Why a Solar Brightfield?

The City of Brockton is a major urban community 20 miles south of Boston and about 30 miles north of Providence, Rhode Island. Brockton's diverse population of 94,300 ranks it as the sixth largest city in Massachusetts. Its relatively low median income leads to a ranking of fourteenth highest poverty level in the state. Because Brockton is 97% developed, redeveloping brownfields sites is critical to its economic development. Brockton has several marketable characteristics including a skilled labor force, major highway and rail access, three commuter rail stations with connections to Boston, cost-competitive real estate and status as a state-designated Economic Target Area that includes several districts where incentives such as tax increment financing are available. However, Brockton faces several challenges resulting from the decline of its former pre-eminence in industry, including higher than average unemployment rates, as well as blight and image issues.

Brockton has embarked upon several, inter-related economic development initiatives designed to revitalize the downtown area, attract new businesses, attract more middle-income residents, and protect and enhance the environment. Its efforts to become a “solar city” fall within a broader “Smart Growth” plan that is designed to build upon the City's strengths to make it an attractive urban alternative in Massachusetts.

Environmental justice is an important concern within Brockton's “Economic Corridor”, a north-south line that runs through the center of the city along both sides of the railroad and contains most of its industrially zoned land (brownfields comprise about one third of this area). The Economic Corridor closely abuts residential areas where the median income is below $15,700, over half of the residents are near or below poverty level, and over half are minorities. The area is beset with substandard housing, abandoned and boarded-up buildings, high crime rates, high unemployment rates, and vacant brownfields. Since the City of Brockton is 97% developed, brownfield reuse is essential to economic development. In the past, options for brownfield redevelopment have not always been desirable, and the city of Brockton is seeking to promote sustainable and desirable brownfield redevelopment that are consistent with environmental justice goals.

The neighborhood where the Brightfield is located is an Environmental Justice area on EOEA's maps due to its population characteristics. It is also an overburdened community in the sense of neighborhood impacts. In addition to hosting this 27 acre hazardous waste site, the neighborhood is burdened by a wastewater treatment plant that is under an EPA consent decree for violations; is near a landfill that is being capped (also with violations being addressed by DEP); is near a heavily-trafficked construction and demolition debris transfer station and directly abuts a foundry, and home heating oil company.

The City has among the highest number of trash-related businesses on a per capital basis, and two large remaining brownfields have been proposed sites for a tire recycling facility and a household solid waste recycling facility. Both proposals were rejected following strong community opposition.

The Brightfield is consistent with the community's desire that future redevelopment of brownfields not add undue pollution or traffic to the neighborhoods. They are also concerned with Brockton's image as the "Commonwealth's dumping ground". Positive redevelopment alternatives can change that image.