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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