United States
Environmental
Protection Agency
Washington, D.C. 20460
Solid Waste
and Emergency
Response (5101)
EPA 500-F-00-089
May 2000
www.epa.gov/brownfields/
Brownfields Assessment
Demonstration Pilot
Elyria, OH
Outreach and Special Projects Staff (5105)
Quick Reference Fact Sheet
EPA's Brownfields Economic Redevelopment Initiative is designed to empower states, communities, and other
stakeholders in economic redevelopment to work together in a timely manner to prevent, assess, safely clean up, and
sustainably reuse brownfields. A brownfield is a site, or portion thereof, that has actual or perceived contamination and
an active potential for redevelopment or reuse. EPA is funding: assessment demonstration pilot programs (each funded
up to $200,000 over two years), to assess brownfields sites and to test cleanup and redevelopment models; job training
pilot programs (each funded up to $200,000 over two years), to provide training for residents of communities affected
by brownfields to facilitate cleanup of brownfields sites and prepare trainees for future employment in the environmental
field; and, cleanup revolving loan fund programs (each funded up to $500,000 over five years) to capitalize loan funds
to make loans for the environmental cleanup of brownfields. These pilot programs are intended to provide EPA, states,
tribes, municipalities, and communities with useful information and strategies as they continue to seek new methods
to promote a unified approach to site assessment, environmental cleanup, and redevelopment.
BACKGROUND
EPA has selected the City of Elyria for a Brownfields
Pilot. Elyria (population 57,000) is located near
Lake Erie in northcentral Ohio. For much of its
history, Elyria has depended on manufacturing for
economic growth. However, the departure of many
companies leftthe city with a legacy of unemployment,
urban blight, and brownfields sites. Today,
unemployment within the brownfields target area
stands at between 8 percent and 30 percent, and the
poverty rate is over 28 percent.
The Pilot targets the former Tappan manufacturing
facility for redevelopment. Formerly one of the
premiermanufacturing facilities in the Midwest anda
key component of Elyria's economic success, today
much of the site is unused. Two tenants use about
two-thirds of the facility for manufacturing activities
and are interested in expanding their operations.
However, this expansion is unable to proceed because
of past on-site environmental contamination, which
has resulted in one tenant threatening to move to an
undeveloped parcel of land. The Pilot will address
these environmental concerns in an effort to promote
redevelopment of the Tappan property.
PILOT SNAPSHOT
Elyria, OH
Date of Announcement:
May 2000
Amount: $200,000
Profile: The Pilot focuses
on the former Tappan
manufacturing brownfields
site to facilitate site
redevelopmentand maintain
current site tenants.
Contacts:
Department of Community
Development
(440)322-3900
Regional Brownfields Team
U.S. EPA-Region 5
(312)353-3161
Visit the EPA Region 5 Brownfields web site at:
http://www.epa.gov/R5Brownfields/
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/
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OBJECTIVES
The Pilot's objective is to address environmental
issues atthe former Tappan plant in order to redevelop
the site through the planned expansion of existing on-
site manufacturing activities. This will allowthe two
tenants to remain on-site and retain more than 300
family-supporting j obs. In addition, the redevelopment
of the former Tappan site will be the foundation of an
overall effort to promote industrial development within
the city. Finally, Pilot activities will alleviate potential
environmental and health threats on the site.
ACCOMPLISHMENTS AND ACTIVITIES
Activities planned as part of the Pilot include:
• Quantifying the environmental conditions identified
at the former Tappan site;
• Preparing a risk assessment to determine if cleanup
is required and establish cleanup goals;
• Preparing a remedial design, if risk-based standards
are exceeded; and
• Conducting public meetings to communicate and
discuss current information about the proposed
activities.
The cooperative agreementforthis Pilot has not yet been negotiated;
therefore, activities described in this fact sheet are subjectto change.
Brownfields Assessment Demonstration Pilot Elyria, OH
May2000 EPA 500-F-00-089
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