Brownfields 2005 Grant Fact Sheet

West Seattle Food Bank, WA

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

$77,145 for petroleum
EPA has selected the West Seattle Food Bank for a brownfields cleanup grant. Grant funds will be used to clean up petroleum-contaminated soils at the West Seattle Community Resource Center site located at 6500 35th Avenue. The approximately 12,000-square-foot site was used as a gas service station from 1949 to 1969.

COMMUNITY DESCRIPTION

The West Seattle Food Bank (WSFB) was selected to receive a brownfields cleanup grant. The WSFB is a nonprofit organization that provides food assistance to over 10,300 West Seattle residents. The target area is the Delridge neighborhood of West Seattle, part of one of the city's federally designated Enterprise Communities. The majority of the area's 36,134 residents have low and moderate incomes and 55 percent are minority. The community is highly diverse, with 35 different languages spoken in Delridge schools. Nearly 65 percent of school-aged children qualify for free or reduced-price school lunches. Cleanup of the target site, a 12,000-square-foot parcel adjacent to the food bank, will allow the WSFB to expand on its vision of the West Seattle Community Resource Center. The current center includes the food bank, the community help line, and 14 apartment units. The addition of this parcel will accommodate two more agencies as permanent tenants, six other nonprofit service agencies, and 20 affordable housing units. This redevelopment will allow the WSFB to provide a host of services to its clients from a single location and provide a total of 34 affordable housing units for low-income families. An estimated 24,000 people annually will benefit from these services.

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 10 Brownfields Team
206-553-2100
http://www.epa.gov/r10earth, click on "Superfund", scroll down and click on "Brownfields"

Grant Recipient: West Seattle Food Bank, WA
206-923-0917, ext. 115

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