United States
Environmental
Protection Agency
Washington, D.C. 20460
Solid Waste
and Emergency
Response (5101)
EPA 500-F-00-128
May 2000
www.epa.gov/brownfields/
\>EPA Brownfields Assessment
Demonstration Pilot
Waterloo, IA
Outreach and Special Projects Staff (5105)
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. EPA is funding: assessment demonstration pilot programs (each funded
up to $200,000 over two years), to assess brownfields sites and to test cleanup and redevelopment models; job training
pilot programs (each funded up to $200,000 over two years), to provide training for residents of communities affected
by brownfields to facilitate cleanup of brownfields sites and prepare trainees for future employment in the environmental
field; and, cleanup revolving loan fund programs (each funded up to $500,000 over five years) to capitalize loan funds
to make loans for the environmental cleanup of brownfields. These pilot programs 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 has selected the City of Waterloo for a
Brownfields Pilot. Waterloo, located in the
northeastern portion of the state, has a population of
66,467. The Pilot project targets the Rath
neighborhood, which comprises a 350-acre tract of
abandoned commercial and industrial properties
located immediately south of Waterloo's current
central business district. The Rath neighborhood was
once a thriving industrial quarter anchored by the
former Rath Packing Company. However, an
agricultural crisis in the 1980s ledtothe closure ofthe
Rath Packing Company, which in turn brought about
economic decline in the neighborhood. The Pilot area
also includes a residential neighborhood that has the
highest density of deteriorated and dilapidated housing
in the city. The Pilot area has a population of 2,413,
of which approximately 37 percent are minorities.
The poverty rate in the Pilot area exceeds 45 percent,
while the employment rate approaches 15 percent.
The Pilot area has been designated a state-certified
Enterprise Zone and Consolidated Urban Revitalization
Area. The city has formulated the Rath Area
Redevelopment Plan to promote and facilitate reuse
and redevelopment in the neighborhood. Despite the
PILOT SNAPSHOT
Date of Announcement:
May 2000
Amount: $200,000
Profile: The Pilot targets
abandoned commercial and
industrial properties inthe Rath
neighborhood.
Waterloo, IA
Contacts:
CityofWaterloo
Department of Planning
and Development
(319)291-4366
Regional Brownfields Team
U.S. EPA-Region 7
(913)551-7786
Visit the EPA Region 7 Brownfields web site at:
http://www.epa.gov/region07/specinit/bFown/brownfields.htm
Forfurtherinformation, including specific Pilotcontacts,
additional Pilotinformation.brownfieldsnewsandevents.and
publications and links, visit the EPA Brownfields web site at:
http://www.epa.gov/biownfields/
-------
city' s efforts to revitalize the neighborhood, the Pilot
area remains largely undeveloped due to actual or
perceived environmental contamination and potential
developers' fears of financial liability.
OBJECTIVES
The goal of the Waterloo Pilot is to help the city
achieve the objectives of its overall redevelopment
initiative by conducting environmental assessments,
developing cleanup and reuse plans, and fostering
stakeholder support. The city's objective is to make
the Rath neighborhood safer for residents and more
attractive to developers and businesses by addressing
contamination concerns, developing financial
incentives, improving infrastructure, and adopting a
community consensus-based strategy for
redevelopment. Redevelopment will benefitthe target
neighborhood by offering the opportunity to foster a
diverse array of sustainable businesses, improving the
city's tax base, creating new jobs, and reducing
environmental health risks.
ACCOMPLISHMENTS AND ACTIVITIES
Activities planned as part of this Pilot include:
• Identifying and prioritizing properties forassessment,
cleanup, and redevelopment;
• Conducting Phase I and Phase II environmental
assessments on selected properties;
• Communicating with and seeking input from the
community, private industry, and state and federal
organizations relating to the targeted brownfields;
• Enrolling qualified sites into Iowa's Land Recycling
Program for the purpose of obtaining "certificates
of no further action" from the Iowa Department of
Natural Resources; and
• Developing plans for cleanup and redevelopment at
the targeted sites.
The cooperative agreementforthis Pilot has not yet been negotiated;
therefore, activities described in this fact sheet are subjectto change.
Brownfields Assessment Demonstration Pilot Waterloo, IA
May2000 EPA 500-F-00-128
------- |