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Brownfields 2005
Grant Fact Sheet
BRIDGE Housing
Corporation,
Palo Alto, CA
EPA Brownfields Program
EPA's Brownfields Program empowers states, commu-
nities, and other stakeholders in economic development
to work together to prevent, assess, safely clean up,
and sustainably reuse brownfields. Abrownfield site is
real property, the expansion, redevelopment, or reuse
of which may be complicated by the presence or
potential presence of a hazardous substance, pollutant,
or contaminant. On January 11, 2002, President George
W. Bush signed into law the Small Business Liability
Relief and Brownfields Revitalization Act. Under the
Brownfields Law, EPA provides financial assistance to
eligible applicants through four competitive grant
programs: assessment grants, revolving loan fund
grants, cleanup grants, and job training grants. Addi-
tionally, funding support is provided to state and tribal
response programs through a separate mechanism.
Community Description
The BRIDGE Housing Corporation was selected to
receive a brownfields cleanup grant. The target
property, the Fabian Way Senior Housing site, is in Palo
Alto (population 60,200), California. The city has
consistently been identified as one of the country's
most expensive housing markets. The target population
for this project is low-income seniors on fixed incomes,
who face increasing hardships in the continuously
escalating housing market of Palo Alto. A recent study
indicates that 41 percent of the seniors in the city have
low or very low incomes and that their numbers are
growing. The city is essentially built out, with the only
Cleanup Grant
$200,000 for hazardous substances
EPA has selected the BRIDGE Housing Corpora-
tion for a brownfields cleanup grant. Grant funds
will be used for the installation of a vapor intrusion
system, mitigation of ground water contamination,
and for construction and long-term risk reduction
activities, including health and safety planning, soil
management planning, vapor probes, and relocat-
ing ground water monitoring wells at the Fabian
Way Senior Housing site in Palo Alto, California.
Site investigations have indicated that volatile
organic compounds have migrated from upstream
sources into the soil and ground water under the
site.
Contacts
For further information, including specific grant
contacts, additional grant information, brownfields
news and events, and publications and links, visit
the EPA Brownfields web site at: www.epa.gov/
brownfields.
EPA Region 9 Brownfields Team
415-972-3188
http://www.epa.gov/region09/waste/brown/
index.html
Grant Recipient: BRIDGE Housing Corporation,
CA
415-989-1111
The cooperative agreement for this grant has not
yet been negotiated; therefore, activities described
in this fact sheet are subject to change.
remaining option to alleviate the housing crisis being the
conversion of older, underutilized industrial sites.
Cleanup of this one-acre property will allow BRIDGE
to redevelop the site as a residential community with 67
affordable housing units for very low-income senior
households. This development is part of a larger effort
to redevelop a 12-acre parcel incorporating a mixed-
Solid Waste and
Emergency Response
(5105T)
EPA560-F-05-132
May 2005
www.epa.gov/brownfields
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use, mixed-income community with recreational,
educational, and other services available to the resi-
dents and the greater community.
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