Brownfields Supplemental Assistance

PILOT SNAPSHOT	Date of Announcement: May 2002 Amount: $150,000 Target Area: Hennepin County, Minnesota
Profile: Hennepin County plans to develop and implement a suburban community outreach plan and conduct Phase I and Phase II assessments in suburban municipalities.

BACKGROUND

EPA awarded Hennepin County supplemental assistance for its Brownfields Assessment Demonstration Pilot. The county contains one-quarter (1,050,000) of Minnesota's population and includes the city of Minneapolis and 45 suburbs. Because of past industrial development, the county must now contend with contaminated properties, both in the older urban cores and in new suburban communities. In newer suburban communities, dumps and underused commercial and industrial land with likely contamination have been bypassed by rapid, sprawling development, leaving behind pockets of blight and economic distress. Many of the suburbs in the county do not have the resources to successfully undertake brownfields redevelopment projects without external help. The county has conducted environmental assessments at over 100 brownfields as well as numerous highway and railroad corridors.

The original Pilot has successfully completed the tasks related to interim uses of sites in the Bassett's Creek Valley area. The county's successful brownfields program has focused, since its inception six years ago, on sites that the county owns. The county currently is broadening its brownfields program to provide all of its municipalities with technical and financial resources to facilitate efforts at all brownfield sites. Through the supplemental assistance, the county will refocus brownfields redevelopment efforts into suburban areas, applying the approach developed under the initial Pilot as a model for brownfield assessment and redevelopment planning.

OBJECTIVES

Supplemental assistance will be used to conduct Phase I assessments at six sites in five municipalities, and the county expects to conduct Phase I assessments on an additional six sites to be selected. Supplemental assistance also will be used to conduct up to three Phase II assessments. In addition, the county will launch a concerted outreach effort to build working relationships with local government representatives and residents of suburban municipalities.

ACCOMPLISHMENTS AND ACTIVITIES

Activities planned as part of this Pilot include:

• Completing 10-12 Phase I environmental site assessments;
• Completing one to three Phase II environmental site assessments;
• Working with suburban cities to identify additional brownfield sites; and
• Developing and implementing a suburban community outreach plan for brownfields.

The cooperative agreement for this Pilot has not yet been negotiated; therefore, activities described in this fact sheet are subject to change.

CONTACTS

Hennepin County Department of
Environmental Services
(612) 348-5714

Regional Brownfields Team
U.S. EPA Region 5
(404) 562-8661

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: www.epa.gov/brownfields