United States
Environmental
Protection Agency
Washington, D.C. 20460
Solid Waste
and Emergency
Response (5101)
EPA500-F-97-016
May 1997
National Brownfields
Assessment Pilot
Indianapolis, IN
Outreach and Special Projects Staff (5101)
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. Between 1995 and 1996, EPA funded 76 National and Regional Brownfields
Assessment Pilots, at up to $200,000 each, to support creative two-year explorations and demonstrations of brownfields
solutions. EPAis funding morethan 27 Pilots in 1997. The Pilots 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 Indianapolis for a
Brownfields Pilot. Indianapolis benefits from a wealth
of energy resources in surrounding areas, including
natural gas and coal. As a result, the area has seen
tremendous growth in both commercial and
manufacturing industries and in population over the
years. Recently, citizens have been moving out of the
inner city to the surrounding suburbs, and industries
are relocating to follow the workforce. Many of these
industries are leaving behind urban sites that are
contaminated or perceived to be contaminated. It is
estimated that Indianapolis contains approximately
1,000 acres of brownfields.
OBJECTIVES
The aim of the Pilot is to develop a brownfields
redevelopment program which provides the mecha-
nisms and assurances necessary to encourage assess-
ment, cleanup, and redevelopment of the City's
brownfields. Long-term objectives of the program
include: cleaning up and redeveloping brownfields in
urban Indianapolis; providing the Economic Devel-
opment staff with an inventory of brownfields in the
area and the resources for encouraging assessment,
cleanup, and redevelopment; providing a forum to
identify and discuss strategies for overcoming ob-
stacles to assessing, cleaning up, and redeveloping
PILOT SNAPSHOT
Contacts:
Mary Beth Schumucker
City of Indianapolis
(317)327-7860
Date of Award:
September 1995
Amount: $200,000
Site Profile: The Pilot
targets several sites within
the Martin Luther King
Corridor located in the
north central section of the
Indianapolis, Indiana City.
Gabrielle Hauer
Indiana Department of
Environmental
Management
(317)233-6429
Deborah Orr
U.S. EPA-Region 5
(312)886-7576
orr.deborah@epamail.epa.gov
Visit the EPA Brownfields Website at:
http://www.epa.gov/brownfields
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brownfields; and assessing and improving the envi-
ronmental and economic conditions of residential
areas surrounding brownfields. In addition, assess-
ment, cleanup, and redevelopment of brownfields
will create training and employment opportunities
for local residents and increase investment in the
area.
ACCOMPLISHMENTS AND ACTIVITIES
The Pilot has:
• Drafted a Geographic Information System (GIS)
database as part of the inventory development
process. Completion of final inventory and database
is underway;
• Conducted walking tours of sites listed in the draft
inventory to assess the condition and context of the
sites;
• Identified several top priority sites for potential
further assessments and remediation planning;
• Completed assessment on the Spicklemire Project
site;
• Completed Phase II assessment on portion of the
Martin Luther King Corridor;
• Established Advisory Group whose purpose is to
work in partnership with the City to generate ideas,
solutions, and strategies for brownfields redevelop-
ment. The Group will assist with the inventory
maintenance, development of tools, and removal of
reuse barriers; and
• Organized community meeting and prepared press
releases regarding redevelopment activities.
The Pilot is:
• Developing and coordinating brownfields redevel-
opment projects. This will entail: coordinating
meetings of the reuse group; ensuring that all re-
sources are available to the purchaser and/or owner
for discussion and transaction purposes; ensuring
that the community is involved in the process; and
ensuring thathealth and safety issues are considered
in brownfields strategies.
LEVERAGING OTHER ACTIVITIES
Experience with the Indianapolis Pilot has been a
catalyst for related activities including the following.
• As part of a site specific redevelopment effort,
construction of the Sullivan Hardware Store/Gas
station was completed. The store opened for business
at the end of September 1996.
• The City, in cooperation with a local law firm, is
currently trying to determine ways in which pollu-
tion credits can be banked
and made available for developers, especially those
redeveloping sites.
• Development of a "Brownfields Tax Abatement"
program to encourage brownfields redevelopment.
Under this program, developers would be eligible
for tax abatement if they clean up and start a busine ss
on a former brownfield.
• Initiated work on a redevelopment "toolbox" that
will include new tax policies and a revolving loan
fund.
• Co-sponsored a forum on environmental justice and
brownfields redevelopment.
• Marketing of the Martin Luther King Corridor is
currently underway.
National Brownfields Assessment Pilot
May 1997
Indianapolis, Indiana
EPA 500-F-97-016
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