Brownfields Supplemental Assistance Fact Sheet

PILOT SNAPSHOT
	Date of Announcement: March 2000 Amount: $135,000 Greenspace: $50,000
Target Area: City of Miami, FL Profile: The Pilot will target at least three brownfields in the Miami River area, including targeting one site for commercial redevelopment and one for greenspace purposes.

BACKGROUND

EPA awarded the City of Miami supplemental assistance for its Brownfields Assessment Pilot and additional funding for assessments at brownfields properties to be used for greenspace purposes. The Miami River Brownfields Redevelopment Pilot Area (MRP) is the historic heart of the City of Miami, containing several archaeologically and historically significant zones. Today, the principal economic activities of the surrounding areas reflect the city's orientation to water: commercial shipyards and marinas, loading docks, export-oriented manufacturers, fisheries, fish markets, and seafood restaurants. During the past several decades, the MRP Area has undergone economic decline. In the 1980s, marine industrial employment dropped by 30 percent. Many properties along the river are vacant or underutilized because where the perception of contamination deters investors from making much-needed improvements, fueling the cycle of decline. Half of the targeted area is within a federally designated Empowerment Zone.

The residential neighborhoods of the targeted areas are characterized by high levels of unemployment and poverty and by limited education attainment of its residents. As of 1990, only 30.5 percent of adults had completed high school, and more than 20 percent of adults had immigrated to the U.S. within the past 5 years. The poverty rate in the targeted areas is 49.9 percent.

OBJECTIVES AND PLANNED ACTIVITIES

Miami's objectives are to further establish brownfields as an integral part of sustainable economic development, to establish the City of Miami's brownfields redevelopment planning process as a model, and to build on existing and create new partnerships. The city will use the supplemental assistance to inventory sites in the targeted area, and to coordinate assessment, identification, characterization, and cleanup planning for brownfields properties.

The Pilot will use the greenspace funding to target the Lummus Park neighborhood along the Biscayne Bay and the Miami River. In conjunction with other efforts, the city intends to create a continuous system of public waterfront walkways that will provide an attractive and safe connector system of bicycle, pedestrian, transit routes, and water taxis to link jobs, waterfront amenities, and people and spur further economic development along its route.

To accomplish these objectives, the Pilot plans to:

• Expand existing brownfields inventory to include 10-15 properties in the targeted area;

• Select three brownfields sites for further investigation;

• Conduct Phase I and Phase II environmental assessments at the targeted brownfields sites;

• Develop cleanup options and cost estimates at the targeted sites; and

• Conduct assessment on the Flagler Bridge segment of the planned Miami River riverwalk system for greenspace purposes.

• Ensure stakeholder involvement through meetings and communications materials.

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

CONTACTS

Department of Real Estate & Economic Development
Miami, Florida
(305) 416-1418

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/index.htm

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/