&EPA United States Environmental Protection Agency Washington, D.C. 20460 Solid Waste and Emergency Response (5101) EPA 500-F-98-185 July 1998 Assessment Demonstration Pilot Hagerstown, MD 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 200 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 Hagerstown for a Brownfields Pilot. The City's heritage was built on the manufacturing and railroad industries. Economic decline since the recession of the early 1980s has left its mark on the City in the form of high unemployment and vacant and deteriorating buildings. In response, the State designated the central portion of the City as a Revitalization Area. This area contains 42% of the City' s total population and has an unemployment rate of 7%. In addition, 23% of the area's families live below the poverty level. There is no complete inventory of brownfields properties in Hagerstown. However, the City is targeting its cleanup and redevelopment efforts on old industrial and commercial properties along former rail corridors and in the Revitalization Area. OBJECTIVES The City's main objective is the cleanup and redevelopment of the old industrial and commercial properties along the old rail corridors and within the central urbanized area of Hagerstown. The City believes this revitalization effort will serve to create new job opportunities and improve the quality of life of its residents. To aid in this effort, the Pilot will PILOT SNAPSHOT Hagerstown, Maryland Date of Announcement: July 1998 Amount: $200,000 Profile: The Pilot will target its redevelopment efforts along former rail corridors and in the central, urbanized portion of the City designated as the Revitalization Area. Contacts: Planning Department City of Hagerstown (301)739-8577 Regional Brownfields Team U.S. EPA-Region 3 (215)566-3129 Visit the EPA Region 3 Brownfields web site at: http://www.epa.gov/reg3hwmd/brownfld/hmpage1.htm Forfurtherinformation, 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/ ------- conduct site assessments to identify and evaluate potential brownfields sites, and encourage community participation in its planning and redevelopment efforts. To facilitate this program's outreach, the City has asked various community-based organizations, professional organizations, affected citizens, and economic development-related businesses to participate on a Stakeholders Committee. ACCOMPLISHMENTS AND ACTIVITIES Activities planned as part of this Pilot include: • Developing an inventory of vacant, idled, or underused properties in the targeted Revitalization Area and along rail corridors; • Prioritizing identified sites based on redevelopment potential in the target Revitalization Area; • Conducting Phase I assessments on three to four selected sites; • Creating a cleanup and redevelopment plan for the target area; and • Conducting community outreachactivitiesto involve stakeholders in the Pilot's planning and redevelopment efforts. 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 Hagerstown, Maryland July 1998 EPA500-F-98-185 ------- |