Brownfields 1999 Revolving Loan Fund Pilot Fact Sheet Franklin Regional Council of Governments, Massachusetts (Coalition with Towns of Colrain and Greenfield)



Brownfields 1999 Revolving Loan Fund Pilot
* Fact Sheet
\WJ Franklin Regional Council of Governments, Massachusetts (Coalition with
Towns of Colrain and Greenfield)

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
The Franklin Regional Council of Governments
(FRCOG) has formed a coalition with the Towns of
Colrain and Greenfield for the BCRLF program. Greater
Franklin County is one of the most rural and also one of
the most economically distressed areas in Massachusetts.
The Town of Greenfield, with a population of 18,700,
has experienced significant decline in its industrial base
over the last twenty years. Many businesses have moved
out of Greenfield because there are no available
industrial sites or land. This has created a loss of jobs and
pressures the Town to use prime farmland for industrial
purposes. The Town of Colrain, with a population of just
1,760, recently lost its major employer (and 160 jobs)
and largest taxpayer. Both Colrain and Greenfield are
Brownfields Assessment Pilots and have identified
multiple sites that are ready for cleanup and remediation
activities under the BCRLF.
Pilot Snapshot
Date of Announcement: 05/25/1999
Amount: $1,000,000
Profile: Two abandoned tool and die manufacturing
buildings; demolition of the Upper Mill site, a
burnt-out building; and the AF&F mill complex
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 1 Brownfields Team
(617)918-1424
EPA Region 1 Brownfields Web site
(http://www.epa.gov/regionl/brownfields)
Grant Recipient: Franklin Regional Council of
Governments,MA
(413)774-3167 ext 103
Objectives
The objectives of Colrain and Greenfield's BCRLF are
to:
•	Clean up, reuse, and redevelop brownfields sites
Restore and enhance local tax bases
•	Create jobs
•	Provide clean industrial sites to enable growing
businesses to stay in the local communities
•	Educate the banking community to stimulate
participation in brownfields projects
•	Protect critical water resources
•	Develop and sustain financial resources and tools
to address brownfields issues locally
•	Preserve rural communities
Potential sites for cleanup include:
•	Greenfield Tap & Die Plant - an abandoned
145,000 square foot machine tool manufacturing
United States
Environmental
Protection Agency
Washington, DC 20450
Solid Waste
and Emergency
Response (5105T)
EPA 500-F-99-062
May 99

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plant
•	Winer site - a former tool and die manufacturing
building on a 1-acre parcel in a mixed
commercial/residential area to be reused for
flood control purposes
•	Upper Mill site - demolition of a burnt-out
building to enable expansion of an adjoining
manufacturing facility and possible use of a
portion of the site for wastewater treatment
•	AF&F mill complex - for re-use by another
manufacturing facility that is currently
land-locked
Activities
Fund Structure and Operations FRCOG will serve as
lead agency and fund manager. The Massachusetts
Department of Environmental Protection will assist the
pilot in carrying out its site management responsibilities.
The Pilot will receive a $1 million award. Initial loans
are expected to be in the $250,000 to $425,000 range.
FRCOG is the local lead agency coordinating
Massachusetts' Economic Development Incentive
Program for the Greater Franklin County Economic
Target Area, including Colrain and Greenfield. Through
this program, local communities can offer eligible
projects tax increment financing, local real estate tax
incentives, and access to state tax incentives for
qualified businesses. Three local banks have agreed to
provide in-kind services, specifically loan review and
analysis. The applicant has identified many additional
sources of potential state and Federal funding,
including, but not limited to, the Brownfields Economic
Development Initiative, the Section 108 Loan Guarantee
program, the Massachusetts Community Capital Fund,
and Massachusetts Small Cities CDBG 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-99-062
May 99

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Brownfields 1999 Revolving Loan Fund Pilot
* Fact Sheet
Franklin Regional Council of Governments, Massachusetts BCRLF Pilot
Project
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
EPA selected the Franklin Regional Council of
Governments (FRCOG) in a coalition with the Town of
Colrain and the City of Greenfield, MA for a
Brownfields Cleanup Revolving Loan Fund (BCRLF)
Pilot in September 1999. Under this program, EPA
provided the FRCOG with $1,000,000 to capitalize its
revolving loan fund. Using the BCRLF Pilot funds, the
FRCOG will provide loans to public and private parties
for the purpose of cleaning up brownfields sites in the
two municipalities. Each municipality is eligible for up
to $500,000 to be spent in their community. The FRCOG
is making its first loan to Colrain, a rural community of
1,757 people in Western Massachusetts. The Town
suffered the loss of its major employer and largest
taxpayer in 1996. More than half of the residents in
Colrain (56%) are classified as low to moderate income.
According to the 1990 census, Colrain had a 10.8%
poverty rate which was 36% higher than surrounding
communities in Franklin County and 21% higher than
the poverty rate for Massachusetts as a whole. This
BCRLF loan represents the first step in brownfields
redevelopment in Colrain.
In July 1998, EPA selected the Town of Colrain for a
Brownfields Demonstration Assessment Pilot. Colrain
also received supplemental funding support for that pilot.
Pilot Snapshot
Date of Announcement: 05/25/1999
Amount: $200,000
Profile: Town of Colrain, Upper Mill complex: 5.75
acres located on the east side of the North River.
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 1 Brownfields Team
(617)918-1424
EPA Region 1 Brownfields Web site
(http://www.epa.gov/regionl/brownfields)
Grant Recipient: Franklin Regional Council of
Governments,MA
(413)774-3167 ext 103
Activities
The FRCOG is the lead agency for the BCRLF pilot and
will also serve as fund manager. The Massachusetts
Department of Environmental Protection (MADEP) will
assist the FRCOG by providing brownfields site
management services. U.S. EPA will provide funding
(as part of the original BCRLF award to FRCOG) to the
MADEP through a Cooperative Agreement for these
services. The FRCOG has entered into a Memorandum
of Agreement with the MADEP that outlines respective
roles and responsibilities.
The Town of Colrain is the BCRLF borrower for this
project. Under eminent domain authority, the Town took
ownership of the Upper Mill Complex property in the
fall of 2000. The Town will conduct abatement and
removal of environmental contamination as well as
demolition of the existing buildings on the property
using both BCRLF loan funds and a grant from the
Massachusetts Department of Housing and Community
Development (DHCD), as appropriate. BCRLF loan
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funds will be used for removal activities at the site,
including demolition and site preparation as part of the
site cleanup. A second phase of cleanup may ensue
following completion of the first phase and pending
further investigation. The FRCOG will loan the Town of
Colrain $200,000 at 2.5% interest for a 10 year loan
term for the cleanup of the site. The DHCD also will
provide a grant of $590,000.
The Upper Mill complex is a parcel totaling 5.75 acres
located on the east side of the North River and situated
in a mixed use area. It is a configuration of several
connected, fire-ravaged brick and masonry buildings
that total over 61,000 square feet that were built around
1900. All buildings are abandoned due to health and
safety concerns. Several buildings are structurally
unsound.
The Upper Mill complex was previously used by
Kendall Mills as part of its manufacturing, bleaching
and dyeing operations.
Phase I and Phase II investigations were completed in
1999 & 2000 by Environmental Compliance Services
and SEA Consultants as part of Colrain's Site
Assessment Demonstration Pilot. These investigations
of the insides of the buildings discovered friable and
ambient asbestos, boiler ash containing arsenic and lead,
poly-cyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, metals that include
arsenic, lead, mercury, chromium, and selenium and
silver found in a manufacturing related "black sand"
throughout the building. Much of this contamination has
been classified as hazardous waste and exceeds
MADEP reportable concentrations. Also found were 55
gallon drums containing waste oil contaminated with
volatile organic compounds and transformers and
electrical switches thought to contain PCB-contaminated
oils. The contamination on the site is believed to be
from the former industrial and manufacturing
operations.
Removal of friable asbestos and hazardous materials as
well as demolition of the existing buildings will allow
for further site investigation activities underneath the
buildings using Colrain's Assessment Demonstration
Pilot. This will determine if any additional cleanup is
needed. If additional cleanup is necessary, Colrain or a
developer may seek additional FRCOG BCRLF loan
funds. A local business has expressed strong interest in
expanding its manufacturing operations onto the
property following cleanup.
Use of BCRLF Pilot funds must be in accordance with
CERCLA, and all CERCLA restrictions on use of
funding also apply to BCRLF funds.
United States
Environmental
Protection Agency
Washington, DC 20450
and Emergency
Response (5105T)
Solid Waste
EPA 500-F-99-062
May 99

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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-99-062
May 99

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