United States
Environmental
Protection Agency
Washington, D.C. 20460
Solid Waste
and Emergency
Response (5105)
EPA 500-F-00-258
December 2000
www.epa.gov/brownfields/
&EPA Brownfields Assessment
Demonstration Pilot
New Haven, CT
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 selected the City ofNew Haven for a Brownfields
Pilot. New Haven (population 130,474) contains
approximately 130 acres of industrial land with known
or suspected contamination that are occupied by
outmoded or abandoned factories. A recent study
showed that 22 of these properties, representing 82
acres, would be suitable for redevelopment if site
cleanup were achieved. The brownfields hinder the
city from generating property tax revenue, creating
jobs for residents of the federally designated Enterprise
Community, mitigating environmental health risks,
and abating crime and drug abuse. More than 1,000
jobs andmillions of dollars in new property taxes could
be generated from redevelopment of high-priority
brownfields.
OBJECTIVES
New Haven's overall vision for its brownfields program
includes assessing and planning the cleanup of
contaminated sites, encouraging economic
development and job creation, maintaining and
augmenting the city's tax base, collecting delinquent
taxes, alleviating blight, and improving security in the
city. The Pilotwill assist with this vision by helpingto
develop cleanup plans, determining whether buildings
PILOTSNAPSHOT
New Haven, Connecticut
Date of Announcement:
September 1996
Amount: $267,000
Profile: The Pilot targets
six brownfields sites on
former industrial land
occupied by outmoded or
abandoned factories.
Contacts:
Office of Business Development
(203)946-5889
U.S. EPA - Region 1
(617)918-1210
Visit the EPA Region 1 Brownfields web site at:
http://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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should be demolished or renovated, and allowing the
city to work with local business and financial
communities to promote brownfields redevelopment.
ACCOMPLISHMENTS ANDACTIVITIES
The Pilot has:
• Created an inventory of 12 properties and targeted
six (Hamilton Street, Winchester Avenue, Spring
Street, Dixwell Avenue, Grand Avenue, and
Truman);
• Completed a Phase II assessment at the 2-acre, 133
Hamilton Street site;
• Conducted a lead paint and asbestos investigation at
the 11-acre, 1 million square-foot Winchester
Avenue facility; and
• Begun environmental assessments at the Spring
Street and Dixwell Street properties.
The Pilot is:
• Continuing to prioritize brownfields throughout the
city for site assessment and identifying potential
developers to assist in prioritization;
• Addressingpropertytransferissues so that concerns
aboutmunicipal and developer liability do not impede
reuse; and
• Determining whether additional brownfields sites
require cleanup, determining the extent of cleanup
needed, and calculating demolition and/or renovation
costs.
LEVERAGING OTHER ACTIVITIES
Experience with the New Haven Pilot has been a
catalyst for related activities, including the following:
• Phase I and II environmental assessments, as well
as a lead and asbestos investigation, were completed
forthe Truman Street site using city and state funds.
• The Truman Street site has been cleaned up and
redeveloped into amixed retail business. Ten retail
jobs have been created.
• Environmental assessment was completed at the
Grand Avenue site with $35-40,000 of city and state
funds.
• Asbestos and lead paint cleanup of the Winchester
Avenue site was completed using $5 million in state
funds. In addition, the current property owner paid
for subsurface cleanup of the site.
• Atotal of $7,665,000 in cleanup funding and $200,000
in redevelopment funding has been leveraged.
• In 1999, the Department of Housing and Urban
Development awardedNew Haven $1.49 million in
Brownfields Economic Development Initiative
funding to redevelop the former New Haven Clock
Company site on Hamilton Street ($490,000 in grant
funding and $1 million in loan guarantees). HUD
funds will be used for cleanup of the site, partial
building demolition, site preparation, and construction
of a 30,000 square-foot addition to Palmieri Food
Products, Inc., an adjacent food manufacturing
company. Palmieri Food Products will spend
$200,000 to equip the additional plant space. This
project will result in the retention of 25 jobs and the
creation of another 20 jobs.
Brownfields Assessment Demonstration Pilot
December 2000
New Haven, Connecticut
EPA 500-F-00-258
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