Sanford Mills gets $5.5M EPA boost for brownfield cleanup to spur redevelopment

SANFORD, Maine — The city’s efforts to revitalize its historic mill yard recently got a $5.5 million boost via two newly awarded grants from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

The funds, called brownfields grants, will be used to conduct several phases of assessment at 22 sites in Sanford’s downtown mill yard. Specifically, efforts will focus on the 7.2-acre International Woolen Mill site, the 9.5-acre Emery Mill site, and the 3.53-acre Wasco Mill site.

Additionally, the funds will be used to prepare approximately four cleanup plans and engage the community in the mills’ redevelopment process.

The EPA's Brownfields Program provides grants and technical assistance to communities, states, tribes, and others to assess, safely clean up, and sustainably reuse contaminated properties. The program aims to empower communities to address environmental challenges and promote economic redevelopment.

The city hopes these brownfields-related measures will provide developers with important information about contamination and cleanup requirements and will spark the “growth of new businesses, job opportunities, and upgraded housing options,” according to a press release.

One of the EPA awards that Sanford is expected to receive is a Brownfields Cleanup Grant of $5 million funded by the federal bipartisan infrastructure law.

The other is a $500,000 Brownfields Assessment Grant that will allow the town to focus on the cleanup of the International Woolen Mill Boiler House on Pioneer Avenue. The site operated as a boiler house with coal-fired boilers converted to fuel oil in the 1920s.

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Currently, the site is contaminated with many hazardous materials, according to the city. Cleaning the site is expected to eliminate environmental hazards and make way for a parking lot with 60 spaces.

The city has been working for years to revitalize the mill yard, seeing the task as a key component of boosting local commercial and cultural prospects.

In 2014, the Sanford Mill reopened as an apartment complex with commercial spaces on its bottom floor at the corner of Washington Street and Pioneer Avenue. In previous decades, the mill had been a vacant eyesore.

Also, several years ago, the city built a new road connecting Emery Street and High Street to help create access and frontage when the mills are redeveloped.

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The last of the Stenton Trust Mills on River Street – its twin was destroyed in a historic blaze in 2017 – is also targeted for redevelopment with apartments and commercial spaces.

In a press release, City Manager Steven Buck thanked the EPA’s regional brownfields team for the two latest grants. The awards, he said, will enable the city to continue “addressing our industrial past so that new development may move us forward, absent the environmental liabilities impacting our economic future.”

"We should recognize the significant investments made by public and private development made possible by the assessments performed and action plans developed using these EPA-funded programs,” Buck said. “It is one of the greatest economic leverages achieved as compared to any other program within our city."

This article originally appeared on Portsmouth Herald: Sanford Mills gets $5.5M EPA boost to spur redevelopment