Brownfields 2006 Grant Fact Sheet

Durham, NC

EPA BROWNFIELDS PROGRAM

EPA's Brownfields Program empowers states, communities, and other stakeholders 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.

ASSESSMENT GRANT

$200,000 for hazardous substances
EPA has selected the City of Durham for a brownfields assessment grant. Grant funds will be used to conduct community outreach, perform Phase I and II environmental site assessments, and prepare cleanup and redevelopment plans for sites in the Pettigrew Street Corridor of Northeast Central Durham. Funds also will be used to monitor the health of surrounding populations.

COMMUNITY DESCRIPTION

The City of Durham was selected to receive a brownfields assessment grant. Durham (population 187,035), generally mirrors the average household income and low unemployment and poverty rates of North Carolina. Northeast Central Durham (NECD), the assessment target area, is very different. Eighty-eight percent of its 9,421 residents are minorities, the unemployment and poverty rates are 15 and 36 percent, respectively, and the median household income is 41 percent of the city median. The NECD area has one of the highest crime rates and highest school dropout rates in the city. Once a thriving residential and business community built around manufacturing and mill facilities, the area has homes that are now mostly in disrepair. Many of the area's industrial and commercial buildings are vacant and underutilized. The Pettigrew Street Corridor is located near the proposed Triangle Transit Authority rail station, one of the eight stations being built as part of a commuter line that links the Cities of Durham, Raleigh, and Cary. Assessment of the Corridor sites will help the city identify and quantify environmental issues associated with the sites, thereby facilitating their cleanup and reuse. Plans for the area call for transforming the brownfields sites into a community-based retail and commercial complex that will encourage residential development in close proximity to primary shopping and employment centers, with landscaping to reduce run-off and excessive erosion.

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 4 Brownfields Team
404-562-8866
http://www.epa.gov/region4/waste/bf/index.htm

Grant Recipient: City of Durham, NC
919-560-4965, ext. 224

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