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. EPA is funding: assessment demonstration pilot programs
(each funded up to $200,000 over two years), to assess brownfields
sites and to test cleanup and redevelopment models; job training
pilot programs (each funded up to $200,000 over two years), to provide
training for residents of communities affected by brownfields to
facilitate cleanup of brownfields sites and prepare trainees for
future employment in the environmental field; and, cleanup revolving
loan fund programs (each funded up to $500,000 over five years)
to capitalize loan funds to make loans for the environmental cleanup
of brownfields. These pilot programs 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.
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PILOT SNAPSHOT |
Date of Announcement:
August 1996
Amount: $100,000 |
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Profile: The Pilot targets the South Bayshore community which has 120 known brownfield sites within a three mile area. These sites are adjacent to the Hunters Point Naval Shipyard, a Superfund site of 525 acres of waterfront property.
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BACKGROUND
EPA Region 9 selected the City of San Francisco for a Regional Brownfields
Pilot. The City of San Francisco (population 710,000) is targeting the South
Bayshore area (population 28,000) for revitalization. Demographics of the area
include a 13 percent unemployment rate and a population of 62 percent
African-American, 21 percent Asian/Pacific Islander, and 9 percent Hispanic. The
South Bayshore area was a gateway for port activity until the U.S. Navy’s
nearby Hunters Point Shipyard (now a Superfund site) closed in 1974, devastating
the area’s economy. The area has also suffered a disproportionate share of
the contamination burden in the City. Known or suspected brownfields in the area
include 13 hazardous waste sites and 58 leaking underground storage tanks. The
Department of Housing and Urban Development has designated the area an
Enterprise Community. Public health, land use, housing, jobs, and property
values are documented as significantly below the City’s averages.
OBJECTIVES
San Francisco’s overall aim is to integrate a Risk Management Plan with
land reuse in the South Bayshore area. The objective of the Risk Management Plan
is to develop an area-wide soil and groundwater cleanup approach and integrate
this information with the redevelopment and reuse of certain targeted
brownfields in the South Bayshore area.
ACCOMPLISHMENTS AND ACTIVITIES
The Pilot has:
- Ensured public participation in the decision-making process. Used the Base
Closure model of linking community members with regulatory and redevelopment
agencies, to establish the Brownfields Advisory Board, which is composed of
community members, governmental agencies, businesses, and lenders. Convened
several times to discuss the project and the community members’ involvement
related to land use, zoning, economic development, and environmental justice.
Additional community representatives will be joining the Board; and
- Begun the process to collect background hydrogeologic data and historical
land use information for the area as part of the initial phase of the Risk
Management Plan.
The Pilot is:
- Continuing the first phase of the Risk Management Plan including obtaining
and evaluating background information on historical land use and gathering the
existing hydrogeologic data for the area. The area is currently a redevelopment
survey area, the first step in the process of being designated as a
Redevelopment Area. The final redevelopment plan is expected to be approved in
September 1998;
- Continuing to obtain and evaluate background information of the area to
identify potential chemical sources and exposure pathways;
- Developing an area map illustrating areas of potential environmental
concerns based on identified potential receptors;
- Reviewing proposed land uses based on the information developed through the
Redevelopment Planning Process; and
- Conducting risk assessments and fate and transport modeling to define
acceptable residual levels of contamination based on proposed zoning and land
use.
CONTACTS:
Martha Walters
Brownfields Coordinator
San Francisco Redevelopment Agency
(415) 749-2474
Bobbie Kahan
U.S. EPA - Region 9
(415) 744-2191
kahan.bobbie@epamail.epa.gov
Visit the EPA Brownfields Website at:
http://www.epa.gov/brownfields
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