United States
Environmental
Protection Agency
Washington, D.C. 20460
Solid Waste
and Emergency
Response (5101)
EPA 500-F-97-020
May 1997
xvEPA
National
Assessment Pilot
Lima, OH
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 Lima for a Brownfields
Pilot. The project area includes an abandoned
industrial site that is part of a planned 200-acre
industrial park. Liinahas been hard-hit by industrial
closings and defense-downsizing in the 1970s and
1980s, employment in the industrial park has
decreased from 8,800 to 550. Other brownfields
impacts include a loss of supportive services to
nearby residences, systematic institutional
disinvestment (lenders, small businesses), increases
in vacancy rates, and increased crime.
OBJECTIVES
Lima's brownfields effort is aimed at transforming
the industrial park into a thriving, modernized
industrial community that will provide new job
potential. The focus of the Pilot is on the former
Lima Locomotive works, an abandoned 65-acre
industrial facility. The City views successful
redevelopment of this site as key to their broader
redevelopment efforts.
PILOT SNAPSHOT
Lima, Ohio
Date of Award:
September 1996
Amount: $200,000
Site Profile: The Pilot
targets the Lima
Locomotive works, an
abandoned 65-acre
industrial facility. The
abandoned facility is part
of a planned 200-acre
industrial park.
Contacts:
Gary Sheely
Lima Utilities Department
(419)228-5462
Andy Warren
U.S. EPA-Region 5
(312)353-5485
warren.andrew@
epamail.epa.gov
Visit the EPA Brownfields Website at:
http://www.epa.gov/brownfields
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ACCOMPLISHMENTS AND ACTIVITIES
The Pilot is:
Conducting Phase I site assessments and planning at
the former Lima Locomotive facility;
Conducting a brownfields blight survey within the
City to identify other potential properties for
redevelopment;
Implementing outreach activities in the community
to provide information on site assessment and gain
community input on planning for the industrial
park;
Establishing an independent management board,
including community representatives to oversee
industrial park revitalization; and
Crafting legal agreements delineating partnership
terms and financial arrangements for the assessment,
remediation, and development of the industrial park.
LEVERAGING OTHER ACTIVITIES
Experience with the Lima Pilot has been a catalyst for
related activities including the following.
Working with a local university to study the
effectiveness of phyto-remediation, the use of trees
and shrubs to reduce concentrations of contaminants
in soil.
Working with the Governor's Economic
Development Office to enhance job creation with
tax incentives.
Working with Ohio State agencies that offer
economic development assistance to municipalities
engaged in redevelopment activities.
Requiring industrial park lease terms to encourage
the hiring of local residents.
Negotiation of an agreementwith the facility property
owner for entry of the facility into the Ohio voluntary
cleanup program.
National Brownfields Assessment Pilot Lima, Ohio
May 1997 EPA 500-F-97-020
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