United States
Environmental
Protection Agency
Washington, D.C. 20460
Solid Waste
and Emergency
Response (5101)
EPA500-F-97-133
April 1997
National Brownfields
Assessment Pilot
Memphis, TN
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.
OVERVIEW
EPA has selected the City of Memphis, in Shelby
County, as a Brownfields Pilot. Shelby County lacks
an agency with county-wide responsibility for
organized redevelopment of brownfields. To address
this need, city, county, and state authorities have
agreed to form aquasi-public,non-profitdevelopment
corporation, the Memphis Brownfields Restoration
Corporation (MBRC). The MBRC will address the
high number of tax-delinquent, derelict industrial
properties in Shelby County and will help support the
city's and county's "balanced growth policy," which
seeks to limit sprawl through reuse of urban industrial
properties. Preliminary estimates indicate that there
are more than 100 brownfields sites in Memphis.
The pilot will target the abandoned Firestone Tire and
Rubber Company Site, which occupies 88 acres and
1.5 million square feet of building space in the North
Memphis Enterprise Community. Vacant since 1983,
the plant has significantly contributed to economic
distress in the adjacent New Chicago neighborhood.
Its closure caused the loss of more than 1,500
manufacturing and precision operator jobs between
1980 and 1990, as well as declines in residential
neighborhood populations and reduction of residential
property values.
PILOT SNAPSHOT
Memphis, Tennessee
Date of Award:
April 1997
Amount: $200,000
Site Profile: The pilot will
address various
brownfields throughout
Shelby County with initial
focus on a former tire
manufacturing plant
located on 88 acres in the
North Memphis Enterprise
Community.
Contacts:
Corky Neale
Division of Housing and
Community Development
City of Memphis
(901)576-7450
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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OBJECTIVES
Memphis' goal is to focus on brownfields
redevelopment through the MBRC. The MBRC will
take ownership of abandoned, tax-delinquent
industrial properties, conduct environmental
assessments, secure funds for environmental
remediation, undertake reuse and redevelopment
planning, and sponsor a series of educational forums
on brownfields. Brownfields pilot activities will be
coordinated with the MBRC.
ACTIVITIES
Activities planned as part of this pilot include:
• Performing an environmental assessment and
characterization of the Firestone pilot site;
• Developing a plan for remediation and reuse of the
Firestone site;
• Conducting community outreach and environmental
education; and
• Developing a database of site-specific information
on environmental conditions and redevelopment
potential.
The cooperative agreement for this Pilot has not yet been
negotiated; therefore, activities described in this fact
sheet are subject to change.
National Brownfields Assessment Pilot Memphis, Tennessee
April 1997 EPA 500-F-97-133
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