Outreach and Special Projects Staff (5101) Quick Reference Fact Sheet

United States

Environmental

Protection Agency

Washington, D.C. 20460

Solid Waste

and Emergency

Response (5101)

Worcester, MA

National Brownfields

Assessment Pilot

EPA 500-F-97-041

May 1997

Worcester, Massachusetts

Date of Award:

June 1996

Amount: $200,000

Site Profile: The Pilot

targets at least 3 sites for

assessment and

redevelopment out of the

nearly 200 former

industrial sites in

Worcester that have been

designated as “urban

brown ground” by the

State of Massachusetts.

PILOT SNAPSHOT

EPA’s Brownfields Economic Redevelopment Initiative is designed to empower States, communities, and other

stakeholders in economic redevelopment to work together in a timely manner to prevent, assess, safely clean up, and

sustainably reuse brownfields. A brownfield is a site, or portion thereof, that has actual or perceived contamination and

an active potential for redevelopment or reuse. Between 1995 and 1996, EPA funded 76 National and Regional Brownfields

Assessment Pilots, at up to $200,000 each, to support creative two-year explorations and demonstrations of brownfields

solutions. EPA is funding more than 27 Pilots in 1997. The Pilots are intended to provide EPA, States, Tribes, municipalities,

and communities with useful information and strategies as they continue to seek new methods to promote a unified

approach to site assessment, environmental cleanup, and redevelopment.

Visit the EPA Brownfields Website at:

http://www.epa.gov/brownfields

Contacts:

Chris Pierpan

Central Massachusetts

Economic Development

Authority

(508) 799-1400

Lynne Jennings

U.S. EPA - Region 1

(617) 573-9634

jennings.lynne@

epamail.epa.gov

BACKGROUND

EPA selected the City of Worcester for a Brownfields

Pilot. Worcester and the 59 surrounding municipalities

in Worcester County have been an area of heavy

industrial activity since the early 1800s. However,

Worcester has lost 30 percent of its manufacturing

employment base since 1970, and the entire area has

seen dramatic declines as industries have moved

away. This migration has resulted in hundreds of

acres of often contaminated industrial land and high

poverty and unemployment rates in surrounding

industrial areas. Nearly 200 sites in the City and 270

sites in the surrounding County have been classified

“urban brown ground” (21E) under the State of

Massachusetts’ Superfund law.

OBJECTIVES

The Worcester Pilot is working on creating incentives

for the redevelopment of urban industrial sites and

ensuring the safety and health of the surrounding

neighborhoods. The project is focusing on returning

21E properties to the economic base, facilitating

economic expansion and property tax sharing for area

communities, and providing a mechanism and

resources for future control and response actions at

21E communities. At least 3 sites will be selected for

assessment and redevelopment.
National Brownfields Assessment Pilot Worcester, Massachusetts

May 1997 EPA 500-F-97-041

ACCOMPLISHMENTS AND ACTIVITIES

The Pilot has:

• Presented a packet of educational information

regarding brownfields redevelopment at the annual

Massachusetts Municipal Association Conference

and to the nearby Towns of Auburn and Boylston.

The Pilot is:

• Defining procedures and protocols for the identification, analysis, selection, acquisition, and disposition of sites;

• Developing a public input mechanism and process

through the formation of the Central Massachusetts

Brownfields Advisory Council; and

• Preparing a process manual as a model for other

communities.

LEVERAGING OTHER ACTIVITIES

Experience with the Worcester Pilot has been the

catalyst for related activities including the following.

• Established the Central Massachusetts Redevelopment Authority (CMEDA) through State legislation

to redevelop three sites.

• CMEDA has partnered with the Massachusetts

Development Finance Agency, the Massachusetts

Department of Environmental Protection and the

City of Grafton and has raised $90,000 to perform

an environmental assessment on the Fisherville Mill

site in Grafton.

• Investigating and developing alternatives for

financing site redevelopment.