&EPA
United States
Environmental
Protection Agency
Washington, D.C. 20460
Solid Waste
and Emergency
Response (5101)
EPA 500-F-98-236
July1998
Assessment
Demonstration Pilot
Los Angeles, CA
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 Los Angeles for a
Brownfields Pilot. The Pilot designation follows as
part of EPA's commitment to Los Angeles as a
Brownfields Showcase Community. Los Angeles is
an ethnically diverse city of more than 3.6 million
citizens. In some areas, nearly 40% of the population
lives below the poverty level and unemployment is
higher than 17%. The City has thousands of vacant
parcels and underused facilities along commercial
and industrial corridors with suspected contamination.
A study conducted by the City's Community
Redevelopment Agency (CRA) in South Central Los
Angeles found 344 potentially contaminated sites
within a three-mile radius. Because these sites are
located on industrially zoned property near major
transportation routes, their economic potential is
exceptional. The Alameda Corridor is a 20-mile route
between the Los Angeles/Long Beach ports and rail
distribution yards located southeast of the Los Angeles
Civic Center. Improvements in the Alameda Corridor
are expected to make the area more attractive to
business and promote brownfields redevelopment,
local job creation, and community revitalization.
PILOT SNAPSHOT
Date of Announcement:
July 1998
Amount: $200,000
Profile: The Pilot targets
brownfields located along
the 20-mile Alameda
Corridor for assessment
and redevelopment.
Los Angeles, California
Contacts:
Environmental Affairs
Department
City of Los Angeles
(213)580-1045
Regional Brownfields Team
U.S. EPA-Region 9
(415)744-2237
Visit the EPA Region 9 Brownfields web site at:
http://www.epa.gov/region09/waste/brown/index.html
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/
-------
OBJECTIVES
Los Angeles' objective is to continue integrating
partnerships with Federal agencies, the community,
and others in the City's brownfields program.
Productive reuse of brownfields will include
redevelopment, open space, housing, education, job
training, energy efficiency, and social and
environmental equity issues. Los Angeles plans to
accomplish its obj ective through an interdepartmental
team structure which will identify, coordinate and
target brownfields resources. The City will encourage
the use of State Voluntary Cleanup Agreements
when appropriate.
ACCOMPLISHMENTS AND ACTIVITIES
Activities planned as part of this Pilot include:
•Leveraging Los Angeles' designation as a
Brownfields Showcase Community to form new
Federal partnerships;
• Developing strategies and mechanisms to address
barriers to brownfields redevelopment, including
using the Los Angeles Brownfields Revitalization
Fund and the Federal Brownfields Tax Incentive;
• Documenting and integrating brownfields lessons
learned into the City's redevelopment process; and
• Developing effective community participation
processes which are sensitive to environmental
justice issues based on recommendations of the
National Environmental Justice Advisory Council.
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 Los Angeles, California
July 1998 EPA 500-F-98-236
------- |