United States
Environmental
Protection Agency
Washington, D.C. 20460
Solid Waste
and Emergency
Response (5101)
EPA 500-F-97-057
May 1997
Regional Brownfields
Assessment Pilot
Murray City, UT
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 8 selected Murray City for a Regional
Brownfields Pilot. The former Murray Smelter in
Murray City (population 31,282) is a 141-acre site
surrounded by single-family and multiple-unit
residential areas, schools, and office buildings. Current
occupants of the site include atrailerpark, warehouses,
retail businesses, and concrete, cement and asphalt
plants representing multiple ownerships. Except for
residual contamination and liability concerns, the site
is in a valuable commercial business location with
convenient rail and highway access. Contamination
concerns and the potential for environmental liability
have prevented the redevelopment of this site.
OBJECTIVES
Murray City's objective is to integrate brownfields
site assessment into its vision for development of the
site to complement adjacent land uses, improve light
rail transportation, enhance the image of the
community, and construct a $40 million extension of
Main Street needed for a detour during reconstruction
of I-15 in 1998. Moving current site operations to less
valuable land outside the community center would
eliminate existing dust and noise in the surrounding
communities. The Pilot will demonstrate how
redevelopment can be integrated with remediation
planning of a brownfields site.
PILOT SNAPSHOT
Murray City, Utah
Contacts:
Dennis Hamblin
Murray City
(801)264-2623
Date of Award:
September 1996
Amount: $178,500
Site Profile: The Pilot
targets the 141-acre
former Murray Smelter site
where there is suspected
lead and arsenic
contamination.
Bonnie Lavelle
U.S. EPA-Region I
(303)312-6579
lavelle.bonnie@
epamail.epa.gov
Visit the EPA Brownfields Website at:
http://www.epa.gov/brownfields
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ACCOMPLISHMENTS AND ACTIVITIES
The Pilot has:
• Conducted seven discussion sessions between
property owners, tenants, Murray City, EPA, and
the responsible party. The purpose ofthese meetings
was to discuss the integration of the assessment and
cleanup with future land use and redevelopment
plans.
The Pilot is:
• Assisting property owners in assessing the affects of
various remediation plans and development options
on property values; and
• Developing an Agreement in Principle between the
property owners, the City and the responsible party,
which will summarize individual contributions to
support the integration of assessment and cleanup
with redevelopment.
LEVERAGING OTHER ACTIVITIES
Experience with the Murray City Pilot has been a
catalyst for related activities including the following.
• Presenting land use plans to the City Council for
review and public input which will demonstrate
how brownfields assessment and cleanup fits into
transportation system plans.
• Documenting the brownfields process in order to
demonstrate successful strategies that can be used
by other communities.
Regional Brownfields Assessment Pilot Murray City, Utah
May 1997 EPA 500-F-97-057
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