United States
                       Environmental
                       Protection Agency
                       Washington, D.C. 20460
                         Solid Waste
                         and Emergency
                         Response (5101)
EPA 500-F-97-055
May 1997
  xvEPA
Regional  Brownfields
Assessment  Pilot
                                 Kalamazoo, Ml
  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 5  selected the City of Kalamazoo for a
Regional Brownfields Pilot. Kalamazoo (population
81.000)  has 28  State-designated  environmental
hazardous waste sites, 49 leaking underground storage
tank sites, and three Superfund sites. Five percent of
the City's taxable property (about  450 acres) are
brownfields located in older neighborhoods where
64 percent of the City's minority population live.
More than 30 percent of the population in these
neighborhoods live below the poverty level,  and
unemployment is 16 percent. Without adequate
resources to address brownfields, new development
has migrated to greenfields  — causing the loss of
j obs, a reduced taxbase, and a strain on local resources
to support urban sprawl.

OBJECTIVES

Kalamazoo's brownfields objective is to  prevent
future brownfields and retain existing industry while
promoting  a renewed  interest in  industrial  and
commercial investment within the City. Kalamazoo
intends  to  create a systematic  approach for
redeveloping under-used and potentially contaminated
properties in the City.
                         PILOT SNAPSHOT
                         Kalamazoo, Michigan
                                            Date of Award:
                                            August 1996

                                            Amount:  $100,000
  Site Profile: The Pilot
  targets brownfields
  clustered along older
  industrial and commercial
  corridors in and around
  the City's central business
  district, along railroad
  lines, and along the
  Kalamazoo River.
                       Contacts:

                       Barbara Gordon        Stacy Greendlinger
                       Kalamazoo Development  U.S. EPA - Region 5
                       Services Department     (312) 353-5069
                       (616) 337-8801         greendlinger.stacy@
                                          epamail.epa.gov
                               Visit the EPA Brownfields Website at:
                               http://www.epa.gov/brownfields

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ACCOMPLISHMENTS AND ACTIVITIES

The Pilot has:

• Completed inventory of City-owned brownfields
 and maps of the brownfields sites have been entered
 into the GIS system.  Site evaluation criteria were
 used in creating an inventory of priority brownfields
 sites;

• Initiated data  collection inventory  for privately-
 owned brownfields; and

• Produced several television programs to update the
 community on the progress of the Brownfields Pilot
 through the local cable station.

The Pilot is:

• Involving the community in developing options for
 possible site reuses;

• Working with  the Coalition for Urban Redevelop-
 ment in community outreach;

• Conducting assessments and developing redevel-
 opment plans for top priority sites;

• Preparing  analyses of potential land uses based on
 the results of the environmental assessments and
 cleanup plans; and

• Identifying financial and human  resources  for
 brownfields redevelopment through public/private
 partnerships.

LEVERAGING OTHER ACTIVITIES

Experience  with the Kalamazoo Pilot has been  a
catalyst for related activities including the following.

• The City is using the Kalamazoo Custom  Metal
 Works (Lyons Manufacturing) project as a model
 for its brownfields implementation plan. This proj ect
 demonstrates a successful mix of City, State, and
 private sector involvement to return the property to
 productive use and create, as well as retain, jobs.
The City expects to sign its first site redevelopment
agreement with a local  small business that has
committed to build a light manufacturing facility at
one of the top five priority brownfields.

The community outreach team is working on program
development for a regional brownfields conference.
 Regional Brownfields Assessment Pilot
 May 1997
                           Kalamazoo, Michigan
                             EPA 500-F-97-055

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