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 ------- 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 ------- |