Brownfields 2005 Grant Fact Sheet

Lynwood Redevelopment Agency, 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, President George W. Bush 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 Lynwood Redevelopment Agency for a brownfields cleanup grant. Grant funds will be used to support community outreach activities, implement groundwater remediation systems, and install groundwater monitoring wells at the ten-acre K and K Furniture site in Lynwood. Soil and groundwater on the property, used for over 50 years for industrial manufacturing and commercial activity, are contaminated with trichloroethylene.

COMMUNITY DESCRIPTION

The Lynwood Redevelopment Agency was selected to receive a brownfields cleanup grant. Twenty-one percent of families in the City of Lynwood (population 61,945), a largely Hispanic community, live below the poverty line. The unemployment rate of 10.2 percent is significantly higher than the average Los Angeles County rate. The K and K Furniture site, targeted for cleanup, is one of three designated brownfields and one of several locations throughout the city, mostly in redevelopment areas, where the environmental legacy of previous industrial and manufacturing facilities lingers. These brownfields create blight and discourage economic development. Groundwater contamination at the site is only 1,000 feet from the city's water production well. Cleanup of the K and K site will remove a blight in the community and the threat of potential contamination of the lower aquifer. Redevelopment of the site as a commercial retail center is anticipated to generate more than $300,000 in tax revenues for the city and create more than 150 jobs. It also is expected to positively affect local property values.

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/index.html

Grant Recipient: Lynwood Redevelopment Agency, CA
310-603-0220, ext. 255

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