Choosing “Greenspace” as a 

Brownfields Reuse 

EPA’s Brownfields Program 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 property, 

the expansion, redevelopment, or reuse of which may be complicated by the presence or potential presence of a hazardous 

substance, pollutant, or contaminant. EPA’s Brownfields Program provides financial and technical assistance for brownfield 

revitalization, including grants for environmental assessment, cleanup, and job training. 

Former wastewater treatment plant transformed 

into greenspace in Denver, Colorado. 

JUST THE FACTS: 

• While economic development is an 

essential component of EPA’s 

Brownfields Program, creation and 

restoration of greenspace can provide 

recreational options, improve 

aesthetics, or simply provide the open 

space that many communities need 

to enhance their quality of life. 

• Greenspace can include parks, 

playgrounds, trails, community 

gardens, natural habitats, and 

recreational open land. 

• With effective planning, brownfields 

can be converted to greenspace 

without compromising the need to 

protect human health and the 

environment from a site’s former 

uses. 

continued 

Returning Brownfields to Natural and 

Recreational Open Land is an Emerging Trend 

EPA is helping local communities transform brownfields across the nation 

into prized greenspaces through technical assistance and Brownfields 

grants. A recognizes that establishing and restoring greenspace is an 

important and viable reuse for brownfields. Greenspace can include parks, 

playgrounds, trails, community gardens, natural habitats, and recreational 

open land. 

and industrial uses can be essential to a community’s economic revitalization, 

redevelopment into greenspace can provide aesthetic, recreational, and 

quality-of-life advantages that surpass economic benefits. 

With effective planning, brownfields can be converted to greenspace 

without compromising the need to protect human health and the 

environment. A Brownfield Pilots to date, many Pilots 

have redeveloped their properties for natural open space or recreational 

purposes or are working to include greenspace components into their 

long-range goals. 

for other communities interested in incorporating greenspace into their 

brownfields redevelopment plans. 

Incorporating Natural Space into Site Designs 

One example is the Northampton County, Virginia Brownfields Pilot, which 

partnered with the town of Cape Charles to revitalize a former town 

dump into a nationally renowned Sustainable Technology Park. The 200-

acre eco-park includes environmentally friendly manufacturing facilities 

adjacent to natural habitat, pedestrian walkways, and trails. Approximately 

one-half of the eco-park site was retained or restored as natural habitat, 

including a 30-acre Coastal Dune Natural Area Preserve and 60 additional 

acres of open space. 

Not far from the eco-park, the Brownfields Pilot is now working to turn 

property surrounding the Northampton County landfill into a new Seaside 

EP

While redevelopment of brownfields for commercial, residential, 

Of the 669 EP

Successful greenspace projects now serve as models 
Volunteers help with landscaping at a new 

community park in Portland, Oregon. 

Park that will feature the two-county Seaside Heritage Trail. This trail will include more than 12,000 feet of paths, 

with interpretive signage introducing visitors to the four major habitats on site: 

maritime forest, and saline seaside marshes of the Atlantic Ocean. 

Seaside Park will provide much-needed recreational and social opportunities within its core area, and ecotourism 

opportunities on its more remote locations. Working with the Virginia Department of Conservation and Recreation, 

Northampton County’s plans for the Seaside Park include ball fields, a horseshoe pit, volleyball courts, and other sport 

facilities. The park’s developers will also partner with the local school system to provide “outdoor classrooms” for 

students to learn about their regional habitat. , the park is planned to open in 2005. 

Recreational Reuses that Benefit the Local Community 

The St. Louis County, Missouri Brownfields Pilot partnered with the 

City of Wellston to bring much-needed greenspace and recreational 

facilities to families in the growing community. A former parking lot 

was chosen to be the site of the new Wellston Neighborhood Park. 

When complete, the 2.5-acre park will feature a new ball field, a 

playground area, a basketball court, a concession stand and restrooms, 

and walking paths. 

Habitat for Humanity of St. Louis and a local developer have built 37 

new homes, with plans to construct an additional thirteen. A 

Brownfields Assessment Pilot funds played a role in preparing these 

sites for eventual use by Habitat for Humanity of St. Louis. 

In Portland, Oregon, EPA’s Brownfields Program assisted a communityled grassroots effort to clean up the site of a former creamery and 

convert it into a community park. s Dairy, the community began envisioning 

the abandoned property as future greenspace. Working with the Portland Brownfields Showcase Community 

awarded by EPA and the Brownfields National Partnership to leverage support, the community launched a 

neighborhood effort to construct the park. A private developer donated the environmental assessment and cleanup 

work necessary to prepare the site for redevelopment. AmeriCorps volunteers 

helped landscape the property, while neighborhood residents assisted with the park’s design. Although the park’s 

development is still in progress, the project is expected to become a model for future open space redevelopment 

efforts in the area. 

In Bridgeport, Connecticut, the Park City Brownfields Redevelopment 

Partnership was awarded an EPA New England Environmental Merit 

Award in May 2002, for its work to restore the sites of a former metal 

extrusion company and an engraving/printing business for recreational 

reuse. One of the largest community-based projects in the country, 

this project involved a partnership among Bridgeport’s EPA 

Brownfields Pilot, the state, the city, and community groups to expand 

a six-acre park to ten acres by revitalizing two adjacent brownfields 

properties. With few existing recreational options in the impoverished 

surrounding neighborhood, the expanded park has significantly enhanced 

the community’s quality of life. 

continued 

Brownfields redevelopment 

plays a crucial role in 

preserving undeveloped 

“greenfields” and reducing 

associated environmental 

impacts related to urban 

sprawl. An estimated 4.5 

acres of greenfields are 

preserved for every one acre 

of brownfields redeveloped. 

a freshwater pond, grasslands, a 

On the coast and protected by barrier islands, the 

Currently

The park will be located in a neighborhood where 

EP

Eight years after the closing of Senn’

Local high school students and 

Brownfields Success Story Solid Waste October 2003 

EPA-500-F-03-248 and Emergency Response (5105) www.epa.gov/brownfields/ 
Former gravel pit redeveloped into a golf course in 

Providence, Rhode Island. 

For more information 

about EPA’s Brownfields Pilots 

and greenspace reuses, 

visit EPA’s web page at 

www.epa.gov/brownfields/ 

or call EPA’s Office of 

Brownfields Cleanup and 

Redevelopment at 

(202) 566-2777. 

In 2000, the City and County of Denver, Colorado, won a Phoenix Award, which recognizes excellence in brownfields 

redevelopment, for their work on the former Northside Wastewater Treatment Plant property. An EPA Brownfields 

Pilot grant helped to fund a study of reuse options for the site, which went on to be a model of greenspace creation. 

The former wastewater treatment plant was combined with an adjacent, city-owned brownfield that together were 

transformed into 65 acres of open space, including a recreational park, wetlands, and natural habitat for wildlife. 

surrounding community is experiencing an economic resurgence that is attributable, in part, to this project’s success. 

The Providence, Rhode Island Brownfields Pilot followed a fast-growing reuse trend 

of creating new greenspace in the form of golf course greens. 

1999, the Golf Foundation of Rhode Island approached the state regarding 

its desire to redevelop the 25-acre Button Hole site, a state-owned 

brownfield, into an affordable golf course for nearby residents and 

youths. 

in its State of Rhode Island Brownfields Assessment Pilot. A former 

gravel pit, the Button Hole site is located in Providence and lies 

adjacent to the Woonasquatucket River, a metals recycling plant 

with numerous environmental violations, and several multifamily 

housing complexes. 

plant, the site was thought to have environmental contamination. 

The Pilot funded $30,000 site assessments that revealed low levels 

of lead and arsenic at a small portion of the site. As a result, 10,000 

cubic yards of contaminated soil were excavated and encapsulated 

onsite in accordance with state regulations. 

Foundation in creating the golf course development plan. 

quickly became tremendously popular with local residents. Waldeck, of the Rhode Island Department of 

Environmental Management, stated, “these urban recreational areas, including golf courses, provide additional 

recreational alternatives and can increase community pride.” 

Benefitting the Environment and Local Residents 

These and additional examples nationwide illustrate that incorporating 

greenspace into redevelopment plans can be beneficial not just to the 

environment, but to the same communities that these brownfields had 

once negatively affected. 

component of EPA’s Brownfields Program, creation and restoration 

of greenspace can provide recreational options, improve aesthetics, 

or simply provide the open space that many communities need to 

enhance their quality of life. 

The 

In the spring of 

The state accepted this proposal and included the project 

Because of its proximity to the metals recycling 

The Pilot assisted the Golf 

The course 

Garry 

While economic development is an essential 

Brownfields Success Story Solid Waste October 2003 

EPA-500-F-03-248 and Emergency Response (5105) www.epa.gov/brownfields/