Brownfields 2007 Grant Fact Sheet

Detroit, MI

EPA BROWNFIELDS PROGRAM

EPA's Brownfields Program empowers states, communities, and other stakeholders to work together to prevent, assess, safely clean up, and sustainably reuse brownfields. A brownfield site is real property, the expansion, redevelopment, or reuse of which may be complicated by the presence or potential presence of a hazardous substance, pollutant, or contaminant. On January 11, 2002, President George W. Bush signed into law the Small Business Liability Relief and Brownfields Revitalization Act. Under the Brownfields Law, EPA provides financial assistance to eligible applicants through four competitive grant programs: assessment grants, revolving loan fund grants, cleanup grants, and job training grants. Additionally, funding support is provided to state and tribal response programs through a separate mechanism.

ASSESSMENT GRANT

$200,000 for hazardous substances
EPA has selected the City of Detroit for a brownfields assessment grant. Hazardous substances grant funds will be used to conduct 20 Phase I and eight Phase II environmental site assessments in the Eastern Market Project Area. Funds also will be used for community outreach activities.

CLEANUP GRANTS

$400,000 for hazardous substances
EPA has selected the City of Detroit for two brownfields cleanup grants. Grant funds will be used to clean up the Sears Retail Store and Auto Service Center site at 10750 Grand River Avenue and the Globe Building at 1801-1803 Atwater Street. The sites were used for a variety of industrial and commercial purposes, including automobile repair, railroad operations, and cleaners. They are contaminated with metals, volatile organic compounds, and other hazardous substances. Funds also will be used for community outreach activities.

COMMUNITY DESCRIPTION

The City of Detroit was selected to receive a brownfields assessment grant and two brownfields cleanup grants. Located on the east coast of Michigan, Detroit (population 900,000) is far below the state averages for many economic indicators. The poverty rate is 30.1 percent, and the per capita income of city residents is 38 percent lower than the state average. The city contains more than 1,000 brownfields that present potential health risks and contribute to the out-migration of residents. Detroit is focusing its assessment efforts on the two-square-mile Eastern Market Project Area, the central marketplace to the city for more than 160 years. The Eastern Market area has a poverty rate of 43 percent. More than 84 percent of residents are African-American. The assessment of potentially contaminated sites in the Eastern Market area will help the city move forward with its plans to make it a more attractive district for economic development. The two sites targeted for cleanup are in neighborhoods where 64 to 97 percent of residents are African-American. When these two sites are cleaned up, the city plans to develop a senior citizen residential complex and retrofit a historic building into a mixed commercial and residential development.

CONTACTS

For further information, including specific grant contacts, additional grant information, brownfields news and events, and publications and links, visit the EPA Brownfields web site at: www.epa.gov/brownfields.

EPA Region 5 Brownfields Team
312-886-7576
http://www.epa.gov/R5Brownfields/

Grant Recipient: City of Detroit, MI
313-471-5108

The information presented in this fact sheet comes from the grant proposal; EPA cannot attest to the accuracy of this information. The cooperative agreement for the grant has not yet been negotiated. Therefore, activities described in this fact sheet are subject to change.