Brownfields Assessment Pilot Fact Sheet

BACKGROUND

EPA Region 4 selected the City of Miami for a Regional Brownfields Pilot. Miami has identified a number of potential brownfields in the economically distressed Wynwood neighborhood (population 15,500), where business is over 40 percent light industry, warehousing, and commercial. Available information indicates that soil contamination in Wynwood is primarily from underground storage tanks, sewer pipes, and industrial chemicals. Wynwood includes a State Enterprise Zone (EZ) and the Miami-Metro Dade Federal Enterprise Community. Wynwood’s poverty rate is 51 percent, exceeding the rest of Miami by about 20 percent. Wynwood residents are 62 percent Hispanic and 32 percent non-Hispanic black. Of eight known contaminated private sector sites, a five to six acre site will be selected for the Brownfields Pilot.

OBJECTIVES

Miami’s focus is to redevelop brownfields in Wynwood. The City will begin by assessing potential brownfields, and this will be followed by empowering residents to fully participate in decision making and planning for redevelopment of any selected site through town hall meetings and City service centers. The empowerment is supported by the new Department of Community Planning and Revitalization. The newly restructured City government will place greater emphasis on the role of the City’s Neighborhood Enhancement Teams, which include planners and other City staff familiar with the dynamics of the neighborhoods they serve. To reach its objectives, the Pilot will conduct site assessments, community outreach, and facilitate redevelopment and cleanup.

ACCOMPLISHMENTS AND ACTIVITIES

The Pilot has:

• Presented the proposed project to the Wynwood Community for their direct involvement. The City created the Wynwood Brownfields Workgroup to determine how brownfields redevelopment will proceed. The group is composed of a realtor, a banker, business owners, residents, community development corporations, and government staff;

• Selected a site for the first Brownfields Pilot environmental assessment. Completed the Phase 1 and 2 environmental site assessments at the Pilot site; and

• Formed the Pilot Advisory Committee to assist the City of Miami and other cities in the county with environmental issues regarding brownfields redevelopment efforts;

The Pilot is:

• Conducting a brownfields audit, including analysis of preliminary data, site visits, mapping of sites, testing for pollutants, and reviewing titles;

• Continuing community empowerment activities to encourage resident participation in redevelopment planning through town hall meetings, community decision-making charettes, and distribution of information on brownfields projects.

LEVERAGING OTHER ACTIVITIES

Experience with the Miami Pilot has been a catalyst for related activities including the following.

• The City Commissioners have assisted in facilitating the brownfields project efforts to redevelop a site. A City-held $128,000 demolition lien was reduced by the City to 15% of its current value to make the property more attractive to prospective purchasers.

• Efforts of the Wynwood Brownfields Workgroup identified a prospective purchaser for a brownfields site in the neighborhood.

• Preparing brownfields conversion plans, including identification of strategies to overcome obstacles to redevelopment, presentation of incentives to encourage local investment, and preparation of environmental restoration plans.

CONTACTS:

Bob Schwarzreich
City of Miami
Community Planning and Revitalization
(305) 416-1418

Barbara Dick
U.S. EPA - Region 4
(404) 562-8923
dick.barbara@epamail.epa.gov