Brownfields Assessment Pilot Fact Sheet

Concord, NC

EPA's Brownfields Economic Redevelopment Initiative is designed to empower states, communities, and other stakeholders in economic redevelopment to work together in a timely manner to prevent, assess, safely clean up, and sustainably reuse brownfields. A brownfield is a site, or portion thereof, that has actual or perceived contamination and an active potential for redevelopment or reuse. EPA is funding: assessment demonstration pilot programs (each funded up to $200,000 over two years), to assess brownfields sites and to test cleanup and redevelopment models; job training pilot programs (each funded up to $200,000 over two years), to provide training for residents of communities affected by brownfields to facilitate cleanup of brownfields sites and prepare trainees for future employment in the environmental field; and, cleanup revolving loan fund programs (each funded up to $500,000 over five years) to capitalize loan funds to make loans for the environmental cleanup of brownfields. These pilot programs are intended to provide EPA, states, tribes, municipalities, and communities with useful information and strategies as they continue to seek new methods to promote a unified approach to site assessment, environmental cleanup, and redevelopment.

PILOT SNAPSHOT

Date of Announcement:
May 2000

Amount: $200,000
Greenspace: $50,000

Profile: The City of Concord targets three sites-Gibson Village, North Village, Memorial Farmers Market- and a fourth site located within Gibson Village, the former electrical warehouse, for greenway development.

BACKGROUND

EPA has selected the City of Concord for a Brownfields Pilot. Concord was also selected to receive additional funding for assessments at Brownfields properties to be used for greenspace purposes. Concord (population 27,347) is a rapidly growing and economically diverse piedmont community. Historically, North Carolina piedmont communities were home to numerous textile manufacturing facilities and mills; however, these once prosperous mills have become dilapidated reminders of bygone days and have hindered development within the center city area of Concord (population 14,783) and led to urban sprawl. Urban sprawl has consequently resulted in higher infrastructure costs, greater traffic congestion, higher unemployment (5.6 percent) and a greater poverty rate (17.5 percent) in the center city, and decreased housing opportunities for lower-income residents.

Fear and ignorance of contaminants and cleanup costs have prevented brownfields within the city from being redeveloped. Concord will target city-owned sites-Gibson Village, North Village, and Memorial Farmers Market-for cleanup and reuse. Gibson Village, an urban neighborhood, has a heavy concentration of mills, coal yards, and other potential brownfields sites. Also located within Gibson Village is a city-owned electrical warehouse property that will be targeted as part of the city's greenspace development plan. North Village is an abandoned National Guard Armory motor park. Memorial Farmers Market is an abandoned city maintenance facility that is adjacent to an area marked by an overwhelming minority presence and high unemployment.

OBJECTIVES

The aim of the city is to create and demonstrate a successful brownfields program using city-owned property, serving as a model for cleanup and redevelopment and encouraging private property owners to enroll their property into the brownfields program. After the Pilot-funded assessments and cleanup planning, the city plans to clean up and redevelop the Gibson Village site into a community park and greenway link, the abandoned National Guard Armory motor park into an 18-unit neo-traditional affordable subdivision, and the abandoned city maintenance facility into a market that sells produce and gardening supplies.

The city will use the greenspace funding for assessment and planning at the city-owned electrical warehouse property, which is bordered by a creek and located in Gibson Village. These efforts will complement the city's planned greenway project, as many of the planned greenways cut through the targeted communities.

ACCOMPLISHMENTS AND ACTIVITIES

Activities planned as part of this Pilot include:

Assessing and characterizing three city-owned brownfields;
Creating a thorough and organized community involvement program;
Involving private land owners and developing public-private partnerships to enroll private property into the brownfields program;
Providing cleanup and reuse planning for the targeted sites, including identifying strategies for providing liability protection to aid in redevelopment; and
Conducting assessment and cleanup planning at the former electrical warehouse to facilitate creating and protecting greenspace.

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

CONTACTS

City of Concord
(704) 789-2502

Regional Brownfields Team
U.S. EPA - Region 4
(404) 562-8661

Visit the EPA Region 4 Brownfields web site at:
http://www.epa.gov/region4/waste/bf/

For further information, including specific Pilot contacts, additional Pilot information, brownfields news and events, and publications and links, visit the EPA Brownfields web site at: http://www.epa.gov/brownfields/

United States
Environmental
Protection Agency
Washington, D.C. 20460

Solid Waste
and Emergency
Response (5101)

EPA 500-F-00-086
May 2000

Outreach and Special Projects Staff (5105)

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