United States
Environmental
Protection Agency
Washington, D.C. 20460
Solid Waste
and Emergency
Response (5105)
EPA 500-F-00-262
December 2000
www.epa.gov/brownfields/
&EPA Brownfields Assessment
Demonstration Pilot
Charlotte, NC
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 selected the City of Charlotte for a Brownfields
Pilot. The Brownfields Pilot area is adjacent to
uptown in the Wilmore neighborhood and South End
business district, which includes Charlotte's earliest
industrial area, dating back to the late 1800s.
Brownfields redevelopment is an important component
of Charlotte's effort to revitalize its urban
neighborhoods, which are showing significant signs of
economic distress and physical deterioration.
Approximately 1.5 million public dollars in physical
improvements within the South End area have
leveraged the private redevelopment of several mills
into retail, entertainment, and residential uses.
However, there are many brownfields sites where
redevelopment has yet to occur.
OBJECTIVES
The city plans to return brownfield properties to
productive use by creating jobs, contributing to the tax
base, providing needed community services, and
creating environmentally safe sites. The city, in
conjunction with the state, is establishing clear
guidelines for appropriate levels of cleanup on selected
sites through community consensus and innovative
cleanup plans. Additionally, the city is educating
PILOTSNAPSHOT
Charlotte, North Carolina
Date of Announcement:
September1996
Amount: $200,000
Profile: The Pilot targets
redevelopment efforts in the
city's Wilmore neighborhood
and South End business
district.
Contacts:
Charlotte Neighborhood
Development Key Business,
Business Services Section
(704)336-4522
U.S. EPA - Region 4
(404)562-8493
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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lenders on managing brownfields risk for private
sector investment. Volunteer partners (including
law firms, lending institutions, environmental
professionals, neighborhood representatives, and
universities) provide assistance with addressing
potential regulatory barriers.
ACCOMPLISHMENTS ANDACTIVITIES
The Pilot has:
• Held three community meetings, with more than 5 0
people attending each session. Meetings have
focused on defining risk and contamination, and
were a joint effort by the brownfields partners.
Partners presented information on the environmental
and liability content related to the targeted area and
staffed tables for participants to ask specific
questions at the end of the meetings;
• Created a site selection committee to select the
actual brownfields sites based on input from the
community meetings and the criteria cited in the
work plan. A representative from each of the
following groups is included in the team: South End
Development Corporation; Wilmore Neighborhood
Association; West Enterprise Community; Dilworth
Community Development Corporation; the Sierra
Club; areal estate industry representative; abanker;
and an environmental engineer;
• Identified, through the work of the site-selection
committee, seven cleanup and redevelopment
projects for assessmentthatoffersignificantpublic
benefits to the community;
• Completed environmental assessments on the
following seven sites: Thomas Construction,
Camden Square project, Truck Equipment
Manufactures' expansion, South Tryon, Cost
Effective Maintenance, Wilmore CDC housing
project, and Westover Shopping Center; and
• Created the following: a brownfields project logo
as a community outreach tool; invitations to the
first community meeting; door hangers to inform
residents about community meetings; andreminder
postcards in conjunction with efforts to publicize the
community meetings. The Pilot was recognized for
these strong community outreach materials,
receiving a Saavy Award from the national City
County Marketing and Communications Association.
The Pilot is:
• Completing cleanup plans for two more sites in the
targeted area; and
• Keeping community residents andpartners informed
of the activities of the Pilot.
LEVERAGING OTHER ACTIVITIES
Experience with the Charlotte Pilot has been the
catalyst for related activities, including the following:
• Cleanup activities have been completed at three
properties, and redevelopment activities have begun
at four sites.
• The Pilot has leveraged a total of $45,483 in
assessment funding and $203,938 in cleanup funding.
• The Pilot has leveraged the creation of 400
redevelopment jobs and a total of $17,310,000 in
redevelopment funding, including $ 14.5 million for
the Camden Square site, $2.5 million for the Truck
Equipment Manufacturing site, $175,000 for the
Cost Effective Maintenance site, $75,000 for the
Gaines Brown Design site, and $60,000 for the
Thomas Construction site.
• The city created a Facade Improvement Grant
program and an Infrastructure Grant program to
remove blight and make infrastructure improvements
in specific business districts, including the Pilot
area.
• North Carolina Citizens for Business and Industry
and other Pilot partners drafted state legislation
simplifying the regulatory review process and offered
covenants-not-to-sue to non-responsible owners
whose cleanup and redevelopment plans have been
completed and approved by the state. City staff
Brownfields Assessment Demonstration Pilot
December 2000
Charlotte, North Carolina
EPA 500-F-00-262
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participated in ongoing dialogues with North Carolina
Department of Environment and Natural Resources
regarding proposed state legislation. The
Brownfields Property Reuse Act was signed by the
Governor in August 1997.
Pilot partners sponsored a conference for bankers,
titled "New Lending Opportunities," withmorethan
60 people in attendance, including 29 lenders
representing 10 banks from 8 cities in North Carolina
and South Carolina.
The city produced a segment on the Brownfields
Project for the public access television talk show
that discussed the impact of brownfields
redevelopment in Charlotte and announced the first
community meeting.
Brownfields Assessment Demonstration Pilot Charlotte, North Carolina
December 2000 EPA 500-F-00-262
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