EPA-560-F-08-304 brownfields October 2008

at-a-glance

Northwest Regional Planning Commission, VT 

FORMER LITCHFIELD PROPERTY Assessment Grant 

Habitat for Humanity Sees a Former Gas Station in Swanton, Vermont 

as a Perfect Fit for Residential Reuse 

ADDRESS: 134 Grand Avenue, Swanton, VT 05488 

PROPERTY SIZE: 0.90 acres 

FORMER USE: Gasoline/service station; rental unit 

CURRENT USE: Duplex constructed by Habitat for Humanity 

EPA GRANT RECIPIENT: PROJECT PARTNERS: 

Vermont’s Northwest Regional Planning 

Commission (NRPC) received two 

$200,000 Brownfields Assessment grants 

from EPA in 2003: one for hazardous 

substances and one for petroleum. 

[Former property owner] David Litchfield; 

Green Mountain Chapter of Habitat for 

Humanity 

For additional data and geographic 

information for this and other 

Brownfields Grants, please visit EPA’s: 

Envirofacts - www.epa.gov/enviro/ 

html/bms/bms_query.html 

Enviromapper - www.epa.gov/ 

enviro/bf 

PROJECT BACKGROUND: 

This property operated as a gasoline and service station until the early 1960s, after which the owner converted it to 

a duplex rental unit. The property changed hands several times, but continued to operate as a residential rental until 

2003. That year, the Town of Swanton put the site up for sale to offset tax liens. The property was purchased by David 

Litchfield, who hoped to remodel the existing structure and continue to operate it as a rental unit; however, the building’s 

condition was determined to be too poor, and the existing structure was demolished. Now looking to resell the property, 

Mr. Litchfield was contacted by the Green Mountain Chapter of Habitat for Humanity, which was itself looking for 

residential property in the area. Research about the property uncovered its former use as a service station, as well as a 

lack of records indicating whether the site’s fuel storage tanks had ever been removed. To resolve these contamination 

uncertainties, Habitat referred Mr. Litchfield to the NRPC’s Brownfields Program. Brownfields Assessment grants 

awarded to NRPC in 2003 funded assessments of the property. 

KEY ACCOMPLISHMENTS: 

• The NRPC used $37,712 of the Brownfields petroleum grant and 

$5,844 of the hazardous materials grant to perform assessments, 

which confirmed that the station’s underground storage tanks had 

been removed.

• While confirming the presence of some contaminants, assessments 

determined that no cleanup would be required prior to reuse.

• Habitat for Humanity leveraged more than $83,000 for the 

purchase and redevelopment of the property, through donations 

and in-kind services. 

• The site is now home to a duplex unit occupied by two families. 

OUTCOME: 

A series of assessments, funded by the NRPC’s 2003 EPA Brownfields Assessment grants, confirmed the presence 

of petroleum and some volatile organic compounds (VOCs) in the site’s soil and groundwater. However, it was also 

confirmed that these contaminants were reducing through “natural attenuation,” were not migrating, and would require 

no cleanup. These assessments also removed the uncertainty as to whether the former gas station’s underground storage 

tanks had been removed, as no tanks were found. Habitat for Humanity purchased the property in 2006, leveraging 

more than $83,000 in donations and in-kind services to build a residential duplex on the property. These homes are now 

occupied by two families. 

Habitat for Humanity’s new duplex on the former Litchfield 

property, with construction nearly complete. 

FOR MORE INFORMATION: Visit the EPA Brownfields Web site at http://www.epa.gov/brownfields/ or call EPA Region 1 at (617) 918-1111