Brownfields Assessment Pilot Fact Sheet

PILOT SNAPSHOT
Baltimore, Maryland	Date of Announcement: June 1999 Amount: $200,000
Profile: The Pilot targets sites in the Empowerment Zone and the city's planned Ecological Industrial Park.

BACKGROUND

EPA selected the City of Baltimore for a Brownfields Pilot. Many of the old industrial sites in Baltimore have been abandoned, causing the city to lose more than 50 percent of its manufacturing jobs between 1970 and 1990. The threat of contamination and liability at these sites has inhibited reuse and redevelopment. The city estimated that 3,500 to 5,300 acres of land zoned for heavy manufacturing contain environmental problems that impair their marketability. In particular, the city was concerned about sites located in Baltimore's Empowerment Zone, where contamination could present an additional obstacle to economic revitalization.

OBJECTIVES

Baltimore's brownfields effort has sought to encourage economic growth and redevelopment in urban areas while continuing to provide appropriate and sufficient protection of the environment, especially the Chesapeake Bay watershed area. Brownfields redevelopment in the city will promote efficient land-use patterns, reduce the air and water pollution associated with urban sprawl, and expand job opportunities in locations that are accessible to lower-income populations.

ACCOMPLISHMENTS AND ACTIVITIES

The Pilot has:

• Targeted 20 brownfields sites to assist in assessment, cleanup, and redevelopment efforts;

• Launched a Lender Initiative, which will educate lenders of new brownfields redevelopment opportunities that exist due to changes in state and federal legislation and regulations and show them what barriers they still face with regard to redevelopment projects;

• Developed an inventory of vacant and underused industrial property in Baltimore the Pilot area, in cooperation with the Baltimore Development Corporation (BDC). The inventory/geographic information system (GIS), called VU-Baltimore, is operational.

The Pilot is:

• Continuing to work with BDC to fill information gaps in the VU-Baltimore inventory/GIS; and

• Working with property owners, prospective developers, and the Maryland Department of the Environment to identify opportunities for brownfields revitalization.

LEVERAGING OTHER ACTIVITIES

Experience with the Baltimore Pilot has been a catalyst for related activities, including the following:

• The Maryland Department of the Environment funded preliminary assessments and site investigations at 20 sites. Six sites have entered the State Voluntary Cleanup Program (VCP).

• The ASARCO/Highland Marine site owner hired 200 short-term cleanup and construction workers to demolish and renovate sections of the 750,000-square-foot complex. A total of $16 million was leveraged from both public and private sources for redevelopment of this site, and a British precious metals firm has begun expansion onto the site.

• In partnership, the city Planning Department and Empower Baltimore Management Corporation created a $3 million revolving loan and grant program dedicated to the financing of brownfields revitalization projects in the Empowerment Zone to give matching grants for assessment and loans for cleanup.

• The former site of Parker Metal Decorating, located in Baltimore's Empowerment Zone, has successfully passed through Maryland's VCP and will be redeveloped as an office building for more than 100 employees.

• Approximately 1,200 redevelopment jobs were leveraged, including 800 jobs at the American Can site, 220 jobs at the Highland Marine Terminal, 100 jobs at the Guilford Pharmaceuticals site, and 80 jobs at the Continental Can site.

• The National Association of Local Government Environmental Professionals (NALGEP), with a grant from EPA, chose the Pilot area to conduct a federal-local communications study. The NALGEP Smart Growth and Brownfields Business Drivers Work Group is determining which factors influence whether or not businesses will locate in "Smart Growth" areas.

• The city was chosen to participate in a Clean Air/Brownfields Partnership Pilot, along with Chicago and Dallas, in which all three cities share a $400,000 grant.

• The city was awarded an additional $200,000 as one of EPA's Brownfields Showcase Communities and an additional $350,000 grant under EPA's Brownfields Cleanup Revolving Loan Fund Pilot program.

CONTACTS

Baltimore City Department of Planning
(410) 396-4367

U.S. EPA - Region 3
(215) 814-3132

Visit the EPA Region 3 Brownfields web site at: http://www.epa.gov/reg3hwmd/bfs/index.htm

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/