United States
Environmental
Protection Agency
Washington, D.C. 20460
Solid Waste
and Emergency
Response (5101)
EPA500-F-97-162
October 1997
Regional Brownfields
Assessment Pilot
Pomona, CA
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. Since 1995, EPA has funded more than 120 National and Regional
Brownfields Assessment Pilots, at up to $200,000 each, to support creative two-year explorations and demonstrations
of brownfields solutions. 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 Region 9 has selected the City of Pomona for a
Regional Brownfields Pilot. Pomonahas apopulation
of 149,600 and is the fourth-largest city in Los
Angeles County. The multi-cultural community is
54% Latino, 12% African American, and 8% Asian.
Downtown Pomona is home to an arts colony, an
antique row, a farmers market, and one of two mass
transit train stations (MetroLink) located within the
City.
The City, once predominantly a manufacturing and
industrial hub, has experienced a large decline in
these industries as well as a decline in the defense
industry. General Dynamics, once the City's largest
private-sector employer, is now the site of one of the
City's largest brownfields (200 acres). The site was
built in 1952 to develop and build weapons for the
U.S.Navy.Froma 1980s'peak of 10,000 employees,
all site production and operations have now ceased.
OBJECTIVES
The Pilot's target locations include eleven Redevel-
opment Project Areas and the portions of the City
within the Los Angeles Revitalization Zone (LARZ),
which offers various tax incentives for qualified
businesses located in the zone. The LARZ program
was enacted to help targeted communities recover
PILOT SNAPSHOT
Date of Award:
September 1997
Amount: $100,000
Site Profile: The Pilot
targets brownfields in
eleven Redevelopment
Project Areas and portions
of the City within the Los
Angeles Revitalization
Zone.
Pomona, California
Contacts:
Cruz Esparza
Pomona Department of
Economic Development
(909) 620-2050
Steve Simanonok
U.S. EPA-Region 9
(415)744-2358
simanonok.steve®
epamail.epa.gov
Visit the EPA Brownfields Website at:
http://www.epa.gov/brownfields
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from the area's Spring 1992 civil unrest by offering
incentives to invest in and hire residents from these
communities. The City will use Pilot funds to con-
duct a detailed analysis of all vacant, underused.
potentially contaminated sites in the City. The City
will compile this information in a database, including
information such as existing land use, prior land use,
LARZ opportunities, and available financing assis-
tance. The Pilot plans to make this information
available to the public via the Internet.
AND
The Pilot will:
* Assess the City's brownfields problem by perform-
ing site analysis, including characterizing each site
and providing cleanup recommendations;
* Build on existing public/private partnerships that
are specific to brownfields revitalization;
* Initiate a Community Action Plan to involve and
educate the community living and working in
brownfields areas;
• Provide brownfields assessment information to
business owners, potential developers, and residents
through the Regional Environmental Business
Resource and Assistance Center (REBRAC), a not-
for-profit economic development program of
Fullerton College; and
* Develop a readily accessible, on-line database system
of brownfields site information.
Regional Brownfields Assessment Pilot Pomona, California
October 1997 EPA 500-F-97-162
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