United States
                       Environmental
                       Protection Agency
                       Washington, D.C. 20460
  Solid Waste
  and Emergency
  Response (5101)
EPA 500-F-97-006
May 1997
                       National  Brownfields
                       Assessment  Pilot
                                                        Burlington,  VT
  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. Between 1995 and 1996, EPA funded 76 National and Regional Brownfields
Assessment Pilots, at up to $200,000 each, to support creative two-year explorations and demonstrations of brownfields
solutions. EPAis funding morethan 27 Pilots in 1997. The Pilots 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 of Burlington for a Brownfields
Pilot. Burlington (population 39,127) is one of the
poorest cities in Vermont and recently received a
Federal Enterprise  Community (EC) designation.
Seventeen polluted  commercial and industrial sites
comprising about 40 acres within athree-mile radius
of downtown Burlington are creating amaj or obstacle
to growth and land  use within the City. Only one
unpolluted site is available for development.  The
largest brownfield is  preventing highway construction
needed by private developers to connect the City with
the waterfront. Nine ofthe brownfield sites are located
in the EC community, and most are located in or
adjacent to disadvantaged neighborhoods.

OBJECTIVES

Burlington plans  to develop a comprehensive
brownfields plan, redevelop the City's brownfields
with a high degree of citizen participation and support,
and provide a redevelopment model that could be
duplicated  in small  cities across the country.  The
City is taking an integrated approach that incorporates
ecological  zoning strategies,  pollution prevention,
and  sustainable  development to  encourage
environmentally friendly economic growth.
  PILOT SNAPSHOT
                     Date of Award:
                     September 1996

                     Amount: $200,000

                     Site Profile: The Pilot
                     targets 40 acres of land
                     located within a 3-mile
                     radius of Burlington's
                     central business district.
   Burlington, Vermont
Contacts:

Nick Warner
Community and Economic
Development Office
(802)865-7144
  John Podgurski
  U.S. EPA-Region 1
  (617)573-9681
  podgurski.john@
  epamail.epa.gov
        Visit the EPA Brownfields Website at:
        http://www.epa.gov/brownfields

-------
                     AND

The Pilot has:

* Participated in a brownficlds workshop in November
 1996 sponsored by U.S. Senator James Jeffords.

The Pilot is:

• Conducting public tours of brownfields properties
 in the targeted site area;

* Compiling and disseminating information about the
 Brownfields  Pilot program, setting up outreach
 programs, coordinating an advisory council, and
 facilitating communication between the community
 and local agencies;

* Engaging neighborhoods in the brownfields process
 through newsletters, information packages, town
 meetings, public forums, site visits, and technical
 support/training for area residents, developers, and
 employees affected by brownfields;

* Conducting site investigations to determine the level
 of contamination in the targeted brownfields area;
 and

* Planning  to  identify suitable uses for targeted
 brownfields to attract viable businessesto reclaimed
 site.
Experience with the Burlington Pilot has been  a
catalyst for related activities including the following.

* Examining brownfields issues in the Riverside Eco-
 Park, a 430-acre eco-industrial park. This park will
 provide  a model of sustainable development and
 job creation for the region.

* Developing  a model for the cleanup of brownfield
 sites that can be used bv other small cities.
 National Brownfields Assessment Pilot                                                 Burlington, Vermont
 May 1997                                                                       EPA 500-F-97-006

-------