The City of Barre, VT is located 7 miles east of the capital city of Montpelier in central VT and within Washington County. It is the eleventh largest of VT's 254 municipalities.It is comprised of a 4 square-mile area with a population of less than 10,000 people. As the former Granite Capital of the World, the City's economy has suffered over the last 20 years, due to the slowdown of this industry, along with the loss of manufacturing jobs and overall low residential population, resulting in revenue loss. More recently, the City has identified multiple Brownfields properties in the downtown area contaminated with pollutants originating from past industrial uses. This, combined with job loss, health issues, natural disasters and business closures has led to a struggling community center over the last 10 years. The presence of Brownsfields properties has the potential to impact out highly sensitive population (children, pregnant women, disabled and elderly) and causes a blight that impacts all aspects of the downtown area. This property to be cleaned up is immediately adjacent to the former How Cleaners site. It is located in the center of our targeted community. The chlorinated solvents release from the Former Howe Cleaners site has caused a large plume of contamination in downtown Barre, In addition to the contaminating soil and groundwater, the solvents plume has contaminated indoor air of numerous properties, including a low income housing unit, suggestive of environmental justice concerns. Contamination has spread from the source (the former Howe Cleaner site) to abutting properties (this property, the former Howe Cleaners site and 1 other property for which this grant is for) which were both originally part of the Barre and Chelsea Railroad. Seven other downtown properties are directly affected by the PCE vapor encroachment and others nearby have detected PCE vapors potentially from the Howe Cleaners Site. The subject property,currently a vacant lot,is situated in a densely developed area of downtown Barre, approximately 500 feet north of the Stevens Branch of the Winooski River. land usage in the area is generally commercial and light industrial. The property is underlain by a groundwater plume comprised primarily of PCE which is also causing elevated concentrations of PCE to be detected in soil gas, and subsequently in indoor air in nearby buildings. The Brownfields Grant was awarded to the City of Barre dated August 19, 2014. There was a groundbreaking ceremony on July 15, 2015,, shortly after the project got underway in late June of 2015. This site, along with the other two in the grant are parts of the City street named Enterprise Aly, as well as a city parking lot. Upon successful completion of the project,this area will be a rehabilitated parking lot with a portion of the City's Bike Path along the rear, with new curbing, walkways, streetlights, bike rack, lighting and landscaping.
Former Use: Twin City Dry Cleaner operated from 1947 to circa 1964 using non-chlorinated paraffin-derived Stoddard solvent, also known as white spirit, or mineral spirits. The Stoddard solvent was reportedly stored in two UST's within the footprint of the building. Reportedly, when Howe Cleaners began operations circa 1972, use of the Stoddard solvent and associated UST's ceased and a tetrachloroethene (PCE)-based process was incorporated. Subsequent investigations however, appear to indicate that the UST's were used for storage of PCe and the former UST's are currently considered a source of soil and groundwater contamination. The two UST's were reported closed in place circa 2002. The PE process included used (dirty) cleaning liquid being boiled to separate the PCE, which was subsequently reused. The remaining liquid was reportedly discharged to the ground surface at a location on the northwestern side of the building, as was un-boiled waste liquid and pure PCe at times. This site is referred to as the Vermont Granite Museum Lot. It wa