United States
Environmental
Protection Agency
Washington, D.C. 20460
Solid Waste
and Emergency
Response(5101)
EPA 500-F-99-049
May 1999
www.epa.gov/brownfields/
&EPA Brownfields Cleanup
Revolving Loan Fund Pilot
Commerce City, CO
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
upto $200,000 overtwo 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 brownfieldstofacilitatecleanupofbrownfieldssites and preparetrainees for future employmentintheenvironmental
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
Brownfields sites in the six-county metropolitan
Denver area face the environmental challenge of
cleanup. Apart from the BCRLF Pilot, there are few
brownfields cleanup funding sources available to the
private sector in the State of Colorado.
A major focus of the BCRLF Pilot will be the
Commerce City and north metro Denver area, which
is an area of mixed industrial, commercial, and
residential land uses. The target area is also included
in a state-designated Enterprise Zone (EZ).
BCRLFOBJECTIVES
The BCRLF Pilot is working in conjunction with EPA
Brownfields Assessment Pilots in the Denver area
(including Sand Creek Corridor and North Stapleton)
and the State of Colorado Voluntary Cleanup Program
(VCP) to clean up, redevelop, and reuse the area's
brownfields. By focusing on the area's most distressed
communities, the city hopes to redevelop sites that
have the greatest potential impact on public health, the
environment, and job creation. The BCRLF Pilot
focuses on providing loan opportunities to for-profit
and non-profit entities who are planning brownfields
redevelopment projects in the targeted areas.
PILOTSNAPSHOT
Commerce City, Colorado
Date of Award:
September 1997
Amount: $350,000
BCRLF Target Area : The
Commerce City area and the
Adams County Enterprise
Zone.
Contacts:
Commerce City
(303) 289-3680
Regional Brownfields Team
U.S. EPA- Region 8
(303) 312-6931
Visit the EPA Region 8 Brownfields web site at:
http://www.epa.gov/region08/cross/brown/brownf.html
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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FUNDSTRUCTUREANDOPERATIONS
The Pilot will be operated in partnership with several
area municipal agencies. Commerce City, through its
Housing Authority, will serve as the Lead Agency
and Fund Manager, and will establish the policy
direction for the project. The Colorado Department
of Public Health and Environment will assist the Pilot
in meeting its site management responsibilities and
will conduct environmental cleanup reviews, and
ensure compliance through the state VCP.
The BCRLF is initially capitalized at $350,000 and the
Pilot anticipates making up to three loans from this
original loan fund.
Applications will be ranked according to their financial
risk, environmental benefit, and benefit to the
community. Acceptance into the state VCP is a
threshold criteria. The Commerce City Housing
Authority will evaluate the borrower's financial
capability and credit history, as well as the ability to
manage the cleanup, as part of the underwriting
process. Loan terms will be structured to
accommodate the economic realities of the cleanup
costs and budget for the planned redevelopment.
Like construction loans, the BCRLF loans will be
structured with interest-only payments until cleanup
is complete. The city plans to set the interest rate at
the lowest allowable rate under the program guidelines.
Loans will be written for no more than three-year
terms, with repayment expected from sale or
refinancing of the property. A post-cleanup appraisal
of the property will be required to insure the loan-to-
value ratio will not be greater than 85 percent, including
the BCRLF loan and all prior financing.
LEVERAGINGOTHERACTIVITIES
By combining the loan fund program with other
programs and incentives such as tax credits, tax
incentive financing in the Enterprise Zone, and the
Colorado Department of Public Health and
Environment and EPA Pilot site assessment work,
Commerce City-area officials hope to create a plan
that will address many of its brownfields problems.
Use of BCRLF Pilot funds must be in accordance with
CERCLA, andallCERCLA restrictions on use of funding
also apply to BCRLF funds.
Brownfields Cleanup Revolving Loan Fund Pilot
May 1999
Commerce City, Colorado
EPA500-F-99-049
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