Brownfields 2004 Grant Fact Sheet

East Bay Asian Local Development Corporation, San Pablo, CA

EPA BROWNFIELDS PROGRAM

EPA's Brownfields Program empowers states, communities, and other stakeholders in economic development to work together to prevent, assess, safely clean up, and sustainably reuse brownfields. A brownfield site is real property, the expansion, redevelopment, or reuse of which may be complicated by the presence or potential presence of a hazardous substance, pollutant, or contaminant. On January 11, 2002, the President signed into law the Small Business Liability Relief and Brownfields Revitalization Act. Under the Brownfields Law, EPA provides financial assistance to eligible applicants through four competitive grant programs: assessment grants, revolving loan fund grants, cleanup grants, and job training grants. Additionally, funding support is provided to state and tribal response programs through a separate mechanism.

CLEANUP GRANT

$200,000 for hazardous substances

EPA has selected the East Bay Asian Local Development Corporation for a brownfields cleanup grant. The grant will be used to clean up a 2.6-acre trucking and container storage facility located at the site of a proposed seven-acre Giant Road Family Apartments complex, a planned mixed-income residential community. The site, which has formerly been used for various industrial and commercial purposes including transportation of petroleum and tetraethyl lead, requires additional surface and subsurface remediation to build 86 units of affordable multi-family housing.

COMMUNITY DESCRIPTION

The East Bay Asian Local Development Corporation was selected to receive a brownfields cleanup grant. San Pablo's population of 30,215 is over 68 percent minority, with Asian and Hispanic populations representing the fastest-growing ethnic groups. Over the past two decades, a large number of manufacturing jobs have been lost in the region due to plant closures and relocations. The neighborhoods surrounding the targeted site struggle with poverty, high housing costs, and high unemployment rates. More than 18 percent of city residents live below the poverty level, and the unemployment rate is 9.5 percent. Over half of the city's residents spend more than 30 percent of their income on housing, and 10,000 households are on the waiting list for public housing. Once cleaned up, the site will be redeveloped into the Giant Road Family Apartment complex, which will provide affordable housing units to disadvantaged community members. The residential complex also will incorporate smart growth and green building concepts into its design.

CONTACTS

For further information, including specific grant contacts, additional grant information, brownfields news and events, and publications and links, visit the EPA Brownfields web site at: www.epa.gov/brownfields.

EPA Region 9 Brownfields Team
415-972-3188
http://www.epa.gov/region09/waste/brown/

Grant Recipient: East Bay Asian Local Development Corporation, CA
510-287-5353

The cooperative agreement for this grant has not yet been negotiated; therefore, activities described in this fact sheet are subject to change.