United States
Environmental
Protection Agency
Washington, D.C. 20460
Solid Waste
and Emergency
Response (5101)
EPA 500-F-00-103
May 2000
www.epa.gov/brownfields/
\>EPA Brownfields Assessment
Demonstration Pilot
Lancaster County, PA
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 Lancaster County for a
Brownfields Pilot. The county was also selected to
receive additional funding for assessments at
brownfields properties to be used for greenspace
purposes. Lancaster County (population 450,834) is
a place marked by a unique blend of resources and
distinctive cultures. It is home to fertile farmland
and Amish and the Mennonite religious communities.
It possesses both rural and urban attributes,
supporting a vital agricultural industry as well as a
fairly large manufacturing sector. Lancaster County
houses 843 manufacturing firms, which employ 30
percent of the workforce.
Lancaster County is one of the fastest growing
counties in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania in
terms of population and employment. While the
county has experienced economic growth, not all of
the communities have shared in the benefits. Older,
developed, urban areas have not attracted new
development and have lost their existing economic
bases as businesses and industries have relocated into
suburban areas. As a result, these areas are host to
numerous vacantorunderutilizedindustrial/commercial
lots and abandoned manufacturing/commercial
facilities with real or perceived environmental hazards.
PILOT SNAPSHOT
Lancaster County, PA
Date of Announcement:
May 2000
Amount: $200,000
Greenspace: $50,000
Profile: ThePilottargets2to10
brownfields in older, developed,
urban areasof Lancaster County
and three other brownfields for
proposed greenway areas.
Contacts:
LancasterCounty
(717)299-8300
Regional Brownfields Team
U.S. EPA-Region 3
(215)814-3129
Visit the EPA Region 3 Brownfields web site at:
http://www.epa.gov/reg3hwmd/brownfld/hmpage1.htm
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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The Pilot will target its greenspace efforts at three
potential greenway projects located in some of the
county's more urban areas—the boroughs of Ephrata,
Columbia, and Manheim and the townships of West
Hempfield and Penn. Many of these proposed
greenways follow rights-of-way of abandoned or
underutilized railroad lines, while others pass through
currently underutilized, potentially contaminated
property. They are located in areas of ethnic diversity
and poverty that have witnessed disinvestment while
Lancaster County has grown as a whole.
OBJECTIVES
Lancaster County's goal is to stimulate private sector
investment in the redevelopment of vacant parcels
within its urban communities by removing
environmental obstacles and clarifying legal issues.
Lancaster also aims to bring recreational, economic,
and transportation advantages to the surrounding
communities by developing greenways. These goals
will be achieved by developing partnerships, gathering
and sharing information, soliciting input from all
stakeholders, reviewing existing data, assessing
individual sites, formulating redevelopment plans,
structuring redevelopment projects, and providing
limited financial assistance.
The County will use the greenspace funding to
implement some of the greenway projects
recommended in its Parks and Open Space Plan. The
Pilot will fund Phase I assessments at the three
targeted brownfields and a Phase II assessment and
reuse study for one of the sites. The end result of the
Pilot's greenspace efforts will be an improved system
of greenways throughout the county.
ACCOMPLISHMENTS AND ACTIVITIES
Activities planned as part of this Pilot include:
• Gathering background information on known
brownfields, developing criteria to prioritize the
sites, and targeting 2 to 10 brownfields for further
assistance;
• Conducting sites assessments on the targeted sites
in order of their priority status;
• Developing site cleanup and redevelopment
strategies for the targeted sites, within the context
of community-based goals and strategies;
• Conducting Phase I site assessments at all three
greenway project sites;
• Conducting a Phase II site assessment and
performing a reuse study at one of the greenway
project sites;
• Conducting community outreach regarding the
targeted brownfields; and
• Developing benchmarks to measure the progress of
brownfields reuse.
The cooperative agreementforthis Pilot has not yet been negotiated;
therefore, activities described in this fact sheet are subject to change.
Brownfields Assessment Demonstration Pilot
May2000
Lancaster County, PA
EPA 500-F-00-103
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