United States
Environmental
Protection Agency
Washington, D.C. 20460
Solid Waste
and Emergency
Response(5101)
EPA500-F-99-130
June 1999
www.epa.gov/brownfields/
Brownfields Assessment
Demonstration Pilot
Chattanooga, 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. EPA is funding: assessment demonstration pilot programs (each funded
up to $200,000 over two years), to assess brownfields sites and to test cleanup and redevelopment models;job training
pilot programs (each funded up to $200,000 over two years), to provide training for residents of communities affected
by brownfieldstofacilitatecleanupofbrownfieldssites and preparetrainees for future employmentintheenvironmental
field; and, cleanup revolving loan fund programs (each funded up to $500,000 over five years) to capitalize loan funds
to make loans for the environmental cleanup of brownfields. These pilot programs 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 Chattanooga for a
Brownfields Pilot. Of Chattanooga's 152,466 residents,
approximately 5,300 live in the project area of Alton
Park. This targeted area has a poverty rate of 61
percent, with a median household income of $ 12,300.
The area's population is 98 percent African American.
The Pilot targets the 2.7-square-mile Alton Park area
that was once home to the foundries, tanneries, brick
kilns, glass container manufacturers, and textile mills
that made the city a thriving hub of manufacturing
known in the 1930s as the "Dynamo of Dixie." For a
century, the economy in Alton Park was strong and
the area bustled with industrial jobs, local businesses,
and residential neighborhoods. But by the 1960s, new
manufacturing methods and the changing economy
led to the deterioration of the major industries in
Chattanooga. Residents who could afford to moved
to the suburbs, retail businesses closed, schools shut
down, and there was a perception that many of the
decaying buildings in Alton Park were contaminated.
The area has approximately 34 state-designated
contaminated sites, five of which are targeted by the
Pilot.
PILOTSNAPSHOT
Chattanooga, Tennessee
Dateof Announcement:
June 1999
Amount: $200,000
Profile: ThePilottargets70
acres in the Alton Park area,
a former manufacturing hub.
Contacts:
Chattanooga/Hamilton County
Brownfields Program
(426) 867-4321
Regional Brownfields Team
U.S. EPA - Region 4
(404) 562-8661
Visit the EPA Region 4 Brownfields web site at:
http://www.epa.gov/region4/wastepgs/brownfpgs/bf.htm
For further 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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OBJECTIVES
The city is working with community groups and the
state and federal government to sustainably revitalize
and restore Chattanooga to a source of local pride and
economic opportunity. The city currently has several
nationally recognized urban redevelopment projects
underway, and the Pilot is an extension of these
ongoing activities. The newly created Chattanooga/
Hamilton County Brownfields Program will coordinate
and implement Pilot activities. For the longer term,
the program will be a catalyst for business expansion
and relocation, job creation, environmental cleanup
and neighborhood rebuilding. To help accomplish
these objectives, the Pilot will identify and assess
contamination at five sites in the project area, as well
as assist in the development and implementation of
innovative ways to finance cleanup.
ACCOMPLISHMENTS ANDACTIVITIES
Activities planned as part of this Pilot include:
• Creating a brownfields inventory;
• Conducting Phase I and II assessments at five
priority sites in Alton Park;
• Establishing site redevelopment criteria through the
use of a community and stakeholder participation
process; and
• Creating cleanup and redevelopment plans that
identify innovative financing mechanisms for cleanup
and address ownership procedures.
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 Chattanooga, Tennessee
June 1999 EPA500-F-99-130
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