Brownfields Showcase Community Fact Sheet

Community Profile

Glen Cove, New York

The City of Glen Cove seeks to redevelop 146 acres of underused, often contaminated brownfields along the city's waterfront district. Attracting new businesses to these restored sites is expected to create 1,700 full-time jobs and more than $200 million in annual sales.

Background

The Brownfields National Partnership has selected the City of Glen Cove as a Brownfields Showcase Community. Glen Cove (population 25,000) is one of only three areas along the entire 314-mile Long Island Sound Coastline to be recommended for “concentrated waterfront development” by the New York Department of State. The Glen Cove Creek area has been the hub of industrial activity since the mid-1600s. The city’s Waterfront Revitalization Plan seeks to clean up and redevelop 214 acres of mostly contaminated, abandoned and underused properties within Glen Cove’s 1.1-mile waterfront district. Sixty-eight percent of this land is made up of brownfields with histories of heavy industrial and manufacturing use. The entire waterfront district has been declared an “urban blight area” by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). Thirteen percent of households within one mile of the district’s center have annual incomes below $15,000. The development area contains two federal Superfund sites totaling 28 acres; a 25-acre, New York Statelisted hazardous waste property; and other sites with varied levels of contamination. Activities at these sites have spawned numerous partnerships and working relationships among the city, government at all levels, the private sector, and the local community.

Current Activities and Achievements

In 1997, Glen Cove received a $50,000 Brownfields Pilot grant from EPA to support the city's cleanup and redevelopment efforts. Glen Cove has received almost $2 million in additional support from various federal agencies. The city has already demonstrated superior ability to manage funds and complete the projects/programs required. Highlights of Glen Cove's brownfields redevelopment efforts include:

• Negotiating an Order on Consent with the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (NYSDEC), where NYSDEC will reimburse the city for 75% of assessment and cleanup costs of the 25-acre "Captain's Cove" brownfields site;

• Negotiating a deal with the owner of Captain's Cove, to receive 25% of the property's eventual sale price;

• Completing an environmental audit of a 2-acre former marine salvage property;

• Receiving grants from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) totaling $35,000, to conduct three "Commitments to Action" workshops. Workshop attendees have included EPA, HUD, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, NYSDEC, Transportation, and Parks, the media, architectural and engineering professionals from the private sector, developers, and elected officials;

• Dredging one-third of Glen Cove Creek, which had not been dredged since 1964;

• Working closely with HUD to secure a $10 million line of credit, which will assist in the acquisition of privately held brownfields, as well as in the investigation of soil contaminants and subsequent cleanup; and

• Receiving a $570,000 Intermodal Surface Transportation Efficiency Act (ISTEA) grant, to fund construction of a biofiltration system for the creek, and to conduct pedestrian walkways around the creek.

Showcase Community Objectives and Planned Activities

Glen Cove plans to use the Showcase Communities project to clean up and redevelop the city's brownfields sites, while working closely with federal, state and local agencies, and environmental, business and community groups. Studies indicate that redeveloping Glen Cove's waterfront brownfields will result in 1,700 new, full-time jobs at all skill levels, offering employment to low- and moderate-income residents. New businesses on redeveloped sites are expected to gross $200 million in annual sales, with annual tax yields of nearly $10 million. New worker earnings generated as a result of Glen Cove's redevelopment are projected at $82 million in the year 2000. The construction phase of development is expected to generate as much as $97 million for resident workers. Glen Cove is currently working with several developers interested in land encompassing the largest of the two Superfund sites, as well as the 25-acre, state-listed property. Negotiations are also ongoing to build and operate a high-speed passenger ferry, which will be based at the western end of the Captain's Cove site. Both NOAA and the New York Department of State (NYSDOS) will continue to use Glen Cove's revitalization strategies and management techniques as models for other communities.

For more information on the Brownfields Showcase Communities,
visit the EPA Brownfields web site at:
http://www.epa.gov/brownfields/showcase.htm