United States
Environmental Protection
^Agency
Setting the Stage for Leveraging
Resources for Brownfields Revitalization
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In 2015, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) marked the 20th anniversary of the Brownfields
program and launched its Next Generation Brownfields initiatives to promote improved approaches for
supporting American communities in their revitalization efforts. One initiative is to provide guidance and
technical assistance to localities and brownfields practitioners on leveraging resources for brownfields
revitalization. This guide explores how communities can prepare to successfully leverage funding and other
resources for brownfields revitalization.
Cover Photos: New market in Stamford, CT Harbor Point
Development; Artist's rendering of green infrastructure technologies
in Ranson/Charlestown, VW's Commerce Corridor redevelopment;
and Mississippi Riverwalk and River's Edge Plaza in Dubuque, IA
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Table of Contents
Preface i
Introduction iii
Brownfields and the Funding Challenge 1
Step-by-Step Guide to Setting the Stage for Leveraging Brownfields Resources 3
1. Organize a Project Team with Local Leadership from the Top, and Designate a Manager 3
2. Articulate a Clear Community Vision and Identify Brownfields Revitalization Priorities 4
3. Build and Maintain Local Stakeholder and Citizen Support 5
4. Delineate Brownfield Project Components and Project Phases 6
5. Create Estimates of Project Costs 7
6. Identify the Best Funding Sources for Project Components and Phases 7
7. Create a "Resource Roadmap" for Priority Projects 9
8. Develop a Strategy for Matching-Share Contributions and Leveraging Local Funding Sources 9
9. Assess the Feasibility of Debt Financing 10
10. Create a Briefing Sheet for Each Priority Project 11
11. Seek State Backing 13
12. Collaborate with Federal Agency Officials 13
13. Prepare for Grant Writing 13
14. Celebrate Success 14
Case Study Examples of Successful Leveraging 15
North Port Revitalization in Dubuque, Iowa 15
Harbor Point in Stamford, Connecticut 19
The Commerce Corridor in Ranson and Charles Town, West Virginia 22
EPA Support for Local Brownfields Leveraging 27
Appendix 1-Template/Sample Resource Roadmap 28
Appendix 2-Sample Brownfields Project Briefing Sheet 31
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Introduction
Aerial view of Stamford, CT
Brownfields, abandoned properties, and blight affect communities
across America. Grants from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
(EPA) provide essential funding to communities for brownfields assess-
ment, cleanup, area-wide planning activities, and revolving loan funds.
However, after using the funding available from EPA's Brownfields
program, local communities often struggle to secure adequate resources
to complete brownfields revitalization projects. Cleanup costs can be
substantial, expensive infrastructure upgrades may be needed to support
revitalization efforts, design and engineering costs can be daunting, and
redevelopment costs may be prohibitive, especially in distressed or small
communities with weak markets and at sites with limited reuse potential.
Many communities struggle to find and attract sufficient funding for
brownfields redevelopment projects. It often is difficult for communities
to identify how best to invest limited local resources. Sound initial invest-
ments of local funds in brownfields revitalization can attract the inter-
est and support of outside investors and lead to additional funding. In addition, finding, understanding, and
meeting the qualifications for federal, state, and philanthropic grant and loan programs can be confusing, time-
consuming, and difficult. EPA developed this guide to assist communities in overcoming these challenges.
What does "leveraging" mean?
Essentially, leveraging is the use of existing resources or funding to attract additional resources or funding.
Wise use of existing investments may lead to other investments (funding or other types of resources) from
other parties.
It is a good idea for communities to begin their brownfields redevelopment projects by establishing strong
leadership, assembling a team of committed partners, engaging with the citizens, and carefully assessing how
to make the best use of limited local dollars so that initial local investments will leverage additional funding.
This guide will help you get started.
How does leveraging work?
Initial investments, when made strategically, can result in attracting additional investments because they estab-
lish commitment to a project, instill confidence in the potential success of a project, and address the sustain-
ability of the project. Initial local investments can include:
• using available local funds for planning, site assessments, or property purchases, and
• focusing personnel on identifying and securing sources of seed money for a project (e.g., government or
foundation grants) and those that will leverage additional investment (i.e., community planning grants or
brownfields assessment/cleanup grants).
Examples of leveraged funding include:
• When a local government uses its own local resources to purchase property and conduct an environmental
assessment of the property, or when a local government obtains a brownfields assessment grant and uses
those funds to assess the environmental conditions at the property, the community can use the results of
that investment to attract private investment.
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- The initial investment in the property purchase or the environmental assessment demonstrates commit-
ment on the part of the local government to the reuse or redevelopment of the property.
- The same initial investment in the environmental assessment of a property provides information to
potential investors or developers that can delineate the level of risk associated with further investments
in the property or project.
• Many non-profit funders require that grant applicants demonstrate local commitment to a project by commit-
ting matching funds or in-kind resources, such as staff time and the use of locally-owned equipment.
• Private investors and developers often judge a project's potential for success by the degree of local invest-
ment or commitment to a project.
• Redevelopment projects established within local government master plans as priority projects may have a
better chance of attracting private investment than projects merely listed in an RFP or real estate posting.
• Projects or properties where local governments invested in infrastructure improvement, transit upgrades, or
beautification projects may have a greater advantage in attracting additional funding due to the demonstra-
tion of local commitment.
• Federal and state agencies may give preference to grant applicants who can demonstrate commitments of
resources from other funding sources, particularly when the locality uses those resources in effective ways
to make genuine progress toward meeting project goals.
Examples of other types of resources that can be leveraged include:
• Strong local leadership: Projects where local leadership shows a willingness to collaborate with other
partners and investors demonstrate a potential for sustainability. Potential investors are attracted to
projects where local leaders are committed to working with them over the long-term for the mutual benefit
of all investors.
• Strong public participation and the ability to demonstrate community commitment to a project also can be
leveraged to attract the collaboration and investment of private partners. Investors need a sense of commit-
ment and a level of confidence that their investments will lead to success and an acceptable rate of return.
• Technical assistance and in-kind contributions from project partners demonstrate local commitment to the
project, which often is essential when applying for state and federal grants and in attracting outside developers.
Setting the Stage for Leveraging Resources for Brownfields Revitalization
This guide is intended to help local communities successfully leverage resources for brownfields and commu-
nity revitalization. It focuses primarily on what communities can do before they solicit funding to organize
themselves and make the preparations necessary for mounting a successful leveraging effort.
The following sections of this guide provide:
• A background on brownfields and the challenge of funding revitalization.
• A step-by-step guide to help localities organize efforts to pursue and secure funding from a variety of
sources for brownfields and community revitalization.
• Success-story case studies showing how three communities (Dubuque, Iowa; Charles Town/Ranson,
West Virginia; and Stamford, Connecticut) successfully leveraged numerous sources of funding for brown-
fields and community revitalization.
• An overview of assistance available from U.S. EPA for enhancing community capability to leverage
available resources for brownfields projects.
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Brownfields and the Funding Challenge
Brownfields impact communities across America. It is estimated that there are more than 450,000 brownfields
in the U.S. Brownfields and vacant properties can present risks to human health and the environment, contrib-
ute to blight, and hinder community revitalization. These sites can be as large as abandoned factories or whole
areas of a community or as small as abandoned gas stations and dry cleaning establishments. Addressing
brownfields can be particularly challenging in economically distressed communities or in areas where the real
estate reuse market may be weak or stagnant.
A brownfield is a real property, the
expansion, redevelopment, or reuse
of which may be complicated by the
presence or potential presence of a
hazardous substance, pollutant, or
contaminant.
The cleanup and revitalization of brownfields can bring tremen-
dous benefits to communities. Benefits may include increasing
environmental protection and reducing health risks, increasing
local tax bases, creating new businesses and jobs, reducing
or eliminating blight, making use of existing infrastructure, and
reducing the sprawl caused by the development of lands on the
outskirts of the community.
EPA's Office of Brownfields and Land Revitalization (OBLR)
provides grants and technical assistance resources to support
brownfields assessment and cleanup activities in local communities. In addition to funding, available resources
include information sharing on successful brownfield strategies and best practices, liability resolution tools, and
access to technical assistance.
Since the Brownfields program was launched 20 years ago, EPA has provided nearly 3,300 grants to local
governments and nonprofit organizations, leveraging $24.2 billion in cleanup and redevelopment funding from
a variety of public and private sources, and leveraging about 1,700 jobs. These EPA brownfields resources
include:
• Brownfields Assessment Grants—EPA provides grants of up to $200,000 to single localities or up to
$600,000 for coalitions of communities, to support the investigation and assessment of brownfield proper-
ties and reuse planning at those sites. Applying for Brownfields Assessment grants often is the first step
that a locality takes to launch a brownfields program.
• Targeted Brownfields Assessment (TBA) Support—TEA support generally is provided to communi-
ties that do not have an EPA assessment grant or do not have the capacity to manage a grant, but have a
brownfield property where the assessment of the property could spur redevelopment. For TBAs, EPA does
not provide funding directly to a community. Instead, EPA provides contractor resources to communities to
assess and characterize brownfields on their behalf.
• Brownfields Area-Wide Planning Grants—EPA provides grants of up to $200,000 to local governments
and nonprofits to support a community-driven planning process for a specific area with one large or several
brownfield sites. Project areas typically include a neighborhood, downtown commercial district, community
waterfront or old industrial corridor. These grants help communities create an area-wide plan and imple-
mentation strategies for cleaning up/reusing brownfields, upgrading infrastructure, creating new develop-
ment opportunities, and leveraging resources for revitalization.
• Brownfields Cleanup Grants—EPA provides grants of up to $200,000 to local governments and nonprofits
for cleanup of specific brownfield sites that are owned by the applicant.
• Brownfields Revolving Loan Fund Grants—EPA provides grants of up to $1,000,000 to state or local
governments to capitalize a revolving loan fund, which can be used to provide subgrants to local govern-
ment and nonprofit entities, and make loans to local, nonprofit or private-sector entities to support cleanup
of brownfield sites.
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• Environmental Workforce Development and Job Training Grants—EPA provides grants of up to
$200,000 to local and nonprofit organizations to recruit, train, and place predominantly low-income and
minority, unemployed or under-employed residents of communities affected by hazardous waste sites. Job
training participants receive training in the skills needed to secure full-time, sustainable employment in the
environmental field and in the assessment and cleanup of brownfields taking place in their communities.
EPA brownfields grants can catalyze significant brownfields activities at the local level, help a community build
a brownfields program, and clean up and revitalize specific sites. Any community that seeks to address brown-
fields is encouraged to explore these EPA funding opportunities.
At the same time, EPA brownfields grants often do not provide sufficient funding to enable a community to
address all of the challenges that must be tackled at brownfields properties. Brownfields redevelopment
projects often involve several stages or phases, and each phase may require significant resources and effort.
Further, many of the activities necessary for redevelopment of contaminated sites at various phases of the
brownfields redevelopment process may not be eligible for funding with EPA brownfields grants, so other
funding sources often must be tapped or leveraged to complete brownfields redevelopment projects.
Brownfields revitalization project costs can be daunting to many local
communities. Identifying and leveraging resources to support necessary
tasks at each phase of the redevelopment process is critically important
to success. This is particularly true in small or economically distressed
communities or in weak market areas that do not have vibrant commer-
cial or economic reuse potential. These costs also can be challenging in
situations where the brownfield reuse does not create direct economic
returns or revenues, as is the case when a site is reused for greens-
pace or a public park facility.
The following sections of this guide are intended to help local commu-
nities develop more effective strategies for leveraging resources for
brownfields and community revitalization endeavors.
Yoga in Commons Park on former
brownfield, Stamford, CT
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Step-by-Step Guide to Setting the Stage for Leveraging Brownfields Resources
Key Steps in Successful Leveraging
Strategies for Brownfields Projects
1.
2.
3.
4.
Organize a Project Team with Local Leadership
from the Top, and Designate a Manager.
Articulate a Clear Community Vision and
Identify Brownfields Revitalization Priorities.
Build and Maintain Local Stakeholder and
Citizen Support.
Delineate Brownfield Project Components and
Project Phases.
5. Create Estimates of Project Costs.
6.
7.
8.
Identify the Best Funding Sources for Project
Components and Phases.
Create a "Resource Roadmap" for Priority
Projects.
Develop a Strategy for Matching-Share Contri-
butions and Leverage Local Funding Sources.
This section of the guide provides a series of steps
that local communities can take to become more
successful at leveraging resources for brownfields
revitalization projects.
The importance of being strategic and purpose-
ful when leveraging funding for brownfields and
community revitalization efforts cannot be overstat-
ed. Communities cannot depend on "pennies
from heaven" to fund revitalization projects. Nor
can they wait until a grant solicitation is issued to
devise a plan and then rush to submit an applica-
tion to the funding agency within the usual 30 to
60-day application period. Well-crafted plans are
key: The most successful communities tend to be
thoughtful, purposeful, and strategic when identify-
ing, pursuing, leveraging, and using resources for
brownfields revitalization.
The steps outlined here are based on the experi-
ences of many communities that developed and
implemented successful strategies to leverage
funding for brownfields revitalization.
1. Organize a Project Team with
Local Leadership from the Top, and
Designate a Manager
Brownfield success is about people. The most
successful localities establish brownfields project
teams, led by strong leaders from local govern-
ment. Project teams should include prominent local
leaders, brownfields "champions," and a cross-
sector team representing key organizations and
stakeholders (e.g., local chamber of commerce,
local community development corporations, promi-
nent business leaders, local civic organizations,
philanthropy, and religious organizations). A task
force or working group might include participants from within local government as well as other involved and
interested stakeholders (for example, landowners, developers, or neighborhood representatives). The team
also might include technical experts or consultants involved in the project. This project team can play many
roles, including guiding the overall project, making key decisions, allocating resources and staff to the project,
promoting inter-governmental and public-private collaboration, acting as liaison with the public and key stake-
holders, and pursuing funding necessary to complete the revitalization project.
Local leadership is important. Addressing brownfields challenges and working towards community redevelopment
requires leadership from top elected officials and an effective team of staff, stakeholders, and volunteers. Maintain-
ing the commitment to a long-term project—even when local administrations change—is essential. The mayor, county
executive, township supervisor, or other top elected official should be a visible and determined leader who facilitates
community engagement by working in partnership with the council, business community, and local citizens.
9. Assess the Feasibility of Debt Financing.
10. Create a Briefing Sheet for Each Priority
Project.
11. Seek State Backing.
12. Collaborate with Federal Agency Officials.
13. Prepare for Grant Writing.
14. Celebrate Success.
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It often is advantageous for the mayor or chief executive to dedicate a lead staff person or volunteer to focus
the community's efforts on revitalization. A manager should be designated to: keep the project team cohesive,
working well and on task; coordinate communications through various mechanisms (such as email distribution
groups, web-sharing project sites); and schedule and coordinate meetings, track progress, and recommend
next steps for the group. The team manager could be the locality's brownfields manager, the revitalization
project manager, somebody designated by the group itself, or even a senior community leader.
It is essential to regularly brief local government leaders (e.g., the mayor, county executive, city manager, or
other senior elected and appointed leadership) about planned and ongoing community revitalization projects.
They should be ready to represent the project to external stakeholders, the public, and funding organizations. It
also is a good idea to hold a briefing session and seek input from the municipal council, planning commission,
or other officials whose support will be needed, particularly when it comes to planning and funding efforts. It is
important to engage these officials early and often in the process, not just when it is time to seek funding for
the redevelopment project. An essential key to community revitalization is the involvement of as many facets of
the community as possible.
2. Articulate a Clear Community Vision and Identify Brownfields Revitalization Priorities
Planning for community revitalization requires leadership, patience, and determination. It also requires commu-
nity engagement and involvement. Community revitalization is an incremental process that addresses a series
of challenges along the way. Leadership must step up. A strong team must be formed. The community must be
engaged. A vision must be established, and priorities must be set. Community members must understand how
the cleanup and revitalization of brownfields can help fulfill their broader community goals. Success will come
when the project team connects brownfields opportunities to revitalization priorities and a broader community
vision. When communities "begin with the end in mind," they can generate momentum to overcome difficult
brownfields challenges.
A community vision for any brownfields revitalization project offers the opportunity for residents to establish
what they value about their community and what they want their community to look like in the future. The
process of developing a vision helps community leaders and residents to take a realistic look at their commu-
nity, establish an honest appraisal of community assets and needs, and set collaborative goals for the future.
This information is critical for developing a strategy for change and revitalization. The process of developing a
community vision is essential to establishing momentum, creating collaborative goals, and ensuring communi-
ty-wide participation. The process starts with developing a clear community vision for revitalization developed
with significant community and stakeholder engagement. The project team needs to answer:
• What do citizens want their community to look like in the future?
• What are the possibilities or opportunities for revitalization?
• What are the most important goals for revitalization (such as, increasing the supply of affordable housing,
boosting tourism, revitalizing a waterfront, attracting more commercial development or advanced manufactur-
ing businesses, or expanding greenspace)? Which revitalization goals are most important to the community?
• How can brownfields revitalization promote the overall community vision?
The project team must engage with residents and stakeholders, assess community needs, establish initial
priorities, and develop a plan for continued public participation. Because the level (and cost) of brownfields
cleanup often depends on the type of future use intended for a site, it is essential to establish a clear commu-
nity vision for the future. Community leaders need to confirm reuse plans early so that a remedial plan can be
developed with the end use in mind. Questions that may guide the team in establishing priorities for brown-
fields redevelopment include:
• Which neighborhood or areas in the community are most in need of revitalization?
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• Where are prime real estate parcels located? Which properties or areas are the most promising for
redevelopment? Are these properties currently hindered by potential contamination?
• Which properties have sufficient community, stakeholder, and political support for moving forward toward
reuse and revitalization?
• Which properties have a reuse vision or concept that is viable and exciting and is consistent with the
overall community vision?
• Which project, if accomplished, will produce the most benefits and have the greatest catalytic effects on
community revitalization?
Successful brownfields revitalization is possible when communities see brownfields not as liabilities, but as
opportunities for economic development, blight reduction, and community revitalization. Despite environmental
contamination, many brownfields are located in prime locations that may be easily accessible via public trans-
portation or served by existing infrastructure. A successful community vision and brownfields revitalization plan
will identify the assets and opportunities presented by brownfields properties and build a redevelopment plan
around them.
Most communities cannot tackle all of their brownfield sites at once or devote the resources necessary to
redevelop every vacant, contaminated,
or abandoned property simultaneously.
It is unlikely that sufficient resources will
be available. In addition, the capacity
of the local team will be overwhelmed
if priorities are not established and
resources identified incrementally.
Communities should focus efforts and
resources on priority sites and connect
Using social media.
Engaging community members in the process
is most effective when a variety of outreach
methods are used. Examples include:
Providing information through the traditional media, in
newsletters and on websites.
Offering public information sessions.
Involving community members and other stakeholders in
planning charrettes and workshops.
Promoting information-sharing with key organizations and
stakeholder groups.
these efforts to the overall commu-
nity priorities that are most important
to local citizens. Success builds upon
itself when projects are approached
incrementally and guided by clear,
established priorities consistent with an
overall community vision.
3. Build and Maintain Local
Stakeholder and Citizen
Support
Obtaining significant public support for brownfields revitalization projects is critical to leveraging success.
Community leaders and the project team must effectively market brownfields redevelopment projects to
citizens. This requires clearly communicating what the completed project will look like, the benefits that are
likely to result, and how the project will help the community realize its overall vision for the area. The goal is to
continually build public support for and commitment to a shared revitalization vision.
Early and frequent stakeholder involvement and citizen engagement in the brownfields revitalization process is
critical. Projects with widespread and enthusiastic public support have a greater chance of success. Commu-
nity engagement leads to community investment. Projects that are well planned and supported by a community
tend to be more competitive when applying for funding opportunities.
It is important to think beyond traditional public hearings or forums where local officials announce what will
happen and hear limited public comments. Using a variety of methods to engage community members
usually is the most effective approach. This can include providing information through the traditional media,
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on websites, or through public information sessions; using newsletters and social media; holding planning
charrettes and workshops; and conducting to conduct outreach and promote information sharing.
One very effective method for engaging key stakeholders is to create an advisory board or an informal council
that might include organizational and grassroots representatives, elected leadership from every level of
government, and funders supportive of
the project. A community can recruit a
robust cross-section of stakeholders to
participate in such an advisory board,
keep them informed, and convene the Most brownfields redevelopment projects are completed in
many phases, which may include:
Phases of a Brownfields Redevelopment Project
Community visioning and stakeholder engagement.
Environmental site assessments and investigations.
Site acquisition and assembling parcels or individual
properties.
Preliminary planning and engineering, final engineering,
permitting, and construction documentation.
Infrastructure deployment or upgrades.
Demolition of obsolete buildings.
Site clearance and preparation.
Site cleanup and implementation of institutional controls.
Vertical economic development of buildings and/or the
development of park, recreational, and green spaces.
Site and program operations, particularly for public facility
or nonprofit projects.
body periodically to provide updates. An
advisory board can be invaluable when
funding officials visit the community,
stakeholder support letters are needed
for grant applications, and for demon-
strating broad public support for projects
in grant or loan funding applications.
Moreover, when brownfields are
revitalized by the private sector, it is
important for localities to engage with
private landowners, developers, and
potential users to ensure that cleanup
and redevelopment are conducted in
a fashion that supports the property's
expected reuse, and in a way that can
effectively leverage public and private
resources. Actions by localities that
reduce the risk and uncertainty from
environmental contaminants, upgrade
infrastructure to the site, improve the
overall neighborhood context for the
project, and reduce time delays for
development will lead to more success-
ful projects. Public-private collaboration
also will lead to more successful leveraging and private-sector investment than brownfield projects that are left
to fend for themselves without public-private partnership.
It also may be beneficial to coordinate with the congressional delegation and their staff in local district offices
and in Washington, DC. Provide information to these officials and their staff early and throughout the revitaliza-
tion process, share briefing sheets and updates with them, visit them in their offices, and invite them to tour
the local project and meet with key stakeholders. Local officials can lead these interactions, which also should
include the key members of the project team who are managing implementation of the project. The better
informed federal representatives are, the better they can act as champions for local efforts.
4. Delineate Brownfield Project Components and Project Phases
Brownfield projects are not monolithic endeavors. A brownfield project usually includes several components,
each with multiple stages or phases. A successful funding strategy starts with clearly delineating each project
component and phase.
Components of a brownfields redevelopment effort might include demolition, site preparation, and projects
related to economic development, housing, greenspace, waterfront restoration, stormwater management, trail
restoration and development, community gardens, forestry, municipal and transportation facilities, and other
project components not listed. Mixed-use development projects often combine many of these components.
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Individual phases of a project (e.g., planning, property acquisi-
tion, site characterization and assessment, cleanup, construc-
tion, infrastructure improvements) should be identified at the
beginning of the brownfields revitalization process. Funding
needs and sources of available funding may be different for
different phases of a project. When seeking project funding, it
can be helpful to consider funding opportunities for individual
project phases. For example, rather than trying to assemble
funding for the entire project at once, it often makes sense
to determine costs for next phases of each project and seek
funding and support for that phase.
5. Create Estimates of Project Costs
A community will be able to chart
a more effective course for public
infrastructure improvements and
brownfields redevelopment projects
armed with a well-thought-out
strategy and knowledge of the
diverse set of financing tools that
can be tapped for financing priority
brownfield projects.
Once priority projects are identified and their key components and phases are delineated, it is useful to
estimate project costs for each key project and its core components. With well-estimated project costs, a
community can better identify the best potential funding sources, understand and estimate the levels of match-
ing-share funds that will be needed, and tailor efforts to gain support for funding requests. Cost estimates
can become more precise as the project moves forward from planning-level cost estimates toward final cost
estimates. Some communities use their own staff while others hire professionals such as planners, engineers,
or construction experts to develop accurate cost estimates. Funders such as a government agency or private
foundation sometimes will finance the use of expert consultants as part of the planning process. However,
sometimes it is necessary for a locality to make an investment for expert project cost estimating.
6. Identify the Best Funding Sources for Project Components and Phases
Once a community confirms its priority projects, delineates project components and phases, and develops
solid cost estimates, it is ready to seek sources of funding for brownfields revitalization. Consider the following
potential sources of funds or investment for brownfield projects:
• Site redevelopers or private sector
investors.
• Banks and other traditional lenders.
• Regional agencies (such as metropolitan
planning organizations, industrial devel-
opment authorities, or economic devel-
opment districts).
• Federal or state tax incentives.
• Community foundations and regional,
corporate, and national philanthropies.
• State and federal funding agencies.
• Local funds and incentive tools (also see
#8 below).
Information about potential sources of
funding for brownfields revitalization projects
is available in a variety of sources. EPA's
2015 Brownfields Federal Programs Guide
is a comprehensive resource with detailed information on more than 100 federal sources of funding and techni-
cal assistance for brownfields projects available from more than 20 federal agencies. This publication is a great
Creating a Federal Register Subscription Feed
Follow these steps:
• Go to https://www. federalregister.gov/articles/
search#advanced.
• Type the search term "notice of funding availability."
• Hit the magnifying glass symbol on the search box.
• When the next web page appears, limit your search to
"Past 90 Days" and "Notices." (You can also limit your
search to specific federal agencies.)
• Hit the "Subscribe" tab on the right.
• Choose the "Email" subscription option.
• Provide your email address.
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first stop when searching for federal brownfields resources. (See: www.epa.gov/sites/production/files/2015-
09/documents/brownfields-federal-proarams-guide-2013.pdf).
One way to keep informed about federal funding opportunities is to create customized subscription feeds from
the Federal Register, which provides timely copies of nearly every federal funding solicitation issued. (See
box). Another excellent way to stay abreast of federal-agency
funding opportunities is to subscribe to the email listservs
maintained by EPA and many other federal agencies, through
which they often convey updates on sources of available One of the best sources of
funding. information about philanthropic
funding opportunities is the
The information available in individual states on resources Foundation Center (www.
for brownfields and community revitalization varies widely. FoundationCenter.org) and its
Check the state government's website and also individual state Foundation Directory Online. While
agencies for program and funding information. It also may be use Ofthis directory is fee-based, it is
possible to subscribe to state email listservs for information on very comprehensive, and searches
funding, starting with the state's Brownfields program. an
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ity of using available federal tax incentives and credits for various components of a brownfields revitalization
project. Examples include New Markets Tax Credits, Low Income Housing Tax Credits, Historic Rehabilita-
tion Tax Credits, and Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy tax credits and incentives and the Brownfields
Expensing Tax Incentive, when available. EPA's 2015 Brownfields Federal Programs Guide discusses many of
the tax-related provisions that often are factored into brownfields financing strategies. Many of these tax credits
and incentives are available subject to authorization by Congress. Please consult EPA's Brownfields website
(www.epa.gov/brownfields) for the latest information on rules or interpretation regarding their use. Additional
tax-related incentives may be available at the state level. Localities also may create local tax-related incen-
tives, which are discussed in sections 8 and 9.
7. Create a "Resource Roadmap" for Priority Projects
Creating a Resource Roadmap can be very useful for developing
a strategy for leveraging funding for brownfields and community
revitalization. A Resource Roadmap is a document, sometimes in
matrix form, that identifies revitalization priorities, their key compo-
nents and phases, and the estimated cost for each project compo-
nent and phase (or at least the most important next phases). The
Resource Roadmap can be a handy guide for project teams pursing
grant and loan funding. It also can be a great information tool to
provide to local leadership (such as a city council) and funding
champions (such as state and local legislators). The Resource
Roadmap can help map out potential sources of funding and how to
meet matching-share requirements for individual funding sources,
as discussed below. (A sample/template for a Resource Roadmap is
provided in Appendix 1.)
Family time along the Mississippi Riverwalk, part
of the North Port revitalization in Dubuque, IA
8. Develop a Strategy for Matching-Share Contributions and Leveraging Local Funding
Sources
Confirming matching-share funds and leveraging local resources often are critical steps in securing external
grants or investments. Most grants require recipients to provide a significant matching share, which demon-
strates the community's commitment to the project and may instill the confidence of potential funders and
investors in the feasibility of the project.
Beyond any required match, funding organizations also will want to see that the applicant community can
leverage additional resources. Leveraging typically refers to additional contributions toward the project, but not
necessarily direct financial matching. For example, if a private investor is willing to build a $10 million commer-
cial center on a brownfield that needs an expensive cleanup, the value of the developer's capital project is
considered leverage, even though it is not direct funding for the cleanup effort.
Identifying committed matching funds and available leverage often requires significant planning well in advance
of the time that the actual funding application is prepared. This involves significant municipal financial planning
and capital budgeting, and making requests to key funding stakeholders (such as municipal department heads,
city council, and/or state officials) well before grant applications are due.
Early in the revitalization process, localities should create a matching/leveraging strategy for each project and
associated funding request. (This information should be reflected in the Resource Roadmap described in Step
7 above.) It usually is necessary to identify potential sources of matching funds and to secure matching-share
commitments from partners (including partners in various departments of the local government or from within
the applicant's own organization). Pitches should be made to potential match contributors by highlighting the
benefits and potential outcomes of the project. Securing these resources early helps build momentum and
commitment for the project. It usually is fine for a contributor to agree to make its matching- share contribution
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or leveraged resources contingent upon receipt of the grant or loan for which the applicant is applying. This
information should be added to the Resource Roadmap as commitments are secured.
It also can be valuable to determine what non-financial or in-kind resources the applicant locality can contribute
to a project. Some funding programs will accept in-kind contributions, such as the value of staff time or the labor
of public work crews, as part or all of the required matching share for a grant. For in-kind contributions to meet
matching-share requirements, an applicant determines the specific value of the in-kind contribution, documents
how that value was derived, and obtains a letter of commitment from the contributor that conveys the value of the
contribution. However, even when in-kind contributions can contribute to a funding match, funders often will also
seek some level of "cash" match, which demonstrates that the applicant has "skin in the game." Also keep in mind
that some funding sources may restrict the types of funding or in-kind contributions that can be used as matching
funds (e.g., some federal grants prohibit the use of other federal resources as matching funds).
9. Assess the Feasibility of Debt Financing
Early in the process, a locality also should assess whether it has the capacity (and desire) to use debt or other
financing strategies to cover major capital costs and to build upon the external grants or other resources that
will be part of the overall funding package. For example, a major infrastructure upgrade at a brownfield site,
such as the construction of a new complete-street roadway or a new building, could entail millions of dollars
and is unlikely to be financed completely by federal, state, or philanthropic funding sources. The locality may
need to consider using bonds, debt (e.g. bank loans, or other financing tools) to cover major capital costs.
The locality has to understand its ability to service debt from future project revenues, prospective redeveloper
payments, user fees, general municipal revenues, increased tax revenues associated with the revitalization, or
other repayment streams.
A locality should consider the range of available debt financing tools by creating a pro-forma analysis of the
potential costs of servicing debt or municipal financing tools and its ability to cover those costs. It is a good
idea to consult early with counsel and experienced financial consultants. It also is a good idea to explore the
potential for using government-backed or subsidized financing tools to lower capital costs, such as the U.S.
Department of Housing and Urban Development's (HUD) Section 108 Guaranteed Loans, the Federal Home
Loan Banks' Community Investment Program lending tools, the U.S. Department of Agriculture's (USDA)
lending tools, EPA's Brownfields Revolving Loan Funds, or state government lending support programs.
Many communities use bonding or tax-abatement tools to for site clearance activities (including cleanup), infra-
structure upgrades or other improvements to support brownfields revitalization, often in combination with grants
or other resources leveraged into the project. Commonly used bonding tools include general obligation bonds,
assessment districts that service the bond debt through assessments on the commercial development or housing
that is built in the previously under-utilized area, tax abatement tools, or tax increment financing.
General Obligation Bonds: Virtually all communities can issue general obligation or "G.O." bonds for any
proper public purpose that pertains to its local government and affairs. Economic development practitioners
can make a strong case that a bond pool or bond proceeds to support brownfield cleanup and reuse projects
will create jobs and enhance the local tax base, which are appropriate public purposes. Communities tradi-
tionally issue G.O. bonds for acquiring land, preparing sites, and making infrastructure improvements—key
elements in a brownfield redevelopment strategy. Moreover, the community's ability to repay this bond debt is
enhanced by the growth in property tax revenues as more brownfields are brought back to productive uses.
Tax Increment Financing: TIF traditionally is used for a variety of economic revitalization efforts, usually in
economically distressed, abandoned, or under-utilized areas—which describes a typical brownfield. TIF is the
most common form of local support for brownfield reuse, and a key part of any strategy to address financing gaps.
All but a few states have passed legislation enabling municipalities to use TIFs. The TIF process uses the
anticipated growth in property taxes generated by a future development project to finance public sector invest-
ment. Some states also allow localities to use projected sales tax revenue growth in a project area as TIF. TIFs
are built on the concept that new value will be created and that this future value can be used to support the
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financing of the activities needed now (such as cleanup or infrastructure improvements) to create that new
value. The key to TIP is the local commitment of incremental tax resources for the payment of redevelop-
ment costs.
TIP is used for specific purposes of the redevelopment, such as acquiring and preparing the site, cleanup of
contamination, upgrading utilities, streets, or parking facilities, and carrying out other necessary site prepara-
tion and improvements. This makes TIP an ideal tool for brownfield projects. In addition, TIP programs are
easily used with other types of funding, such as grants or loans.
Tax Abatements: Tax abatements are reductions or forgiveness from tax liabilities. Usually, tax abatements
involve either reduce rates for a specific period of time, typically five or ten years; or they freeze values at
some point in time, usually at a pre-improvement stage. Tax abatements are commonly used to stimulate
investments in building improvements or new construction in areas where property taxes or other conditions
discourage private investment.
Special Service Areas or Taxing Districts: Localities can use taxing districts or "special service area" desig-
nations as a way to raise cash to finance extra services, improvements, or facilities that will benefit the targeted
area. Current property owners in a special service area agree, or a redeveloper can commit future property
owners or users, to accept and pay a special real estate levy or fee. These proceeds are used to pay for the
defined services or activities. The jurisdiction uses this additional revenue to finance the improvements, either
earmarking it directly for the area, or using it to issue bonds to fund the projects.
Many communities use this approach for main street or central business district improvement initiatives.
Projects commonly include security, maintenance, storefront rehabilitation, and business attraction or reten-
tion efforts. Some communities use this tool to finance infrastructure upgrades in commercial districts or at
industrial parks. Property owners in a defined brownfields area could use this approach to raise funds to cover
cleanup costs at blighted sites, especially at small orphan sites that hinder the whole area.
10. Create a Briefing Sheet for Each Priority Project
Many communities have found it valuable to prepare a compelling briefing sheet that can be used to succinctly
convey to the public, key stakeholders, and funders the scope, objectives, benefits, status, progress, support-
ers, funding secured, challenges, and outstanding needs of the overall brownfields redevelopment project or
for each major component of a large project. For example, one briefing sheet could focus on transportation
infrastructure elements of a project, while another might address parks and recreational plans for a brownfield
area. Briefing sheets can be professionally designed if there is in-house design capacity or resources to spare,
but even home-grown designs will be sufficient.
Tips from communities for creating an effective briefing sheet include:
• Keep it short: no more than two pages (one sheet, front and back).
• Liven up the sheet with graphics or pictures, such as "before" pictures, site groundbreaking photos, and the
organization/sponsor logo. Remember the adage that "a picture is worth a thousand words"... and maybe
a million dollars. Consider creating an artist's rendering of the reuse vision for priority brownfield sites.
• Include specific funding requests or opportunities currently being sought.
• Include the lead point of contact for inquiries about the project.
• Continuously update the briefing sheet as goals are achieved, funding secured, new partnerships are
formed, or as project objectives change.
Distribute and email these briefing sheets widely and often. The briefing sheets can help create a buzz about
the project and build support for funding efforts. It is surprising how the briefing sheets can circulate and give a
boost to a project. (See the Appendix 2 for an example of a project briefing sheet.)
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Leveraging Resources Beyond EPA Brownfields Grants
Success in leveraging resources for Brownfields revitalization is not limited to the very complex and large-
scale revitalization projects undertaken by Dubuque, Iowa; Stamford, Connecticut; and Charles Town/Ranson,
West Virginia, which are profiled in the case study examples in the next section of this guide. Here are a few
examples of no-less-successful leveraging efforts undertaken by communities for smaller-scale projects:
The Town of Coventry. Rhode Island used EPA Brownfields state program funds, and Brownfields Assess-
ment and Cleanup grants that were awarded to the Rhode Island Department of Environmental Management
(RIDEM) to help assess and remediate a former unauthorized dump, the vacant Sandy Bottom property.
The property was transformed into the Sandy Acres Recreational Area, which includes two acres of restored
wetlands.
Leveraging: Coventry leveraged funds from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to support flood plain expan-
sion and improve the environment in Coventry; RIDEM funds for wetland restoration and park construction; and
remediation funds from the Town's sewer commission to install new sewer pumping station on property. The
local public works and department of parks and recreation cleared trees and removed contaminated soils and
solid waste from the property.
The Earth Conservancy used 12 EPA Brownfields Cleanup grants (totaling $2.4 million) to leverage the
resources necessary to reclaim nearly 2,000 acres of former mine-scarred coal lands in Luzerne County,
Pennsylvania. These lands are being reused in a variety of ways, including open space, recreational trails,
the site of a community college dormitory, for roadways, and for residential, commercial and industrial devel-
opment.
Leveraging: The Earth Conservancy leveraged a range of resources including state funds from the Pennsylvania
Department of Environmental Protection's Growing Greener Program and from the Pennsylvania Department
of Community and Economic Development. The Earth Conservancy also leveraged resources from the U.S.
Department of Interior's Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement, and from local partnerships.
The City of Fairborn, Ohio used a Brownfields Cleanup grant to help remediate an old cement manufacturing
plant and redevelop the property for use as the National Center for Medical Readiness at Calamityville, a realis-
tic tactical training center for emergency disaster response medicine associated with Wright State University.
Leveraging: The former site owner donated the property to the City of Fairborn, which leveraged additional
resources from Wright State University and the Clean Ohio Fund.
The Ironbound Community Corporation in Newark, New Jersey used its Brownfields Area-Wde
Planning grant to develop a community-supported reuse plan that transforms a former vacant lot in the East
Ferry Street neighborhood into a community garden and open-air market.
Leveraging: The Ironbound Community Corporation leveraged a range of resources for the project, includ-
ing private funds to help with personnel costs at the site; a USDA Farmer's Market Promotion Program grant;
HUD Community Development Block Grant funds (provided via the City of Newark); an EPA Environmental
Justice small grant; and an EPA Targeted Brownfields Site Assessment.
The Northwest Regional Workforce Investment Board (WIB) Inc., in Waterbury, Connecticut used EPA
Environmental Workforce Development and Job Training grant funds to recruit, train, and place unemployed
and underemployed Waterbury residents, including veterans and ex-offenders, in environmental jobs. Funds
were used to train participants in several environmental skills areas.
Leveraging: The Northwest Regional WIB leveraged many additional resources through local, state, and
federal sources including the Northwest Construction Careers Initiative, the Connecticut Green Jobs Funnel
Initiative, and the Workforce Investment Act.
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11. Seek State Backing
Often, the best sources of funding and technical assistance resources are available through state agencies
that support economic development, environmental, and infrastructure priorities. State funding is important
for leveraging federal funding and can offer a critical source of funding to meet matching-share requirements.
Many states provide targeted economic development assistance funds, brownfields financing assistance, tax
incentives, infrastructure grants, subsidized loans, or other incentives to support brownfields and community
revitalization.
Moreover, many federal funds are funneled through state agencies or require that localities partner or work
with the state government to be eligible or competitive for funding. Regardless of whether a locality is seeking
funding from state agencies, it usually is valuable to coordinate closely with state officials. Involving state
elected officials in the revitalization process can be helpful in several ways. They can help connect localities
with other communities across the state that are addressing similar situations. They also can become effective
champions for local brownfields revitalization initiatives.
12. Collaborate with Federal Agency Officials
It is critical to engage early with relevant federal agency and program officials so that they are familiar with the
community's brownfield project and its key components. Officials at EPA, the Department of Commerce, the
Department of Transportation, HUD, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, the U.S. Department of Agriculture,
and other agencies can support and help guide local projects.
Federal program managers routinely hostwebinars and workshops to explain their funding programs and how
they can be used. These sessions can provide excellent opportunities to interact with funding officials on a
community's specific projects. Also consider making regular visits to the regional offices of federal agencies
and to their headquarters offices in Washington D.C. Keep in touch by phone and email and invite federal
officials to your community for site and project tours. Communities should consider planning collaborative
forums, workshops, or roundtable events that include federal officials and a variety of other stakeholders to
build understanding and ongoing support for revitalization initiatives.
13. Prepare for Grant Writing
Prepare ahead of time to write effective applications for grants or other kinds of resources. Do not wait until the
funding notice is issued or the application submission deadline is at hand. Most agencies with grant opportu-
nities have information posted on their websites on previous funding opportunities or suggestions for getting
started early. Communities can use this information to help identify the information they need to gather, which
will help them get a jump start on preparing their applications. Well-prepared communities typically have the
most competitive funding applications.
Strategies for preparing effectively for the grant-writing process include:
• Determine if your community or organization is eligible for the grant or funding resources.
• Determine whether the activities for which you are seeking funding are eligible under the funding opportu-
nity. If not, move on and consider other grants and resources.
• Identify and refine your project. Make sure the project you plan to apply for is a good "fit" for the grant type
and that your project is far enough along in the planning stage to discuss in a firm, concrete manner in the
application.
• Determine the most appropriate organization to be the applicant for the grant or funding resource. Are they
eligible? Do they have the necessary grant management experience, capabilities and capacity?
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Progress on projects and success securing
funding often lead to more success by signaling
to the private sector and potential funders that the
project warrants additional investment.
Public and philanthropic organizations like
awarding grants to localities that leverage several
different sources of funding together, and to
localities that have used prior grants effectively.
That is why following a systematic, dedicated
strategy to obtain resources, using steps such
as the ones outlined in this guide, is a worthy
investment of time and effort.
• Identify and confirm key partners, stakehold-
ers and supporting organizations.
• Follow the application instructions. Provide
requested information and address all crite-
ria. Again, your project should be well-defined
at this stage in your planning process so that
you can provide specific information about
the project, project goals, partners, support,
costs, leverage funding, and community
engagement or any other items requested in
the funding solicitation. Remember, details
matter! Be sure to provide detailed informa-
tion about how your project relates to the
criterion, make necessary linkages, and
explain connections. Don't leave the review-
ers guessing.
• Estimate project costs, solidify matching
funds, and confirm leveraged dollar commit-
ments.
Remember: Follow the instructions and answer every question thoroughly. This may seem obvious, but many
applicants skip questions, omit required information, violate rules for the application, or fail to answer the
questions that actually are asked. These problems can be avoided with careful preparation and by paying
meticulous attention to instructions and evaluation criteria included in the solicitation.
It is always a good idea to prepare an outline based on the requirements in the Request for Proposal (RFP).
This helps ensure that you do not forget to address an evaluation criterion, and that you include key informa-
tion and address all other factors listed in the grant solicitation. Be sure to use suggested or required applica-
tion formatting. Because some funding solicitations can be unclear, it is easy to miss important details that
should be addressed in your application. Following an outline will help ensure that you don't leave out key
information. Preparing an outline also allows you to allocate and devote space to address all evaluation criteria
without exceeding page limitations. Be sure to ask questions if the solicitation is unclear.
If your application is unsuccessful, always request a debriefing from the funding agency to learn what the
strengths and weaknesses were in your proposal. Use this feedback to improve subsequent applications.
14. Celebrate Success
It has been said that "nothing succeeds like success," and this certainly is true when it comes to obtaining
funding. Success can come by accomplishing significant project milestones and by obtaining the next grant.
Effective communities always are looking for opportunities to celebrate success, thank funding agencies and
key supporters, hold groundbreaking celebrations and ribbon-cutting events, cultivate media coverage, send
newsletters, and spread the word in other ways.
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Case Study Example of Successful Leveraging
NORTH PORT REVITALIZATION IN DUBUQUE, IOWA
Reclaiming & Restoring the Mississippi Waterfront by Leveraging $400+ Million, Launched
Through an EPA Brownfields Assessment Grant
Couple strolls along the new Mississippi
Riverwalk, part of the North Port
revitalization
Located on the banks of the Mississippi River near the borders of
Wisconsin and Illinois, Dubuque is Iowa's oldest city and home to a
population of 58,436. Though Dubuque was originally established as
a fur-trading post and lead mining community, it later flourished as a
manufacturing and meatpacking hub—a major artery for the Midwest
United States through its railroad and shipping connections for commer-
cial and industrial use. Unfortunately, the 1980s brought significant
challenges due to the collapse of the farm economy, resulting in high
unemployment and a loss of more than 10 percent of Dubuque's popula-
tion. The Dubuque Packing Company closed down and John Deere, the
city's largest employer at the time, reduced its workforce by almost three-
quarters. All told, Dubuque lost 10 percent of its population and had the
highest unemployment (24%) in the nation.
In the 1990s, President Bill Clinton and the U.S. Department of Interior
designated the Upper Mississippi River as an American Heritage River,
which spurred Dubuque officials and residents to come together for a
planning process to restore the city's connection with the Mississippi River. At that time, the 120-acre Port
of Dubuque was plagued by environmental issues, undervalued property, a hodge-podge of heavy industrial
uses, and many vacant brownfields. Residents and tourists alike were physically and psychologically discon-
nected from the river. In 2001, the City initiated a planning and design effort to craft a comprehensive, long-
term vision for the Port. The City engaged local property owners, developers, and residents to gather input on
the most appropriate plan and best strategies for advancing the area. Based upon feedback and collaboration
across sectors, the Dubuque City Council adopted the 2002 Port of Dubuque Master Plan.
Dubuque's "North Port" revitalization was launched with EPA Brownfields Assessment and Cleanup grants
awarded to the city in 2002 and 2003. Bordering the Mississippi
River, the area has been the home to shipbuilding and repair facili-
ties, railroads, bulk petroleum and coal storage operations, food
processing plants, farm machinery manufacturers, and lead mining
activities since the early 1800s. These brownfield resources were key
to unlocking the North Port's revitalization potential and instrumen-
tal to helping the city pivot from a declining former industrial town
into a Midwest tourist destination. The 2002 Brownfields Assessment
grant was used to conduct 12 Phase I and six Phase II environmental
site assessments within the North Port. EPA Assessment funding also
was used to develop cleanup plans, reuse plans, and leveraging strategies. The 2003 Brownfields Cleanup grant
was used to clean up a petroleum plume within the Port of Dubuque that had contaminated soil and groundwater
across several acres of prime riverfront property along the Mississippi River.
Dubuque has since leveraged the EPA Brownfields Assessment and Cleanup grants to secure public and
private resources to further the community's goals. These grants were crucial in leveraging more than $800
million in public grants and private investment, including substantial federal and state funding:
Though only a small part of the
broader investment, Brownfields
funds were essential for enabling
Dubuque to restart its economic-
development engine.
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• U.S. Department of Commerce: Dubuque prepared land and upgraded infrastructure using grant funding
from the U.S. Department of Commerce, Economic Development Administration's (EDA) Public Works
grant program. In 2013, Dubuque was awarded a $1.2 million EDA Disaster Relief Grant to daylight the
Bee Branch Creek and prevent flooding in the neighborhood adjacent to the Port.
• U.S. Department of Transportation: Dubuque leveraged over $16 million in U.S. Department of
Transportation funding including a TIGER grant, Transportation Enhancement grant and Trans-
portation, Community, and System Preservation (TCSP) grant from DOT's Federal Highway
Administration(FHWA), and the Federal Transit Administration's State of Good Repair grant for a
complete street, pedestrian, and riverfront boardwalk network to support the mixed-use development of
the North Port revitalization, historic train depot and freight house restoration projects, and the construc-
tion of a new intermodal facility that will serve the Port redevelopment.
• U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development: Dubuque secured $800,000 in grant funding
from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development for the Riverfront Discovery Center at the
North Port redevelopment.
• U.S. Department of Interior: Dubuque secured over $1 million from the National Fish and Wildlife
Service and the National Park Service to support the Riverfront Development Center and other activities
at the Port area.
• U.S. Department of Health and Human Services: Dubuque leveraged $3 million in grant funds from
HHS for the development of exhibits at the River Discovery Center in the North Port revitalization area.
• National Endowment for the Humanities: Dubuque secured more than $1 million in grants for the Port
Discovery Center and other cultural activities in the North Port area.
• Institute for Museum and Library Services: IMLA provided Dubuque more than $100,000 to support
planning for this riverfront restoration.
• U.S. EPA: EPA selected Dubuque to receive Building Blocks technical assistance in 2013 to create plans
and strategies for using green infrastructure to manage stormwater and protect the water quality of the
Mississippi and its tributaries.
• State of Iowa: Dubuque worked closely with the State of Iowa, and leveraged an impressive $48 million
in grants from community tourism, "Vision Iowa," and other state programs to support riverfront develop-
ment, the Mississippi River Museum and Aquarium, and other key components of the North Port project.
To accomplish this leveraging for the Port revitalization, Dubuque organized and took several key steps to be
effective:
• Project Team with Local Leadership: The City of Dubuque and Dubuque Area Chamber of Commerce
partnered with the Dubuque County Historical Society, the local nonprofit organization, which led the
nationally recognized $188 million America's River campaign. This team was closely supported by the
Office of the Mayor, the Dubuque City Council, and "America's River Advisory Committee" composed
of local, regional, and national river leaders, and a "4th Street Peninsula Working Group" formed for the
project and including leaders from municipal departments and other stakeholders. Dubuque also desig-
nated a team to manage and coordinate this robust group of collaborators, including the assistant city
manager, director of planning, city engineer, and others to assist in leading the effort.
• North Port Established as a Priority: Dubuque recognized that its overall strategy for resilience and
revitalization depended upon reclaiming the historic asset that helped create the community, but had been
disconnected from the people—the Mississippi River. Dubuque used its national designation as an "Ameri-
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can Heritage River" pilot community as an organizing force to establish priorities and, through that effort,
the community identified the Port area as the place with the best geography and reuse potential. This led
Dubuque to confirm the revitalization of North Port as a top community priority for focus, staff time, and
funding.
Dubuque Engaged and Energized the Community: The North Port brownfields revitalization was the
culmination of the "Port of Dubuque Master Plan" process. The Master Plan grew from a ten-month,
place-based community planning and design effort—launched with the support of federal resources—to
craft a comprehensive, long-term vision and redevelopment concept for the 4th Street Peninsula and
the South Ice Harbor. A variety of stakeholder and public participation opportunities were employed
in the planning process that included monthly stakeholder luncheons, design workshops, site tours,
regular committee meetings, city council work sessions and a public open house. Through this effort, the
business community, citizens, key stakeholders, and elected leaders became champions for this initiative.
Tackling the Redevelopment Piece by Piece: Dubuque's municipal and port staff identified the key compo-
nents that would be necessary to trigger private-sector reinvestment at this deteriorated riverfront area. These
included cleanup of a petroleum plume, demolition of obsolete buildings and structures, preparation of the
land for redevelopment, stormwater management to protect the Mississippi River, design and construction
of new transportation and pedestrian/bike networks, creation of public spaces and public art, reclaiming
of the riverfront for public boardwalks, planning and construction of major tourism attractions, and other
public improvements. Dubuque identified and secured resources, including local funding and external
grants, to finance each phase of the various component projects involved in the overall development. Over
time, success built upon success, and the momentum of the redevelopment increased as the community and
funders became more excited and certain about the prospects for redevelopment. This momentum culmi-
nated in major investments by the private sector, and the new North Port became a reality.
Committing Local Funding: Dubuque enhanced its ability to leverage grants, private investment, and
other external resources by committing its own local funding to the success of the project. Altogether, the
City of Dubuque, the America's River campaign and private investors devoted more than $188 million to
the project, including upfront investment in the visioning and planning of the Port Master Plan, funding
for major infrastructure upgrades, and matches to state and federal grants. To date, nearly $800 million
has been invested at the Port of Dubuque through the America's River campaign, private investment, and
public infrastructure investment.
Establishing Compelling Materials: Each year during the North Port revitalization and the seven-year
America's River campaign, Dubuque created or updated its project materials for potential funders, elected
representatives, and other targeted supporters. Project materials included briefing sheets, progress reports,
and resource-roadmap matrices of grants that would be sought. These tools proved to be useful tools that
allowed potential funders to understand Dubuque's short- and long-term funding strategies and helped
them to respond to and support the initiative.
Dubuque Cultivated Strong Relationships with State and Federal Agency Officials: Dubuque was
committed to informing state and federal agency leadership and program managers about the needs,
progress, and key next steps on the North Port revitalization. Local officials made repeated visits to the
state capital, regional federal agency offices, and Washington, D.C. to brief officials on the North Port/
America's River project, worked very closely with the Iowa congressional delegation, and invited state
and federal agency and elected officials to Dubuque to tour the site and better understand key needs.
Dubuque Celebrated Success!: Dubuque made sure that its state and federal supporters, as well as the
local community, were able to celebrate progress on the North Port/America's River revitalization. For
example, when the Obama Administration launched the national Partnership for Sustainable Communi-
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From left to right: The Grand River Conference and Education Center; Historic steamboat moored by the National Mississippi River
Museum & Aquarium; and a pavilion along the Mississippi Riverwalk and River's Edge Plaza
ties in Dubuque in 2009, they toured and were briefed on the Port revitalization activities, which helped
Dubuque continue the resource -leveraging effort.
The initial EPA brownfields funding and the other resources that were leveraged from these early grants
spurred additional public and private investment that made possible the development at North Port of the
Grand River Conference and Education Center, River's Edge Plaza, Riverwalk, National Mississippi Museum
and Aquarium, Alliant Amphitheater, Grand Harbor Resort and Waterpark, and Diamond Jo Casino.
Beyond the direct funding leveraged, these investments produced more than 700 jobs and created new
recreational and entertainment attractions for community members and visitors, reinvigorating a depressed
economy and community. Due to the innovative and exemplary use of its brownfields grants and resulting
leverage and revitalization, the North Port project was awarded the Phoenix Award for EPA Region 7 in 2005.
Dubuque is poised to repeat the success at North Port by redeveloping the adjacent South Port. In 2013,
Dubuque was awarded a $400,000 EPA Brownfields Assessment grant to conduct environmental investiga-
tions, assessments, and reuse planning at the 33-acre South Port area on the Mississippi River. Like North
Port before its revitalization, South Port currently is an area of heavy industrial and port use that has experi-
enced a steady decline over the past 40 years, leaving brownfields and vacant properties, some of which have
been closed for decades. Dubuque's goal is to redevelop the South Port as a new downtown neighborhood
where people can reconnect with the Mississippi River in a walkable, transit-oriented environment. The City
also seeks to extend its Riverwalk from the North Port to the Mines of Spain Recreation Area.
Recently, the City partnered with the University of Iowa's "Iowa Initiative for Sustainable Communities" to
engage residents and begin to identify reuse options for the South Port. In 2013, Reimagining the South Port
of Dubuque study was released. This study recommended a variety of entertainment, recreational, commer-
cial, retail, and other mixed-use development. Like with North Port, Dubuque has established a Steering
Committee and brownfield project teams and has already begun to engage the community. Dubuque was very
pleased when, in 2015, the EPA awarded Dubuque a Brownfields Area-Wide Planning grant to support the
revitalization of South Port and is certain that this Area-Wide support will enable Dubuque to leverage even
more public support and private investment in the future.
EPA Brownfields grants were the keys to unlocking the revitalization potential of Dubuque's Port area and
were catalysts for the larger effort to transform Dubuque from a declining former industrial town into a
Midwest tourist destination. EPA funding not only helped support development of major conference and
event centers, plazas, museums, resorts, and casinos, but also led to the creation of the local jobs that are
integral to the construction, operation, and servicing of the redevelopment and the expansion of the local
economy.
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Case Study Example of Successful Leveraging
HARBOR POINT IN STAMFORD, CONNECTICUT
EPA Brownfields Grants Help Leverage More Than $200 Million in Public Funding
and $5 Billion in Private Investment for Transit-Oriented Development
Located along the Long Island Sound, Stamford (population 128,278)
is the third largest city in Connecticut. The South End waterfront was
Stamford's industrial area since the 1600s. In the 20th century, Stamford
became a thriving neighbor of New York City and today the city boasts
one of the mightiest concentrations of corporations in the nation.
Nevertheless, Stamford struggles with blight, pockets of severe poverty,
and many long-vacant brownfields. The city's key transportation assets-
-Interstate 95 and its location along Amtrak's busy Northeast Corridor
linking Boston, New York, and Washington, DC—also have posed a
long-time challenge for the South End, isolating about 350 acres in
the South End from downtown and the rest of the city. The waterfront
area had limited accessibility from the interstate and was marked with
contaminated and vacant properties, compounding its economic distress.
View of Stamford, CT waterfront
Under the leadership of former Mayor Dannel Malloy, a team of public
and private entities set their sights on revitalization of Stamford's South End. They focused on cleaning up
clusters of brownfields to transform the waterfront into a vibrant and attractive residential, commercial, and
mixed-use development. Another critical goal was to reconfigure the connection between Interstate 95 and
the South End to make the area more accessible to commuters and residents, allowing travelers to better
utilize the Stamford Intermodal Transportation Center, a hub for regional train, bus, and vehicle traffic.
The revitalization of the South End got underway in 1997, when Stamford was designated an EPA Brown-
fields Showcase Community. This enabled the city to leverage resources from the 20 federal agencies partici-
pating in the Showcase Community initiative. Stamford subsequently won two EPA Brownfields Assessment
grants, a Brownfields Revolving Loan Fund (RLE) grant, a Brownfields Cleanup grant, and a Brownfields
Job Training grant-all of which focused on the revitalization of the South End waterfront. In fact, Stamford
was the first community in the nation to put a Brownfields Revolving Loan Fund into action, transforming a
former waterfront fueling depot into a charming waterfront residential village.
Over the next several years, Stamford built upon the initial support from EPA's Brownfields program by
leveraging more than $250 million in public funding for revitalization and infrastructure upgrades from the
following sources:
• U.S. Department of Transportation: Stamford secured more than $215 million from federal and state
transportation agencies to rebuild and improve the transportation network around its redeveloped brown-
fields neighborhoods. This includes $10.5 million from DOT in Transportation Investment Generat-
ing Economic Recovery (TIGER) grants and $19 million in Federal Transit Administration (FTA) Bus
Livability Discretionary Grant funding to upgrade its Intermodal Transit Center.
Revamping and modernizing outdated roadways and regional transit has been essential to revitalizing
the South End. With additional federal and state support, the Connecticut Department of Transportation
is working with Stamford to rebuild a constrained rail underpass that restricts downtown access to the
South End's main corridor. Stamford also secured about $75 million through the FTA's New Starts and
19 | Page
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Retail furniture business and market in a mixed use development at Harbor Point development, and nearby Commons Park
Bus and Bus Facilities grant programs, the Federal Highway Administration's (FHWA) Job Access and
Reverse Commute and Intelligent Transportation Systems grant programs, and other funding sources for
the Stamford Urban Transitway, a new complete-street corridor providing access to the brownfields area
and the Intermodal Transportation Center. FHWA also provided $1.1 million to improve streetscapes in
the Waterside neighborhood and reconstruct the West Main Street pedestrian bridge connecting distressed
areas of the community to the Intermodal Transportation Center.
• U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development: Stamford obtained $6.4 million from HUD's
Block Grant Disaster Recovery program allocation to the State of Connecticut. This funding supported
replacement of an elderly-housing property and was used to supplement an additional $8.1 million in
public and private money for construction of a new elderly home and support services facility. Stamford
also obtained $850,000 from HUD's Healthy Homes Program.
• U.S. Department of Commerce: In 2013, Stamford secured $800,000 from the Department of
Commerce's Economic Development Administration (EDA) for reconstructing the Dyke Lane Pumping
Station, which was damaged by flooding. EDA's disaster relief funding will improve flood control and
help protect the South End from the impacts of climate change and natural disasters.
Stamford took the following key steps to increase its effectiveness leveraging funding for revitalization of the
South End:
• Building a Project Team Through Local Leadership: At the outset of this project, Mayor Malloy
convened a multi-agency task force and designated a point-person for brownfields revitalization, which
helped make brownfields redevelopment a city priority. This level of commitment continued under
Stamford's next mayor, as did the involvement of key community leaders.
• Establishing the South End as a Priority: As factories were closing in the South End, the city and private
developers assessed opportunities along the waterfront. As a result, revitalization of the South End soon
became a driving force and the city's top revitalization priority, a status that was maintained for two decades.
• Seeking External Support: Stamford realized that the city could not achieve the massive revitalization
effort on its own. The city used its EPA Brownfields Showcase Community designation as an opening to
approach other federal agencies that support revitalization and brownfields redevelopment. As a result,
Stamford cultivated and has maintained strong relationships with state and federal agencies.
• Engaging the Community: Stamford identified additional community needs and engaged the community
in waterfront revitalization plans through many community meetings. The city formed a "swat team" of
business leaders, community groups, landowners, and other stakeholders to assess and promote redevelop-
ment potential.
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Tackling the Redevelopment Piece By Piece: Over the course of two decades, Stamford built the trans-
portation infrastructure necessary to open up brownfields areas and attract private investment to the South
End. The city worked through projects one phase at a time, recognizing that it was impossible to acquire
all of the necessary funding at one time. Instead, Stamford tackled parts of each project one by one and
sought funding for the along the way for critical next steps in the overall transportation and infrastructure
project. This approach enabled the city to make steady progress toward achieving its ambitious goals. The
strategy also helped spark major private-sector investment in the area.
Committing Local Matching-Share Funding: Stamford learned early that it was critical to have "skin
in the game" and to offer local matching funds to successfully leverage additional funding for its revital-
ization effort. The city's annual capital budgets included money designated to serve as its local match
for various state and federal grants. The city also established a TIP district that provided $186 million in
investment for public infrastructure upgrades, which complemented the local, state, and federal funding
already being acquired.
Creating Briefing Sheets and Other Compelling Project Communication Materials: Throughout the
South End revitalization process, Stamford created and updated communications materials that helped the
city make its case to potential funders and private investors, and to build support among elected represen-
tatives and other stakeholders whose support was critical. In addition to briefing sheets, these materials
included project progress reports, project maps, and PowerPoint presentations. These compelling commu-
nications materials helped potential funders and investors understand Stamford's short- and long-term
goals and enabled the city to build support for specific funding requests and other related initiatives.
Celebrating Success: Stamford's leaders made sure to celebrate progress at each step of the long revitaliza-
tion process. The city celebrated both large and small accomplishments along the way with groundbreak-
ings, ribbon-cuttings, site tours for state and federal officials, and community celebrations. They also paid
attention to media outreach and sent thank you notes to funders and supporters along the way.
The public funding that began with support from EPA's Brownfields
program has leveraged $5 billion in private-sector investment. Invest-
ments include the Harbor Point and Metro Green projects, which
are LEED gold-certified, mixed-use, transit-oriented development
projects that incorporate luxury living space along with affordable and
workforce housing, food and retail, nightlife, parks, schools, and water-
front activities.
Stamford's success is an example of how EPA Brownfields funding was
critical to revitalization of a contaminated former industrial area into
one of the most significant mixed-use developments in the nation.
Waterfront housing at the Harbor Point
development
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Case Study Example of Successful Leveraging
THE COMMERCE CORRIDOR IN RANSOM AND CHARLES TOWN, WEST VIRGINIA
Two Small Communities Join to Create High-Tech Hub on Blighted Brownfields Corridor
Ranson and Charles Town (combined population, 10,000) are adjacent small cities in Jefferson County in the
eastern panhandle of West Virginia, within a 90-minute drive of Washington, DC. The Ranson/Charles Town
area traditionally was the industrial epicenter of Jefferson County. The decline of America's manufacturing
industry hit the community particularly hard-leaving many residents without jobs, diminishing the local tax
base, and leaving significant brownfields behind that slowed economic growth and decreased residential and
commercial property values. At least 15 brownfields impact the heart of the urban area along the 1.5-mile
border between the two cities and the Evitts Run Creek, which traverses the community. In 1999, Ranson/
Charles Town launched an effort to turn
this blighted and polluted corridor into
a new "Commerce Corridor" with new
downtown development and community
park and recreation assets.
A BLUEPRINT FOR THE NEXT CENTURY
RAKSQH RENEWED
CHARLES TOWN CONNECTED
In 2001, EPA awarded the City of
Ranson a Brownfields Assessment grant
and kicked off the revitalization of the
Commerce Corridor in a ceremony
with EPA's Administrator. The cities obtained additional Brownfields Assessment grants in 2004 and 2006.
These grants were used to conduct 20 environmental site assessments and to develop sophisticated brown-
fields reuse plans. In 2010, Ranson obtained an EPA Brownfields Area-Wide Planning grant that was used to
engage key stakeholders in the process of creating a robust plan for revitalization, an infrastructure upgrade
strategy, a highest-and-best-use analysis for key brownfield parcels, and a "Resource Roadmap" to identify
sources of leveraged funding for the reuse and implementation of properties in the Commerce Corridor (See:
www. ransonrenewed. com).
EPA awarded a Brownfields Cleanup grant to Ranson in 2011 to remediate a contaminated, closed brass
foundry. Ranson and Charles Town also used a $900,000 EPA Brownfields Revolving Loan Fund (RLE)
grant to address brownfields on Evitts Run Creek. RLE funding was used to clean up a particularly challeng-
ing manufactured gas facility that plagued the community for decades. RLE funds also were used to create
the West Side Revitalization Master Plan that will guide the cleanup and reuse of blighted brownfields along
the Evitts Run Creek. Reuse plans include creating a park, recreation areas, and an economic development
zone in Charles Town's most distressed neighborhood. (See: www.charlestownwv.us/index.asp?Type=B
BASIC&SEC=f3CB2F7DC-ADE5-4A41-868D-39BFC5BBA55D)).
Ranson and Charles Town launched the Commerce Corridor effort by forming a multi-stakeholder Commerce
Corridor Council that includes public, private, non-profit, neighborhood, state, and federal stakeholders. The
council guided and supported the initiative, including the funding and leverage efforts involved. Under this
framework, Ranson and Charles Town developed a comprehensive brownfields inventory, prioritized sites for
assessment, engaged the community and key stakeholders, and established a strong vision and area-wide plan
for revitalization. The cities also leveraged public and private resources, upgraded infrastructure, and attract-
ed private sector investment to the revitalization effort.
In 2006, Ranson and Charles Town joined with the Urban Land Institute in a comprehensive economic reuse
planning project that convened top experts in real estate, finance, brownfields, and sustainability to identify
Page | 22
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Artist's rendering of a green corridor,
funded by a TIGER grant from U.S. DOT
strategies for brownfields reuse. The overall brownfield effort was
fueled by a robust commitment from Ranson and Charles Town staff
and the support of environmental, planning, and funding consultants
retained with EPA grant support.
In the 15 years since receiving the first Brownfields Assessment grant
in 2001, Ranson and Charles Town have seen tremendous progress
and benefits to the community:
Environmental Remediation: The cleanup of sites included the
removal of numerous abandoned underground storage tanks, the
remediation of contaminated soil, and the abatement of asbestos
materials.
Ranson Civic Center: In 2008, the City of Ranson used local funding
to purchase a former Maytag spray-painting facility that had sat idle
since 1989. The facility was cleaned up and repurposed in 2010.
Today, this former brownfield is Ranson's Civic Center, a 40,000
square-foot facility with an adjacent, quarter-acre pocket park situated
next to the Boys & Girls Club of Jefferson County and the Evitts
Run Park system. The Civic Center is home to the Ranson Parks and
Recreation Commission, which uses the facility for public athletic
events, social functions, trade shows, job fairs, and youth and family
activities.
The Civic Center, which can hold 1,500 people, has two full basket-
ball courts, bleachers, and batting cages; an office area; full-service
concession and eating areas; multi-purpose flex flooring; new light-
ing, sound systems and wireless Internet; and a stage for perfor-
mances. Outside the Civic Center, a community group established the
Ranson Community Garden, which employs homeless members of the
community who cultivate crops that provide healthy foods to support
the Jefferson County Homeless Coalition and other community needs.
American Public University Headquarters and Campus: The Ameri-
can Public University System (APUS), one of the foremost online
universities in the nation, made Ranson its headquarters and invested
more than $100 million in the Commerce Corridor brownfield area.
APUS continues to build a high-tech educational campus that already
provides more than 650 jobs to local residents. The campus includes
an academic center, finance center and solar array, and information
technology center.
APUS Academic Center: The Academic Center is a $12 million,
45,000 square-foot, four-story, LEED gold-certified building situated
on another former brownfield. The Veiner Metal Salvage Yard operated
for more than 100 years until it was closed in the 1960s. The property
remained vacant until the Academic Center was built in 2010.
The Academic Center includes meeting and office space for more than
140 APUS faculty, academic staff and student advisors; and a library
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RANSON CIV^C CENTER
From left to right: Ranson Civic Center, rendering of green infrastructure stormwater management technologies, and American Public
University Health Center, all in Ranson/Charlestown Commerce Corridor
with one of the nation's major collections for research in military studies and military history. The building
can house 330 employees and already produced 170 initial new high-skills jobs.
The architecture for the Academic Center and other APUS buildings preserves and complements the
character and history of Charles Town and blends old and new design elements. Environmentally friendly
materials and construction features were used to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and to contribute to a
healthier work environment for employees and a cleaner environment for the community. Energy-efficient
design features include advanced thermal insulation of windows and walls, variable lighting and cooling to
manage energy use, and 99 roof solar panels that provide a portion of the center's energy requirements.
APUS Finance Center and Solar Array: APUS expects to obtain
LEED-gold certification for the 105,000 square foot, four-story
Finance Center that straddles the Ranson and Charles Town border.
The $18 million, privately financed center boasts the largest solar
array in West Virginia; its 170-space parking lot hasl,660 solar
panels that generate enough electricity to supply 30 average-sized
homes. The solar array/parking lot also has 14 electric car charg-
ing stations. The building's roof was designed to eliminate the heat
island effect, and the building was constructed of materials derived
from recycled content including structural steel, studs, drywall,
hardware, and floorings. It is landscaped with native and adaptive
plants. The facility currently houses 245 employees, and has the
capacity for 450 staff.
APUS Information Technology Center: APUS also will seek LEED
certification for its Information Technology (IT) Center, which
was completed in late 2015. The IT Center was built on the former
Maytag appliance manufacturing facility in the Commerce Corri-
dor. The large brick building includes a metal dome that houses
a 240-pound, state-of-the-art telescope that will provide a new
other-worldly view to the people of Ranson and Charles Town, and Dome b,ein9 P/aced °" f°P °fth° new APUS
J Information Technology Center
to APUS students across the globe who can remotely access the
telescope. The IT Center also has an outdoor pavilion for musical
and cultural events.
Page | 24
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New Jobs Development: On the Charles Town side of the border, there are new jobs on the redeveloped
brownfields where a former lumber facility was located for decades. The site provides professional office
space for a land use planning and engineering firm, and a high-performance automotive supply company.
Creation of the Charles Town/Ranson Commerce Corridor enabled the two communities to leverage
more than $15 million in additional grants and other resources to move forward the revitalization of the
downtown area. Funding was obtained from the following sources:
U.S. Department of Transportation: Ranson and Charles Town secured two very competitive TIGER
grants from the U.S. Department of Transportation. The first TIGER grant was used to plan the Green
Corridor revitalization through the brownfield area, creating a complete street, and using green infrastruc-
ture elements to transform the central roadway. The second TIGER grant was used to construct the corridor
with $10 million in federal, state, local and private-sector funding. TIGER funding also was used to plan
and engineer a new transit center in downtown Charles Town, which provides regional bus and rail transit
passengers with a hub for accessing public transit to the Washington, DC, metropolitan area.
U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development: HUD provided the City of Ranson with a range of
resources for brownfields and community revitalization. HUD resources include a Sustainable Communi-
ties Challenge grant that enabled Ranson to hire top land use planners to create a new comprehensive land
use plan and Ranson Smart Code to promote smart and sustainable development. Ranson also received
a $1.5 million HUD Brownfields Economic Development Initiative grant and up to $3.5 million in HUD
Section 108 Loan Guarantee funding to remove a dilapidated, vacant brass foundry; upgrade infrastructure;
and prepare for development of a mixed-use downtown center.
U.S. Department of Agriculture: Building upon the TIGER funding for design of a new downtown transit
hub, the City of Charles Town used $3.8 million in USDA Community Facilities loan resources to fully
restore the historic Charles Washington Hall as a community center, indoor farmers market, cafe, perform-
ing arts space, and regional transit.
National Endowment for the Arts: Recognizing the community revitalization that began with Charles
Town's EPA Brownfields grants, NEA awarded an "Our Town" grant to the city to establish the Washing-
ton Heritage Arts and Cultural District, an arts and cultural district in the area around the Commerce Corri-
dor and Green Corridor. The NEA funding catalyzed diverse groups of arts, cultural, historic, civic, and
private-sector leaders to promote vibrant activities in the downtown area for residents and tourists.
U.S. EPA: In addition to the Brownfields grants, the
City of Ranson received technical assistance through
EPA's Building Blocks for Sustainable Communities
program to help the city identify strategies to spur
growth in the urban core and thus, avoid sprawl. EPA
also provided expert contractor technical assistance
to Ranson to assist with development of a green
infrastructure plan for handling stormwater runoff
from brownfield redevelopment areas into the Chesa-
peake Bay watershed.
National Fish and Wildlife Foundation: Charles
Town secured a $100,000 Chesapeake Bay Steward-
Ribbon cutting for the American Public University's LEED ship Fund grant from the National Fish and Wildlife
Gold Academic Center
25 | Page
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Foundation to design a community recreational pond on the old Public Works site and the city dump,
both within the core of the brownfields revitalization area. The pond also will serve as a major stormwa-
ter management facility to protect the Shenandoah and Potomac Rivers and the Chesapeake Bay. Charles
Town also seeks to use its EPA Brownfields RLF funding as matching share for other funding used for the
construction of this green facility.
The joint and collaborative efforts of the two small cities are transforming Ranson and Charles Town from
a failed manufacturing area with stagnant downtowns, into a mecca for technology, education, arts, culture,
tourism and sustainability. EPA Brownfields grants sparked this transformation in part because the cities
worked together to leverage additional local, state, federal, philanthropic and private-sector funding.
As a result, these communities are recognized nationally as models for small-town sustainability. The
Charles Town/Ranson Commerce Corridor initiative was a key feature on the White House's anniversary
celebration for the HUD/DOT/EPA Partnership for Sustainable Communities (See: www. whitehouse.qov/
bloa/2011/06/16/partnership-sustainable-communities-marks-two-trailblazina-vears) and EPA's three-year
celebration of that Partnership. Ranson/Charles Town won the 2013 Phoenix Award for brownfields revital-
ization and the National People's Choice Award for the best brownfields project, and in 2014, the commu-
nities won the national Brownfields Renewal Award for outstanding economic development of brownfields.
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EPA Support for Local Brownfields Leveraging
EPA's Office of Brownfields and Land Revitalization will continue to help communities create effective strate-
gies for leveraging resources for brownfields cleanup and revitalization projects. As part of EPA's Next Genera-
tion Brownfields initiative, OBLR plans to offer the following resources and assistance in 2016 and beyond:
• Brownfields Federal Programs Gu/cte-EPA issued the 2015 Brownfields Federal Programs Guide in
September 2015. The Brownfields Federal Programs Guide provides in-depth information on resources
available from more than 20 federal agencies and offices and highlights federal tax incentives that can
support brownfields revitalization. (See: www.epa.gov/sites/production/files/2015-09/documents/brown-
fields-federal-proarams-auide-2013.pdf).
• Resource Roadmaps-EPk will conduct a webinar focusing on how to create a resource roadmap as
a useful tool to guide efforts for leveraging resources for brownfields and community revitalization. The
interactive webinar will be recorded and made available to EPA Brownfields grantees and communities.
EPA also plans to issue a memorandum to grantees and EPA regional offices clarifying that brownfields
assessment grants and Area-wide Planning Grants may be used for reuse planning activities, including the
creation of Resource Roadmaps for revitalization at eligible brownfield properties.
• Meet The Funders Webinars-EPk will collaborate with other federal agencies, philanthropic foundations,
and nonprofit organizations to conduct a series of in-depth webinars that engage funders and their staff to
explore ways that they can leverage their programs for local brownfields revitalization efforts. This Meet the
Funders series will educate funding organizations about the needs and challenges of local communities on
brownfields revitalization issues and provide in-depth information and tips on how to leverage resources
with their support. These webinars will be recorded and made widely available.
• Building the Federal Family of Brownfields Agencies-EPA is dedicated to continuing its long collabo-
rations with the federal family of agencies that provide funding, technical assistance, and other resources
to support local brownfields and community revitalization. This will include efforts to promote intra-agency
collaboration within other EPA program offices as well as inter-agency collaboration with other federal
agencies and organizations. EPA will work on community and economic development issues with HUD,
the Economic Development Administration, and the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Rural Development
program. EPA will foster infrastructure investments for brownfields revitalization with the U.S. Department
of Transportation, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, and other agencies. EPA will promote green strate-
gies and climate smart brownfields with the U.S. Department of Interior, the National Oceanographic and
Atmospheric Administration, and the U.S. Department of Energy. EPA supports the approach of giving funding
preference and prioritization for additional federal funding to localities that have developed strong brownfields
revitalization plans, solid public and stakeholder support, and proactive strategies for leveraging resources.
• Promoting Economic Development and Community Revitalization, Particularly in Communities
with Weak Mar/cefs-Distressed, small, disadvantaged communities often lack the capacity to catalyze
economic development and revitalize brownfields. EPA will continue its commitment to supporting brown-
fields revitalization in small, rural, underserved and struggling communities with brownfields grants, a focus
on ensuring environmental justice, area-wide planning support, and robust technical assistance.
• Technical Assistance-The EPA's Office of Brownfields and Land Revitalization will continue to work with
its 10 regional offices, the Technical Assistance to Brownfields Communities (TAB) centers, and a variety
of other nonprofit and educational partners to provide technical assistance to communities on brownfields,
including on leveraging strategies. (See: www.epa.gov/brownfields/brownfields-technical-assistance).
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency wishes your community great success in leveraging
funding to reach your brownfields and community revitalization goals!
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II TOWN 11
I HALL11
CITY OF XYZViLLE
2016 AGENDA FOR SUSTAINABLE COMMUNITYREVITALIZATION
The City of XYZVille, XY is a community of xy,xyz people that seeks to revitalize closed factories and blighted sections of downtown with
new revitalization. XYZVille' s municipal development authority has acquired the vacant factory complex and its 27 acres on the riverfront
on the south end of the central business district along Main Street, a site that has been vacant, polluted and blighted for more than 25 years.
Using U.S. EPA Brownfields Assessment grant funding for reuse planning, the community has created a vision for a vibrant, mixed use
riverfront development that includes a local healthy foods market, commercial offices to serve the growing downtown, mixed-income housing
to replace the 99 affordable units at the severely deteriorated public housing complex, and small retail shops for citizens and tourists. XYZVille
seeks to upgrade Main Street along the new development area into a complete street to improve walkability and connect the project to the central
downtown, and to establish new riverfront public park, recreational, and trail facilities along this beautiful natural area. To put this vision into
action, XYZVille seeks support and resources from local investors, state and federal agencies, philanthropic foundations, and the private sector,
including the following:
Project & Key
Components
Estimated Costs
Funding &
Support Needed
Match & Leveraging
Key Next Steps
Demolition of
obsolete factory
buildings and
structures
$400,000 asbestos
abatement
$200,000 cleanup of
petroleum spill area
$600,000 buildings
demolition
$6-8 million for
restoration and reuse
of historic brick mill
building
•/ $1 million EPA
Brownfields Cleanup
Revolving Loan Fund for
asbestos and petroleum
cleanup
v' HUD CDBG and Section
108 Loans for site prep and
demolition, and mill
restoration
•^ Federal Home Loan Bank,
Community Investment
Program funding for mill
restoration
^ XYZVille Tax
Increment Finance
proceeds
•/ State of XY
Brownfields
Cleanup Fund grants
or loans
S Private developer
contribution
Confirm available level of TIP proceeds
Complete brownfields assessment and
remedial planning using remaining EPA
Assessment funding
Meet with EPA Regional Brownfields
Office to discuss RLF opportunities.
Deadline for RLF application December
2016
Meet with state HUD office to discuss
Section 108 loan
Find member bank in XYZVille willing to
use FHLB Community Investment
Program
-------
Project & Key
Components
Estimated Costs
Funding &
Support Needed
Match & Leveraging
Key Next Steps
Historic Tax Restoration
Credits (25% of restoration
costs)
Work with XY State Historic Preservation
Office to establish plan to use historic tax
credits on mill restoration
Stormwater
management
with green
infrastructure
$2 million
Clean Water SRF Green
Reserve loans, coupled with
principle forgiveness
HUD Section 108 proceeds
Economic Development
Administration, Public
Works Grant
XYZVille
Stormwater Fee
proceeds
Work with State of XY State DEP Office
of Water to enter Stormwater project on
State Clean Water Intended Use Plan
Apply for summer 2016 Green Reserve
grant
$75-90 million
Mixed-Use
Development
Center
Construction
•S
USDA Business & Industry
Guaranteed Loan
National Development
Council public-private
partnership bonding tool
HUD Section 108 loan
proceeds
New Market Tax Credit
Private sector equity
and debt investment
State of XY
economic
development grant
and loan program
S Meet with USDA Rural Development
office located in State XY
•S Contact regional representative for
National Development Council
•S Contact community development entity
with allocation of New Market Tax
Credits, and explore potential NMTC
expert to retain as counsel
Complete Street
Improvement on
Main Street
$850,000 for design,
engineering,
permitting and
construction
management
$7 million for
construction
State XY & MPO for
Transportation Alternatives
Program grant for design
and engineering
CMAQ grant for design and
engineering
Rural TIGER grant for
construction
State XY Surface
Transportation
Priority grant as
match to TIGER for
construction
Work with MPO to secure placement of
Main Street project as priority in
Transportation Improvement Plan
Meet with State DOT district engineering
office to build support
Collaborate with state elected
representatives and Office of the
Governor to build support
Invite XYZ's congressional delegation to
site visit to review design plans
Healthy Foods
Market
$550,000 for
establishment of local
food cooperative as
anchor tenant of
healthy foods market
S EPA Local Foods, Local
Places technical assistance
award to support planning
to tie foods market to
broader community
revitalization
•/ $200,000 USDA
Community Foods grant
V $75,000 Kresge
Foundation Local
Foods Grants
^ $200,000 match
from City of XYZ
Meet with USDA in state field office
Invite Community Foundation, Funders
Network, and Kresge supporters to be part
of Local Foods, Local Places charrette
-------
Project & Key
Components
Estimated Costs
Affordable
Housing Center
Riverfront Park
& Trail
TJ
0)
-------
Appendix 2-Sample Brownfields Project Briefing Sheet
(2332032!
Transportation Investment Generating Economic Recovery Request
Reauest
Carlisle seeks $12,000,000 in TIGER Construction Grant funding, with a 40% non-federal match of
$8,000,000, plus major public and private leveraging, to transform a Distressed Brownfield Area into a
Sustainable Jobs Center. Carlisle also seeks a $3,000,000 DCED Multimodal Transportation Fund grant for
construction, right-of-way acquisition, environmental assessment, surveys, construction bid documentation,
and other construction costs for this important project.
Carlisle Boron
The historic Borough of Carlisle in central Pennsylvania
(population 18,600) is striving to revitalize a key section of the
community after devastating manufacturing job losses in a
distressed neighborhood. Partnered with Cumberland County,
North Middleton Township, the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania
(PennDOT and PA's Department of Environmental Protection),
U.S. EPA and other allies.
Project
The Carlisle Connectivity project will re-engineer a network of critical State roads and community streets in an
area that recently lost three large factories and hundreds of jobs, leaving vacant brownfields in the midst of a
distressed neighborhood that lies between the hisloric downtown, the world-famous Carlisle Car Events Center,
Dickinson College, the Army War College, assisted senior housing, and key transportation facilities. The Carlisle
project will fix two dangerous and failing intersections, reconnect traditional grid streets as walkable complete
corridors to new jobs and civic hubs, and deploy green infrastructure to manage stormwater in this Chesapeake
Bay watershed. The result of this sustainable transportation investment will be a mix of up to 433,000 sq. ft. of
new commercial development and 365,000 sq. ft. of new homes, producing 3,000+ permanent jobs, $125 million
in private investment, and $49 million in tax increment over 20 years.
Building on the foundation of strong and inclusive community planning supported by an EPA Brownfields Area-
Wide Grant plus resources from Pennsylvania, the local community and the private sector, TIGER6 Planning
and PennDOT Multimodal funding can help take preliminary engineering designs to complete, shovel-ready
plans on these key project components highlighted on the inside project map.
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Sife Photos
INTERNATIONAL AUTOMOTIVE
COMPONENTS GROUP (IAC)
Closed - 2008
INTERNATIONAL AUTOMOTIVE
COMPONENTS GROUP (IAC)
Fire - 2012
CARLISLE TIRE & WHEEL
Closed -2010
Perry Heath, President
TYCO ELECTRONICS
Closed - 2009
CARLISLE BOROUGH COUNCIL
Donald Grell, Vice President
Linda Cecconello Dawn Flower
Matthew Madden Sean Shultz
Proiecf Team
Tim Scott, Mayor
Robin Guido
Matt Candland, Borough Manager
Debra Figueroa, Assistant Borough Manager
Borough of Carlisle
53 West South Street
Carlisle, PA 17013
Phone: 717-240-6920
Email: mcandland@CarlislePA.org
dfigueroa@CarlislePA.org
Ben Laudermilch
Executive Director
Cumberland County Housing
& Redevelopment Authority
114 North Hanover Street
Carlisle, PA 17013
Phone: 717-249-0789 xl 10
Email: blaudermilch@cchrm.coi
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0 U a
•' f 0
I
"
B Street Extension and "complete
street" improvements between the
brownfield redevelopment sites to
reconnect neighborhoods and new
development. "Hiis extension will be
between College Street and PA34/
Carlisle Springs Road.
The proposed mini-round about and
multi-use trail at B Street and Fair-
round Avenue.
Improvement ot Fairgrounds Avenue
W M from Penn Street to B Street as a two-
and B Street as part of the B Street
Extension to reconnect the new
development into the existing
neighborhood.
"I he proposed roundabout on North
Hanover Street (PA 11) to realign
the currently failing intersections
at Fairground Avenue, Penn Street,
and N. Hanover Street to ensure
the main commercial corridor into
the historic district functions with
improved capacity and safety to
handle the demand of existing and
new redevelopment.
Realignment of the intersection at
N. Hanover Street (PA 11) and PA
34/Carfisle Springs Road to improve
vehicle & pedestrian safety, and
traffic flow.
STORM WATER
MANAGEMENT
Raingardens, bioswales, tree planting, public
spaces Si other green infrastructure will be
integrated into these transportation facilities to
manage stormwater.
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