EPA Brownfields Assessment Coalition Grant Sparks Redevelopment in Iowa’s ‘Field of Dreams’ Town
– EPA Region 7 Feature –
By Olivia Bailey, Office of Public Affairs
Bill Veeck, once a primary owner of the former St. Louis Browns baseball team, is quoted as having said, "That's the true harbinger of spring, not crocuses or swallows returning to Capistrano, but the sound of a bat on a ball." In Dyersville, Iowa, this harbinger of spring brings an additional excitement: the seasonal reopening of the “If You Build It” exhibit, located adjacent to the city’s Baseball Hall of Dreams Museum.
If the exhibit name sounds familiar, then you might be thinking of the famous line from the 1989 cinema classic, “Field of Dreams,” which was filmed in and around Dyersville. However, few people are probably aware of the unique connection between this exhibit – as well as the museum – with EPA’s Brownfields program.
Baseball Building Site History
The current site of the “If You Build It” exhibit and Baseball Hall of Dreams Museum had sat abandoned for nearly a decade. This Baseball Building site property had a 125-year history of varied industrial use, having been the location of a brewery, an iron works, a gasoline engine repair shop, and a dairy. This storied past meant that the site potentially contained both petroleum and other hazardous substances that would require environmental cleanup before redevelopment.
“The property sat vacant for years and no one wanted to touch it, because of the uncertainty of it being potentially contaminated,” said Dawn Danielson, brownfields project manager, East Central Intergovernmental Association of Iowa.
Prior to the 2002 Brownfields amendments to the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA, commonly known as Superfund), new property owners assumed liability for any residual conditions left behind from prior operations or production.
Because of that, municipalities like Dyersville began to experience the abandonment of inner cities, factories, and small-town main streets, as new businesses instead preferred to locate in green spaces or on previously unoccupied land.
The 2002 amendments to CERCLA created a pathway for any prospective purchaser of a site to conduct “all-appropriate inquiries” before purchasing a property. This provided liability relief from Superfund enforcement if later contamination were discovered.
“The first and main barrier that caused this property and many properties like it to remain deserted is the unknown cost of potential environmental hazards and the fear of liability for past practices at the property,” explained Jennifer Morris, EPA Region 7 brownfields and land revitalization specialist. “EPA’s role is to help communities in overcoming that barrier to facilitate the reuse of sites.”
Baseball Building Redevelopment Through ECIA
One of the annual grants EPA awards through its Brownfields program is the Assessment Grant, for which one can apply on behalf of states, tribes, communities, specific sites, or even eligible governmental coalitions. This grant provides communities with the opportunity to fund environmental assessments to quantify the unknowns that may delay any redevelopment project.
Since 1974, Dyersville has been a member of the East Central Intergovernmental Association of Iowa, or ECIA, which is a council of governments that work to develop “regional solutions for local governments facing similar problems.”
In 2016, ECIA applied for EPA’s Brownfields Assessment Coalition Grant. This grant was awarded to ECIA in May of that year for a total of $550,000 (with $325,000 dedicated to focused work on hazardous substance contamination and $225,000 for petroleum site assessments and program management work).
The Brownfields Assessment Coalition Grant gives partner entities a great deal of control over the vision and outcome of how they want to utilize their awarded funds. In 2019, an environmental assessment of the 125-year-old site was completed.
Ready for Redevelopment
Dwier Brown, who played the role of John Kinsella in “Field of Dreams,” visited Dyersville and decided he wanted to create a baseball museum in the town in the spirit of the film.
Brown selected the former brownfield site and decided – alongside his business partner, David Feign – to renovate the old, vacant buildings (now known as the Baseball Building) into the Baseball Hall of Dreams Museum, a retail store, and an attached baseball training facility.
“Although the Baseball Building project’s redevelopment came as a culmination of several funding sources and several project phases, the first $5,230 provided through ECIA – as funded by the EPA Brownfields Assessment Coalition Grant – made a big difference,” Danielson said. “Basically, these were the first dollars in, which sometimes – while small – can be just enough to move the needle on a project, lifting barriers and uncertainty to spark interest in a site for redevelopment.”
With the signing of the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, a historic $1.5 billion was added to fund brownfields and land revitalization. These additional funds support efforts like the “If You Build It” exhibit, Baseball Hall of Dreams Museum, and many others across the country. This increase provides more funding for grants and technical assistance for planning, assessment, cleanup, and reuse of brownfield sites, as well as associated job training.
Other Revitalization Projects in Dyersville
Today, the Baseball Building stands as just one of many examples of how ECIA and EPA’s Brownfields Assessment Coalition Grants have had an impact on Dyersville’s community through its redevelopment projects.
In addition to the Baseball Hall of Dreams Museum and “If You Build It” exhibit, these Brownfields Grants have played a role in:
- Redevelopment of a former plant lot for the TOMY Toy Company
- Development of a 41-unit, senior apartment complex
- Development of another apartment complex with condo units
- Development of three commercial spaces in an area known as “The Landing”
- Expanded Theisen’s retail store
- Textile Brewing Company, a restaurant and brewery with patio seating
(The Iowa Department of Natural Resources provided a number of these sites with funding for asbestos removal through a matching grant program.)
When it comes to the often-referenced line inspired by “Field of Dreams,” one could say of many vacant and derelict properties, “If you fund its environmental assessment ... they can rebuild it.”