Brownfields Assessment Pilot Fact Sheet

PILOT SNAPSHOT
Cape Charles/ Northampton, Virginia	Date of Announcement: September 1995 Amount: $200,000
Profile: The Pilot targets a 155-acre former dump and railyard site located on a narrow strip of land between the Chesapeake Bay and the Atlantic Ocean.

BACKGROUND

EPA selected the Town of Cape Charles for a Brownfields Pilot. Cape Charles is located at the southern tip of Virginia's Eastern Shore on a narrow strip of land between the Chesapeake Bay and the Atlantic Ocean. The area boasts rich farmlands, productive waters, vast wetlands, and miles of unspoiled coastline. Twenty-seven percent of the 13,000 people in the area, 47 percent of whom are of African-American heritage, live below the poverty level.

The President's Council on Sustainable Development selected Cape Charles as one of four sites for a national eco-industrial park demonstration project, the Cape Charles Sustainable Technologies Industrial Park (STIP), which will demonstrate advanced facilities in resource efficiency and pollution prevention. A 155-acre portion of this eco-industrial park is a redevelopment area surrounding Cape Charles Harbor on the Chesapeake Bay. The site includes a former municipal dump, dockside, railyard, and the remains of abandoned industrial operations. The site may contain hazardous substances that threaten public health and the marine environment and must be addressed before the eco-industrial park can be developed.

OBJECTIVES

The Pilot is working to facilitate the development of the Port of Cape Charles STIP as a means of creating sustainable economic development while protecting the community's unique natural, cultural, and historic resources. Specifically, the Pilot is assessing the extent of contamination on the 155-acre former dump and railyard site and designing a cleanup strategy that will enable the development of the eco-industrial park to progress. Once the project is completed, the redeveloped brownfields will include the eco-industrial park, restored wetlands, a nature trail and environmental education facility, and a tertiary sewage treatment system.

ACCOMPLISHMENTS AND ACTIVITIES

The Pilot has:

• Completed Phase I and II environmental assessments of the former town dump parcel at the STIP site;

• Developed a Master Plan, comprehensive design and operations standards, and zoning language. Citizens reviewed and revised drafts of the Master Plan for redevelopment at a community workshop and Celebration of Progress in December 1995; and

• Facilitated the adoption by the Cape Charles Planning Commission of a new STIP zone. The Cape Charles Town Council subsequently rezoned land into the new STIP zone, dedicated land for road access, and approved subdivision of industrial park land.

LEVERAGING OTHER ACTIVITIES

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

• The Cape Charles Town Council leased approximately 25 acres of brownfields land to the Industrial Development Authority (IDA) for use in the STIP. Under this long-term lease, the IDA is responsible for any necessary environmental cleanup of this area, which includes 400 feet of harbor frontage, the former town dump, and the main entrance to the park.

• The Joint IDA of Northampton County and its Incorporated Towns, have adopted a "Declaration of Covenants and Restrictions for the Port of Cape Charles Sustainable Technologies Industrial Park." The covenants contain measurable, enforceable environmental and social sustainability criteria with performance incentive awards to occupant tenants who exceed the minimum sustainability requirements.

• The Pilot cooperated with the President's Council on Sustainable Development to host a national workshop on eco-industrial parks in October 1996.

• Hare Valley High School was converted into a temporary solar panel manufacturing factory by Solar Building Systems, Inc., which subsequently hired 30 employees.

• Six additional redevelopment jobs (four by Energy Recovery, Inc., and two by Natural Habitat) and one temporary cleanup job were created in the STIP.

• The Pilot leveraged $2.5 million in county bonds for the construction of the 30,930- square-foot Energy Recovery, Inc., building, which was completed in March 1999.

• The Pilot leveraged a $790,000 Rural Business Enterprise grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the Economic Development Administration, which will be used to establish infrastructure in the STIP.

• The Pilot leveraged a $798,000 grant from the Department of the Interior to purchase land adjacent to the park to extend the nature preserve already incorporated within the Pilot target area.

• The Pilot leveraged an award of $190,000 from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration to develop a coastal water quality program.

• Occupancy of Building I of the STIP was anticipated by September 1998.

• Cape Charles was awarded an additional $200,000 as one of EPA's Brownfields Showcase Communities finalists.

CONTACTS:

Northampton County
Department of Sustainable Economic Development
(757) 331-1998

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/