New Bedford Portfields Project

Navigational Dredging

New Bedford Harbor includes one of the most complex Superfund sites in the country.  Due to high levels of polychlorinated biphenyl (PCB) contamination in the harbor, navigational dredging had not occurred in 30 years. Channels are shoaled to levels above authorized depths, limiting the size of ships and volume of cargo that enters the harbor, and negatively impacting the local economy.  

Through the Portfields partnership, the City of New Bedford's priority is to enhance the capacity of the Port of New Bedford in a way that will also achieve improved environmental quality for New Bedford Harbor. New Bedford has worked with Federal and state partners to implement the "state-enhanced remedy" (SER) provision of the New Bedford Harbor Superfund site cleanup plan. This approach establishes a procedural mechanism for streamlined processing of navigational dredging projects by linking the dredging and disposal of sediments dredged from the harbor's navigational channels with the Superfund cleanup. The state enhanced remedy enables navigational dredging to proceed in New Bedford Harbor under CERCLA (i.e., like a Superfund dredge) as opposed to the normal regulatory process for dredging.  The benefits of this linking the two dredging projects is to streamline the permitting process, for disposal of sediment, coordinated  rather than separate environmental monitoring programs, and increase overall coordination between the two dredging project.

The City has worked with the Town of Fairhaven, Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection, Massachusetts Division of Marine Fisheries, Massachusetts Coastal Zone Management, EPA, USACE, and NOAA to achieve agreement on the implementation of this process.  Under the state enhanced remedy, approximately 1.7 million cubic yards of sediment contaminated below EPA Superfund thresholds will be dredged to clear navigational channels in New Bedford harbor.  The City has secured $5.0 million from the Commonwealth of Massachusetts to conduct dredging and safe disposal of sediments.

Transforming Hicks Logan Sawyer

Hicks Logan Sawyer (HLS) is a 130-acre waterfront neighborhood in New Bedford, located adjacent to the Designate Port Area (DPA).  The City of New Bedford is developing a revitalization plan based on smart growth principles to transform the HLS District into a mixed-use area that will create housing, job opportunities, open space, and waterfront access.  Through a collaborative planning process, the City has leveraged resources from a variety of sources, and is developing a framework for short-term and long-term revitalization of the area. 

The HLS area has a tremendous potential for revitalization that includes waterfront access, gateway location, transportation access, distinctive old mill buildings, and city and water views. However, the HLS District currently has many underutilized buildings and brownfields that have suffered from disinvestment in recent decades.

The New Bedford Harbor Plan and the city's Master Plan envisioned job creation through revitalization of the mills and an urban industrial park for the HLS District combined with recreational development of the waterfront to include public open space, a new marina, and a public boat ramp. Building upon the Harbor and Master Plans, the City is developing the Smart Growth Plan for the HLS District that proposes flexibility in land uses in order to take greater advantage of the waterfront location and the future commuter rail station, while recognizing the opportunities for economic development to bring job opportunities to the city.

New Bedford's use of creative public-private partnerships through Portfields has helped obtain funding from multiple sources to assist in the planning process. New Bedford has leveraged $20,000 from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration; a $22,500 smart growth planning grant from the Massachusetts Executive Office of Environmental Affairs; a $60,000 planning grant from the Economic Development Administration; and $70,000 from the City of New Bedford. These resources are being used for a collaborative planning process to develop a detailed Smart Growth Plan for redevelopment of HLS District. The City is also using District Improved Financing (DIF) that allows tax-increment financing for HLS District.   

The Smart Growth Plan will set the framework for the short-term and long term, outlined in three distinct phases, to transformation of the HLS District. The next step in this collaborative planning process is to solicit public comment and input.