Brownfields Assessment Pilot Fact Sheet

Newport, KY

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

Newport, KY

Date of Announcement:
April 2001

Amount: $200,000

Profile:This Pilot targets six sites in the city for assessment and redevelopment into public gardens, housing, and retail establishments.

BACKGROUND

EPA has selected the City of Newport for a Brownfields Assessment Pilot. Newport (population 18,800) was founded in 1791 in northern Kentucky at the confluence of the Ohio and Licking Rivers across from Cincinnati, Ohio. The riverfront limits the possibilities for expansion and development. During the last 30 years, the city has been in economic decline and its population has fallen due to industries moving to other areas where land is more readily available. Nearly 26 percent of the city’s residents live below the poverty line and 5.3 percent are unemployed.

The city has identified six brownfields that have redevelopment potential but pose potential environmental concerns. The targeted sites include underutilized industrial facilities and abandoned commercial properties. The city believes that these sites may threaten public health or the environment depending on the presence of contaminated groundwater and soil.

OBJECTIVES

The city plans to remove the environmental barriers inhibiting redevelopment of the six target sites so they can be returned to safe and productive use. The Pilot will conduct Phase I environmental site assessments at all six sites, prioritize the sites, and complete a Phase II environmental site assessment, if necessary, at the highest priority site before proceeding to other sites on the list. The Pilot will leverage a HUD HOPE VI Public Housing Revitalization grant awarded to the city. The six brownfields sites are among the sites that will be developed in the first two years of the HOPE VI program. Redevelopment is expected to lead to the creation of additional housing units and retail space.

ACCOMPLISHMENTS AND ACTIVITIES

Activities planned as part of this Pilot include:

Organizing technical and citizens advisory committees to participate in a brownfields task force;
Performing Phase I and, if needed, Phase II environmental site assessments at the six target brownfields; and
Working with the Kentucky Department of Environmental Protection on cleanup plans.

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

CONTACTS

Economic Development Department City of Newport
(859) 292-3666

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 (5105)

EPA 500-F-01-269
April 2001

Outreach and Special Projects Staff (5105)

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