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Brownfields 1994 Assessment Pilot Fact Sheet
Bridgeport, CT
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 City of Bridgeport for a Brownfields
Pilot. Bridgeport is the largest and most economically,
fiscally, and demographically distressed city in
Connecticut. Industrial employment has dropped steadily
in each of the last three decades. Unemployment in
impacted industrial corridors is significantly higher than
the City-wide rate of 8.6 percent. Approximately 50
percent of the area's manufacturing base has been lost in
the past decade. The area's poverty rate is 17 percent, and
per capita income in the area is 60 percent of the State
average. Many businesses have left Bridgeport for the
greener fields in the suburbs, resulting in several hundred
acres of formerly prime industrial land in the City that lie
derelict and abandoned due to the presence or threat of
contamination.
Pilot Snapshot
Date of Announcement: 08/24/1994
Amount: $200,000
Profile: The Pilot targets underutilized, vacant or
abandoned properties in inner-city Bridgeport that the
City hopes to return to productive use.
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: City of Bridgeport,CT
(203) 576-7760
Objectives
The Bridgeport Pilot is working to return contaminated
inner-city, derelict land to productive use and to serve as
a prototype for other cities to redevelop brownfields. To
achieve this objective, the Pilot is encouraging cleanup
and economic development, long-term growth, and
prosperity by empowering community-based groups to
be part of the decision-making process that shapes their
neighborhoods and the City. The City expects that the
resuscitation of Bridgeport's brownfields will lead to the
creation of new jobs, local economic growth, increased
tax base, increased property values, and improved
quality of life for the surrounding community.
Activities
The Pilot has:
•	Conducted field studies to identify underutilized,
vacant, or abandoned properties;
•	Established an inventory of 205 brownfields
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sites;
•	Ranked brownfields sites for development
potential using a database prioritization model;
•	Categorized and prioritized cleanup of
redevelopable properties based on the degree of
reclamation work necessary under the State's
environmental laws. The City, various City
departments, the Connecticut Department of
Environmental Protection and Economic
Development, the Community Linkage for
Environmental Action Now (CLEAN), and a
local community task force have been working
together;
•	Selected six high-priority sites for "highest and
best use" studies using the database model in
combination with other experimental and
intuitive criteria;
•	Conducted Phase I site assessments on the six
sites;
•	Prepared redevelopment strategies for each of
these six sites; and
•	Held an "Environmental Job Training and
Education Summit" to showcase opportunities
within the environmental technology field and
encourage community involvement and
awareness of environmental issues.
The Pilot is:
•	Hosting an "Investors Forum" to showcase
development opportunities of the prioritized
sites;
•	Initiating cooperative relationships with other
Federal and State agencies and local groups and
institutions to develop programs and services that
enhance urban revitalization efforts in
brownfields areas;
•	Linking cleanup and redevelopment efforts with
appropriate job training opportunities;
•	Identifying environmental obstacles to
brownfields redevelopment;
•	Estimating duration and methods of cleanup and
availability of funding;
•	Coordinating with the Housatonic Community
and Technical College to offer environmental
science courses to students who can then assist in
City redevelopment efforts;
•	Finalizing an educational brochure on the
brownfields program;
•	Targeting local businesses wishing to lease or
purchase additional space to encourage them to
participate in the brownfields effort and remain in
Bridgeport; and
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Evaluating the reclamation effort's success at the
conclusion of the Pilot projects.
United States
Environmental
Protection Agency
Washington, DC 20450
Experience with the Bridgeport Pilot has been a catalyst
for related activities including the following.
•	Westinghouse completed building demolition of
the former Bryant Electric site. The Pilot is
conducting site assessment activities. Once site
cleanup is completed, the property will be
transferred to the City by the current owners. The
City is negotiating with potential developers to
locate a 140,000 square foot manufacturing
facility at the site. The project is expected to
create 400 jobs.
•	Received an "Economic Adjustment" grant of
$200,000 from the Economic Development
Administration for site characterization efforts.
•	A combination of Federal, State and private
funds have been combined to capitalize a $7
million "Grow Bridgeport" fund for small
business financing, site assessment, and
remediation. This "Limited Liability
Corporation" (LLC) will establish a loan
program for site characterization and remediation
efforts.
•	The City of Bridgeport will also receive nearly
$3 million in Federal Enterprise Community
funds to implement its 10-year strategic plan. The
budget proposes $200,000 for
brownfields-related job training and an
additional $200,000 for additional site
characterization.
•	The EPA and the National Park Service are
working out an interagency agreement which
will support local effort for the local
Groundwork Trusts, a program established to
assist local communities to reclaim brownfields
sites for park and recreation use. The Federal
Enterprise community has budgeted $200,000
towards this effort.
•	The American Institute of Architects (AIA) used
a former power plant in Bridgeport as the focus
for an Environmental Design Charrette (EDC).
The purpose of this charrette is to bring together
diverse elements of the community to collaborate
for a comprehensive view of the interconnection
between economic need, community
development, and long-term environmental
stability.
•	Governor Rowland has appointed a "Team
Bridgeport" to develop a State action plan for the
redevelopment of Bridgeport. The Governor has
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pledged $2 million in State funds to support for
site purchase and land assembly, environmental
assessment, remediation design, and cleanup.
•	MITRE, a national non-profit engineering firm,
is researching investment firms and banks to
determine what information the banking world
needs to approve funding of brownfields
properties.
•	The Central High School is working with
students to prepare a video on the Brownfields
Program in Bridgeport.
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-97-005
May 97

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/r^. Brownfields 1994 Supplemental Assessment
I jig) Pilot Fact Sheet
ppw^ City of Bridgeport, CT
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 has selected the City of Bridgeport to receive
supplemental assistance for its Brownfields Assessment
Demonstration Pilot and additional funding for
assessments at Brownfields properties to be used for
greenspace purposes. Bridgeport is the largest an
Pilot Snapshot
Date of Announcement: 04/01/2001
Amount: $150,000
$50,000 for Greenspace
Profile: The Pilot will target four sites in the Lower
East End neighborhood of Bridgeport for
environmental assessment and cleanup and another
site for greenspace reuse.
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: City of Bridgeport,CT
(336)373-2509
Objectives
The Pilot will use EPA's supplemental assistance grant
to target four brownfield sites in the Lower East End
neighborhood for assessment, cleanup, and
redevelopment. The four sites are an abandoned auto
body shop and scrap yard, an abandoned auto paints s
Activities
The Pilot plans to:
•	Conduct Phase I and Phase II environmental site
assessments on four sites targeted for cleanup
and redevelopment and the one site targeted for
greenspace; and
•	Utilize a citywide partnership called the Park
City Brownfields Redevelopment Partnership to
continue the success implemented with previous
funds which established a "stakeholder-driven"
process of leveraging public/private funding and
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developing a community-based consensus reuse
plan.
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-01-292
Apr 01

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