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Brownfields Success Stories
Village Creek Regains its Status in Birmingham
The North Birmingham Industrial Redevelopment Project centers on a 900-acre industrial area in which nearly forty percent of formerly active property now lies vacant. Running through the center of this area is Village Creek, which local residents have long assumed to be heavily polluted and contaminated by industrial waste. In September 1995, EPA awarded Birmingham a $200,000 grant under its Brownfields Initiative to stimulate development of a 150-acre industrial park within the target area. As Village Creek runs through this brownfields site, changing public perception of the creek became an important part of the project. The City involved local residents in taking water samples of the creek for analysis. These tests revealed far lower levels of pollution than originally estimated, surprising the community and immediately improving the creek's status. Current plans are to redevelop Village Creek into a 17-mile greenway that includes a paved, multi-use trail and which features improvements to scenery and accessability. Development costs of the greenway are estimated at approximately $10 million. For more information on the Birmingham Brownfields Pilot, contact Barbara Caprita at 404-562-9969.