United States
Environmental
Protection Agency
Washington, D.C. 20460
Solid Waste
and Emergency
Response (5101)
EPA 500-F-97-049
May 1997
Regional Brownfields
Assessment Pilot
Clearwater, FL
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 Region 4 selected the City of Clearwater for
a Regional Brownfields Pilot. Clearwater's
brownfields activities focus on a conglomeration
of small industrial, commercial, and residential
entities that were built on the fill of a former lake
as part of urban redevelopment activities 40 years
ago. Large scale business exodus from the area
now described as the "collective brownfields area"
(CBA) is contributing to urban decline and is
believed to have stemmed from difficulties
businesses have had in meeting environmental
regulations mandating property set-asides for
storm water attenuation.
The CBA is a State-designated Enterprise Zone.
Minority populations comprise dominant segments
of the population in many of the neighborhoods
surrounding the CBA, and 33 percentof all residents
live below the poverty level. The area accounts for
more than 50 percent of the City's crime.
OBJECTIVES
Clearwater's Brownfields Program is working to
reverse the trend of seven years of property value
decline, eliminate the functional obsolescence of
buildings and land, and clean up the low level
PILOT SNAPSHOT
Clearwater, Florida
Date of Award:
September 1996
Amount: $100,000
Site Profile: The Pilot
targets a former lake, filled
in for urban development,
that now hosts an
industrial, commercial,
and mixed use area that
has suffered from
business exodus due to
storm water attenuation
regulations.
Contacts:
Alan Ferri
Clearwater Department of
Economic Development
(813)462-6882
Barbara Dick
U.S. EPA-Region 4
(404) 562-8923
dick.barbara@
epamail.epa.gov
Visit the EPA Brownfields Website at:
http://www.epa.gov/brownfields
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contamination. By conducting site characterizations,
offering economic redevelopment initiatives, and
solving water quality problems, the City of Clearwater
hopes to address the lingering environmental justice
issues in the area. Local community groups and the
City will work together to invite a diversity of
prospective investors, plan for business expansion
and create solid job opportunities for unemployed
and low-to-moderate income residents.
ACCOMPLISHMENTS AND ACTIVITIES
The Pilot has:
• Coordinated discussions between St. Petersburg
Junior College and the grocery store company which
has agreed to recruit minorities from the local North
Greenwood neighborhood; and
• Appointed a municipal Community Task Team
which meets with members of the North Greenwood
Neighborhood to exchange information and
representthe economic and environmental interests
of that neighborhood.
The Pilot is:
• Conducting the first site assessment at a former car
dealership and automobile repair shop. Clearwater
Neighborhood Housing Services (CNHS) will
purchase the site and develop it into a 48,000 square
foot grocery store with 8,000 square feet of retail
space. It is expected that the supermarket will add
200 jobs;
• Working to develop a Risk Assessment Working
Group made up of experts (Florida Departments of
Environmental Protection and Health, the University
of Florida, and Florida State University, the
Governor's Council on Risk Assessment) to ensure
that public health and safety issues are adequately
represented in brownfieldsredevelopmentprojects;
• Establishing arevolving loan fund for site assessment
at properties targeted for redevelopment; and
• Managing investor liability by employing the
University of Southern Florida to prepare a flow-of-
ownership plan for the CBA that will include an
innovative approach to encourage businesses to
move into the CBA, property transfer/liability
protection, and residential support.
LEVERAGING OTHER ACTIVITIES
Experience with the Clearwater Pilot has been a
catalyst for related activities including the following.
• The Clearwater City Commission will allocate $5
million from a county-wide capital improvements
sales tax to enhance brownfields efforts. Funding
from the sales tax will be available for environmental
assessment and remediation work in October 1997.
• Building cooperative agreements with organizations
such as the Private Industry Council, to involve
local businesses and community residents in
decision-making.
Regional Brownfields Assessment Pilot
May 1997
Clearwater, Florida
EPA 500-F-97-049
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