United States
                       Environmental
                       Protection Agency
                       Washington, D.C. 20460
 Solid Waste
 and Emergency
 Response (5101)
EPA500-F-97-148
May 1997

                       Regional  Brownfields
                      Assessment  Pilot
                                        Milwaukee  County,  Wl
  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.
PILOT BACKGROUND

EPA Region 5 has selected Milwaukee County for a
Regional Brownfields Pilot.  This pilot represents a
unique collaborative effort between the County of
Milwaukee,  the City of Milwaukee, and the 30th
Street Industrial Corridor Corporation (ICC). The
latter is a non-profit organization, focusing on
economic redevelopment, with close ties to the
business community, job training alliances, and
community groups.

Milwaukee County, as the pilot recipient, is focusing
its efforts on the five-mile long segment of active rail
line in the urban center  of Milwaukee, commonly
identified as the 30th Street Industrial  Corridor
(Corridor). This area is located within the federally-
designated Enterprise Community (EC) in the City of
Milwaukee, where 34 percent of the predominantly
minority residents live in poverty. The EC designation
may provide  additional support to economic
redevelopment efforts in the form of tax incentives
for business development in the Corridor.

In addition, parts of the area have been identified by
EPA's Leaking Underground Storage Tank (LUST)
list as containing 33 high to medium-high priority
sites of known contamination. The Corridor lost 59
 PILOT SNAPSHOT
 Milwaukee, Wisconsin
  Date of Award:
  February 1997

  Amount:  $200,000

  Site Profile: The Pilot
  targets a five-mile
  segment of active railroad
  corridor passing through
  Milwaukee's urban core,
  composed of a mix of
  residential, commercial,
  retail, and industrial
  properties.
Contacts:

Leonard Jackson       Mike Anastasio
Milwaukee County      U.S. EPA - Region 5
Department of Economic  (312) 886-7951
Development         anastasio.michael@
(414)278-4905        epamail.epa.gov
       Visit the EPA Brownfields Website at:
       http://www.epa.gov/brownfields

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percent of its manufacturing jobs between 1972 and
1990, leaving it blighted and in peril of losing further
anchor industries.

OBJECTIVES

The Milwaukee County Brownfields pilot will be
considering appropriate roles that can be played by
non-profit organizations like the ICC. To that end,
both the  City  of Milwaukee and the County  will
provide general guidance and oversightforbrownfield
pilot activities, while the ICC will oversee day-to-
day pilot activities including site selection, oversight
of technical studies and remedial plans, and loan fund
management.

Due to its expertise in industrial development and its
long-standing  relationship with many  community
organizations, the ICC is well positioned to facilitate
outreach activities.  The ICC will, in turn, work with
the EC  Neighborhood  Coordinating  Board,
neighborhood organizations,  the  Metropolitan
Milwaukee Civic Alliance (a consortium of 20 civic
organizations), the Minority Chamber of Congress,
MICAH (a consortium of inner city religious groups),
and local environmental groups.

ACCOMPLISHMENTS AND ACTIVITIES

The Pilot is:

• Hosting several brownfields workshops and town
 hall meetings with organized  community groups
 and local citizens;

• Establishing a Citizen's Technical Advisory
 Consortium  to facilitate the  communication of
 brownfields information. A "minority outreach"
 specialist will work closely with local community
 organizers;

• Identifying and assessing contaminated properties
 in the Corridor;

• Preparing a  remedial action  plan for  selected
 brownfields properties; and

• Examining methods to establish a self-supporting
 revolving fund to pay for the acquisition  and
 remediation of brownfields sites.
 Regional Brownfields Assessment Pilot                                        Milwaukee County, Wisconsin
 May 1997                                                                     EPA500-F-97-148

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