BEDI program serves as catalyst
Sitting in the center of Port Townsend’s National Landmark Historic District was a blemish in this otherwise small, picturesque town on the Olympic Peninsula in Washington. Two acres of contaminated property along the shoreline of Port Townsend Bay needed a new owner to come in and clean it up, rejuvenating that section of the historic district.
The Northwest Maritime Center and Wooden Boat Foundation, a nonprofit organization, stepped up with a plan for the property. It wanted to build an educational center that would celebrate the marine heritage of the Puget Sound while educating visitors about its history and importance.
The $12 million center would create jobs and serve as a spark in that section of town, says Dave Robison, executive director. However, to rejuvenate the downtown, the center would need some financial help to get started on cleaning up a major hurdle: the contamination.
From 1927 until the early 1980s, the property was a bulk oil transfer station. Barges docked there and transferred oil into tanks. Later, the oil was transferred to trucks that pulled up to the docks, where much of the spilling occurred. Over the past several decades, much of the contamination was flushed out with the tides, Robison says. What remained were two hot spots: a leaking tank and an area near the dock.
Through the city of Port Townsend, the maritime center applied for a grant from the Brownfields Economic Development Initiative (BEDI). In 2000, the project received a $500,000 grant, as well as a $1 million loan from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), which administers the BEDI program.
In 2002, the grant dollars were used to clean up the site. About 2,500 cubic yards of contaminated soil were removed. The money also was used to pay for the removal of an old, damaged dock and to construct a new one.
Without the BEDI funds, the maritime center may never have gotten off the ground, says Pete Helsell, finance director there. In fact, the center didn’t close on the property until it had the BEDI grant, as well as an agreement with Unocal, a previous owner that agreed to pay for a large portion of the cleanup. Without the BEDI grant, the organization probably wouldn’t have purchased the property.
“We feel blessed, that’s for sure,” Helsell says. “It was a very important stepping stone for us.”
The EPA awards only a handful of BEDI grants every year. Annually, $10 million is available to applicants nationwide. EPA Region 10 is fortunate if it earns one of the grants each year. In fact, since 2000, only four BEDI grants have been awarded to cities in Region 10. The grant to Port Townsend was the first BEDI grant awarded in Washington.
The grants are used to stimulate and promote economic and community development. BEDI is designed to assist cities with the redevelopment of abandoned and underused industrial and commercial facilities where expansion and redevelopment is burdened by real or potential contamination.
BEDI grants must be used in conjunction with a Section 108-guaranteed loan commitment. Section 108 is the loan guarantee provision of the Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) program. HUD emphasizes the use of BEDI and Section 108 Loan Guarantee funds to finance projects and activities that will provide “near-term results and demonstrable economic benefits.” This program isn’t for site acquisition or remediation where there’s no immediately planned redevelopment.
Both Section 108 and BEDI grant funds are initially made available by HUD to public entities approved for assistance, such as a city. Such public entities may re-loan the Section 108 loan proceeds and provide BEDI funds to a business or other entity to carry out an approved economic development project, or the public entity may carry out the project itself.
There is a cap of $1 million per BEDI award. To be eligible for a BEDI grant, a project must meet one of the CDBG program’s three national objectives:
- Benefit low- and moderate-income people
- Prevent or eliminate slums or blight
- Address imminent threats and urgent community needs
Today, at the maritime center (www.nwmaritime.org), a capital campaign is underway to fund the construction phase of the project. The property is covered with a gravel bed and ready for construction, which is expected to start at the end of the year or in early 2007, Robison says.
When the project is up and running, it will have a $1.3 million budget and create 35 to 40 jobs, he says. However, perhaps more importantly, it will have an indirect impact on the city’s downtown revitalization and protect the working waterfront.
“I think if you have a good working relationship with your HUD staff and good congressional support, (BEDI) is definitely worth it,” Robison says.
The EPA Region 10 contact for the BEDI program is Donna Batch, economic development specialist for HUD’s Region X. Batch can be reached at 206-220-5374 or donna_batch@hud.gov. For more information, visit http://www.hud.gov/offices/cpd/economicdevelopment/programs/bedi/.
