IN
THIS ISSUE:
Brownfields
Job Training Grants to Help Many
A new round of Brownfields Job Training Grants will teach
environmental cleanup job skills to 1,080 individuals living
in low-income areas in 16 communities located near brownfields
sites. To date, more than 60 percent of the people completing
brownfields training programs obtained employment in the environmental
field with an average hourly wage of $12.84.
EPA Administrator Mike Leavitt announced the selection of
grants on March 31, 2004 while visiting the Greater Cincinnati
Occupational Health Center; where 120 people will be trained
in lead and asbestos abatement, mold remediation, environmental
sampling, and related skills. Cincinnati is one of sixteen
communities across the country that will receive grants ranging
from $40,000 to $200,000.
A total of $2.4 million will be awarded to 16 communities
in 13 states – Wisconsin, Washington, Illinois, Alabama,
Ohio, Alaska, Hawaii, Rhode Island, California, Maine, Massachusetts,
Oregon, and Missouri – to provide environmental job
training at brownfield sites.
With this announcement, 82 grants have been awarded since
the job training program began in 1998. Sixty-six pilots totaling
$13.6 million are underway or complete; more than 1,800 participants
have completed training and more than 1,100 people have obtained
employment in the environmental field. Applicants for the
job training program must be located in or near a community
that currently receives, or has received, financial assistance
from EPA for brownfields-related activities.
More information on all the grant recipients is available
at http://www.epa.gov/brownfields.
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Eyesore or
Opportunity? Historic Preservation in a Brownfield
By Sharon Baerny
Photo credit: Richard Kochanuski
Is historic preservation economically feasible in a brownfield?
Between cleanup costs and reluctant investors, demolition
might seem the only cost-effective measure. The story of Albers
Mill illustrates how one city managed to balance three, sometimes
competing, causes: preserving a cultural resource, enabling
economic opportunities, and cleaning up contamination.
Built in 1904, the decrepit brick eyesore was right in the
middle of Tacoma, Washington’s ambitious redevelopment
of the Thea Foss Waterway; next door to the bold new Museum
of Glass with its soaring metal cone; and within sight of
the burgeoning cultural district of the revitalized downtown
core. Talk about a sore thumb! However, a committed community,
a savvy developer, and an innovative addition saved the building.
Clear-cutting the waterfront
Don Meyers is the executive director of the Thea Foss Waterway
Development Authority (FWDA), the agency responsible for redevelopment
of the waterway. In 1999, as plans for the redevelopment of
the waterfront moved forward, Meyers was convinced the dilapidated
structure had to come down. He wasn’t the only one.
Even leading developers in the area said it couldn’t
be saved, he recalls.
 Others
wanted to keep the building, including the citizens group
Save Albers Mill. "People fought not just for the building,
but to avoid the removal of all vestiges of the waterfront’s
history," says Michael Sullivan of Artifacts Consulting.
Sullivan was the historic preservation consultant for the
project. He describes the conflict as an urban design debate
on the right blend of old and new, a discussion of what makes
sense and what’s feasible.
Debate raged not only within the community, but also within
the FWDA board. "The 'constraints of historic preservation'
and cost were definitely factors in deciding whether to save
or scrap the building," says Meyers. Finally one board
member convinced the others to visit a different Albers Mill
in Portland, OR that had already been restored. An addition
to that building had made seismic upgrades financially feasible.
The rest of the FWDA board realized that, with a similar approach,
they could save their building.
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National
City, CA to Begin Harbor District Restoration Program
The Community Development Commission (CDC) of National City,
CA soon will have remediation work underway for a portion
of the 200-acre Harbor District Redevelopment Area, located
west of Interstate 5 and south of Bay Marina Drive in National
City. Environmental Business Solutions (EBS) worked with the
CDC to identify and secure $750,000 in funding from the Integrated
Waste Management Board (IWMB) to address the historic landfill
located within the project site.
The CDC recently retained EBS to conduct a feasibility study
and prepare a master workplan for the Harbor District Redevelopment
Area. The San Diego County Department of Environmental Health,
the designated lead agency for the project site, recently
approved the remediation, grading, stabilization, and capping
program. Construction is expected to begin later this spring.
For more information about this project, contact Bonnie Kutch
or Sarah Daoust at 619-299-1010, or via e-mail at info@kutchco.com.
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O’Brien
Machinery Project: Enforcement Working to Redevelop Property
By Jocelyn Scott, Office of Site Remediation Enforcement
Main Street Village – an exciting new townhome community
in Downington, PA – is a far cry from the contaminated
industrial site once owned by O’Brien Machinery Co.
The 10.6-acre parcel is now the site of a 160-unit housing
development with a beautiful creek and newly landscaped surroundings.
Recognizing the benefits of this project to protect both human
health and the environment, the EPA’s Superfund enforcement
program made significant efforts to help redevelop this site.
During the 1980s, the O’Brien Machinery Company operated
a manufacturing plant that built and repaired large electrical
generators used in industrial processes. Abandoned after the
property owner filed for bankruptcy, the site turned from
a productive facility to a contaminated property riddled with
drug dealers and dilapidated buildings. In 1992, EPA found
transformers leaking PCB-containing fluids onto the site,
conducted removal activities, and attached a $1.5 million
CERCLA lien against the property for costs incurred in performing
the removal activities. Although cleanup efforts were sufficient
to prevent an endangerment from high PCB levels, further remediation
was necessary to make the site viable for reuse.
Serena, Inc. approached the Borough of Downington with a
plan to acquire the O’Brien site and redevelop it into
a townhouse neighborhood after remediation. EPA coordinated
closely with Pennsylvania Department of Environment Protection,
Chester County, the Borough, and Serena. Collaboration between
the stakeholders resulted in securing a $1million grant from
Pennsylvania’s Industrial Sites Reuse Fund and a Prospective
Purchaser Agreement between EPA and Serena for remediation
to residential levels and a controlled demolition of existing
structures. EPA’s enforcement program worked hard to
resolve its CERCLA lien against the property allowing the
project to move forward.
Serena completed the redevelopment of the O’Brien Machinery
site into an attractive upscale townhome community in 2001.
The project serves as an excellent example of how a sound
redevelopment plan and a strong partnership between federal,
state, local, and private entities can transform a brownfields
site into a redevelopment success.
For additional information, contact the author at 202-564-4795.
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Historic Grey
Hosiery Mill Returns its Service to the Community
By Holly Bullman
Photo by Brenda Coates
Nestled in the mountains of Western North Carolina in the
city of Hendersonville is a brownfield with a bright future.
Like other rural brownfields, location in a blighted area
and minor contamination issues caused the Grey Hosiery Mill’s
candidacy for redevelopment to be overlooked. Recently, civic
leaders identified the growing need for a cultural center
and saw the benefit of marrying a unique historic structure
with an arts center that would simultaneously create cultural
awareness and stimulate economic development.
 The
Old Mill Cultural Center, Inc. is the nonprofit organization
charged with revitalizing the Grey Hosiery Mill and future
management of the Old Mill Cultural Center (OMCC). In 2001,
the OMCC Steering Committee surveyed 40 local organizations
and determined many were in dire need of adequate facilities
for performances and meeting spaces. They determined the adaptive
reuse of the OMCC, now on the National Register of Historic
Places, would provide the community with facilities to accommodate
diverse tenants including the Hendersonville Symphony Orchestra,
Hendersonville Chorale, Blue Ridge Ringers (hand bells), Carolina
Chamber Singers, The Arts Center (a music and arts exhibition
center for children) Western Carolina University (gallery
space for artists and classrooms for advanced degrees), the
Hendersonville Film Society, an Insect Adventure Museum, and
others. These performance groups currently sell out events
to over 1,000 attendees at local churches, schools, and other
venues.
Adaptive reuse of the Grey Hosiery Mill will catalyze accelerated
revitalization of downtown Hendersonville and the Land-of-Sky
Region. Once fully operational, the OMCC will create new jobs
for staff responsible for coordinating events, ticket sales,
and other tasks associated with performing arts. The redevelopment
of the Grey Hosiery Mill will encourage the public to patronize
local retail and dining establishments and entice new businesses
to relocate nearby. Furthermore, development of this site
has stimulated the city’s interest in exploring a redevelopment
master plan for the district incorporating pedestrian-friendly
walkways and affordable housing.
Due to its history as a manufacturing facility, the OMCC
will first address minor contamination issues prior to redevelopment.
Through partnership with the Regional Brownfields Initiative
(RBI), the OMCC will receive resources necessary to address
environmental concerns. The RBI is a regional effort facilitated
by the Land-of-Sky Regional Council (LOSRC) dedicated to brownfields
redevelopment in the Land-of-Sky Region (Buncombe, Madison,
Henderson, and Transylvania counties).
An OMCC feasibility study has been completed and a National
Endowment of the Arts Architectural Design Competition will
commence in Summer 2004.
For further information on the OMCC, e-mail Brenda Coates
at brendcoates@msn.com
. For information on the Land-of-Sky Regional Council, contact
Holly Bullman at (828) 251-6225, ext. 132 or via e-mail at
holly@landofsky.org.
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