United States
                       Environmental
                       Protection Agency
                       Washington, D.C. 20460
  Solid Waste
  and Emergency
  Response (5101)
EPA 500-F-97-048
May 1997

                       Regional   Brownfields
                       Assessment  Pilot
                                                         Cincinnati,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. 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 Region 5 selected the City of Cincinnati for a
Regional Brownfields Pilot. The City's project centers
on 500 acres of vacant property, affecting apopulation
of about  106,000 within the Mill Creek Valley
watershed. Declining employment, poverty rates up
to 67 percent in some areas, and environmental blight
characterize the Valley community. One area of the
watershed is a State Enterprise Zone. In excess of 30
sites are threatening water quality. Some companies
have expressed an interest in locating within the
Enterprise Zone but are reluctant due to contain ination
concerns.   The Vine  Street Dump is a 10.5 acre
property that directly abuts the Mill Creek. The site
is drastically underutilized (vacant on weekdays and
a flea market on weekends) and an eyesore to the
community. The site is on Ohio EPA's Master Site
List as a medium priority.  It is located on a major
thoroughfare, with nearby highway access, and is
expected to be highly developable.

OBJECTIVES

Cincinnati's brownfields objectives are to revitalize
the  existing  Port Authority  as a brownfields
redevelopment authority, develop a  Brownfields
Community Advisory Committee (BCAC), and plan
for the cleanup of two brownfields sites in the Mill
Creek Valley  watershed. Working with the Port
  PILOT SNAPSHOT
                     Date of Award:
                     September 1996

                     Amount: $100,000
                     Site Profile: The Pilot
                     targets the Vine Street
                     Dump and other sites
                     within the Mill Creek
                     Valley watershed.
    Cincinnati, Ohio
Contacts:

Antoinette Selvey-Maddox
Dept. of Economic
Development
(513)352-3784
  Ted Smith
  U.S. EPA-Region 5
  (312)353-6571
  smith, edwin@epamail.
  epa.gov
        Visit the EPA Brownfields Website at:
        http://www.epa.gov/brownfields

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Authority, the BCAC will help develop criteria for
targeting brownfields. Following site selection, public
meetings in conjunction with neighborhood councils
and workshops will be held to help develop plans for
the two selected sites.

                      AND

The Pilot has:

* Selected Vine Street Dump as Pilot project site.

The Pilot is:

* Conducting  site  assessments   and  other
  implementation planning at Vine Street Dump and
  one other site in Hamilton  County;

* Developing a public participation process;

* Conducting an environmental impact prc-and post-
  development study; and

* Creating an economic redevelopment model.
  Regional Brownfields Assessment Pilot                                                   Cincinnati, Ohio
  May 1997                                                                       EPA 500-F-97-048

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