Brownfields Assessment Pilot Fact Sheet

PILOT SNAPSHOT
Jacksonville, Florida	Date of Announcement: September 1997 Amount: $200,000
Profile: The Pilot focuses on underused or vacant contaminated properties within the Talleyrand Redevelopment Area and the adjacent neighborhood of East Jacksonville.

BACKGROUND

EPA selected the City of Jacksonville for a Brownfields Pilot. Historically, Jacksonville's port has served as a major commercial center. Agricultural, petroleum, and paper product industries, in particular, have dominated the commercial market supporting Jacksonville. Commerce that flourished for more than a century has subsided, leaving more than 100 downtown sites with known or suspected soil and groundwater contamination.

Private and public initiatives have begun to revitalize the area. Initiatives include construction of a new sports complex, increased private sector investments, municipal bond funding used for public improvements, and Port Authority efforts to improve and expand the downtown's port facilities. The city anticipates that Pilot funding will provide seed money for site assessments and cleanup planning, act as a catalyst for matching funds, motivate partnerships, centralize efforts to address brownfields, and solidify community support.

OBJECTIVES

Jacksonville's objectives are to establish a redevelopment process with defined policies, procedures, and mechanisms that will restore brownfields sites into economically productive properties, create new jobs, and increase the quality of life for nearby inner-city neighborhoods. The city anticipates that the Pilot, through its work in the Talleyrand Redevelopment Area and East Jacksonville, will create a process that can be replicated in other industrial urban core neighborhoods, port cities, and similar waterfront properties.

ACCOMPLISHMENTS AND ACTIVITIES

The Pilot has:

• Created an inventory of 162 brownfields in the Pilot target area;

• Completed a Brownfields Redevelopment Program brochure and a workshop manual as part of its community involvement efforts;

• Developed a brownfields web page located within the city's web site;

• Developed a quarterly brownfields newsletter;

• Prepared a draft library of speakers for redevelopment and brownfields issues; and

• Created a base city map that includes zoning, existing and future land use, 100-year floodplain and land cover, well locations, and information on the area's groundwater, including groundwater table elevations, hydraulic conductivity, transmissivity, and storage coefficients.

The Pilot is:

• Working on the Deer Creek Sub-Basin Groundwater Study in an effort to develop a groundwater model for the basin;

• Evaluating environmental justice concerns in the Pilot area and implementing community involvement activities;

• Developing an information repository including brownfields site information and groundwater data linked to a geographic information system (GIS);

• Identifying the roles of cooperating agencies and organizations needed for site redevelopment;

• Identifying public and private funding sources for site restoration;

• Taking inventory of private water supplies in the Pilot area and developing a groundwater model; and

• Developing site assessment and cleanup plans.

LEVERAGING OTHER ACTIVITIES

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

• The St. Johns River Water Management District provided a $100,000 in-kind contribution toward development of a brownfields area groundwater model.

• The Florida Office of Trade and Industry Development provided a $200,000 grant for brownfields redevelopment.

• The Florida Department of Environmental Protection made a $50,000 in-kind contribution for site assessment in the Pilot-targeted area.

• The city received a joint U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA)/U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) grant that will be used to examine how stormwater utilities can be designed to address contamination concerns in the Deer Creek Sub-Basin and St. Johns River. Study results will be used to propose regional stormwater procedures and encourage redevelopment. VA/HUD has provided $900,000 to date.

CONTACTS

Planning and Development Department,
City of Jacksonville
(904) 630-2333

U.S. EPA - Region 4
(404) 562-8493

Visit Jacksonville's Brownfields Redevelopment Program web site.

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/