Brownfields Assessment Pilots

PILOT SNAPSHOT	Date of Announcement: May 2002 Amount: $200,000 Target Area: Humboldt County, California
Profile: The Pilot targets a 256-acre multi-use site within a state Enterprise Zone and Free Trade Zone on the Samoa Peninsula for assessment and redevelopment into an industrial park.

BACKGROUND

EPA has selected Humboldt County for a Brownfields Assessment Pilot. Humboldt County (population 126,518) is located in northern California, approximately 240 miles north of San Francisco. A large number of former industrial sites, including timber processing plants, warehouses, and docking facilities, remain idle in what once was the central base of Humboldt County's economy. For this Pilot, the county has targeted a 256-acre site on the Samoa Peninsula, across Humboldt Bay from the city of Eureka. The target area includes the lumber company town of Samoa, with 62 acres of sand dunes and coastal forest habitat along the Pacific Ocean and approximately 46 acres of vacant industrial and commercial property.

Over the last 20 years, the economy of Humboldt County has shifted from its original base in natural resources, such as timber and commercial fishing, to a more diverse base, which now includes smaller manufacturing businesses. The expanding manufacturing sector provides sustainable, living-wage jobs, but is constrained by the availability of suitable industrial sites. The Samoa Peninsula offers a number of potential sites for this sector, but redevelopment requires addressing the environmental legacy of previous uses. The county's per capita household income is 78 percent of the statewide average and its unemployment rate is 6.3 percent, compared to the statewide average of 4.9 percent.

OBJECTIVES

The county's objective is to expedite the redevelopment of vacant industrial and commercial properties on the Samoa Peninsula that are suitable for manufacturing. To accomplish this objective, the Pilot will complete environmental site assessments on properties located within a 256 acre target area, which is within a state Enterprise Zone and a Free Trade Zone. The county will incorporate the results of the assessments into plans for zoning, redevelopment, and preservation of resources and open space.

ACCOMPLISHMENTS AND ACTIVITIES

Activities planned as part of this Pilot include:

• Completing a Phase I environmental assessment of the entire site;
• Competing Phase II environmental assessments as needed to transfer properties or identify the extent of contamination requiring cleanup; and
• Integrating Pilot activities and assessment results into zoning, subdivision, redevelopment, and preservation plans, including the Humboldt Bay Local Coastal Plan.

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

CONTACTS

Humboldt County
(707) 268-3735

Regional Brownfields Team
U.S. EPA Region 9
(415) 972-3249

Visit the EPA Region 9 Brownfields web site at: http://www.epa.gov/region09/waste/brown/index.html

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: www.epa.gov/brownfields