PILOT SNAPSHOT
|
 |
Date of Announcement:
September 1997
Amount: $350,000
|
|
BCRLF Target Area: Sites in Louisville's federally
designated Enterprise Community.
|
BACKGROUND
The BCRLF Pilot target area is a federally designated Enterprise
Community (EC) and encompasses the city's most distressed
neighborhoods. It has also been the center of Louisville's
heavy industrial corridor for more than 100 years. As much
as 25 percent of this land is old industrial property that
is vacant or underused. An average of 47.7 percent of residents
live in poverty in many neighborhoods in the target area.
In addition, these neighborhoods suffer from population drain;
nearly 20 percent of the population has left in the last decade.
These neighborhoods also have the state's highest concentrations
of minority residents.
BCRLF OBJECTIVES
The BCRLF will be a new product for Louisville's private
financial market and the Louisville Community Development
Bank (LCDB). The LCDB is an independent institution created
to target the city's under-served communities. The goal of
the BCRLF Pilot program is to fund loan programs for the cleanup
of contaminated properties and their return to productive
use. The city hopes to reap other indirect benefits from the
BCRLF, including: new or expanded businesses in the city;
new jobs as a result of business expansion; a net increase
in the general revenue fund through increased tax revenues;
and a heightened awareness among business owners, developers,
and residents of the issues concerning environmental hazards
and their cleanup.
FUND STRUCTURE AND OPERATIONS
Four organizations will partner to coordinate implementation
of the BCRLF. The city's Office of Health and Environment (OHE)
will coordinate the Pilot program and act as the Lead Agency on
environmental cleanups carried out by loan recipients. OHE will
act as Site Manager to ensure compliance with CERCLA and all other
applicable environmental requirements. The LCDB will serve as
the BCRLF Fund Manager. In addition, the Justice Resource Center
and University of Louisville's Center for Environmental Management
will ensure attention is paid to community involvement and environmental
justice concerns in implementing the BCRLF.
The city expects that the BCRLF loan pool will be used to
fund relatively small cleanup projects. The average size of
each loan is expected to be between $40,000 and $50,000, with
six or seven loans issued in the initial round of lending.
In addition, the city may also make the BCRLF funds available
to guarantee loans made by private institutions. Preference
will be given to making loans for projects that would not
be economically viable without the BCRLF and for redevelopment
projects that have minimal impact on air quality, to supplement
ongoing projects in the city.
Use of BCRLF Pilot funds must be in accordance with CERCLA,
and all CERCLA restrictions on use of funding also apply to BCRLF
funds.
CONTACTS
City of Louisville
Office of Health and Environment
(502) 574-3271
Regional Brownfields Team
U.S. EPA - Region 4
(404) 562-8661
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/
|
![[logo] US EPA](http://www.epa.gov/epafiles/images/logo_epaseal.gif){kind=logo}
