United States
Environmental
Protection Agency
Washington, D.C. 20460
Solid Waste
and Emergency
Response (5101)
EPA 500-F-00-032
April 2000
www.epa.gov/brownfields/
<&EPA Brownfields Supplemental
Assistance
Miami, FL
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 awarded the City of Miami supplemental
assistance for its Brownfields Assessment Pilot and
additional funding for assessments at brownfields
properties to be used for greenspace purposes. The
Miami River Brownfields Redevelopment Pilot Area
(MRP) is the historic heart of the City of Miami,
containing several archaeologically and historically
significant zones. Today, the principal economic
activities of the surrounding areas reflect the city's
orientation to water: commercial shipyards and
marinas, loading docks, export-orientedmanufacturers,
fisheries, fish markets, and seafood restaurants.
During the past several decades, the MRP Area has
undergone economic decline. In the 1980s, marine
industrial employment dropped by 3 0 percent. Many
properties along the river are vacant or underutilized
because where the perception of contamination deters
investors from making much-needed improvements,
fueling the cycle of decline. Half of the targeted area
is within a federally designated Empowerment Zone.
The residential neighborhoods of the targeted areas
are characterized by high levels of unemployment and
poverty and by limited education attainment of its
residents. As of 1990, only 30.5 percent of adults had
PILOT SNAPSHOT
Miami, Florida
Date of Announcement:
March 2000
Amount: $135,000
Greenspace: $50,000
Profile: The Pilot will target at
least three brownfields in the
Miami River area, including
targeting one siteforcommercial
redevelopment and one for
greenspace purposes.
Contacts:
Department of Real Estate & Regional Brownfields Team
Economic Development U.S. EPA - Region 4
Miami, Florida (404)562-8661
(305)416-1418
Visit the EPA Region 4 Brownfields web site at:
http://www.epa.gov/region4/wastepgs/brownfpgs/bf.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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completed high school, and more than 20 percent of
adults had immigrated to the U.S. within the past 5
years. The poverty rate in the targeted areas is 49.9
percent.
OBJECTIVES AND PLANNED ACTIVITIES
Miami' s obj ectives are to further establish brownfields
as an integral part of sustainable economic
development, to establish the City of Miami's
brownfields redevelopment planning process as a
model, and to build on existing and create new
partnerships. The city will use the supplemental
assistance to inventory sites in the targeted area, and
to coordinate assessment, identification,
characterization, and cleanupplanningforbrownfields
properties.
The Pilot will use the greenspace funding to target the
Lummus Park neighborhood along the Biscayne Bay
and the Miami River. In conjunction with other
efforts, the city intends to create a continuous system
of public waterfront walkways that will provide an
attractive and safe connector system of bicycle,
pedestrian, transit routes, and water taxis to link j obs,
waterfront amenities, and people and spur further
economic development along its route.
To accomplish these objectives, the Pilot plans to:
• Expand existing brownfields inventory to include
10-15 properties in the targeted area;
• Select three brownfields sites for further
investigation;
• Conduct Phase I and Phase II environmental
assessments at the targeted brownfields sites;
• Develop cleanup options and cost estimates at the
targeted sites; and
• Conduct assessment on the Flagler Bridge segment
of the planned Miami River riverwalk system for
greenspace purposes.
• Ensure stakeholder involvement through meetings
and communications materials.
The cooperative agreement for this Pilot has not yet been negotiated;
therefore, activities described in this fact sheet are subject to change.
Brownfields Supplemental Assistance Miami, Florida
April 2000 EPA 500-F:-00-032
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