Brownfields Assessment Pilot Fact Sheet

PILOT SNAPSHOT
Winston-Salem, NC	Date of Announcement: September 1998 Amount: $200,000
Profile: The Pilot targets the Liberty Street Corridor, a former tobacco and textile industrial corridor that serves as a prime gateway between the Smith Reynolds Airport and downtown Winston-Salem.

BACKGROUND

EPA selected the City of Winston-Salem for a Brownfields Pilot. Winston-Salem (population approximately 165,000) was built on the tobacco and textile industries. A by-product of this past is the Liberty Street Corridor, which historically supported such industrial and commercial operations as tobacco product manufacturing, automobile-related businesses, and textile manufacturing. The southern portion of the corridor includes what was once the business, cultural, and social hub of the Winston-Salem African-American community. The Liberty Street area has a population of 22,917, of which 84 percent are minorities, 27 percent live below the poverty level, and 12 percent are unemployed. Winston-Salem has invested more than $27 million in housing redevelopment projects in the Liberty Street corridor; however, the stigma of actual or perceived environmental contamination at old industrial facilities has contributed to a reluctance by businesses to redevelop the area. Past efforts to build an industrial park were abandoned due to fear of contamination, even though the corridor is a prime gateway between the Smith Reynolds Airport and the downtown area.

The Pilot will reinforce existing efforts to redevelop Liberty Street and capitalize on the state's recently enacted brownfields law. Recent studies have recommended improvements in transportation, zoning, safety, and sense of community for the area. Major transportation routes intersecting Liberty Street recently were designated as a corridor for U.S. Interstate 73. This will facilitate development near the downtown area rather than in outlying greenfield sites. The Pilot complements this transportation strategy by targeting abandoned and idle properties in the Liberty Street Corridor for cleanup and redevelopment.

OBJECTIVES

The City of Winston-Salem would like to revitalize the Liberty Street Corridor while retaining its historical identity. The Pilot strategy centers on compilation of existing environmental information, Phase I and Phase II environmental assessments at properties where actual or perceived contamination is preventing economic redevelopment, and extensive community involvement. Current plans for the project area include development of an Airport Business Park.

ACCOMPLISHMENTS AND ACTIVITIES

The Pilot has:

• Conducted numerous outreach activities with community members and other stakeholders;
• Created a database of property owners for those properties fronting Liberty Street and a Liberty Street site map identifying properties under consideration for assessment;
• Met with developers, Fannie Mae representatives, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, and Smith Reynolds Airport to discuss partnership opportunities for the proposed Airport Business Park in the project area;
• Met with property owners in the project area to discuss the possibility of conducting Phase I assessments, provide information on potential owner liability, and distribute site access agreements and letters of explanation;
• Developed a partnership with the Downtown Middle School to educate youth to the importance of brownfields remediation; and
• Developed a Brownfields web site to educate the community and other interested individuals about brownfields.

The Pilot is:

• Collecting and analyzing available data on brownfields in the Liberty Street Corridor; and

• Conducting Phase I and Phase II site assessments on targeted properties.

LEVERAGING OTHER ACTIVITIES

Experience with the Winston-Salem Pilot has been a catalyst for related activities, including the following:
• Winston-Salem has established an Enterprise Community, and the Liberty Street Corridor Project is one of the economic development initiatives associated with this community.
• Winston-Salem was awarded a $3 million Brownfields Economic Development Initiative (BEDI) grant from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development for the proposed Airport Business Park.
• Voters also approved $4 million in General Obligation Bonds as a local leverage for this proposed Airport Business Park.
• The city was awarded an additional $500,000 grant under EPA's Brownfields Cleanup Revolving Loan Fund Pilot program, and a $200,000 grant under the Brownfields Job Training program.

CONTACTS

City of Winston-Salem
(336) 727-8040

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/