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1. How do I get more information?

The grant is administered by the City of Framingham’s Community and Economic Development Division. For more information, please visit the Brownfields website or contact Erika Jerram, Assistant Director, at 508-532-5455 or by email.

2. What are “brownfields”?

“Brownfields” are properties that contain, or potentially contain, hazardous substances, pollutants or contaminants that complicate the property’s expansion or redevelopment.

3. Why are brownfields a problem?

Brownfields can pose a number of threats to a community's well being, including:

• Attract vandals, open dumping, or other illegal activity
• Contribute to unnecessary development of limited greenspace, instead of taking advantage of existing infrastructure and development
• Limit economic growth and development
• Lower surrounding property values and contribute to neighborhood deterioration
• Potentially harm human health and the environment
• Reduce local employment opportunities and tax revenue

4. How does the community benefit?

Many brownfields sites are in economically depressed parts of a neighborhood. Cleanup and redevelopment of the sites can encourage higher property values and create jobs, as well as positively impact the local economy by creating a safer, healthier urban space to house businesses and residences. The goal is to clean up these idle properties and get them back in use to they can once again contribute to the Town's tax base.

5. How do property owners benefit?

In addition to providing benefits to surrounding communities, property owners that clean up and reuse their brownfield properties may benefit directly by:

• Avoiding potential environmental enforcement actions by federal, state and local regulatory agencies that could impose penalties and costly cleanups
• Creating good will within the community
• Enhancing the marketability of a property by reducing uncertainty regarding environmental liabilities and addressing due diligence steps typically required by lenders
• Receiving tax benefits for cleaning up and reusing the property
• Reducing the likelihood that contamination from the property will migrate off site or into the groundwater under the site, thereby limiting liability for, and long term costs of, cleaning up the property
• Reducing the potential need to address liabilities associated with the property in financial statements and Securities and Exchange Commission filings