United States
                        Environmental
                        Protection Agency
                        Washington, D.C. 20460
                                                 Solid Waste
                                                 and Emergency
                                                 Response (5101)
                     EPA 500-F-98-257
                     November 1998
                     www.epa.gov/brownfields/
  &EPA
                       Brownfields  Showcase
                       Community
                       Eastward  Ho!,  FL
 Outreach and Special Projects Staff (5101)
                                                                   Quick Reference Fact Sheet
 Brownfields are abandoned, idled or underused industrial and commercial properties where expansion or redevelopment is
 complicated by real or perceived contamination. In May 1997, Vice President Gore announced a Brownfields National Partnership
 to bring together the resources of more than 15 federal agencies to address local cleanup and reuse issues in a more coordinated
 manner. This multi-agency partnership has pledged support to 16 "Brownfields Showcase Communities"—models demonstrating
 the benefits of collaborative activity on brownfields. The designated Brownfields Showcase Communities are distributed across
 the country and vary by size, resources, and community type. A wide range of support will be leveraged, depending on the
 particular needs of each Showcase Community.
BACKGROUND

The Brownfields National Partnership has selected
southeast Florida's Eastward Ho! Brownfields Part-
nership as a Brownfields Showcase Community. The
Partnership comprises local, state, regional, and fed-
eral government agencies, as well as public, private,
and non-profit community organizations in southeast
Florida. The Eastward Ho! Initiative was established
in 1995 to direct future growth to the region's urban
core and away from the threatened Everglades eco-
system to the west.  Because contaminated lands
are a significant barrier to redevelopment in the East-
ward Ho! corridor, the
identification, assess-
ment, cleanup, revital-
ization, and redevelop-
ment of brownfields
on a regional scale is
essential to the East-
ward Ho! strategy.
                      Community Profile
some of the most severe poverty in the country. The
corridor, which developed along two railroad tracks,
contains more than 2,100 known contaminated sites.
Bade and Broward Counties have completed data-
bases of known contaminated lands; Palm Beach
County is developing similar information.

CURRENT ACTIVITIES AND ACHIEVEMENTS

More than $300 million in brownfields redevelopment,
loan guarantees, infrastructure improvement, and eco-
nomic revitalization has been invested in the East-
ward Ho! corridor since 1993.  The Florida
                        legislature's Brownfields
                        Redevelopment Act of-
                        fers financial and other
                        incentives, as well as li-
                        ability relief for cleanup
                        and redevelopment of
                        properties designated as
                        brownfields throughout
                         Eastward Ho!, Florida
The  Eastward Ho!
corridor spans approxi-
mately 115 miles along
the eastern portions of Palm Beach, Broward, and
Miami-Bade Counties, with a combined population
of more than 2 million. While the entire corridor is
not characterized by poverty, it contains pockets of
The Eastward Ho! Brownfields
Partnership is a regional collaboration
focusing on shared environmental
restoration and urban revitalization
efforts. The new Partnership will
workto revitalize southeast Florida's
historicurban core, thereby
alleviating pressures on the imperiled
Everglades.
                        the  state.     State
                        brownfields   grants
                        awarded under this pro-
                        gram total $1.12 million.
More than $6 million from a variety of public and
private sources has been dedicated specifically to the
Eastward Ho! Partnership. Highlights of brownfields
redevelopment in the region include:

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• Receiving a developer's  commitment to create
 economically viable businesses in the Wynwood
 neighborhood, the target area of the Environmental
 Protection Agency's   (EPA) Brownfields
 Assessment Demonstration Pilot in Miami. Once
 redeveloped, 70-80 new jobs are expected for this
 low-income community;

• Investing of more than $10 million in the cleanup
 and redevelopment  of the  30-acre Poinciana
 Industrial Center;

• Establishing aBrownfields TaskForceto determine
 types of financial incentives and procedures needed
 to  encourage  private  sector brownfields
 redevelopment; and

• Ensuring involvement of community members in
 brownfields redevelopment by Advisory Councils.

The  Eastward Ho! corridor contains:  EPA
Brownfields Assessment Demonstration Pilots for
the City of Miami and Dade County; one Depart-
ment of Housing and Urban Development (HUD)
Enterprise Community and numerous Community
Development Block Grant  target areas; a Depart-
ment of Commerce Economic Development Dis-
trict  for southeast Florida  and a Redevelopment
Area for Palm Beach County; a national urban Re-
gional Partnership Pilot; four state brownfields pilot
projects; three state-designated Enterprise Zones;
and one state-designated Sustainable  Community.
Partnerships for community  involvement and
brownfields  assessment, cleanup, and redevelop-
ment also exist with many federal agencies, private
companies, and non-profit organizations.
 SHOWCASE  COMMUNITY OBJECTIVES AND
 PLANNED ACTIVITIES

 The Eastward Ho! Partnership offers a model of
 how a regional coalition can accomplish environmen-
 tal restoration and urban revitalization in a highly frag-
 mented administrative structure.  A three-pronged
 approach of collaboration, strategy, and action will
 allow the Partnership to address regional brownfields
 issues.  During the next  two years, the Eastward
 Ho! Partnership expects to complete a regional in-
 ventory of potential brownfields, integrated with
 socio-economic, health, and transportation data. Re-
 habilitation and redevelopment projects will feature
 sustainable reuse, including mixed-income housing,
 sound urban design principles, and bicycle, transit,
 and pedestrian friendly development.  Establishing
 replicability, and taking advantage of existing finan-
 cial tools (including the federal Brownfields Tax In-
 centive, a brownfields assessment revolving loan fund,
 and streamlined  governmental processes  for
 brownfields redevelopment) are priorities  for the
 Partnership.

 The Eastward Ho! Initiative will continue the part-
 nerships it has already created with more than fifty
 community organizations, as well as foster new re-
 lationships.  Because of the regional nature of the
 Eastward Ho! Initiative, there are also potential roles
 for many federal partners in the area's brownfields
 assessment, cleanup, and  redevelopment.
                         Contacts

                         Eastward Ho! Brownfields
                         Partnership
                         (954)985-4416
Regional Brownfields Team
U.S. EPA-Region 4
(404)562-8923
                         For more information on the Brownfields Showcase Communities,
                                  visit the EPA Brownfields web site at:
                              http://www.epa.gov/brownfields/showcase.htm
Brownfields Showcase Community
November 1998
                             Eastward Ho!, Florida
                               EPA 500-F-98-257

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