United States
Environmental
Protection Agency
Washington, D.C. 20460
Solid Waste
and Emergency
Response(5101)
EPA500-F-99-154
June 1999
www.epa.gov/brownfields/
SEPA
Brownfields Assessment
Demonstration Pilot
Springfield, MO
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 Springfield for a
Brownfields Pilot. Springfield (population 10,494) is
located in southwest Missouri. The Pilot target
area—the 250-acre Jordan Creek Corridor—is an
industrial and commercial corridor in downtown
Springfield. The corridor was once the economic hub
of the community, with historic land uses that included
agricultural mills, lumber and coal yards, metal working
and electroplating facilities, gas and electric companies,
and painting and printing shops. These businesses
moved out of the corridor as residents moved away
from the city's center and business centers shifted,
leaving behind numerous brownfields and aging
facilities. Combined with conflicting zoning patterns
that have placed commercial and industrial businesses
within residential blocks, these brownfields have led
to the area's economic instability and environmental
degradation, including contamination of the Jordan
Creek. The corridor's demographics—an 11.7 percent
minority population, a 9 percent unemployment rate,
and a poverty rate of 43.5 percent—indicate that the
city's most economically disadvantaged residents also
live nearest to these potentially contaminated
brownfields and face a greater potential risk of
exposure.
PILOTSNAPSHOT
Springfield, Missouri
Contacts:
City of Springfield
Department of Planning
and Development
(417)864-1094
Date of Announcement:
June 1999
Amount: $200,000
Profile: The Pilot targets
brownfields within the 250-
acre Jordan Creek Corridor
in downtown Springfield.
Regional Brownfields Team
U.S. EPA-Region 7
(913)551-7786
Visit the EPA Region 7 Brownfields web site at:
http://www.epa.gov/region07/specinit/
brown/brownfields.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 Pilot will complement a citizen-based,
comprehensive 25-year plan for Springfield and Greene
County. Within the Jordan Creek Corridor is the first
target area for the plan—a "civic park" designed as
the community focal point and gathering place that
will include commercial and residential development,
historic museum and hotel restoration, community
facilities and green space. The Pilot will fund
environmental assessments at several brownfields
within or near the civic park project, and will provide
a mechanism for public input and community
involvement in developing cleanup and revitalization
strategies.
ACCOMPLISHMENTS ANDACTIVITIES
Activities planned as part of this Pilot include:
• Conducting four Phase I assessments and three
Phase II assessments on targeted sites within the
corridor;
• Hosting at least two public forums to educate
residents about targeted site activities; and
• Developing cleanup designs, cost estimates, and
funding strategies for assessed sites.
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 Springfield, Missouri
June 1999 EPA500-F-99-154
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