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                           Assessment
                           South Central  Planning and
                           Development  Commission,  LA
BACKGROUND

EPA has selected  the  South  Central Planning and
Development Commission (SCPDC) of Louisiana for a
Brownfields Assessment Pilot. The SCPDC also was
selected to receive additional funding for assessments at
brownfieIds properties to be used for greenspace purposes.
SCPDC (population 330,197) includes mostly small urban
and rural communities in Assumption, Lafourche, St.
Charles, St. James, St. John the Baptist, and Terrebonne
Parishes, the City of Thibodaux, the Towns of Grammercy,
Golden Meadow, Lockport, and Lutcher, and the Village
of Napoleonville. Historically, the area prospered from
abundant natural  resources, rich estuaries, marine and
freshwater fisheries, animal fur and hides, oil and gas, and
a network of waterways, including the Mississippi River
and the Gulf of Mexico Intracoastal Waterway.  Changes
in the business patterns of the region have left south
central district parishes with unemployment rates ranging
from 3 to 10 percent.  The area poverty rate varies
between 15 and 28 percent.

SCPDC has targeted a former municipal waste site in the
City  of Thibodaux  (population  14,431) for this Pilot.
Thibodaux is the largest incorporated municipality in the
south central district. The former waste site, called the
Audubon Avenue Target Area, occupies 17.87 acres and
was donated to the city in the early 1990s, 30 years after
it closed. The target area is in a state Enterprise Zone. A
6-acre portion of the property was chosen as the potential
site for the Bayou Country Children's Museum, and the
city wants to expand its Martin Luther King Playground on
the remaining 11 acres. Limited preliminary environmental
assessments of the site have indicated the possibility of
contamination.

OBJECTIVES

SCPDC's primary objective is to redevelop the
Audubon Avenue site into a children's museum and
playground. To accomplish this objective, SCPDC plans
to conduct public outreach and awareness activities,
   PILOT SNAPSHOT
    South Central Planning
    and Development
    Commission, Louisiana
Date of Announcement:
May 2002


Amount: $200,000


Greenspace: $50,000

Profile: ThePilottorgetsatbrmer
municipal waste site in the City
ofThibodauxforredevelopment
as a children's museum and
expansion of a city playground.
This project will serve as a
model for future projects in the
South Central Region.
   Contacts:

   South Central Planning and
   DevelopmentCommission
   (985)851-2900
Regional Brownfields Team
U.S. EPA Region 6
(214)665-6736
        Visit the EPA Region 6 Brownfields web site at:
    http://www.epa.gov/earth1r6/6sf/bfpages/sfbfhome.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:
              www.epa.gov/brownfields
conduct a detailed Phase II site assessment of the
target area, plan and estimate costs for site cleanup,
and design an acceptable reuse plan. In addition, Pilot
funds will be used to identify potential brownfields sites
and rank them, conduct Phase I site assessments on six
of these sites, and conduct Phase II site assessments
on two of the six Phase I sites. The Audubon Avenue
site will provide a model for other sites in the south
central district.

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ACCOMPLISHMENTS AND ACTIVITIES

Activities planned as part of this Pilot include:

• Establishing and conducting public outreach through the
  ThibodauxBrownfield Pilot Committee;

• Conducting a detailed Phase II assessment, developing
  acleanup plan, identifying cleanup funding sources, and
  developing a reuse plan for the Audubon Avenue site;

• Developing a report and pre sentation using the Audubon
  Avenue  Target Area project  as a model  for
  redevelopment ofbrownfields sites throughoutthe region;

• Establishing aRegional Brownfields Coalition;

• Identifying and ranking potential brownfields sites in the
  South Central Region; and

• Conducting Phase I assessments on six sites in the
  region and Phase II assessments on two priority sites
  from this group.

The cooperative agreement forthis Pilot has notyetbeen negotiated; therefore,
activities described in this fact sheet are subject to change.
                                                            Solid Waste            EPA 500-F-02-072
                                                            and Emergency         May 2002
                                                            Response  (5105)       www.epa.gov/brownfields/

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