United States
                   Environmental
                   Protection Agency
                   Washington, D.C.  20460
 Solid Waste
 and Emergency
 Response (5101)
 EPA 500-F-00-095
 May 2000
 www.epa.gov/brownfields/
  \>EPA  Brownfields  Assessment
                   Demonstration  Pilot
                                                                          Gary,  IN
 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 Gary for a Brownfields
Pilot.  Gary was also selected to receive additional
funding for assessments at Brownfields properties to
be used for greenspace purposes. A former industrial
center, Gary contains many abandoned factory and
mill sites. As the steel industry has declined, so has
the city.  The workforce in Gary dropped from more
than 20,000 in the 1970s to 6,000 in the 1990s, as the
population decreased by 40 percent.  In 1998, the
unemployment rate was 7.1 percent, more than twice
that of the rest of Indiana.  The population is 89
percent minority, with approximately 25 percent of
the residents living below the poverty line.

The city successfully partnered with East Chicago
and Hammond, Indiana, for federal Empowerment
Zone designation in 1999. There has been extensive
public involvement on development related issues,
with meetings being held both to solicit input and to
educate community members.
PILOT SNAPSHOT
     Gary, IN
Date of Announcement:
May 2000

Amount: $200,000
Greenspace: $50,000

Profile: The Pilot will assess
contamination and plan the
redevelopment of numerous
properties around the  Gary
Airport, including an abandoned
sand mine site. The city will
develop a plan for resource
conservation and a recreation
area on a portion of the site.
Contacts:
Department of
Environmental Affairs
(219)882-3000
 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 newsand events, and
 publications and links, visit the EPA Brownfields web site at:
         http://www.epa.gov/brownfields/


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OBJECTIVES

The  goal of the Pilot is to work with the city's
partners to  identify, assess,  and redevelop local
brownfields within a 200-acre area now owned by
the city, in the area around the Gary Airport. The
site is at the center of a proposed light industrial and
commercial complex. The redevelopment process
will create jobs, provide training opportunities for
local  residents, and establish  safe and productive
industries.   The redevelopment process also will
facilitate an infusion of tax revenue to the city,
further improving the quality of life for residents.

The City of Gary will use greenspace funding to
conduct environmental assessments of the southern
portion of an 80-acre former sand mine called the J-
Pit.    Potential  sources of contamination include
byproducts  of illegal  dumping and surrounding
junkyards.  The proposed restoration plan for the pit
is to fill it with groundwater to form a lake. The banks
of the new lake would be restored through plantings
and construction of wetlands,  and a trail would be
constructed around the lake, which would connect to
a new city park adjacent to the site.

ACCOMPLISHMENTS AND ACTIVITIES

Activities planned as a part of this Pilot include:

• Conducting Phase I and Phase II environmental site
  assessments;

• Developing cleanup and redevelopment plans for
  identified site reuse;

• Identifying financial and other resources necessary
  to fund cleanup scenarios;

• Identifying funding strategies for redevelopment;

• Developing redevelopment plans forthe J-Pitproject
  that incorporate natural resource preservation and
  enhancement with economic  redevelopment; and

• Conducting outreach  activities to  encourage
  community participation.

The cooperative agreementforthis Pilot has not yet been negotiated;
therefore, activities described in this fact sheet are subjectto change.
 Brownfields Assessment Demonstration Pilot                                                       Gary, IN
 May2000                                                                        EPA 500-F-00-095

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