Specifications include, but are not limited to: The areas to be targeted as part of the City's Brownfields Assessment Program will be Saco’s Downtown Area one of two Target Areas identified for this Brownfield Assessment Program. This approximately 40-acre Target Area is triangular shaped and bounded by Main Street, Elm Street, and the Saco River. This Target Area is adjacent to the hulking industrial relics on Saco Island and along the riverfront and is characterized by an aging and dilapidated housing stock, multi-story commercial buildings on Main Street with vacant storefronts and unfinished/vacant upper floors, and up to ten auto-related Brownfield Sites along the Elm Street urban corridor. Our second Target Area for this Brownfield Program will be the Market and Lincoln Street Neighborhood. This area is located east of our downtown and adjacent to the Saco River, is bisected by the railroad tracks, and is characterized by an aging and poor-quality housing stock and low-income populations, an automotive facility, and at its center, the Old Tannery Site, a formerly contaminated tannery and bulk oil storage facility which was remediated in 2014 through Brownfield Cleanup Funds. At the time of the cleanup, the Site was proposed to be redeveloped into much needed housing; however, that residential redevelopment failed to occur. Our focus in this Target Area will be to conduct Brownfield Assessment and Cleanup to support affordable residential development.
