United States
Environmental
Protection Agency
Washington, D.C. 20460
Solid Waste
and Emergency
Response (5101)
EPA 500-F-00-109
May 2000
www.epa.gov/brownfields/
\>EPA Brownfields Assessment
Demonstration Pilot
North Hempstead, NY
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 Town of North Hempstead for
a Brownfields Pilot. North Hempstead, located
adjacent to the borough of Queens on Long Island,
contains the Hamlet of New Cassel at its southeast
tip. New Cassel's 10,257 residents are mostly
minorities: 66 percent African-American; 23.5 percent
Hispanic, 4 percent Native American, and 6 percent
other minorities. Additionally, 9 percent of the
residents live in poverty and 34 percent have no high
school diploma. Many of these residents live in a
federally designated poverty tract surrounded by
brownfields that includes a 170-acre area containing
at least 17 brownfields, which comprise nearly one-
fifth of New Cassel's land.
To help improve these environmental conditions,
minimize criminal activity, and revitalize the
community, New Cassel's leaders developed the
New Cassel Environmental Justice Project in 1995,
and in 1998, a U.S. Department of Justice Weed and
Seed designation was secured. These initiatives
have already shown positive results—drug arrests
dropped 21 percent from 1998 to 1999 and local
residents have been involved in revitalization efforts
at more than 100 community meetings.
PILOT SNAPSHOT
Date of Announcement:
May 2000
Amount: $200,000
Profile: The Pilot plans to conduct
environmentalassessmentson up
to eight brownfields in the Hamlet
of Newcastle.
North Hempstead, NY
Contacts:
Department of Planning
and Economic Development
Town of North Hempstead
(516)869-7754
Regional Brownfields Team
U.S. EPA-Region 2
(212)637-4314
Visit the EPA Region 2 Brownfields web site at:
http://www.epa.gov/r02earth/superfnd/brownfld/bfmainpg.htm
For further information, including specific Pilot contacts,
additional Pilot information, brown fields 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 goal of the North Hempstead Pilot is to prioritize
and conduct environmental assessments atupto eight
brownfields sites in the Hamlet of New Cassel.
Through this Pilot, New Cassel will establish its own
brownfields program with the objectives of assessing,
cleaning up, and redeveloping brownfields into
environmentally friendly and sustainable businesses,
creating new jobs, and increasing recreational and
affordable housing opportunities for residents. The
Pilot will also conduct community outreach activities,
including establishing a working group and holding
community meetings.
ACCOMPLISHMENTS AND ACTIVITIES
Activities planned as part of the Pilot include:
• Establishing a New Cassel Brownfields and
Community Revitalization Program;
• Convening a working group of community members
to guide Pilot activities;
• Prioritizing eight brownfields properties in New
Cassel for assessment;
• Performing Phase I and Phase II environmental
assessments on up to eight priority sites;
• Educating community stakeholders aboutthe priority
sites through a community workshop; and
• Involving community members in environmental
assessment activities.
The cooperative agreementforthis Pilot has not yet been negotiated;
therefore, activities described in this fact sheet are subjectto change.
Brownfields Assessment Demonstration Pilot North Hempstead, NY
May2000 EPA 500-F-00-109
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