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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