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                            Assessment
                            City of Spokane,  WA
BACKGROUND

EPA has selected the City of Spokane for a Brownfields
Assessment Pilot. Spokane (population 195,629) is located
in eastern Washington. Historically, the city was abooming
agriculture and mining center. In the mid-1950s, light
manufacturing began to dominate the city's economy. In
recent years, however, a number of large businesses have
left the area, leaving many potentially contaminated
manufacturing facilities in the downtown, near valley, and
northeastern sections of the city. Most of Spokane's
inventoried brownfields are found in the downtown core
along existing railroad rights-of-way that once were used
for industrial purposes. Development in outlying areas has
drawn industries away from the inner city, leaving many
abandoned buildings, blighted neighborhoods, and untaxed
properties. This Pilot will focus on the Broadway & Maple
area (population 20,718) and the Hillyard/North Market
Street corridor (population 14,585)in Spokane's downtown
district. Preliminary investigations have uncovered metals
and petroleum contamination at the Broadway & Maple
site. The Hillyard/North Market corridor was an aluminum
smelting and petroleum  refining  area. Now it is  a
Community Development Neighborhood designated by
the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.

Both target sites lie within Spokane's state-designated
Empowerment Zone, where the median annual household
income is $ 17,000, about half the state' s average. In a one-
mile radius of the Broadway & Maple site, 25 percent of
the population lives in poverty and 8.5 percent are minorities.
In a one-mile radius of the Hillyard/North Market Site, 20
percent of the population lives in poverty and 7 percent are
minorities.

OBJECTIVES

The Pilot's obj ective is to revitalize brownfields properties
by addressing potential health risks and restoring economic
vitality to areas where brownfields exist. To accomplish
this objective, the city plans to identify brownfields sites,
   PILOT SNAPSHOT
    City of Spokane,
    Washington
Date of Announcement:
May 2002


Amount: $200,000
                        Profile: This Pilot targets
                        brownfields in two blighted areas
                        ofthecity'sdown town district for
                        assessment.
   Contacts:

   City of Spokane
   (509)625-6282
Regional Brownfields Team
U.S. EPA Region 10
(206)553-2709
        Visit the EPA Region 10 Brownfields web site at:
     http://www.epa.gov/r10earth, click on "Superfund",
         scroll down and click on "Brownfields"

      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  assessments,  and effectively involve  the
stakeholders, including  community  groups, investors,
lenders, developers, and other affected parties, to address
brownfields site assessment and barriers to cleanup.

ACCOMPLISHMENTS AND ACTIVITIES

Activities planned as part of this Pilot include:
• Convening stakeholders in a community visioning
  process;

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• Identifying and analyzing barriers to redevelopment and
  devising an implementation strategy for removing the
  barriers and preparing brownfield sites for assessment;

• Identifying brownfields that impede development;

• Finalizing a list of potential sites and exploring funding
  strategies for them;

• Conducting environmental assessments; and

• Securing cleanup funding.

The cooperative agreement forthis Pilot has notyetbeen negotiated; therefore,
activities described in this fact sheet are subject to change.
                                                              Solid Waste             EPA 500-F-02-074
                                                              and Emergency         May 2002
                                                              Response (5105)        www.epa.gov/brownfields/

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