Riverdam, a new residential community in Biddeford’s historic Mill District, is a recent recipient of SMPDC’s Brownfields Program. Courtesy photo

SACO —Southern Maine Planning and Development Commission in Saco has been awarded $3.9 million from the Environmental Protection Agency for assistance with Brownfields cleanup for projects in Sanford, Berwick and Biddeford and throughout the region.

Brownfields sites are properties that are typically contaminated with pollutants, according to a SMPDC news release. This new grant brings SMPDC’s total from the EPA’s Brownfields Program to close to $13 million over the last 18 years, the most of any recipient in New England.

SMPDC’s Brownfields low interest loan and grant program has a strong track record of supporting the redevelopment of blighted properties. This particular round of funding is supported by President Joe Biden’s Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, which will provide 227 communities nationwide with grant awards for a total of $147.5  million in Brownfields Assessment, Revolving Loan Fund, and Cleanup Grant funding. The state of Maine is receiving a total of $24.2 million for Brownfields projects.

“This is great news for Southern Maine. We appreciate the continued support from the EPA, which assists us in running our highly successful Brownfields program for our region. This program results in new jobs and housing, an expanded tax base, ridding sites of contamination and reuse of underused buildings and properties,” SMPDC Economic Development Director Chuck Morgan said.

Riverdam, a new residential community in a 19th century industrial building along the Saco River in Biddeford’s historic Mill District, is a recent success story for SMPDC’s Brownfields Program, Morgan said.

“Due to its past long term use as a manufacturing facility, the site had environmental challenges that impeded reuse and redevelopment,” he said. “In order to foster cleanup and reuse of the facility, SMPDC provided a $200,000 grant to the City of Biddeford and loan funds to the developer. The environmental challenges at the facility have since been remediated and the mill currently provides housing.”

Business and property owners, developers, and others can learn more about the process and criteria for accessing funds from the Brownfields program by speaking with Morgan. He can be reached at cmorgan@smpdc.org or 207-571-7065.

The Brownfields program is intended to advance environmental justice, spur economic revitalization, and create jobs by cleaning up contaminated, polluted, or hazardous properties. Brownfield projects can range from cleaning up buildings with asbestos or lead contamination, to assessing and cleaning up abandoned properties that once managed dangerous chemicals. Once cleaned up, former Brownfield properties can be redeveloped into productive uses such as libraries, affordable housing, businesses, health centers, museums, parks, and solar farms.