Brownfields 2006 Grant Fact Sheet

SouthEast Effective Development (SEED), Seattle, WA

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.

CLEANUP GRANT

$200,000 for hazardous substances
EPA has selected SouthEast Effective Development (SEED) for a brownfields cleanup grant. Hazardous substances grant funds will be used to continue the cleanup and revitalization of several parcels of land in Rainier Court Phase IV, located between 34th and 35th Avenues and Charlestown and Spokane Streets. The site is underdeveloped and contaminated from widespread unregulated dumping since the 1930s.

COMMUNITY DESCRIPTION

SouthEast Effective Development (SEED) was selected to receive a brownfields cleanup grant. SEED is a non-profit community-based organization in the Rainier Valley of Seattle. The area to be addressed by the brownfields cleanup grant, Rainier Valley (population 75,000), is Seattle's most diverse neighborhood with 60 different ethnic and cultural groups. Rainier Valley encompasses 15 percent of Seattle's land area. The area that will be cleaned up is within a federally designated Enterprise Community. Rainier Valley has the greatest concentrations of low- and moderate-income people in the city. Rainier Valley struggles with crime, urban decay, property disinvestment, absentee landlords, infrastructure deficiencies, and brownfields. The presence of contamination adds to the cost of construction, which discourages development. When the brownfield area is cleaned up, SEED hopes to create a new community and affordable housing. Brownfields redevelopment will provide jobs, stimulate local reinvestment, contribute to the tax base, enhance property values, reduce potential health risks from contamination, and create pride of ownership in one of Seattle's most diverse neighborhoods.

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://yosemite.epa.gov/R10/CLEANUP.NSF/sites/bf

Grant Recipient: SouthEast Effective Development (SEED), WA
206-760-4266

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