s jOLI Brownfields 1995 Assessment Pilot Fact Sheet
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Boston, MA
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 Boston for a Brownfields Pilot.
The city's Brownfields Partnership Task Force is
providing funding to the Brownfields Economic
Redevelopment Initiative (BERI). This initiative has
focused on the Dudley Street Neighborhood (DSN)
located in the heart of the Roxbury and North Dorchester
areas of Boston. The DSN is the principal business
center for Boston's African-American community, yet it
suffers from greater unemployment (30 percent) than
other Boston neighborhoods. The DSN also bears a
disproportionate number of Massachusetts' contaminated
sites - with 4 percent of the state's population, the DSN
contains nine percent of the state's listed contaminated
sites. Thirteen hundred vacant lots, many of which are
contaminated with lead paint waste, extend over the 1.5
square miles of the DSN area.
Pilot Snapshot
Date of Announcement: 09/01/1995
Amount: $200,000
Profile: The Pilot targets the Dudley Street
Neighborhood, which contains approximately 1,300
vacant lots, many of which are contaminated.
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 Boston,MA
(617)918-4307
Objectives
The City of Boston is addressing brownfields as part of
a multi-dimensional strategy to revitalize the Dudley
Street Neighborhood. Various neighborhood groups and
agencies are working together as members of BERI to
direct economic growth to redevelop brownfields. These
groups include: the City of Boston; the Boston
Redevelopment Authority; EPA Region 1; the Dudley
Street Neighborhood Initiative; el Nuestra Comunidad
Development Corporation; the Alternative for
Community & Environment, Inc.; the Environmental
Diversity Forum; the Commonwealth of Massachusetts'
Office of the Attorney General, the Department of
Environmental Protection, the Department of Capital
Planning and Operations; and the University of
Massachusetts.
Activities
The Pilot has:
• Developed a brownfields map of an
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approximately 1.5-square-mile area
encompassing the Dudley Street Neighborhood
Initiative core, parts of Dudley Square, and North
Dorchester, (this map was designed to aid the
Pilot in identifying potential brownfields);
•	Identified approximately 1,300 vacant lots within
the DSN, and identified and researched more
than 80 sites as part of the site-selection process;
•	Targeted seven sites for the project: Freedom
Electronics, Modern Electroplating, Clifton
Street Bakery, Hampden Street, and Simon's Lot,
Parcel P-3, and Crosstown Center;
•	Conducted historical reviews, site visits, and
other investigations for eight sites in the target
area;
•	Collected and stored information for the five
targeted sites in a geographic information system
(GIS), including economic assets, contamination
levels, zoning, and nearby transportation systems
such as the subway, bus terminals, thoroughfares,
and commuter rail lines;
•	Conducted community outreach meetings to
obtain feedback regarding redevelopment at the
targeted sites; and
•	Created an outreach package about the targeted
area to encourage participation from
stakeholders. The package includes information
on government grants and loans, relevant
legislation, initiatives by the city, and a list of
brownfields site attributes.
The Pilot is:
•	Initiating site assessment activities at the Parcel
P-3 and Crosstown Center sites;
•	Developing a community outreach program
regarding Pilot activities;
•	Investigating ways to secure assessment and
cleanup funding and promote environmental
compliance assurance for the targeted sites; and
•	Developing a strategy for redeveloping
brownfields that builds on previous brownfields
redevelopment efforts and institutionalizes
brownfields activities.
Experience with the Boston Pilot has been a catalyst for
related activities, including the following:
• The city has embarked on several capital
improvements in the DSN and has secured
federal Enterprise Community (EC) funds to
assist in the economic revitalization of Roxbury
and other areas. The city plans to encourage
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development of jobs and the economy within the
DSN by addressing cleanup of the area's
brownfields.
•	Phase I and Phase II assessments, funded by the
Department of Neighborhood Development,
were conducted on the Freedom Electronics
property.
•	The designation of the Freedom Electronics
property as an Overall Economic Development
Project by the Metropolitan Area Planning
Council has allowed the city to apply for and
receive a $750,000 grant from the Economic
Development Administration to use toward
cleanup, demolition, construction, land filling, or
other development activities on the property.
•	EPA funded a Phase I and partial Phase II
assessment at the Modern Electroplating site
through the Targeted Brownfields Assessment
program.
•	In 1999, the Department of Housing and Urban
Development awarded Boston $6.8 million in
Brownfields Economic Development Initiative
funding to redevelop the Modern Electroplating
site ($1.75 million in grant funding and $5.05
million in HUD loan guarantees). The City of
Boston and the Boston Redevelopment Authority
will use these funds to turn the site into a
commercial development and parking facility.
Businesses and other local, state, and federal
government agencies are expected to invest more
than $8.72 million in additional funds. The total
project is expected to create an estimated 1,200
jobs.
•	STRIVE-Boston Employment Service, Inc., was
awarded an additional $200,000 as one of EPA's
Brownfields Job Training and Development
Demonstration Pilots.
•	Boston was awarded a $500,000 grant under
EPA's Brownfields Cleanup Revolving Loan
Fund Pilot program.
•	The Pilot program provided information to the
State Brownfields Committee, which drafted
brownfields legislation for the city.
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.
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w5
Brownfields 1995 Supplemental Assessment
Pilot Fact Sheet
City of Boston, MA
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 Boston to receive
supplemental assistance for its Brownfields Assessment
Demonstration Pilot and additional funding for
assessments at Brownfields properties to be used for
greenspace purposes. Managed by the Boston
Redevelopment Authority (BRA), the Pilot will further
the work of the original Assessment Pilot by conducting
assessments at four priority sites, one of which-the
Modern Electroplating site-was initially investigated
under the original Pilot. The Pilot will also ensure each
Department of Neighborhood Development
(DND)-owned site (three of the four targeted sites) is in
compliance with the Massachusetts Contingency Plan
(MCP).
Since 1995, the city and the BRA have worked together
and with other local organizations and community
groups to develop and improve their comprehensive
brownfields strategy. The original Assessment Pilot
managed the public participation process, assembled site
inventories, created site profiles, and developed reuse
strategies for five initial targeted sites. With the BRA, the
Pilot developed reuse scenarios for four of the five sites,
many of which are now moving toward redevelopment.
The original Pilot also forged strong partnerships with
local organizations, such as Alternative for Community
Pilot Snapshot
Date of Announcement: 04/01/2001
Amount: $150,000
$150,000 for Greenspace
Profile: City of Boston, MA. The Pilot plans to
continue the efforts initiated by the Assessment Pilot
by conducting assessment activities for the eventual
cleanup and redevelopment of five targeted sites.
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 Boston,MA
(406) 454-1934
Objectives
The Pilot will use EPA's supplemental assistance grant
to continue efforts initiated by the original Assessment
Pilot. The Pilot plans to use this funding, in its entirety,
to conduct assessment activities at four targeted sites.
The Pilot has also been selected by EPA to receive
funding for greenspace activities. In cooperation with
the City of Boston's Environmental Services
Department (ESD), the Pilot will target a fifth property
(the Condor Street Beach Urban Wild project) for
cleanup and redevelopment into an open space area.
This area, a former industrial site adjacent to the
Chelsea River, will be redeveloped into an accessible,
natural area to provide the local residents with much
needed coastal access and passive recreational and
environmental education opportunities. The Pilot plans
to use the greenspace funding to conduct additional
assessments, complete cleanup and design plans, and
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Protection Agency
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and Emergency
Response (5105T)
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and Environment (ACE) and Dudley Street
Neighborhood Initiative (DSNI), in an effort to engage
the community and address environmental justice issues.
Using supplemental funding, the Pilot will target one of
the original sites and three new sites, all of which require
environmental assessments to determine contamination
issues.
work with the community during the redevelopment
planning process.
The Pilot plans to:
•	Conduct environmental assessments at the five
targeted sites;
•	Complete a cleanup and redevelopment plan for
the Condor Street Beach Urban Wild project
area; and
•	Facilitate the community-led design and planning
process for the Condor Street Beach Urban Wild
project area.
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.
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