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Brownfields 1997 Revolving Loan Fund Pilot
Fact Sheet
Rochester, NY
EPA Brownfields Initiative
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. On
January 11, 2002, President George W. Bush signed into
law the Small Business Liability Relief and Brownfields
Revitalization Act. Under the Brownfields Law, EPA
provides financial assistance to eligible applicants
through four competitive grant programs: assessment
grants, revolving loan fund grants, cleanup grants, and
job training grants. Additionally, funding support is
provided to state and tribal response programs through a
separate mechanism.
Background
Over the past 15 years, Rochester has suffered a
significant decline in its manufacturing sector, a decline
prompted by the relocation of several large, mainstay
companies. Once-thriving facilities are now
underutilized or abandoned altogether, resulting in
declining property values and deterioration of the tax
base. Many of the privately-owned brownfields sites in
Rochester fall within the boundaries of the New York
State Economic Development Zone and a federal
Enterprise Community. In 1993, the New York State
Department of Environmental Conservation (NYSDEC)
completed an inventory of hazardous substance disposal
sites in New York State. Eighteen of these sites were
identified to be in Rochester, many of which have
significant redevelopment potential.
Pilot Snapshot
Date of Announcement: 09/01/1997
Amount: $350,000
Profile: Rochester's state Economic Development
Zone and federal Enterprise Community.
Contacts
For further information, including specific grant
contacts, additional grant information, brownfields
news and events, and publications and links, visit the
EPA Brownfields Web site
(http ://www .epa.gov/brownfields).
EPA Region 2 Brownfields Team
(212) 637-4309
EPA Region 2 Brownfields Web site
(http://www.epa.gov/region02/brownfields/)
Grant Recipient: City of Rochester,NY
(716)428-5978
There are no public brownfields cleanup funding sources
available to the private sector in New York State.
Rochester has developed two dedicated sources of grant
and loan funding for private sector pre-cleanup phase
environmental activities at redevelopment sites. The city
has begun to selectively take title to a limited number of
brownfields sites through tax foreclosure and acquisition. Activities
Objectives
The goal of the Rochester BCRLF Pilot is to provide a
funding option for cleanup by private parties and to
complement Rochester's existing Brownfields
Revolving Fund and Industrial Predevelopment Fund.
With the high number of privately-owned brownfields in
the city and the lack of available financing incentives to
clean up and redevelop such sites, the BCRLF will
provide needed stimulation of market-driven cleanup
and minimize the need for the city to take ownership of
these properties. BCRLF loans will support the city's
effort to return brownfields to productive uses. The
benefits from brownfields redevelopment in Rochester
will include: creation and retention of jobs; increased
city tax revenue. Rochester also plans to use the BCRLF
to leverage other brownfields redevelopment funding
sources.
Fund Structure and Operations
Rochester anticipates using the BCRLF program to
United States
Environmental
Protection Agency
Washington, DC 20450
Solid Waste
and Emergency
Response (5105T)
EPA 500-F-99-031
May 99

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initiate a coordinated and comprehensive brownfields
investigation and cleanup funding program. The new
cleanup revolving loan fund will be available to parties
completing cleanup and redevelopment projects under
the NYSDEC voluntary cleanup program or as a
volunteer under an order on consent. Loans from the
Rochester BCRLF are expected to be in the $100,000
range.
The city's Division of Environmental Quality will serve
as the Lead Agency to oversee Pilot implementation. It
will also serve as Site Manager to ensure that cleanup
projects are conducted in compliance with all
appropriate environmental laws and that appropriate
community representatives are involved in the
redevelopment planning process. The city's Department
of Economic Development will act as the Fund Manager
to implement the loan fund.
Use of BCRLF Pilot funds must be in accordance with
CERCLA, and all CERCLA restrictions on use of
funding also apply to BCRLF funds.
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 500-F-99-031
May 99

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