United States
                       Environmental
                       Protection Agency
                       Washington, D.C. 20460
  Solid Waste
  and Emergency
  Response (5101)
EPA500-f-97-012
May 1997
                       National   Brownfields
                       Assessment  Pilot
                                                                  Detroit, Ml
  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. Between 1995 and 1996, EPA funded 76 National and Regional Brownfields
Assessment Pilots, at up to $200,000 each, to support creative two-year explorations and demonstrations of brownfields
solutions. EPAis funding morethan 27 Pilots in 1997. 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 selected the City of Detroit for a Brownfields
  Pilot. For decades, Detroit has been known as the
  Motor City—hub of the automobile industry. As
  a result, a considerable portion of the City has been
  subject to heavy industrial activity and a number of
  Detroitproperties have become contaminated. Over
  45,000 contaminated sites have been abandoned
  by their owners and forfeited to the City due to
  unpaid taxes.  To facilitate productive reuse of
  these properties,  Detroit and Michigan's
  Departments of Natural Resources (DNR) and
  Departments   of  Commerce  formed the
  Redevelopment of Urban Sites Action Team—the
  R.E.U.S. A-Team.

  OBJECTIVES

  Detroit's brownfields efforts are to develop and
  refine the R.E.U.S. model to reduce the "entry"
  barriers to cleanup and redevelopment of lands
  that either are contaminated or are believed to be
  contaminated.  This  includes addressing
  misinformation regarding the operation of
  applicable laws, available financial resources, time
  constraints of remediation, inaccurate evaluations
  of the cost of remediation versus the benefits of
  PILOT SNAPSHOT
   Detroit, Michigan
Contacts:

Willa Williams
City of Detroit
(313)237-3091

Sarah Lile
City of Detroit
(313)237-3092
  Date of Award:
  September 1995

  Amount: $200,000

  Site Profile: The Pilot
  targets the production of
  the "R.E.U.S. IT: Manual-
  An Interagency, Common-
  Sense Approach to Break-
  ing Down Environmental
  Barriers to Brownfields
  Redevelopment," and an
  accompanying video.
  Michael Gifford
  U.S EPA-Region 5
  (312)886-7257
  gifford.mike@epamail.
  epa.gov

  Claudia Kerbawy
  MDNR
  (517)335-3397
      Visit the EPA Brownfields Website at:
      http://www.epa.gov/brownfields

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redevelopment, and the fear of unknown liability.

ACCOMPLISHMENTS AND ACTIVITIES

The Pilot has:

• Initiated production of the "R.E.U.S. IT: Manual -
 An Interagency,  Common-Sense Approach to
 Breaking  Down  Environmental Barriers to
 Brownfields Redevelopment," and its accompanying
 video to teach other cities "lessons learned."

The Pilot is:

• Using the R.E.U.S. A-Team approach to address
 sites proposed  for residential, commercial, and
 industrial uses to identify unique impediments to
 each type of reuse; and

• Educating  lenders, developers, and community
 organizations  about successful  brownfields
 assessment, cleanup, and redevelopment strategies.

LEVERAGING OTHER ACTIVITIES

Experience with the Detroit Pilot has been a catalyst
for related activities including the following.

• Working with EPA to cleanup the Anaconda Brass
 sitelocatedintheEmpowermentZone. The 10-acre
 abandoned industrial facility was the subject of
 dumping or large numbers and drums of product.
 EPA and Michigan Department of Environmental
 Quality (MDEQ) worked together to remove these
 drums as part of the overall remediation.

• Establishing  a Roundtable on  sustainable
 development. The City joined with the County of
 Wayne to establish a policy forum on sustainable
 development and brownfields. The forum includes
 significant input from  stakeholders, including
 community groups, lenders, developers,  and
 institutional and governmental representatives.

• Facilitating remediation and redevelopment of
 several  formerly contaminated sites, including a
 veterinary clinic, an office building, two  multi-
 family residential developments, and a museum.
 Slated for construction are an intermodal terminal,
 and a residential development.
Meeting with EPA, MDEQ, and City representatives
to discuss such topics as:  specific sites; the City
initiative  to address junk yards and auto salvage
yards, and scrap iron and metal recyclers.
 National Brownfields Assessment Pilot
 May 1997
                              Detroit, Michigan
                             EPA 500-F-97-012

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