United States
Environmental
Protection Agency
Washington, D.C. 20460
Solid Waste
and Emergency
Response (5101)
EPA 500-F-00-094
May 2000
www.epa.gov/brownfields/
\>EPA Brownfields Assessment
Demonstration Pilot
Gardena, CA
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 Gardena for a
Brownfields Pilot. Gardenahas apopulation of 5 6,000,
and 76 percent of the residents in the targeted
community are low-income, minority residents.
Gardena has one of the lowest assessed values per
capita in the southwest area of Los Angeles County.
The city has little vacant land to use for economic
development, so it must focus efforts on brownfields
for redevelopment.
The city funded a preliminary analysis of potential
brownfields sites and identified 47 sites. From those
47 sites, the city, with input from the business
community, selected seven sites to target for the Pilot.
The targeted brownfields are clustered along major
transportation routes in distressed areas in the city's
northern section. Those seven sites include retail sites
with abandoned and boarded-up buildings and/or
adjacent underutilized land, a waste disposal sump
site, and sites with known chemical and industrial
contaminants, including heavy metals and mixed
petroleum waste. The targeted sites were identified
because of their high likelihood of immediate
redevelopment, their high level of environmental risk
PILOT SNAPSHOT
Gardena, CA
Date of Announcement:
May 2000
Amount: $200,000
Profile: The City of Gardena
Brown fields Pilot willtargetupto
seven brownfields clustered along
majortransportation routes in the
city's northern section.
Contacts:
Gardena Brownfields Pilot Project
City of Gardena
(310)217-9533
Regional Brownfields Team
U.S. EPA-Region 9
(415)744-2237
Visit the EPA Region 9 Brownfields web site at:
http://www.epa.gov/region09/waste/brown/index.html
Forfurther information, including specific Pilot contacts,
additional Pilot information, brownfields newsand events, and
publications and links, visit the EPA Brownfields web site at:
http://www.epa.gov/brownfields/
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to the community, and the preference of the city's
Economic Development Committee and members of
business associations.
OBJECTIVES
The Pilot seeks to address the environmental and
public health priorities of the community by
accelerating the process of brownfield assessment,
cleanup, and redevelopment, thereby eliminating
environmental and public health issues. The goal of
the city is to establish social and economic viability of
targeted sites through apartnership with the Economic
Development Committee, the business community,
residents, community agencies, and developers. The
goal of the Pilot project is to conduct environmental
site assessments at the targeted sites and plan cleanup
and redevelopment strategies. The efforts of the city
will support and encourage further cleanup and
redevelopment in the area and potentially create
hundreds of j obs that will benefit lower- and moderate-
income people in the community.
ACCOMPLISHMENTS AND ACTIVITIES
Activities planned as part of this Pilot include:
• Conducting environmental assessments and
coordinating with the state's voluntary cleanup
program at up to seven targeted brownfields;
• Developing cleanup plans and cost estimates forthe
targeted brownfields;
• Using a community-based facilitator to bolster
community input, participation, and information
processes at the targeted brownfields; and
• Developing and implementing other community
outreach efforts to supplement the community
facilitator process.
The cooperative agreementforthis Pilot has not yet been negotiated;
therefore, activities described in this fact sheet are subject to change.
Brownfields Assessment Demonstration Pilot Gardens, CA
May2000 EPA 500-F-00-094
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