United States
Environmental
Protection Agency
Washington, D.C. 20460
Solid Waste
and Emergency
Response (5101)
EPA 500-F-00-125
May 2000
www.epa.gov/brownfields/
\>EPA Brownfields Assessment
Demonstration Pilot
Union City, CA
Outreach and Special Projects Staff (5105)
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 brownfields to facilitate cleanup of brownfields sites and prepare trainees for future employment in the environmental
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 Union City for a Brownfields
Pilot. Union City is located in the southern portion
of Alameda County in the San Francisco Bay Area.
Like many Bay Area cities, Union City's population
of 62,5 00 has grown rapidly over the last decade (16
percent) due to the explosive growth of Silicon
Valley. This has resulted in a demand for more
housing in a city that is nearly built-out with few open
sites left. Additionally, the city's Park and Recreation
Master Plan sets a goal of three acres of park land
for each 1,000 residents—this goal has not yet been
met. To help meet its recreational and housing
needs, the city has targeted two brownfields sites in
the Decoto and Old Alvardo neighborhoods and
within designated Redevelopment Areas for
assessment, cleanup, and redevelopment as
residential and park/recreational space. These
neighborhoods are predominantly minority, with 89
percent and 81 percent minority rates, respectively,
and poverty rates of 12.4 percent and 7.1 percent.
OBJECTIVES
The objective of the Pilot is to help further Union
City's goals of creating new housing and
recreational space by assessing and developing
PILOT SNAPSHOT
Union City, CA
Date of Announcement:
May 2000
Amount: $200,000
Profile: The Pilot plans to
conduct environmental
assessments to spurthecleanup
and redevelopment of two
brownfields in the Decoto and
Old Alvarado neighborhoods.
Regional Brownfields Team
U.S. EPA-Region 9
(415)744-2237
Contacts:
Department of Public Works
and Parks, Environmental
Programs Division
Union City
(510)471-3232
Visit the EPA Region 9 Brownfields web site at:
http://www.epa.gov/region09/waste/brown/index.html
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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cleanup and redevelopment plans for two
brownfields sites, the Johnson Industrial Park and
the Horner/Veasy site. The Pilot will establish a
Brownfields Action Team that will guide Pilot
activities, including community outreach efforts
such as neighborhood and citywide meetings.
ACCOMPLISHMENTS AND ACTIVITIES
Activities planned as part of this Pilot include:
• Completing environmental assessments on two
brownfields sites—the Johnson Industrial Park in
the Decoto neighborhood and the Horner/Veasy
site in the Old Alvarado neighborhood;
• Developing a cleanup plan for the targeted sites;
• Establishing a Brownfields Action Team to monitor
Pilot activities;
• Identifying additional brownfields properties in the
city; and
• Conducting community outreach, including targeted
site neighborhood meetings and citywide hearings
at the completion of each assessment.
The cooperative agreementforthis Pilot has not yet been negotiated;
therefore, activities described in this fact sheet are subject to change.
Brownfields Assessment Demonstration Pilot Union City, CA
May2000 EPA 500-F-00-125
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