United States Environmental Protection Agency Washington, D.C. 20460 Solid Waste and Emergency Response (5105) EPA 500-F-01-043 June 2001 www.epa.gov/brownfields/ &EPA Brownfields Assessment Demonstration Pilot Wayne County, Ml 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 selected Wayne County for a Brownfields Pilot. The county, which includes the City of Detroit (a federally designated Empowerment Zone), has a population of approximately 2.1 million. Automobile and steel manufacturing are the area's major industries; Ford, General Motors, Chrysler, and National Steel are all located in the county. Of the almost 30,000 acres of industrial land located in urban, suburban, and rural areas of Wayne County, it is estimated that at least one- third are brownfields (15.5 square miles). Closed plants, illegal dumps, and closed landfills are scattered throughout the county. The Cities ofEcorse, River Rouge, Inkster, Highland Park, Hamtramck, and Melvindale will be targeted by the Pilot because of their particularly heavy concentration of abandoned and underused sites. The abandoned structures on these properties and the illegal occupants they attract, including drug traffickers, lower property values and encourage further abandonment in these areas. OBJECTIVES The county's primary objective is to return the vacant properties to economic and public reuse as PILOT SNAPSHOT Wayne County, Michigan Date of Award: September 1998 Amount: $350,000 (includes Assessment and Supplemental Assistance funding) Profile: The Pilottargete brownfields in urban, suburban, and rural areas, including closed industrial plants, illegal dumps, and closed landfills in Wayne County. Contacts: The Wayne County Brownfield RedevelopmentAuthority (313)224-5025 U.S. EPA-Region 5 (734)692-7681 Visit the EPA Region 5 Brownfields web site at: http://www.epa.gov/R5Brownfields/ Forfurther information, including specific Pilot contacts, additional Pilot information, brown fields news and events, and publications and links, visit the EPA Brownfields web site at: http://www.epa.gov/brownfields/ ------- industrial plants or recreational areas. This redevelopment will create jobs, attract further investment, and increase the tax base in the distressed communities. Michigan's existing environmental programs, which work to address liability and contamination concerns, have helped create a demand for brownfields ready for redevelopment. Sites in Wayne County that have potential for redevelopment will be added to existing lists of brownfields properties in order to more quickly bring these sites to the attention of developers. Communities affected by brownfields will be involved in all areas of the Pilot's activities. ACCOMPLISHMENTS AND ACTIVITIES The Pilot has: • Developed a database containing more than 1,900 identified brownfields in the Pilot area; • Identified 16 sites to be targeted for assessment, cleanup, and redevelopment; and • Completed Phase I environmental site assessments at 14 of the targeted sites. The Pilot is: • Gathering brownfield site information for entry into Detroit Edison Company's geographic information system (GlS)-formatted site database and web site; • Meeting monthly as part of the Wayne County Brownfield Redevelopment Authority Technical Advisory Committee to provide updates and obtain input from the communities affected by the Pilot's targeted brownfields; and • Conducting Phase I environmental assessments on six new sites that have been selected as a result of supplemental assistance funding. LEVERAGING OTHER ACTIVITIES Experience with the Wayne County Pilot has been a catalyst for related activities, including the following: • Twenty-two cleanup jobs will be leveraged at the former Sears site and the Cook Family Foods site. • Funding in the amount of $ 1,686,000 was leveraged from various sources for site cleanup. • Approximately 300 jobs were created from the redevelopment of the former Sears site. • Approximately $38 million was leveraged from public and private sources to redevelop two Pilot- targeted sites. • The county was awarded an additional $500,000 grant under EPA's Brownfields Cleanup Revolving Loan Fund Pilot program. Brownfields Assessment Demonstration Pilot June 2001 Wayne County, Michigan EPA 500-F-01-043 ------- |