United States
Environmental
Protection Agency
Washington, D.C. 20460
Solid Waste
and Emergency
Response (5101)
EPA500-F-97-021
May 1997
National Brownfields
Assessment Pilot
Louisville, KY
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. EPA is funding more than 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 Louisville foraBrownfields
Pilot. The Louisville Empowerment Zone
Brownfields Working Group plans to address
brownfields inLouisville'sheavy industrial corridor.
The corridor encompasses 5.401 acres that include
the community's most distressed neighborhoods. At
least one quarter of the area stands vacant or severely
under-used (converted to cheap warehouse space).
Residents that are most affected by these brownfields
represent the State'shighest concentration of minority
residents, and almost half live in poverty. Area
neighborhoods sufferfrom a 30-year population drain,
including a nearly twenty percent loss in population
over the last decade.
Brownfields sites cost the City of Louisville
approximately $8.7 million annually in lost property
tax revenues. Their presence is adversely affecting
the City's nationally recognized success in developing
affordable housing and revitalizing inner-city
neighborhoods.
OBJECTIVES
The Louisville Brownfields Pilot seeks to facilitate
assessments and environmental cleanups which would
not otherwise occur, and to measurably increase the
PILOT SNAPSHOT
Louisville, Kentucky
Date of Award:
September 1995
Amount: $200,000
Site Profile: The Pilot
targets an industrial
corridor in western
Louisville composed of
over 5,000 acres of mostly
heavy industrialized
property.
Contacts:
Bonnie Biemer
City of Louisville, Office of
Health and Environment
(502) 574-3271
bonnie.biemer@louky.
iglou.com
Barbara Dick
U.S. EPA-Region 4
(404)
dick.barbara@epamail.
epa.gov
Visit the EPA Brownfields Website at:
http://www.epa.gov/brownfields
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rate and volume of older industrial land recycled to
productive use through public and private investment.
Specifically, the Pilot hopes to reduce barriers to
investment in redevelopment that stem from
environmental concerns. Success will be measured
by completion of brownfield cleanups, addition of
actual jobs for Enterprise Community residents,
community acceptance of the process, and
enhancement of the City tax base.
AND
The Pilot has:
* Created a Geographic Information System (GIS)
Database that contains public information on
environmental conditions of land in the Enterprise
Community to publicize sites for investment, and
target areas for cleanup and redevelopment. Data
on Jefferson County' s 275,000 parcels have already
been entered into the Database;
* Actively conducted outreach to stakeholders
regarding brownfields issues including: 1) bus
tours of Louisville brownfields sites for the
convention of American Planning Association; 2)
presentations to IESD Small Cities Conference at
University of Louisville; 3) collaboration with local
reporters for feature articles on brownfields; and 4)
meeting with community residents, and the industrial
Realtors of the Board of Realtors; and
* Installed 13 wells to sample Louisville's aquifers.
The City. Water Company, and the U. S. Geological
Survey participated in the field work. Once the
sampling results are received, the data will be entered
into the Database.
The Pilot is:
* Establishing a streamlined process for cleanup under
State regulations to reduce uncertainty of standards
and time delays;
* Tcstingmcchanismsthatwouldallowamunicipality
to take title to a site to unite cleanup and
redevelopment efforts; and
* Designing a brochure to support stakeholder outreach
that will list the advantages of recycling brownfields.
Experience with the Louisville Pilot has been a
catalyst for related activities including the following.
* Worked on a burned-out building where owners
were identified but not able to complete assessment
and cleanup without assistance. The property has
been cleared and sold to a neighboring business.
* Exploring how the City's brownfields program can
take advantage of Community Development Bank
and the Small Business Administration resources.
* The City of Louisville got a head start on their
brownfields efforts by using funds from a $75,000
EPA grant awarded to Kentucky's DNR in 1994 to
conduct an assessment on a brownfields site on
Garfield Avenue that an adjacent property owner
wanted to use for expansion of his business. The
assessment was completed and a remediation plan
submitted to the Kentucky Natural Resources and
Environmental Protection Cabinet. The assessment
was made available to the public for public comment
in April 1997. The property is being held in the
City's name pending State approval of the
remediation plan. A prospective purchaser is waiting
for results of the State review.
* The Louisville Empowerment Zone Brownfields
Working Group worked on proposals for State
legislation to reduce liability concerns and create a
mechanism for closure on brownfields site cleanups.
The amendment to the State's superfund law allows
public entities to apply for State " assurance letters"
which certify the State's determination that the
property meets cleanup standards and poses no
threat to human health or the environment.
• An international firm seeking to develop within the
United States has used the Louisville Database to
identify appropriate land in the brownfields area.
Negotiations are pending.
National Brownfields Assessment Pilot
May 1997
Louisville, Kentucky
EPA 500-F-97-021
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