u o Assessment Pi Humboldt County, CA BACKGROUND EPA has selected Humboldt County for a Brownfields Assessment Pilot. Humboldt County (population 126,518) is located in northern California, approximately 240 miles north of San Francisco. A large number of former industrial sites, including timber processing plants, warehouses, and docking facilities, remain idle in what once was the central base of Humboldt County' s economy. Forthis Pilot, the county has targeted a 25 6-acre site on the Samoa Peninsula, across Humboldt Bay from the city of Eureka. The target area includes the lumber company town of Samoa, with 62 acres of sand dunes and coastal forest habitat along the Pacific Ocean and approximately 46 acres of vacant industrial and commercial property. Over the last 20 years, the economy of Humboldt County has shifted from its original base in natural resources, such as timber and commercial fishing, to a more diverse base, which now includes smaller manufacturing businesses. The expanding manufacturing sector provides sustainable, living-wage jobs, but is constrained by the availability of suitable industrial sites. The Samoa Peninsula offers a numberofpotential sites forthis sector, but redevelopment requires addressing the environmental legacy of previous uses. The county's per capita household income is 78 percent of the statewide average and its unemployment rate is 6.3 percent, compared to the statewide average of 4.9 percent. OBJECTIVES The county's obj ective is to expedite the redevelopment of vacant industrial and commercial properties on the Samoa Peninsula that are suitable for manufacturing. To accomplish this objective, the Pilot will complete environmental site assessments on properties located within a 256 acre target area, which is within a state Enterprise Zone and a Free Trade Zone. The county will incorporate the results of the assessments into plans for zoning, redevelopment, and preservation of resources and open space. PILOT SNAPSHOT Date of Announcement: May 2002 Amount: $200,000 Profile:ThePilottargetea256- acremulti-use site wi thin astate Enterprise Zone and Free Trade Zone on the Samoa Peninsula for assessment and redevelopment into an industrial park. HumboldtCounty, California Contacts: HumboldtCounty (707)268-3735 Regional Brownfields Team U.S. EPA Region 9 (415)972-3249 Visit the EPA Region 9 Brownfields web site at: http://www.epa.gov/regon09/waste/brown/index.html 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: www.epa.gov/brownfields ACCOMPLISHMENTS AND ACTIVITIES Activities planned as part of the Pilot include: • Completing a Phase I environmental assessment of the entire site; • Competing Phase II environmental assessments as needed to transfer properties or identify the extent of contamination requiring cleanup; and ------- • Integrating Pilot activities and assessment results into zoning, subdivision, redevelopment, and preservation plans, including the Humboldt Bay Local CoastalPlan. The cooperative agreement forthis Pilot has notyetbeen negotiated; therefore, activities described in this fact sheet are subject to change. Solid Waste EPA 500-F-02-059 and Emergency May 2002 Response (5105) www.epa.gov/brownfields/ ------- |