PILOT SNAPSHOT |
| Date of Award: September 1997
Amount: $100,000 |
|
Site Profile: The Pilot targets brownfields
in eleven Redevelopment Project Areas and portions of the
City within the Los Angeles Revitalization Zone. |
BACKGROUND
EPA Region 9 has selected the City of Pomona for a Regional Brownfields
Pilot. Pomona has a population of 149,600 and is the fourth-largest
city in Los Angeles County. The multi-cultural community is 54%
Latino, 12% African American, and 8% Asian. Downtown Pomona is
home to an arts colony, an antique row, a farmers market, and
one of two mass transit train stations (MetroLink) located within
the City.
The City, once predominantly a manufacturing and industrial
hub, has experienced a large decline in these industries as well
as a decline in the defense industry. General Dynamics, once the
City's largest private-sector employer, is now the site of one
of the City's largest brownfields (200 acres). The site was built
in 1952 to develop and build weapons for the U.S. Navy. From a
1980s' peak of 10,000 employees, all site production and operations
have now ceased.
OBJECTIVES
The Pilot's target locations include eleven Redevelopment Project
Areas and the portions of the City within the Los Angeles Revitalization
Zone (LARZ), which offers various tax incentives for qualified
businesses located in the zone. The LARZ program was enacted to
help targeted communities recover from the area's Spring 1992
civil unrest by offering incentives to invest in and hire residents
from these communities. The City will use Pilot funds to conduct
a detailed analysis of all vacant, underused, potentially contaminated
sites in the City. The City will compile this information in a
database, including information such as existing land use, prior
land use, LARZ opportunities, and available financing assistance.
The Pilot plans to make this information available to the public
via the Internet.
ACCOMPLISHMENTS AND ACTIVITIES
The Pilot will:
- Assess the City's brownfields problem by performing site analysis, including characterizing each site and providing cleanup recommendations;
- Build on existing public/private partnerships that are specific to brownfields revitalization;
- Initiate a Community Action Plan to involve and educate the community living and working in brownfields areas;
- Provide brownfields assessment information to business owners, potential developers, and residents through the Regional Environmental Business Resource and Assistance Center (REBRAC), a not-for-profit economic development program of Fullerton College; and
- Develop a readily accessible, on-line database system of brownfields
site information.
CONTACTS:
Cruz Esparza
Pomona Department of Economic Development
(909) 620-2050
Steve Simanonok
U.S. EPA - Region 9
(415) 744-2358
simanonok.steve@epamail.epa.gov
Visit the EPA Brownfields Website at:
http://www.epa.gov/brownfields/
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