I
Using Partnerships, Collaboration,
and a Brownfields Pilot to
Revitalize a Community
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A community outreach meeting to provide
input regarding reuse plans for Shenandoah,
Virginia's Big Gem site.
JUST THE FACTS:
Shenandoah, VA
Shenandoah, Virginia, a rural community of 2,300 residents, a single
abandoned industrial site symbolizes the community's past and is defining
its future. The community is coming together around the reuse of the Big
Gem site-and Shenandoah's EPA Brownfields Assessment Pilot is assist-
ing through the development of university partnerships, in the adaptation of
state community development policy, and by making brownfields redevel-
opment the cornerstone of a town-wide revitalization strategy. Shenandoah's
revitalization effort began with an EPA Brownfields Pilot, and now the
town is using more than $3 million in federal and state environmental, eco-
nomic development, and transportation funds to renovate vacant storefronts,
reconstruct the street scape, build an access road to the nearby Shenandoah
River, and establish a small business revolving loan fund. A number of
recently enacted local tax incentives and the promotion of Shenandoah as a
federal HUB Zone—allowing businesses to compete for special federal
contracting opportunities—strengthen the town's position for renewal. These
activities complement the commercial, industrial, and recreational uses
planned for the Big Gem site.
The Big Gem site was once the location of one of the most prominent iron
production facilities in the south. Locals called the large furnace the "Big
Gem" because of the brilliant glow that radiated out of the ravine where the
foundry and iron facility was located. With the exception of its brief use as
a municipal landfill in the 1950s, the Big Gem site remained idle from the
1890sto 1998. It was that year that the Shenandoah Town Council decided
to not let the town's limited financial and technical resources preclude it
from economic expansion. Town officials recognized that if the community
could harness the resources of its nearby, nationally recognized universities,
Shenandoah could experience an economic resurgence. Town Councilman
Chuck Tomney commented, "Our community just did not have the expertise
to embark upon this revitalization effort alone. We've been absolutely blessed
by the interests and talents of James Madison University (JMU) as well as
the University of Virginia (UVA)."
continued
The Big Gem site was once the location
of one of the most prominent iron
production facilities in the South, but had
sat idle for much of the past century.
With the exception of its brief use as a
municipal landfill in the 1950s, the site
essentially sat idle from the 1890s
through 1998.
Graduate students at James Madison
University (JMU) identified EPA's
Brownfields Pilot program as a potential
fit for Shenandoah, leading to an EPA
Assessment Pilot award.
JMU supplied the town government with
access to its wide array of technical
assistance resources, including graduate
students who were eager to gain hands-
on economic development experience.
"If three years ago, you would
have told me that we would have
come this far by talking with local
universities and providing internships
for students, I might not have believed
you. Now, with all the momentum we
have created, I don't believe we can
possibly fall short of our goal of
revitalizing Shenandoah."
Chuck Tomney, Shenandoah
Town Councilman
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JMU's Office of Economic Development supplied the town government with access to its wide array
of technical assistance resources, including graduate students who were eager to gain hands-on economic
development experience. The graduate students identified EPA's Brownfields Pilot
program as a potential fit for Shenandoah, and JMU's Vice President, Dr. John
Noftsinger, and his colleague in the university's economic development office,
Liz Knight, agreed. In 1998, the town received a $200,000 EPAAssessment
Pilot award, and at the time was among the smallest communities to receive
Pilot status. "It has been a rewarding opportunity," explains Ms. Knight.
"Students from various disciplines were able to get real life experience in
environmental science, public management, and economic development,
and now the town is being revitalized."
A community outreach meeting to provide
input regarding reuse plans for Shenandoah,
Virginia's Big Gem site.
Through EPA's Alternative Dispute Resolution Program, the Pilot used
experienced facilitators to design and carry out a number of community input
sessions. The facilitators helped town officials, community members, and
technical assistance providers organize themselves into the Big Gem Advisory Board. The board is
divided into three committees: site planning and design, financing, and community outreach. The
efforts of the advisory board are augmented by the Big Gem Resource Group, a collection of officials
and technical assistance providers from a number of organizations including the Shenandoah National
Park, the Virginia Department of Housing and Community Development, the Virginia Economic
Development Partnership, JMU, the UVA, and private corporations.
Collectively, members of the group have developed a strategic plan that includes a town-wide
revitalization strategy and action items for achieving plan goals. The UVA's Landscape Architecture
Department conducted its annual design contest at the Big Gem site, generating media attention and a
number of green space and economic development ideas for the property and the town's blighted
commercial district. The design contest helped Shenandoah identify a number of redevelopment options
and economic development concepts, which were then refined and tested by a UVA landscape
architecture graduate student and through marketing studies by JMU's School of Business.
The next step involved obtaining the resources to refine planning and begin implementation. Due to its
small population, Shenandoah cannot access some of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban
Development's redevelopment-related resources such as Section 108 loans, Brownfields Economic
Development Initiative grants, and federal Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) funds.
However, the Virginia Department of Housing and Community Development (VDHCD) provided the
town with a Small Cities CDBG planning grant, recognizing cleanup and redevelopment of the Big
Gem site as a critical community development need.
While Brownfields Pilot funds were being used to conduct an environmental assessment of the Big
Gem site, VDHCD's planning grant helped the town evaluate the economic development potential of
both the Big Gem site and Shenandoah's lone, but deteriorated, commercial district. The outcome of
the planning effort was a comprehensive economic development strategy. As funding deadlines
Brownfields Success Story
Shenandoah, Virginia
Solid Waste
and Emergency
Response (5105)
EPA 500-F-03-011
May 2003
www. epa.gov/brownfields/
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approached, VDHCD was still considering how to adapt its CDBG program to meet the brownfields
needs of small communities, and environmental assessment activities at the Big Gem site
were not yet completed. To capitalize on the revitalization energy created through
the Brownfields Pilot, the town decided to pursue a CDBG grant for the first
phase of a comprehensive town revitalization: the revitalization of the town's
historic First Street commercial district.
CONTACTS:
For more information contact
U.S. EPA-Region 3 (215) 814-3132
Or visit EPA's Brownfields Web site at:
http://www.epa.gov/brownfields/
As Shenandoah began redeveloping its commercial district, it
communicated with representatives from the VDHCD, helping the state
enhance its annual Small Cities CDBG program to address small
communities with brownfield issues. VDHCD Associate Director Todd
Christensen explains, "Because our CDBG program works with small rural
communities, we had not yet had experience in official 'brownfields' projects,
but see many economically obsolete properties. We recognized that there are
other communities in Virginia like Shenandoah and so we now offer assistance for
abandoned sites where there is a community-based plan in place with real economic
development and job creation potential." The result is the Virginia Site Redevelopment Program,
which provides a grant for site cleanup and a loan for infrastructure and building improvements.
"By characterizing it as a brownfield site," Christensen elaborates, "we are able to assist in speculative
development that we could otherwise not do through our standard industrial development program."
Developments like these at the state level are helping to align the pieces of the puzzle that will make
the Big Gem redevelopment a reality. The Pilot recently held a final outreach meeting to celebrate
EPA's approval of the Big Gem's environmental assessment, which determined that no cleanup is
necessary. Discussions with private firms who are interested in locating to the town continue, and
the advent of a Virginia Site Redevelopment Program creates new opportunities for the Big Gem
site just as the revival of the commercial district is accelerating.
The partnerships with prominent universities, collaboration with state officials, and the use of
brownfields redevelopment as the centerpiece of Shenandoah's economic development strategy
are producing dramatic results. Shenandoah Councilman Tomney explains, "If three years ago, you
would have told me that we would have come this far by talking with local universities and providing
internships for students, I might not have believed you. Now, with all the momentum we have
created, I don't believe we can possibly fall short of our goal of revitalizing Shenandoah."
Brownfields Success Story
Shenandoah, Virginia
Solid Waste
and Emergency
Response (5105)
EPA 500-F-03-011
May 2003
www. epa. gov/brownfields/
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