PILOT SNAPSHOT
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Date of Award: April 1997
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Site Profile: The pilot will target brownfields sites located on the City's west side.
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OVERVIEW
EPA Region 5 has selected the City of Chicago as a Regional Brownfields Pilot.
The west side of Chicago is characterized by mixed residential
and industrial land uses. Abandoned industrial properties have
created economic blight and hampered redevelopment. In 1993, representatives
from the Chicago Departments of Environment, Planning and Development,
Buildings, Law, and the Mayor's Office came together to develop
a strategy for promoting cleanup and redevelopment of the City's
brownfields. The City developed a three-pronged initiative based
on this strategy.
The Brownfields Forum is a broad-based public/private policy
group including real estate developers, industrialists, bankers,
lawyers, representatives from local, State, and Federal government
agencies, environmental advocates, and community groups. Between
December 1994 and June 1995, over 130 people attended a series
of working meetings, developing 65 recommendations for promoting
brownfields redevelopment. Forum participants formed project teams
and implemented some of the recommendations including regulatory
changes, influencing regional planning, involving communities
and promoting pollution prevention.
Also during this time period, the Brownfields Sites Program
invested less than $1 million to investigate, clean up and prepare
five sites for private redevelopment. The City worked with community
and business groups and local, State and Federal officials which
resulted in private capital investment of over $5.2 million and
the creation of over 100 jobs.
The Brownfields Economic Analysis studied a critical connection
between economic research, public policy, and the practice of
brownfields redevelopment. Research performed by economists at
the University of Illinois at Chicago discovered that urban sprawl
primarily benefits suburban employers, who are being subsidized
by taxpayers and commuters.
OBJECTIVES
The objective of this brownfields pilot is to continue the successful work
begun by the City of Chicago in two important ways. The brownfields
pilot will: assess the responsiveness of environmental and economic
redevelopment policies devised by the City of Chicago; and develop
a stakeholder participation process for three brownfields redevelopment
sites.
ACTIVITIES
Activities planned as part of this pilot include: Chicago Brownfields
Forum Evaluation
- Performing interviews with Forum participants to assess implementation and
effects of the 1995 Action Plan; and
- Recording and assessing accomplishments of the Forum's workgroups
to better define future redevelopment goals.
Stakeholder Participation Process
- Coordinating with the City's Department of Environment and the Department
of Planning and Development to develop brownfields site specific
information including site histories, environmental problems,
anticipated redevelopment, and interactions with community members;
- Interviewing stakeholders to determine concerns with sites,
levels of participation desired, and concerns relating to the
cleanup and redevelopment process; and
- Developing and implementing a stakeholder participation plan
for each site.
The cooperative agreement for this Pilot has not yet been negotiated: therefore, activities described in this fact sheet are subject to change.
CONTACTS:
Jessica Rio
City of Chicago
Department of Environment
Chicago, IL 60602
(312) 744-7606
Bill Haubold
EPA - Region 5
(312) 353-6261
haubold.william@epamail.epa.gov
Visit the EPA Brownfields web site at: http://www.epa.gov/brownfields/
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