CASE STUDY OVERVIEW
After eight years and more than $2 million in investment, the Joyce. A Savocchio Business Park has been dedicated and opened for business. A once blighted eye sore was remediated and now acts as a catalyst for revitalization in a highly impoverished neighborhood. Ultimately, a sense of pride and hope has been restored to this area in the city of Erie, Pa.

Joyce A. Savocchio Business Park: Erie, Pa.

Paragon Print Systems, Inc. serves as the anchor tenant in the park. Construction of its new $1 million, 10,000-square foot facility was completed in October 2006. This company was formerly leasing space in the city and needed additional room to meet their growing business demands. After looking for a suitable location for three years, Paragon chose the Savocchio Park for its new location. Paragon Print Systems currently employs 20 people, and expects to add 10 to15 more people within three years as a result of their building project. Interest is increasing in the remaining available lots in the Park.

Located in the city of Erie’s east side, the site is adjacent to the largest public housing project in the city (an area with a poverty rate of 55%). Most of the 40-plus parcels comprising the former Cohen/A-1 auto property had been abandoned by the previous owners, provided zero tax dollars to the local taxing bodies. Moreover, the site was regarded as one of the “worst” brownfield spots in Erie County, Pa.

Portions of the site were formerly used as an auto scrap yard, resulting in significant environmental contamination. There were numerous liens on the parcels and the surrounding neighborhood was blighted. The site was home to five deteriorating, unsecured buildings, which were becoming a hotbed of illegal activity in the area. City of Erie Police had dedicated officers to patrol the area, as drug and other illegal activities were facilitated by the cover of brush and dilapidated buildings.

Illegally dumped old tires, household debris, industrial waste, and appliances littered the site. Much of the site was overgrown by vegetation. The waste tires were breeding grounds for mosquitoes, and West Nile Virus was identified on the site, which was a health and safety hazard to neighboring residents and children. The site was listed on the federal CERCLA list and underwent EPA emergency removal actions in 1991 and 1995. During these actions, EPA removed several thousand cubic yards of toxic waste and waste tires from the site, and placed a lien on the property. Even after the EPA removal actions, the environmental assessment results showed elevated levels of arsenic, lead, and PCBs in the soils. Subsequent to the EPA action, the site remained unused, illegal dumping was resumed, and debris once again accumulated on the site.

While government leaders, community leaders, and residents of the area all agreed that the site was in desperate need of clean up and revitalization, all were in agreement that the cost to complete the project would far outweigh the revenue that could ever be generated on lot sales. The site was small, irregular shaped, land-locked, contaminated and located adjacent to a LM1 public housing complex. Therefore, private developers were not interested in participating in the project, since an acceptable rate of return could not be realized.

The Greater Erie Industrial Development Corp. (GEIDC) realized the need to not only clean up the site, but also provide opportunities for investment and jobs in the neighborhood. Because of GEIDC’s wealth of experience in both greenfield and brownfield development and innovative approaches to challenging projects, the organization took on the leadership role of site remediation and redevelopment.

In 1998, GEIDC began discussions with EPA, who agreed to release the lien associated with its removal actions if GEIDC acquired and completed remediation of the property. In 1999, the property was designated as a “Key Site” by PADEP and a consultant hired by PADEP completed an initial site characterization. The GEIDC team reviewed the work completed by the previous consultants and the EPA to determine if additional work was needed to delineate the vertical and horizontal extent of contaminated soil. It was determined that additional soil characterization was necessary in areas previously investigated, including a soil mound. This mound was not previously sampled by the EPA or any of the previous consultants. Results from sampling and analysis of this mound indicated that the mound was impacted with PCBs (the mound likely resulted from historic scraping and leveling of the contaminated site). It was recommended that the mound and impacted surface soils had to be addressed in 10 separate areas across the site.

To allow reuse and minimize costs, the site was remediated by GEIDC to meet a combination of the Statewide Health Standard and Site Specific Standard under the PA Act 2 program. The contamination consisted primarily of impacted surface soils (0-2 feet below ground surface). These soils, which posed risks to site trespassers and would pose future risks to site occupants, were contaminated with lead, arsenic, and PCBs at concentrations that exceeded the direct contact standards. Approximately 1,930 cubic yards of contaminated soil from 10 separate areas across the site were excavated and consolidated into a soil mound that was properly capped. Approximately 4 cubic yards (6 tons) were excavated and disposed of off-site as characteristic hazardous waste due to the presence of lead. A Memorandum of Agreement between DEP and EPA allowed the consolidation to be completed efficiently and inexpensively, with no additional EPA approvals necessary. While this capped area cannot be excavated or disturbed, it can be used for vehicle parking and therefore still produces value. This on-site solution saved over $1.5 million when compared to the option of removal and off-site disposal.

Several small, low-quality, urban wetlands, created by the EPA cleanup, were scattered throughout the site and risked being impacted by contaminated soils and general site disturbance activities. The wetlands were consolidated into a larger wetland area that was located on the edge of the property, allowing for larger, fully developable lots, and enhancing the existing wetland. Storm water management facilities were designed and constructed to a capacity sufficient for development of the lots, thereby reducing the need for future disturbance and the potential for runoff into wetland areas. A portion of the site was filled to promote proper drainage and further eliminate standing water where mosquitoes could again breed. During site activities, underground water mains were found to be broken and leaking for an indeterminate amount of time, wasting an untold number of gallons of water. GEIDC contacted the Erie Water Authority, to fix the lines, saving potentially hundreds of thousands of gallons of water. Twelve acres of the property were owned by the City’s Housing Authority and was home to a neighborhood football field. As a part of the project, a new football field was constructed in an adjacent city of Erie park.

Almost $2 million of funding was secured from a variety of federal, state, and local sources to complete the project. GEIDC used these funds for acquisition, assessment, remediation, and site development. This equates to an investment over $100,000 per acre. Lots are currently for sale at a price of $18,000 per acre, the maximum the market will support in this neighborhood due to its dilapidated past.

Local incentives, such as the Keystone Opportunity Zone (KOZ) designation, were keys to the development as well, and required a great deal of community education and partnership building. The City of Erie, School District, and the County of Erie all passed resolutions to create the KOZ designation for the site. In a time when property tax revenues were decreasing and the city was facing tough financial times, this process of gaining public support for long term tax breaks demonstrated the commitment of these entities to its redevelopment. The Northwest Pennsylvania Regional Planning and Development Commission, our regional Local Development District representative, had also designated this project as its number one regional project priority in terms of federal EDA investment.

GEIDC partnered with numerous local, state, and federal agencies in order to bring this complex and high-profile community project to fruition. Additionally, neighborhood residents were involved in meetings on the planning and development of the improvements, and their input was considered in the design of the infrastructure. For example, due to the high number of children living in the area, GEIDC constructed its access road to the park away from the main street and added pedestrian sidewalks in the housing complex. This accommodation ensures that truck traffic will not mix with residential traffic and neighborhood children will not be endangered by future site activities.

GEIDC created nine industrial lots ranging from 1.5 to 4 acres. Prior to this project, the city of Erie had only one four-acre, shovel-ready parcel available for future industrial development. The only way to add tax base in the city is to recycle older, underutilized brownfield sites. The project provided immediate employment opportunities in the form of initial construction worker impact of approximately 50 prevailing wage rate jobs. GEIDC aggressively contracted with minority business enterprises and subcontractors as the neighborhood contains a great percentage of minority residents. Given past GEIDC industrial park development experience, a full build-out of this industrial park is expected to yield 240 new and/or retained jobs. This investment will eventually return an annual tax benefit of over $450,000 to local taxing bodies.

FACTS
Project Size: 20-plus acres

Location: Paragon Drive and Downing Ave., Erie, Pa.

Estimated Cost: To help revitalize a distressed area of Erie, Pa., the Greater Erie Industrial Development Corp. (GEIDC) acquired approximately 40 individual brownfield lots and invested $1.9 million into the site, creating nine industrial lots ranging from 1.5 to 4 acres. This public contribution is poised to leverage an additional private investment of more than $20 million in land and capital equipment.

Current Status: The brownfield remediation was completed and the site was developed into an industrial park, which secured the anchor business in 2006. An additional nine, shovel-ready lots remain available for sale.

Project Team

• GEIDC is a private, non-profit industrial development corporation established in 1954, which acquires and develops land and facilities for industrial use in Erie County. Having developed seven industrial parks and multiple industrial buildings, GEIDC has a wealth of experience in both greenfield and brownfield development and is innovative in making difficult projects come to fruition. Within the past three years alone, GEIDC has administered and acted as project developer for more than $15 million in state and federal grants for a number of projects, including the continued development of Knowledge Park at Penn State Erie, two urban brownfield industrial parks, as well as three additional brownfield redevelopment projects.
• MACTEC Engineering and Consulting (MACTEC) is an industry leader in engineering, environmental, and construction services to public and private clients worldwide. Based in Atlanta, the MACTEC team includes 3,000 employees in 80 locations. MACTEC’s professionals help clients achieve success through uncompromising quality, technical excellence, safety, and local, personal service. This commitment has been rewarded with several Phoenix Awards and consistently earns MACTEC a spot high on the Engineering News-Record list of top design firms. Best known for environmental and geotechnical success, MACTEC offers an ever-broadening portfolio of sustainable solutions, from brownfields redevelopment to facility asset management.
• City of Erie provided community leadership and $300,000 of CDBG funds to the project. The park is named after Former Erie Mayor Joyce A. Savocchio who was in office at the beginning of the project and was very supportive in promoting the site remediation. Current Erie Mayor Joe Sinnott is also an advocate of brownfield reuse.
• Erie City Council and Erie City School District approved Keystone Opportunity Zone designation and 10-year LERTA tax abatement for the site to encourage businesses to locate there.
• Housing Authority of the City of Erie donated 12 acres of land and will provide cash incentives of up to $2,000 per employee to companies that hire from within the neighborhood work force.
• County of Erie facilitated acquisition of many small delinquent tax parcels through the lien-free tax sale process and provided prisoners from the county prison to help clear debris from the site.
• U.S. Economic Development Administration provided $700,000 in public works grants for infrastructure construction.
• PA DCED: $275,000 in Industrial Sites Reuse Program grants for environmental site assessment and remediation as well as $500,000 Infrastructure Development Program grant for construction of infrastructure.
• PA DEP: $56,000 grant to remediate 60,000 waste tires from the site, assisted with Industrial Sites Reuse Program grant for environmental site assessment and remediation, and facilitated Cleanup Liability Protection under Act 2.
• U.S. Environmental Protection Agency released federal lien from emergency clean up to allow GEIDC to obtain a clean title.
• Quality of Life Learning Center assisted employers in hiring trained employees from the neighborhood residents.
• Urban Erie Community Development Corp offered tax-credits and loan funds available for MBE’s that choose to locate in the park.

LESSONS LEARNED

• Coordination is Key: Management of the multiple funding sources was a challenge, as each of the various programs—federal, state, local, and private—included their own specific requirements, usage restrictions, reporting mechanisms, bridge financing, and reimbursement procedures. GEIDC’s staff was experienced in various financing and grant programs, yet a project of this type required constant monitoring and attention to ensure all requirements and deadlines were met.
• Communicate importance of recycling land: This site was long thought to be one of the “worst of the worst” brownfield sites in Erie County. For many years, no one ever thought that it could be remediated, much less reused safely for a productive purpose. By consistently publicizing the projects, from announcement through all phases to groundbreaking, dedication, and the opening of the first park business, the community and public at large are consistently reminded that environmentally contaminated properties can safely be remediated and utilized, within the guidelines as set by the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania in its legislation and through partnering with the PADEP. No longer should PADEP be seen as only an enforcement agency whose goal is to prosecute, but as a partner in turning abandoned properties into usable land. Each successful project that GEIDC completes serves to further prove this point, which then encourages other private property owners, and potential reusers to become involved in redevelopment rather than assuming that a greenfield site is the only option.
• Don’t underestimate perception of location: Marketing of the park and ultimate sale of lots has been more challenging than first imagined primarily due to the perception of location. Because the land is located on the “East side” next to public housing, many prospects have quickly taken the Joyce A. Savocchio Park out of the running as a potential location. While the criminal activity within the neighborhood has been significantly reduced and current anchor business Paragon Print Systems does not report ongoing mischievous activity, the shear history of the site and ultimately area has been a deterrent for consideration by many companies.