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                          Brownfields
                          Supplemental Assistance
                          Hennepin County,  MN
BACKGROUND

EPA awarded Hennepin County supplemental assistance
for its Brownfields Assessment Demonstration Pilot. The
county contains one-quarter (1,050,000) of Minnesota's
population and includes the city of Minneapolis and 45
suburbs. Because of past  industrial development, the
county must now contend with contaminated properties,
both in the older urban cores and in new suburban
communities. In newer suburban communities, dumps and
underused commercial and industrial land with likely
contamination have been bypassed by rapid, sprawling
development, leaving behindpockets of blight and economic
distress. Many of the suburbs in the county do nothave the
resources  to  successfully  undertake  brownfields
redevelopment projects without external help. Thecounty
has  conducted environmental assessments at over 100
brownfields as well as numerous highway and railroad
corridors.

The original Pilot has successfully completed the tasks
related to interim uses of  sites in the  Bassett's Creek
Valley area. The county' s successful brownfields program
has focused, since its inception six years ago, on sites that
the county owns. The county currently is broadening its
brownfields program to provide all of its municipalities
with technical and financial resources to facilitate efforts
at all brownfield sites. Through the supplemental assistance,
the county will refocus brownfields redevelopment efforts
into suburban areas, applying the approach developed
under the initial Pilot as a model for brownfield assessment
and redevelopment planning.

OBJECTIVES AND PLANNED ACTIVITIES

Supplemental assistance will be used to conduct Phase I
assessments at six sites in  five municipalities, and the
county expects to conduct Phase I assessments on an
additional six sites to be selected. Supplemental assistance
also will be used  to conduct up to three Phase II
   PILOT SNAPSHOT
    Hennepin County,
    Minnesota
Date of Announcement:
May 2002


Amount: $150,000

Profile: Hennepin County
plans todevelop and implement
asuburban community outreach
plan and conduct Phase I and
Phase II assessments in
suburban municipalities.
   Contacts:

   Hennepin County Department
   of Environmental Services
   (612)348-5714
Regional Brownfields Team
U.S. EPA Region 5
(404)562-8661
        Visit the E PA Region 5 Brownfields web site at:
          http://www.epa.gov/R5Brownfields/

      Forfurtherinformation,includingspecific Pilot contacts,
    additional Pilot information, brownfields news and events, and
    publications and links, visit the EPA Brownfields web site at:
             www.epa.gov/brownfields
assessments. In addition, the county will launch a concerted
outreach effort to build working relationships with local
government representatives and residents of suburban
municipalities.

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Activities planned as part of this Pilot include:

• Completing  10-12  Phase I environmental  site
  assessments;

• Completing one to three Phase II environmental site
  assessments;

• Working with suburban cities to identify additional
  brownfield sites; and

• Developing and implementing a suburban community
  outreach plan for brownfields.

ThecooperativeagreementforthisPilothasnotyetbeennegotiated;therefore,
activities described in this fact sheet are subject to change.
                                                              Solid Waste            EPA 500-F-02-094
                                                              and Emergency        May 2002
                                                              Response  (5105)       www.epa.gov/brownfields/

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