Brownfields Success Stories

Old Town's New Look: Along the Waterfront, an Abandoned Manufacturing Site Joins Two City Parks

On the banks of the Penobscot River in Old Town, Maine, three acres of contaminated property once home to a paper plate and cup manufacturer will soon be a recreational area with a playground, a bandstand, paths for running and biking, and a winter skating rink. The former Lily-Tulip Company site had been abandoned for seventeen years, until the City arranged to purchase the property in a settlement with the previous owner for unpaid taxes. The City found transformers on the site containing Polychlorinated Biphenyls (PCBs). "We weren't sure what kind of liability we were looking at," explains Charles Heinonen, City Engineer. "If even one of the transformers had leaked PCB-contaminated oil, the City might have been faced with a very expensive cleanup project." EPA determined the true extent of contamination in late 1996, as part of the Agency's Targeted Brownfields Assessment (TBA) program. At a cost of approximately $20,000, EPA's assessment of the former Lily-Tulip property revealed much lower levels of PCB contamination than originally feared. With EPA's assistance, the City reached an agreement with two prior owners of the property to defray a significant portion of cleanup costs. Cleanup is now complete. In January 1998, the City held a public hearing at which a detailed plan to transform the site into a large, open recreational area was unveiled. In addition to a new bandstand and running and biking paths, the site's "Central Lawn" will be flooded every winter to create a skating pond. At subsequent public meetings, suggestions from local residents contributed to what would become the master plan for Old Town's new recreational and commercial area. A redevelopment fund containing over $100,000 has already been established. The success of the former Lily-Tulip site has already inspired redevelopment in other areas of the City, according to Heinonen. And as assessments proceed on additional sites selected by EPA Region 1 for TBA funding, other communities across New England may enjoy the same level of success as Old Town. For more information on EPA Region 1's Targeted Brownfields Assessment program, contact Lynne Jennings of EPA Region 1 at (617) 573-9634.