Brownfields Cleanup Revolving
Loan Fund Pilot Fact Sheet

PILOT SNAPSHOT
Trenton, MI	Date of Announcement: July 2000 Amount: $500,000
BCRLF Target Area: Brownfields along the Trenton Channel and Detroit River

BACKGROUND

Trenton, Michigan, located ten miles south of Detroit, is focusing its BCRLF on brownfield sites abutting the Trenton Channel and the Detroit River. Once the home of thriving steel and automobile manufacturing industries, Trenton's economy has suffered from the closing and downsizing of many manufacturing facilities. The neighborhoods in the vicinity of the target sites meet the criteria for inclusion into the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development's low- and moderate-income neighborhoods. The Detroit River has been designated an Area of Concern by the United States/Canada International Joint Commission. Industrial activities and runoff from Trenton brownfields contribute to continued pollution of the Detroit River. Trenton has been working through the Downriver Area Brownfield Consortium to identify and assess brownfield sites. Four Phase I and II Baseline Environmental Assessments have been completed. The Downriver Area Brownfield Consortium was designated a Brownfields Assessment Pilot in 1997.

BCRLF OBJECTIVES

Trenton's BCRLF goals are to:

• Provide loan funds to encourage brownfields redevelopment;
• Bridge financing gaps to enable completion of cleanups;
• Give priority to projects with completed assessments, specific development plans, active community support, and job creation benefits;
• Oversee the cleanup of at least four privately owned properties that are known to be brownfields; and
• Work with site owners to redevelop targeted sites into mixed use or clean-operating industrial use.

Trenton's BCRLF will target brownfields abutting the Trenton Channel of the Detroit River.

FUND STRUCTURE AND OPERATIONS

The Trenton Brownfields Redevelopment Authority will serve as the lead agency. The Trenton Community Development Director will act as both the fund manager and site manager. The term of loans will be for five years and repayments will begin one year from the date of loan closure. The maximum amount of a loan will be $430,000.

LEVERAGING OTHER RESOURCES

The BCRLF will leverage Downriver Area Brownfields Consortium funds for brownfields assessments and Clean Michigan Initiative waterfront revitalization grant funds for brownfields cleanups. To further leverage the BCRLF, Trenton will encourage the use of its Brownfields Tax Increment Financing Authority to repay loans and will investigate the use of U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Section 206 funds to reestablish a natural shoreline along the Trenton Channel and Detroit River.

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

Community Development Director
(734) 675-8251

Region 5BCRLFCoordinator
(312) 886-7576

Visit the EPA Region 5 Brownfields web site at:
http://www.epa.gov/R5Brownfields/

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/