&EPA
United States
Environmental
Protection Agency
Washington, D.C. 20460
Solid Waste
and Emergency
Response (5101)
EPA 500-F-98-157
May 1998
Assessment
Demonstration Pilot
Galveston, TX
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. Since 1995, EPA has funded more than 150 Brownfields Assessment
Demonstration Pilots, at up to $200,000 each, to support creative two-year explorations and demonstrations of
brownfields solutions. 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 has selected the City of Galveston for a
Brownfields Pilot. Galveston (population 59,072) is
located on Galveston Island off the southeast Texas
Gulf coast, approximately 50 miles southeast of
Houston. Two unique features compound Galveston's
brownfields problems. The city is located on an
island, and a significant portion of the city's land is
government owned, providing aproportionately lower
available property tax base than similarly situated
communities. Redevelopment of brownfields is an
integral component of the city' s economic development
initiatives.
Once a thriving industrial and economic center and
major seaport, the city has been in steady economic
decline for 30 years. The port has suffered a
significant decline in business and has lost a number
of major employers. The long economic decline has
resulted in an inner urban area with a high minority
population, high unemployment, high poverty rates,
and numerous vacant commercial and industrial
properties. Striving to reverse these trends, the 9.84-
square-mile inner urban area of the city was designated
as a state Enterprise Zone (EZ). The EZ designation
encourages development by offering tax incentives,
utility discounts, accelerated permits, and special loan
programs. Almost all of the city's brownfields are
PILOT SNAPSHOT
Galvestonjexas
Date of Announcement:
May 1998
Amount: $200,000
Profile: The Pilot will
target 20 properties within
the Old Central and Carver
Park neighborhoods just
westofGalveston'scentral
businessdistrict;both
areas are located in the
state-designated
Enterprise Zone.
Contacts:
CityofGalveston
(409)966-2150
Regional Brownfields Team
U.S. EPA-Region 6
(214)665-6736
Visit the EPA Region 6 Brownfields web site at:
http://www.epa.gov/earth1 r6/6sf/
bfpages/sfbfhome.htm
Forfurther information, including specific Pilot contacts,
additional Pilot information, brownfields news and events, and
publications and links, visit the EPA Brownfields web site at:
http://www.epa.gov/brownfields/
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located within the EZ, with a large percentage located
in or neartwo contiguous neighborhoods (Old Central
and Carver Park), just west of Galveston's central
business district.
OBJECTIVES
The Pilot has three primary objectives as it tries to
integrate the Pilotproject with the EZ initiative. First,
in coordination with other federal, state, and local
efforts, the Pilot will work to encourage and create
incentives for assessment, cleanup and redevelopment
of the economically and environmentally distressed
areas of the EZ. The focus of the Pilot will be on the
Old Central and CarverParkneighborhoods. Another
goal of the Pilot is to forge a strong and lasting
partnership between the city and the affected minority/
disadvantaged communities in order to give these
communities avoice in the cleanup and redevelopment
oftheirneighborhoods. Finally, the Pilot will work to
develop abrownfields initiative that can be applied to
other brownfields projects in the future.
ACCOMPLISHMENTS AND ACTIVITIES
Activities planned as part of this Pilot include:
• Conducting a series of public meetings to obtain
input from affected communities;
• Identifying and ranking brownfields in the target
areas;
• Conducting Phase I environmental assessments at
20 targeted sites;
• Conducting Phase II environmental assessments
and developing cleanup cost estimates for up to
three priority properties;
• Developing incentives for cleanup and redevelopment
projects; and
• Communicating information on environmental
cleanup conditions and redevelopment potential to
the public and potential project developers.
The cooperative agreement for this Pilot has not yet been
negotiated; therefore, activities described in this fact sheet
are subject to change.
Brownfields Assessment Demonstration Pilot Galveston, Texas
May 1998 EPA500-F-98-157
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