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The City of
Claremont, NH has selected HRP Associates, Inc. as
their consultant for their EPA Brownfields Assessment Pilot
project. Claremont (population 13,151) borders the Connecticut
River, a designated American Heritage River, in "Precision
Valley," an area known for its past dominance in precision
machine tool manufacturing.
The Pilot targets city-owned or controlled properties that
supported a range of past industrial operations, and will
identify and prioritize privately-owned Brownfields sites
requiring environmental assessment.
Steady decline of Claremont’s machine tool industry, textile
milling, and manufacturing operations over the past 60 years has
led to the abandonment of many large industrial buildings or
their conversion into subsidized housing. New commercial or
industrial businesses have failed to take over these properties,
in part due to the lack of site-specific information regarding
potential environmental contamination.
EPA is funding:
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Assessment
demonstration pilot programs (each funded up to $200,000
over two years) to assess Brownfields sites and to test
cleanup and redevelopment models;
-
Job training
pilot programs (each funded up to $200,000 over two years)
to provide training for residents of communities affected by
Brownfields to facilitate cleanup of Brownfields sites and
prepare trainees for future employment in the environmental
field; and
-
Cleanup
revolving loan fund programs (each funded up to $500,000
over five years) to capitalize loan funds to make loans for
the environmental cleanup of Brownfields.
These pilot
programs 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.
The city’s objective is to return Brownfields sites in the
downtown and mill districts to the city’s market and tax roles,
while encouraging a mixed-use redevelopment of the reclaimed
properties.
The Pilot plans to accomplish this objective by performing site
assessments on priority sites and preparing cleanup and reuse
plans for these sites. The Pilot will also fund community
involvement activities. 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 cleanup, and
sustainably reuse Brownfields.
Activities planned as part of this Pilot include:
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Developing a
Brownfields reuse project steering committee representing
the city, residential neighborhoods adjacent to Brownfields
sites, and partner organizations;
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Establishing
site selection criteria reflecting information on historical
use, vacancy rates, and public input;
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Performing
Phase I environmental assessments at up to eight sites;
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Prioritizing
sites that have the greatest redevelopment potential based
on the extent of contamination and location;
-
Conducting
Phase II environmental assessments at a limited number of
priority sites; and
-
Conducting
community outreach through individual contacts and televised
public meetings.
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