot information, brownfields newsand events, and
publications and links, visit the EPA Brownfields web site at:
http://www.epa.gov/brownfields/
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located in the EC). The majority of these properties
are adjacent to one another, allowing the city to
assemble a large site for redevelopment.
In addition, the Pilot will use its greenspace funding to
target the Rebecca M. Johnson School area located
in the Mason Square Urban Renewal District within
the EC. The Johnson school project area is already
the product of redevelopment successes. Formerly a
brownfield, new construction has converted the
blighted area into a community service center with a
new school, health clinic, day care center, and fire
station. Creation of much needed open space in the
neighborhood will further enhance these revitalization
efforts.
OBJECTIVES AND PLANNED ACTIVITIES
Springfield's objective is to promote sustainable
economic development, address environmental issues
in densely populated areas, and give its residents a
healthy place to live and work. The Pilot will use the
supplemental assistance to continue work initiated
under the original Pilot and to begin work on new
target areas, working to acquire those properties still
under private ownership. Using the targeted properties,
the city will place an emphasis on expanding the
capacity of the community to participate in and
understand the process of brownfields assessment,
cleanup, and redevelopment.
In conjunction with the city's Open Space Plan, the
Pilot will use the greenspace funding to conduct
assessments that will facilitate creation of open space
at four properties within the Johnson School site.
Potential reuse options to be determined through
public participation and school/community needs
include aplayground, rail/trail way, and passive open
space.
To accomplish these objectives, the Pilot plans to:
• Conduct Phase I environmental assessments at 10
properties located within the four major planning
areas;
• Conduct Phase II environmental assessments, as
needed, at approximately five properties;
Develop a city-wide brownfields inventory that links
a property database to a Geographic Information
System (GIS);
Conduct environmental assessments at four sites
within the Johnson School property;
Develop flow-of-ownership and open space reuse
plans for the assessed Johnson School property; and
Engage the community in the assessment, cleanup,
and redevelopment process for the targeted
properties.
The cooperative agreement for this Pilot has not yet been negotiated;
therefore, activities described in this fact sheet are subject to change.
Brownfields Supplemental Assistance
April2000
Springfield, Massachusetts
EPA 500-F-00-049
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