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                 Improving  Public
                 Health in  Brownfields
                 Communities
B
                                    Public Health
        rownfields and public health are linked in many respects.
  Communities may be concerned about public health including threats
  from potential environmental contamination, crime in or near abandoned
  or vacant property, and safety hazards on dilapidated properties—all
  issues that relate to brownfield sites. But in some cases, public health can
  be improved not only through assessment and cleanup of a brownfield,
  but through its redevelopment. Redevelopment including recreational or
  green space creation to encourage physical activity; community gardens
  and public spaces that encourage interaction, reduce the effects of heat
  islands, and improve storm water management; and accessible and
  affordable pharmacies and grocery stores—all ways to improve public
  health. Public health also can be enhanced when brownfields are reused
  by the health care sector. In communities where this type of brownfields
  redevelopment has occurred, the benefits are obvious: in addition to the
  restoration of blighted, idle land and the removal of contamination,
  residents now have improved access to health care, new jobs, and local
  economic engines that leverage additional improvements and enhance
  quality of life.
  The Brownfields Law also provides local government brownfield
  communities with an opportunity to link brownfields and public health -
  through the provision that allows a local government to spend up to 10%
  of their grant to conduct monitoring the health of populations near
  brownfields sites that may be exposed to hazardous substances. This
  provision provides new opportunities for partnerships with local, state,
  tribal and federal health agencies and community and private sector
  efforts to assess, clean and revitalize brownfields, while also advancing
  efforts to improve public health at the community level.
  Health Monitoring
  In their application for an EPA Brownfields Assessment grant, the City
  of Portland, Maine proposed using 10 percent of the grant for health
  monitoring activities. After the grant was awarded in 2005, the city's
                                                                      The completed Portland-Providence Health
                                                                        Services Facility in Portland, Oregon.
                                                                  JUST  THE  FACTS:

                                                                     In their application, the City of
                                                                     Portland, Maine proposed using 10
                                                                     percent of their EPA Brownfields
                                                                     Assessment grant for health
                                                                     monitoring activities. The grant
                                                                     was awarded in 2005.
                                                                  •   The designated portion of Portland's
                                                                     EPA grant funded lead screenings for
                                                                     180 children (with the results easing
                                                                     community concerns about lead paint
                                                                     exposure), as well as an asthma
                                                                     surveillance study to identify areas of
                                                                     the city with higher incidence rates.
                                                                     The cities of St. Petersburg, Florida;
                                                                     Clearwater, Florida; Portland, Oregon;
                                                                     and Long Beach, California have all
                                                                     seen once-idle brownfields reused as
                                                                     health care centers that serve critical
                                                                     community needs.
                                                                           In communities where
                                                                       brownfields are reused for public
                                                                   health facilities, the benefits are obvious:
                                                                    in addition to the restoration of blighted,
                                                                        idle land and the removal of
                                                                   contamination, residents enjoy improved
                                                                   access to health care, new jobs, and local
                                                                   economic engines that leverage additional
                                                                     improvements and enhance the local
                                                                              quality of life.
                                                     continued

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     planning office worked with city health officials to see how this funding could enhance their collaboration
     and examined the extent of community health issues in brownfield site areas. The city already had
     programs in place to study the impact of lead paint in older construction, as well as community asthma
     levels, and decided to extend both of these projects in the brownfields areas using funds from the
     designated portion of the Brownfields grant.
     The city's Brownfields grant-funded health monitoring activities included lead screenings for children at
     more than 30 local childcare facilities. This project was initiated by mailing informational packets to area
     day care providers and inviting them to participate. Over the course of the study, 180 children were
     screened, revealing only a small percentage of elevated samples—none at levels that warranted further
     investigation. The project provided peace of mind to Portland's residents by offering a more accurate
     picture of the risks of lead poisoning within the community.
                                                                                     A map of the Portland, Maine
                                                                                 Brownfields Asthma Surveillance Study.
The grant was also used to fund a detailed asthma surveillance study, in
which six school-based health centers tracked students with asthma and
mapped their residences to determine if any geographic areas contributed to
elevated asthma reports. The study identified more than 170 children with
asthma, and plotted logistical information on a GIS map to provide the most
accurate results.
In addition to designated Brownfields grant funds, support for Portland's
health monitoring initiative came in the form of donated time from city
employees including administrative, health, and cartographic professionals.
Lisa Belanger, Program Manager for the city's Health & Human Services
Department, indicated that the health-related portion of EPA Brownfields
grant "furthered our knowledge of the health of the community." For
communities considering similar uses of EPA Brownfields Assessment grants, Lisa recommends sharing
their Request for Proposals with public health officials to make them aware of the grant and potential
partnership opportunities.
The experience of Portland, Maine serves as a useful example for other communities seeking a new vision
as part of their brownfield redevelopment. One such community is the City of Guin. Guin is a community
of approximately 2,400 residents located in Marion County in Northwest Alabama. In 1974, a level 5
tornado destroyed a significant portion of the city and some businesses did not reopen, leaving close to
75% of the population unemployed. While 3M remains a major employer in town, the redevelopment of an
old garment manufacturing plant site—the focus of a current brownfield assessment grant—will help
create a new downtown for Guin.
Revitalizing this site is part of Mayor Seagraves' vision to create a downtown magnet for residents and
visitors alike, connecting destination sites such as an existing water park, schools and neighborhoods,
through a series of walking trails along a stream named Purgatory Creek and its tributaries. This vision
resulted from Mayor Segraves and City Engineer Burt Hankins, asking a question that has guided the
Brownfields Success Story
Improving Public Health
In Brownfields Communities
                                              Solid Waste
                                              and Emergency
                                              Response (5105T)
continued  ^
         EPA-560-F-07-253
             January 2008
  www.epa.gov/brownfields/

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     The
   Health
health assessment planning: Of various mixed-use alternatives, what is the optimal use of the
brownfields site to maximize the health of the community?  To help make this vision a reality, the
city has enlisted the help of Dr. Patrick McNees, faculty with the University of Alabama
Birmingham, to define the connection between community health  and redevelopment. This
connection suggests that public health can be improved even as economic development takes
place, all through the cleanup and reuse of brownfields.
Brownfields  Reused as  Public  Health Facilities
In 2000, the City of Portland, Oregon entered into an agreement with the Tri-County Metropolitan
Transportation District (TriMet) to use EPA Brownfields Assessment grant funds to conduct assessments
and develop a brownfields inventory in preparation for a new light rail route along North Interstate
Avenue. Through this agreement, the city managed the work under TriMet's EPA grant to provide
assessments and technical assistance on properties within a quarter-mile radius of the proposed light rail
stations. The survey identified a vacant,  former service station along the new alignment route, a site that
had been idle for years due to contamination concerns.
The site's owner, who had received the property through inheritance, expressed willingness to work with
the city in assessing and marketing the property for reuse. TriMet's EPA Brownfields grant was used to
conduct Phase I and II assessments of the site, which were completed in 2002 and surprisingly, indicated
that no cleanup was  necessary—allowing the owner to put the property up for sale.
The neighborhood surrounding the property had long been recognized by Providence Health & Services
              (a multi-state network of hospitals and health-care facilities) as underserved for health
                 care, and the site's location along the proposed light rail route made it especially
                     attractive for the  location of a new health care facility. The company purchased
                      the property in January 2006  and finished development of their new, 19,000-
                        square-foot health facility in March 2007. The community has expressed
                        gratitude and appreciation to staff of the new facility, which provides general
                        health care to  a steady stream of patients.
                        Construction of the relocated Johnnie Ruth Clarke Health Center facility began
              mgp-      in 2003, funded with a $3.75 million U.S. Department of Health and Human
                       Services grant and $463,000 in U.S. Housing and Urban Development (HUD)
                      Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) funds. Development included
                    preservation of the original 1923 historic building, and a new museum of the history
                 of African-American medicine in Pinellas County. Opening its doors in 2004, the
facility is a state-of-the art, federally-qualified health  care center that created more than 100 jobs and
serves up to 300 patients a day. Florida  A&M University offers a pharmacy program and training center
at the facility, and the University of Florida offers a Dentistry program onsite. In addition to providing
affordable and accessible health care and health-related education, the facility has catalyzed additional
completed Johnnie Ruth Clarke
Center in St. Petersburg, Florida.
Brownfields Success Story
Improving Public Health
In Brownfields Communities
                                    Solid Waste
                                    and Emergency
                                    Response (5105T)
                                                                                                continued  ^

                                                                                             EPA-560-F-07-253
                                                                                                 January 2008
                                                                                       www.epa.gov/brownfields/

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       economic development in the area—including a Boys & Girls Club Performing Art Center at the historic
       Royal Theatre; restoration of the historic Manhattan Casino; and the new Tangerine Plaza, which offers
       retail and grocery shopping. In addition, the city is working with a developer on an affordable housing project
       that will likely be located on a vacant property in the vicinity of the Community Health
       Center.
       Less than 20 miles northwest, in the City of Clearwater, the site of an abandoned
       gas station became a free health clinic for residents of the city's North
       Greenwood community. The property was deemed as the perfect place to
       relocate the Greenwood Community Health Resource Center due to its
       central community location. The city purchased and had earlier performed
       environmental assessments and cleanup on the site, which was located
       within the City of Clearwater's EPA Brownfields Pilot target area, using
       EPA and state Brownfields Program funds. As part of cleanup, four
       underground storage tanks and 450 tons of contaminated soil were removed
                              from the property. Representatives of North
                                  Greenwood voted unanimously for the city to
                                     lease the property to the nonprofit clinic—
                                         which founder Willa Carson had been
                                                 CONTACTS:
                                                 For more information contact
                                                 U.S. EPA REGION 1: (617) 918-1221
                                                 U.S. EPA REGION 4: (800) 241-1754
                                                 U.S. EPA REGION 9: (866) 372-9378
                                                 U.S. EPAREGION10: (800) 424-4372
                                                 Visit the EPA Brownfields Web site at:
                                                 http://www.epa.aov/brownfields/
                                                 EPA Key Partner:
                                                 Agency for Toxic Substances
                                                 and Disease Registry (ATSDR)
                                                 http://www.atsdr.cdc.aov/
       The Willa Carson Health Resource
         Center in Clearwater, Florida.
   operating out of two refurbished apartments—for 30
   years at $1 a year. Opened in January 2001, the 3,200-square-foot Willa
   Carson Health Resource Center provides free health care, mostly to
   residents of surrounding communities, and is operated solely on
   donations and grant funding with the help of a volunteer workforce. The
  clinic has four examination rooms, a reception area, and a community
  room for educational sessions about lead screening, breast cancer
detection, nutrition and managing diabetes, and other health-related topics.
       Given the nature of brownfields, and the economic status of the communities that typically surround them,
       reuse of these sites for health care facilities often fulfills critical needs and offers greatly improved medical
       access for local residents. The examples described above suggest an emerging trend in brownfields
       redevelopment, one being applied in other cities nationwide. In Long Beach, California, the Miller Children's
       Hospital received $600,000 in EPA Brownfields Cleanup grants to remove petroleum and other
       contaminants from adjacent property formerly used as a dumping ground. This cleanup is allowing the
       hospital to create a new, four-story wing on the former brownfield that will include a pediatric imaging
       center, a neonatal intensive care unit, pediatric beds, and operating rooms—serving a predominantly
       Hispanic/African-American community in which roughly a third of the children live in poverty. Cleanup and
       health-industry reuse of brownfields in communities such as these protects residents from the blighted sites
       themselves, and provides new health-care options for those who might previously have had few available.
Brownfields Success Story
Improving Public Health
In Brownfields Communities
              Solid Waste
              and Emergency
              Response (5105T)
      EPA-560-F-07-253
          January 2008
www.epa.gov/brownfields/

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