Update
CMRPC is currently seeking Proposals from Qualified Environmental Professional (QEP) services contractors to implement its FY2025 EPA Assessment Coalition Grant. See the Announcement here.
Background
CMRPC’s brownfields program began in 2009. The program has received financial assistance from both the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. In Fiscal Years 2009 and 2018, CMRPC was awarded Community-wide Assessment Grants by the EPA. District Local Technical Assistance funding from the Commonwealth of Massachusetts also enabled the creation of a Regional Brownfields Plan in 2016 to inventory potential brownfields sites in Central Massachusetts.
The overall goal of the regional brownfields program is to enhance redevelopment and revitalization efforts and outcomes in the region. To date, the CMPRC brownfields program has assessed 25 sites that were known or suspected to be contaminated with oil and/or hazardous substances, leading to several successful redevelopments.
What’s a Brownfield?
EPA defines brownfields as “real property, the expansion, redevelopment, or re-use of which may be complicated by the presence or potential presence of a hazardous substance, pollutant, or contaminant.” More than 4,600 contaminated or possibly-contaminated sites in CMRPC’s 40-municipality planning district have been reported to the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection (MassDEP) since 1993. While most of these have been cleaned up, those that remain have the potential to negatively impact the region’s health, natural resources, and economic development. Impacts from brownfields include contributions to blight and vandalism, public health and environmental risks, erosion of property values and tax revenues, as well as loss of greenspace for public benefit. Underserved populations tend to bear a disproportionate burden from brownfield properties.
FY2025 EPA Assessment Coalition Grant
Most recently, CMRPC was awarded a Fiscal Year 2025 Brownfields Assessment Coalition Grant from the EPA. Grant funds will facilitate revitalization of brownfields by investigating the type and extent of contaminants at known or suspected brownfields through Phase I and Phase II environmental site assessments, surveys of hazardous building materials (asbestos, lead paint, etc.), cleanup plans, and related submittals to regulatory entities.
CMRPC’s Coalition partners for the grant are the Town of Southbridge and the Quaboag Valley Community Development Corporation. The grant application identified five target areas: the Town of Southbridge, the Town of Spencer, the Town of Warren, the Town of Webster, and the City of Worcester. One to two priority sites were also designated for each target area. Primary focus for assessment and cleanup/reuse planning activities will be on these target areas and priority sites, but projects throughout CMRPC’s 40-municipality service area are eligible to receive assistance, subject to EPA eligibility determinations. At least two sites in each Coalition member’s geographic boundaries must be assessed.
Regional Plan
CMRPC previously completed a region-wide brownfields plan to identify brownfields-impacted neighborhoods and key sites throughout the region. For more information, see CMRPC Regional Brownfields Plan.
Brownfields Advisory Committee
CMRPC’s informal Brownfields Advisory Committee serves as a regional roundtable for brownfields topics. When funding is available for site assessment it provides feedback and guidance on site selection priorities. See also CMRPC Brownfields Advisory Committee.
Though this project has been funded wholly or in part by the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the contents of this web page do not necessarily reflect the views and policies of EPA.
