United States
                   Environmental
                   Protection Agency
                   Washington, D.C. 20460
 Solid Waste
 and Emergency
 Response (5101)
  EPA 500-F-00-123
  May 2000
  www.epa.gov/brownfields/
  \>EPA   Brownfields  Assessment
                   Demonstration  Pilot
                                                                Syracuse,  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 City of Syracuse for a
Brownfields Pilot. Syracuse was also selected to
receive  additional funding  for assessments at
Brownfields properties to be used for greenspace
purposes.   Syracuse covers approximately  26
square miles and has a population  of 152,215.
According to the 1990 census, more than  50
percent of the households are low-income and 25
percent are minorities.

Syracuse has a 150-year history of manufacturing,
but beginning in the 1960s, the city suffered a three-
decade-long decline broughton by aseries of closings,
restructuring, and relocations. The city was left with
abandoned or idled sites, environmental contamination,
and decaying facilities, many of which are located in
and around low-income and minority neighborhoods.
Recently, the city has been experiencing moderate
economic recovery; however, brownfields continue
to hinder development. The city is attracting cleaner
industries and service providers, but these industries
are choosing to locate outside of the  city because of
the lack of clean, developable land within the city.
PILOT SNAPSHOT
    Syracuse, NY
Date of Announcement:
May 2000

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

Profile: The Pilot will inventory
brownfields in Syracuseand select
up to five for assessment and
characterization   studies.
Greenspace funding will be used
for assessments at two sites in
the Southern CreekwalkZone.
 Contacts:
 Department of Community
 and Economic Development
 City of Syracuse
 (314)448-8100
  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, 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 city's comprehensive brownfields redevelopment
plan will develop a holistic, sustainable approach to
cleaning up and redeveloping brownfields. This plan
will use and expand the city's existing community
development programs, such  as Tomorrow's
Neighborhoods Today. With the Pilot's assistance,
this plan seeks to reverse the negative impacts often
associated with brownfields—increased crime, health
concerns,  reduced property values and tax  base,
fewerj ob opportunities—into opportunities for social
and economic revitalization.

The Pilot will use greenspace funding to carry out site
assessments and characterizations attwo brownfields
in the Southern Creekwalk Zone, a 3.5-mile corridor
along Onondaga Creek south of downtown and part
of the city's redevelopment plan. This portion of the
planned multi-use recreational trail system traverses
several brownfields in many of the city's poorest
neighborhoods.

ACCOMPLISHMENTS AND ACTIVITIES

Activities planned as part of the Pilot include:

• Conducting a city wide inventory ofbrownfields and
  creating  a  database with geographic  information
  systems (GIS) mapping;

• Conducting environmental assessments atup to five
  targeted brownfields;

• Seeking community involvementto develop priorities
  for targeted brownfields and recommendations for
  site  reuse;  and

• Inventorying   brownfields  for  greenspace
  redevelopment  in the Southern Creekwalk Zone
  and conducting environmental assessments at two
  sites within the Zone.

The cooperative agreementforthis Pilot has not yet been negotiated;
therefore, activities described in this fact sheet are subjectto change.
 Brownfields Assessment Demonstration Pilot                                                  Syracuse, NY
 May2000                                                                        EPA 500-F-00-123

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