EPA grant may be answer to city's ailing budget for environmental programs

By Nathalie Moskal

SOMERVILLE— Five years ago, a vacant lot stood in the place of the Allen Street Community Gardens, an ugly, unused and chemically hazardous reminder of its past as an industrial site.

With the help of an Environmental Protection Agency grant, the city transformed the lot from an abandoned eyesore to an open space for community gardening.

As the state begins to cut hundreds of thousands of dollars in city aid to balance its $1.4 billion deficit, Somerville has applied for a new EPA grant to help maintain its environmental cleanup programs, which decontaminate polluted sites in the city.

The grant is a part of the EPA’s Brownfields program, which awards money to cities for cleanup projects. Brownfields are areas contaminated by hazardous substances, pollutants or contaminants.

Somerville has 376 known sites that qualify as brownfields.

Somerville has applied for the $200,000 grant on the grounds of hazardous substances, said Steven Azar, economic development planner in the city’s Office of Strategic Planning and Community Development.

The city actively pursues grants to help pay for programs outside its everyday commitments, Azar said.

“There is only so much money to go around and the services of the city are the major priority,” Azar said. “There is a limited budget for anything additional to the things residents are used to.”

Azar said the city may not win the grant because it has won five similar grants in the last 10 years and the EPA often elects to spread the money around the state.

The likelihood of winning depends on which other cities and towns apply and on how well Somerville meets the requirements of the grant, Azar said.

“I think we are a great candidate,” Azar said. “This city has a very active and engaged Brownfield program.”

In 2003, the EPA granted Somerville the $200,000 Brownfields grant, which helped clean up the hazardous former industrial site on Allen Street.

In 1996, Somerville received a $100,000 Brownfields grant to redevelop the large industrial building at 259 Lowell St., an old factory that stood in disrepair on land contaminated with lead, petroleum and other substances.

The Parks and Open Space Department did not return calls or emails regarding the site to be cleaned by next year's grant.

Somerville will be notified about the results of the application by March or April 2009, Azar said.

The Center Hill Park renovation is the first project experiencing a delay due to the shrinking city budget, said David Lutes, the city’s environmental program manager.

“Due to the current fiscal environment, our policy to all of our city departments is to do our best to ensure that all purchases and programs undertaken are absolutely necessary,” Lutes said. “We are constantly doing our best to locate and use other sources of money.”