For Some of Maine’s Former 

Brownfields, Impressive

Reuse Plans 

State of Maine JUST THE FACTS:

The mountain of snow on a picturesque, 14-acre site on Waterville, 

• Though the City of Waterville had 

been interested in redeveloping a 14-

Maine's waterfront is ringed with "No Trespassing" signs to ward off kids acre, waterfront brownfield for years,

who might be tempted to climb it. For years, the site has served as the it was not until an EPA Brownfields 

dumping ground for snow collected by Waterville's road-clearing crews dur- Assessment Pilot grant was awarded ing typically harsh Maine winters. During warmer months, the site serves as to Maine's State Planning Office that the location for an occasional waterfront festival, its surface of patchy scrub detailed assessments of the property grass and dirt trodden for a few hours by hundreds of local residents before became possible. again being left empty. • With assessments complete and a 

Nearly forty years ago, the property was home to thriving businesses and 

industry stretching back more than a century. Former uses included a wood 

mill and foundry, as well as tenements and housing complexes. More recently, 

the site had been home to gas stations before being abandoned in the 1960s. 

Though the City of Waterville had been interested in redeveloping the site for 

years, it was not until an EPA Brownfields grant was awarded to Maine's 

cleanup plan in place, the Waterville 

brownfield has been attracting a lot of 

attention from potential developers. A 

redevelopment plan calls for a new 

amphitheater, a cultural center, and 

recreational greenspace. 

State Planning Office (SPO) that detailed assessments of the waterfront • One of the two additional sites 

property became possible. The city had already developed a master selected to receive EPA Brownfields 

redevelopment plan over the course of several years. Presented to the grant funding includes a four-story, 

community for approval in at least three public meetings, the plan called for a 66,000-square-foot building with 

balance of commercial and retail development along with recreational industrial activity dating back to the 

greenspace such as walking trails and a promenade. early 1900s. This property's 

redevelopment into a job training 

For Ron Singel, Waterville City Manager, transforming this waterfront property center and additional business space is

was a familiar challenge. Singel had already played a role in transforming a nearly complete.

waterfront site in Old Town, Maine (where he also served as city manager)

from a contaminated, former industrial site to commercial and recreational

greenspace (a detailed article can be found at http://www.epa.gov/brownfields/

pdf/ ss_oldtn.pdf).

"In Old Town, we were proactive in regard to redevelopment instead of

reactive, and we tried to do the same thing in Waterville," explains Singel.

"[The Waterville site] was lucky to be one of three sites selected to make use

of the Brownfields grant. Though the site had sat vacant for nearly 20 years,

[redevelopment] interest was always there. The city was ready to move

forward."

Assessments funded by the EPA grant revealed coal ash, lead, and petroleum

byproducts. Prior to reuse, the entire site will be capped at an estimated cost

of $400,000. The city has applied for public sector funding to cover cleanup,

and expects to move forward as soon as summer 2003.

"In Old Town, we were 

proactive in regard to redevelopment 

instead of reactive, and we tried to 

do the same thing in Waterville. 

[The Waterville site] was lucky to be one 

of three sites selected to make use of [EPA's] 

Brownfields grant. Though the site had sat 

vacant for nearly 20 years, [redevelopment] 

interest was always there. 

The city was ready to move forward." 

Ron Singel, Waterville 

City Manager 

continued 
CONTACTS: 

For more information contact 

U.S. EPA-Region 1 (617) 918-1424 

Or A’s Brownfields Web site at: 

http://www.epa.gov/brownfields/ 

The new business facility/job 

training center in Rumford. 

With assessments complete and a cleanup plan in place, the site has been attracting a lot of attention 

from potential developers. An updated redevelopment plan calls for a new amphitheater, a four-story 

office, a restaurant, and a proposed Franco-American cultural center (Waterville was the first 

major settlement in Maine for French Canadians, who made up half the city's population 

in the early 1900s). 

greenspace, with a promenade and walking trails along the waterfront. Total 

redevelopment costs are estimated at nearly $6 million, with an expected time 

frame of up to three years. 

180 jobs. 

One of the two additional sites selected by the State SPO and the Maine 

Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) to receive EPA 

Brownfields grant funding lies approximately 45 miles west of Waterville in 

the Town of Rumford. The four-story, 66,000-square-foot building on the 

property was once part of the Mead Paper complex, with industrial activity 

dating back to the early 1900s. 

In 1998, after announcing that it was leaving the specialty paper business, Mead 

shut down several of its manufacturing facilities, eliminating nearly 175 local jobs. 

The company considered its options for the three-acre site, where the building was at the time 

serving as an equipment storage facility. 

It was around that time that one of Maine's largest economic summits revealed that thousands of the 

state's available jobs were going unfilled because of a lack of skilled workers. Working in partnership 

with the River Valley Growth Council (River Valley encompasses 10 towns in Maine, including Rumford), 

Mead realized that the site could be reused as a facility to help develop work skills and create new jobs. 

The company donated the property and building to the River Valley Growth Council as the eventual site 

of a new technical job training school. Approximately $30,000 of the state's EPA 

Brownfields grant was used to perform assessments on the property, revealing 

minor asbestos and lead contamination that is being removed during the building's 

renovation. , this $2 million site restoration project is 

being funded by a $1.3 million construction grant from the federal Economic 

Development Agency, with the Maine Department of Economic and 

Community Development covering the remainder. 

When renovations are finished, the building will be turned over to the River 

Valley Technical Center (RVTC) for use as its dedicated training facility. 

The RVTC is a corporation comprising more than 20 representatives of 

public and private entities, including Central Maine Technical College, the 

University of Southern Maine, local industry, a career center, government 

officials, the Financial Authority of Maine, and the River Valley Growth Council. The 

RVTC received $800,000 from the U.S. Department of Labor in October 2001 to 

establish job training and education classes; those classes started in January 2002 in 

two state locations, including the Central Maine Technical College. 

On the former Mead Paper site, the RVTC's new training facility will open its doors in November 2003, 

providing job skills in both industrial and manufacturing trades. 

portion of the renovated building, and the RVTC is already taking applications from other businesses 

interested in starting up or relocating there. 

visit EP

The remainder of the site will serve as recreational 

The redeveloped site will be home to as many as 

Currently underway

The training facility will only take up a 

Brownfields Success Story Solid Waste EPA 500-F-03-012 

State of Maine and Emergency May 2003 

Response (5105) www.epa.gov/brownfields/