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Brownfields Success Stories
San Francisco Pilot Sets Sights on First Site
San Francisco recently selected a first site for assessment under its Brownfields Pilot program, which was established with a $100,000 grant from EPA's Brownfields Pilot Initiative in 1996 and later increased to $200,000. The selection comes after two years of cooperative planning among Pilot partners. The Pilot targets San Francisco's South Bayshore Area, known as "Bayview," which contains acres of bayfront property and boasts breathtaking views of San Francisco. However, Bayview's community has an unemployment rate of 13 percent and is located next door to a Superfund site, the Hunter's Point Naval Shipyard. While the Brownfields Pilot program does not target sites within the shipyard area because of its Superfund designation, the nearby Bayview neighborhood, which contains many sites with lower levels of known or suspected contamination, is a perfect match. To help return the Bayview area's brownfields to productive use, the San Francisco Pilot established the Brownfields Advisory Board, composed of community members and representatives from government agencies, businesses, and financial institutions. The board met several times to identify a catalyst site in the project area that could serve as a future model, and in August 1998 selected a parking lot adjacent to the Providence Baptist Church. The site was chosen based its proximity to the area's major thoroughfare, the community's support for the choice, and the likely creation of jobs. The Church will retain ownership of the property and work with a local nonprofit housing developer to turn the parking lot into a mixed-use project, while the church itself remains in use. Initial plans for the parking lot property include commercial and retail use on the ground floor and approximately 40 new units of affordable senior housing on the upper floors. In the spirit of their continued cooperation, decisions on the project will be subject to church and community approval. For more information on the San Francisco Brownfields Pilot, contact Bobbie Kahan of EPA Region 9 at (415) 744-2191 or Martha Walters of the San Francisco Redevelopment Agency at (415) 749-2474.