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/
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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
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