s tvVU s Brownfields 2015 Area-Wide Planning Grant Fact Sheet
|
ussy Greater Portland Council of Governments, Portland, ME
%.	c<*	7	7
PRO"**"
EPA Brownfields Program
EPA's Brownfields Program empowers states, communities,
and other stakeholders to work together to prevent, assess,
safely clean up, and sustainably reuse brownfields. A
brownfield site is 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. In 2002, the Small Business Liability Relief and
Brownfields Revitalization Act was passed to help states and
communities around the country clean up and revitalize
brownfields sites. Under this law, EPA provides financial
assistance to eligible applicants through competitive grant
programs for brownfields site assessment, site cleanup,
revolving loan funds, area-wide planning, and job training.
Additional funding support is provided to state and tribal
response programs through a separate mechanism.
Brownfields Area-Wide Planning
Program
EPA's Brownfields Area-Wide Planning
Program assists communities in responding
to local brownfields challenges,
particularly where multiple brownfield
sites are in close proximity, connected by
infrastructure, and limit the economic,
environmental and social prosperity of
their surroundings. This program enhances
EPA's core brownfields assistance
programs by providing grant funding to
communities so they can perform the
research needed to develop an area-wide
plan and implementation strategies for
brownfields assessment, cleanup, and
reuse. The resulting area-wide plans
provide direction for future brownfields
area improvements that are protective of
public health and the environment,
economically viable, and reflective of the
community's vision for the area.
Project Description
$200,000.00
EPA has selected the Greater Portland Council of
Governments (GPCOG) as a Brownfields
Area-Wide Planning Grant recipient. GPCOG will
work with the community and other stakeholders
to develop an area-wide plan and implementation
strategy for the East Bayside Neighborhood, the
most disadvantaged and racially diverse
neighborhood in Portland. GPCOG will focus its
efforts on the Franklin Reserve, a 1.88-acre parcel
reserved, but never utilized, for a four-lane
divided highway. Through the Brownfields
Area-Wide Planning process, GPCOG will
challenge residents, landlords, property owners,
business leaders, artists, food makers, service
providers, and other neighborhood stakeholders to
identify reuse options for this site, as well as two
surrounding neighborhood areas. These sites will
be brought back into productive service as
affordable housing, greenspace, and commercial
use consistent with two federal initiatives: the
HUD-EPA-DOT Partnership for Sustainable
Communities; and the Greater Portland
Sustainable Food Production Cluster, GPCOG's
Investing in Manufacturing Communities
Partnership (1MCP) designation for food
processing. Key partners who will work with the
Greater Portland Council of Governments on this
project include the City of Portland, the East
Bayside Neighborhood Organization, the Portland
Housing Authority, Redfern Properties, Coffee by
Design, East Bayside Studios LLC, Root Cellar,
Running with Scissors, Sustain Southern Maine,
Ten Ten Pie, and Urban Farm Fermentory.
Contacts
For further information, including specific grant contacts, additional
grant information, brownfields news and events, and publications and
United States
Environmental
Protection Agency
Washington, DC 20450
Solid Waste
and Emergency
Response (5105T)
EPA 560-F-15-004
March 2015

-------
links, visit the EPA Brownfields Web site
(http://www.epa.gov/brownfields).
EPA Region 1 Brownfields Team
(617)918-1278
EPA Region 1 Brownfields Web site
(https://www.epa.gov/brownfields/brownfie
lds-and-land-revitalization-connecticut-
maine-massachusetts-new-hampshire-rhode# pane-1 )
Grant Recipient: Greater Portland Council of Governments, ME
(207) 774-9891
The information presented in this fact sheet comes from the grant
proposal; EPA cannot attest to the accuracy of this information. The
cooperative agreement for the grant has not yet been negotiated.
Therefore, activities described in this fact sheet are subject to change.
United States
Environmental
Protection Agency
Washington, DC 20450
and Emergency
Response (5105T)
Solid Waste
EPA 560-F-15-004
March 2015

-------