EPA
United States
Environmental
Protection Agency
Washington, D.C. 20460
Solid Waste
and Emergency
Response (5101)
EPA 500-F-98-270
November 1998
www.epa.gov/brownfields/
Old Town's New Look: Along the
Waterfront, an Abandoned
Manufacturing Site
Joins Two City Parks
Outreach and Special Projects Staff (5101)
Brownfields Success Stories
EPA's Brownfields Targeted Brownfields Assessment (TBA) program was designed to help States, Tribes, and municipalities—
especially those without EPA Brownfields Demonstration Pilots—minimize the uncertainties of contamination often associated
with brownfields. A brownfield is a site, or portion thereof, that has actual or perceived contamination and an active potential for
redevelopment or reuse. Targeted Brownfields Assessments supplement and work with other efforts under EPA's Brownfields
Initiative to promote cleanup and redevelopment of brownfields. Each EPA Region is given an annual budget to spend on TBAs
(e.g., $300,000 for FY98). In addition, each Region has other funds that may be available for brownfields site assessments.
Contact information for Targeted Brownfields Assessment applications can be obtained through EPA's Brownfields web site at:
http://www.epa.gov/swerosps/bf/, or by calling the RCRA/Superfund Hotline at (800) 424-9346.
On the banks of the Penobscot River in Old
Town, Maine, three acres of contaminated
property once home to a paper plate and cup
manufacturer will soon be a recreational area
with a playground, a bandstand, paths for running
and biking, and a winter skating rink.
little to offer residents of Old Town for the past
seventeen years. The site's building had been used
as a warehouse since 1981, until the City arranged to
purchase the property in a settlement with the
previous owner for unpaid taxes. The City found
eighteen transformers on the site containing poly-
Eventual layout of Old Town's waterfront area, following cleanup and redevelopment of the Lily-Tulip site.
The Central Lawn will be flooded every winter to create an ice-skating rink
In spite of its prime location between two City
parks, the former Lily-Tulip Company site had
chlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), though it remained
uncertain whether PCB contamination had spread to
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The site's buildings are demolished.
the surrounding
soil. "We
weren't sure
what kind of
liability we were
looking at,"
explains Charles
Heinonen, City
Engineer. "If
even one of the
transformers had
leaked PCB-
contaminated oil,
the City might
have been faced
with a very expensive cleanup project."
Old Town's concern for the Lily-Tulip site
was relieved in late 1996, when EPA deter-
mined the true extent of contamination as part
of the Agency's Targeted Brownfields
Assessment (TBA) program. Intended to
minimize uncertainties surrounding properties
with real or suspected contamination, TBAs
have been helping cities like Old Town move
forward in cleaning up and redeveloping their
brownfields. EPA Region 1 (which covers
Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New
Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Vermont) has
received $1,100,000 in TBA funding so far.
"Old Town had contacted EPA earlier,
requesting assistance on the Lily-Tulip site,"
explains Bob Cianciarulo, Brownfields Site
Assessor with EPA Region 1. "When the
TBA program was initiated soon afterward, it
JUSTTHE FACTS
Region 1 has received $1,100,000 in TBA funding
to date.
Ten properties throughout Region 1 are currently
targeted for TBAs; EPA expects to target as many
as ten more by the end of the year.
Old Town, Maine's $20,000 TBA of the former Lily-
Tulip site revealed much lower levels of
contamination than originally anticipated.
The City plans to transform the site into a large,
open recreational area; two commercial/retail
buildings and a restaurant will also be constructed.
seemed like a perfect fit."
Seventeen properties through-
out Region 1 are currently
targeted for TBAs, and the
Agency expects to target as
many as six more by the end of
1998.
At a cost of approximately
$20,000 (the average TBA cost
is $50,000), EPA's assessment
of the former Lily-Tulip prop-
erty revealed much lower levels
of PCB contamination than
originally feared. Following the
assessment, the site's abandoned structures were
demolished and underground storage tanks re-
Undergroundstorage tank removal
moved. Petroleum-contaminated soil and PCB-
laden transformers were hauled away. With
EPA's assistance, the City reached an agreement
with two prior owners of the property to defray a
significant portion of cleanup costs. Cleanup is
now complete.
In January 1998, the City held a public hearing at
which a detailed plan to transform the site into a
large, open recreational area was unveiled. In
addition to a new bandstand and running and biking
paths, the site's "Central Lawn" will be flooded
every winter to create a skating pond. Old Town
also expects to see an economic return on the
redeveloped site, through planned construction of
two small commercial/retail buildings and anew
Brownfields Success Story
November 1998
Old Town, ME
EPA 500-F-98-270
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restaurant. Explains Ron Singel, City Manager,
"Because this property is part of the downtown
area, we want to see economic
growth be a part of the site's
development, along with recreational
use."
At subsequent public meetings,
suggestions from local residents
contributed to what would become
the master plan for Old Town's new
recreational and commercial area.
A site redevelopment fund contain-
ing more than $100,000 has already
been established, which may be
used for landscaping or other
beautification projects.
The success of the former Lily-Tulip
site has already inspired redevelop-
ment in other areas of the City,
according to Heinonen. And as assessments
proceed on additional sites selected by EPA Region
1 for TEA funding, other communities across New
England may enjoy the same level of success as
Old Town. For more information on EPA Region
1's Targeted Brownfields Assessment program,
contact Lynne Jennings of EPA Region 1 at (617)
573-9634.
Transformers are removed/mm the
Lily-Tulip site.
Contacts:
U.S. EPA-Region 1
(617)573-5778
Visit the EPA Region 1 Brownfields web site at:
http://www.epa.gov/region01/remed/brnfld/
Brownfields Success Story
November 1998
Old Town, ME
EPA 500-F-98-270
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