| 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.
Between 1995 and 1996, EPA funded 76 National and Regional Brownfields
Assessment Pilots, at up to $200,000 each, to support creative two-year
explorations and demonstrations of brownfields solutions. EPA is funding more
than 27 Pilots in 1997. The Pilots 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 |
| Date of Award: September 1996
Amount: $178,500 |
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Site Profile: The Pilot targets the 141-acre former Murray Smelter site
where there is suspected lead and arsenic contamination.
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BACKGROUND
EPA Region 8 selected Murray City for a Regional Brownfields Pilot. The
former Murray Smelter in Murray City (population 31,282) is a 141-acre site
surrounded by single-family and multiple-unit residential areas, schools, and
office buildings. Current occupants of the site include a trailer park,
warehouses, retail businesses, and concrete, cement and asphalt plants
representing multiple ownerships. Except for residual contamination and
liability concerns, the site is in a valuable commercial business location with
convenient rail and highway access. Contamination concerns and the potential
for environmental liability have prevented the redevelopment of this site.
OBJECTIVES
Murray City's objective is to integrate brownfields site assessment into its
vision for development of the site to complement adjacent land uses, improve
light rail transportation, enhance the image of the community, and construct a
$40 million extension of Main Street needed for a detour during reconstruction
of I-15 in 1998. Moving current site operations to less valuable land outside
the community center would eliminate existing dust and noise in the surrounding
communities. The Pilot will demonstrate how redevelopment can be integrated
with remediation planning of a brownfields site.
ACCOMPLISHMENTS AND ACTIVITIES
The Pilot has:
- Conducted seven discussion sessions between property owners, tenants,
Murray City, EPA, and the responsible party. The purpose of these meetings was
to discuss the integration of the assessment and cleanup with future land use
and redevelopment plans.
The Pilot is:
- Assisting property owners in assessing the affects of various remediation
plans and development options on property values; and
- Developing an Agreement in Principle between the property owners, the City
and the responsible party, which will summarize individual contributions to
support the integration of assessment and cleanup with redevelopment.
LEVERAGING OTHER ACTIVITIES
Experience with the Murray City Pilot has been a catalyst for related
activities including the following.
- Presenting land use plans to the City Council for review and public input
which will demonstrate how brownfields assessment and cleanup fits into
transportation system plans.
- Documenting the brownfields process in order to demonstrate successful
strategies that can be used by other communities.
CONTACTS:
Dennis Hamblin
Murray City
(801) 264-2623
Bonnie Lavelle
U.S. EPA - Region 8
(303) 312-6579
lavelle.bonnie@epamail.epa.gov
Visit the EPA Brownfields web site at: http://www.epa.gov/brownfields/
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