Brownfields 2004 Grant Fact Sheet

Yonkers Industrial Development Agency, NY

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.

ASSESSMENT GRANT

$111,555 for hazardous substances

EPA has selected the Yonkers Industrial Development Agency for a brownfields assessment grant. Grant funds will be used to perform investigations, cleanup planning, and community involvement at three sites in the Yonkers Hudson River Waterfront redevelopment area, a corridor that includes more than a dozen other brownfield sites.

COMMUNITY DESCRIPTION

The Yonkers Industrial Development Agency was selected to receive a brownfields assessment grant. The City of Yonkers (population 196,086) is a federally designated Empowerment Zone. The community most directly impacted by current conditions in the waterfront brownfields area consists of four census tracts with a total population of 15,595. Eighty-seven percent of these residents are minorities, 30 percent live in poverty, and 14 percent of working age adults are unemployed, a rate nearly three times the national average. Assessment and cleanup of the Yonkers Hudson River Waterfront redevelopment area has the potential of bringing mixed-use development to the waterfront, increasing property values, and creating much needed jobs.

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 2 Brownfields Team
212-637-4314
http://www.epa.gov/region02/superfund/brownfields/

Grant Recipient: Yonkers Industrial Development Agency, NY
585-546-8430

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