Brownfields Assessment Pilot Fact Sheet

Troy, NY

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 clean up, and sustainably reuse brownfields. A brownfield is a site, or portion thereof, that has actual or perceived contamination and an active potential for redevelopment or reuse. EPA is funding: 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.

PILOT SNAPSHOT

Date of Announcement:
May 2000

Amount: $200,000
Greenspace: $50,000

Profile: The Pilot targets vacant or abandoned properties in South Troy, a federally designated Enterprise Community with more than two miles of waterfront along the Hudson River.

BACKGROUND

EPA has selected the City of Troy for a Brownfields Pilot. Troy was also selected to receive additional funding for assessments at Brownfields properties to be used for greenspace purposes. Troy, population 54,296, is typical of many northeastern cities with an industrial-iron and textile legacy. The Pilot will focus on South Troy, the city's industrial core, that is designated as a federal Enterprise Community and a state Economic Development Zone. The targeted area is an ethnically diverse area of the city that includes an industrial waterfront and an adjacent residential neighborhood that is home to approximately 8,000 people. More than two-thirds of South Troy residents are in the low- to moderate-income bracket and nearly half are considered very low income, earning less than half of the median for the metropolitan area. Vacant or abandoned properties comprise more than half of the land in the Pilot area. Several properties in the Pilot area are known to be contaminated, and the threat of environmental contamination throughout the industrial area has limited the redevelopment potential for all of South Troy.

South Troy is bordered by the Hudson River, recently designated as an American Heritage River. The targeted industrial area includes more than two miles of waterfront along the Hudson and other nearby waterways, which are part of the city's planned greenway and recreational park.

OBJECTIVES

The Pilot is part of Troy's comprehensive revitalization program, called the South Troy Working Waterfront Revitalization Plan, designed to return South Troy industrial properties to productive use. The goal of the program is to develop South Troy in a manner that improves the quality of life for its low-income residents and contributes to the economic viability of the city and the region. The Pilot provides the resources to perform site assessments, develop cleanup plans, conduct an extensive public involvement effort, and develop tools to facilitate the cleanup and redevelopment of properties.

The Pilot will use the greenspace funding to facilitate completion of the design and cleanup plan for a waterfront trail that will connect to a larger regional trail system. The Pilot will focus on brownfields hindering development on the southern portion of the pedestrian and bicycle trail. The trail will be constructed along the South Troy industrial Hudson River waterfront, crossing the targeted brownfields area.

ACCOMPLISHMENTS AND ACTIVITIES

Activities planned as part of this Pilot include:

Performing Phase II environmental assessments on six to eight properties;
Preparing cleanup plans for one or two of the highest-priority sites, based on Phase II assessment results, land use goals, and community priorities;
Developing strategies to expedite brownfields cleanup and redevelopment;
Developing an extensive geographic information system (GIS) database of all information known about the sites in the targeted area;
Enhancing and continuing current community education and outreach efforts around the targeted brownfields area, including forming a brownfields task force; and
Assessing brownfields and preparing cleanup plans for properties designated for pedestrian and bicycle trail construction.

The cooperative agreement for this Pilot has not yet been negotiated; therefore, activities described in this fact sheet are subject to change.

CONTACTS

City of Troy
Deputy Commissioner
(518) 270-4604

Regional Brownfields Team
U.S. EPA - Region 2
(212) 637-4314

Visit the EPA Region 2 Brownfields web site at:
http://www.epa.gov/region02/superfund/brownfields/

For further information, including specific Pilot contacts, additional Pilot information, brownfields news and events, and publications and links, visit the EPA Brownfields web site at: http://www.epa.gov/brownfields/

United States
Environmental
Protection Agency
Washington, D.C. 20460

Solid Waste
and Emergency
Response (5101)

EPA 500-F-00-124
May 2000

Outreach and Special Projects Staff (5105)

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