United States
Environmental
Protection Agency
Washington, D.C. 20460
Solid Waste
and Emergency
Response (5101)
EPA 500-F-97-070
May 1997
Regional Brownfields
Assessment Pilot
San Francisco, CA
Outreach and Special Projects Staff (5101)
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. Between 1995 and 1996, EPA funded 76 National and Regional Brownfields
Assessment Pilots, at up to $200,000 each, to support creative two-year explorations and demonstrations of brownfields
solutions. EPAis funding morethan 27 Pilots in 1997. The Pilots 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 Region 9 selected the City of San Francisco
for a Regional Brownfields Pilot. The City of San
Francisco (population 710,000) is targeting the
South Bayshore area (population 28,000) for revi-
talization. Demographics of the area include a 13
percent unemployment rate and a population of 62
percent African-American, 21 percent Asian/Pa-
cific Islander, and 9 percent Hispanic. The South
Bayshore area was a gateway for port activity until
the U.S. Navy's nearby Hunters Point Shipyard
(now a Superfund site) closed in 1974, devastating
the area's economy. The area has also suffered a
disproportionate share of the contamination bur-
den in the City. Known or suspected brownfields
in the area include 13 hazardous waste sites and 5 8
leaking underground storage tanks. The Depart-
ment of Housing and Urban Development has
designated the area an Enterprise Community.
Public health, land use, housing, jobs, and prop-
erty values are documented as significantly below
the City's averages.
PILOT SNAPSHOT
San Francisco, California
Date of Award:
August 1996
Amount: $100,000
Site Profile: The Pilot
targets the South Bayshore
community which has 120
known brownfield sites
within a three mile area.
These sites are adjacent to
the Hunters Point Naval
Shipyard, a Superfund site
of 525 acres of waterfront
property.
Contacts:
Martha Walters
Brownfields Coordinator
San Francisco Redevelopment
Agency
(415)749-2474
Bobbie Kahan
U.S. EPA-Region 9
(415)744-2191
kahan.bobbie@
epamail.epa.gov
Visit the EPA Brownfields Website at:
http://www.epa.gov/brownfields
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OBJECTIVES
San Francisco's overall aim is to integrate a Risk
Management Plan with land reuse in the South
Bayshore area. The objective of the Risk Management
Plan is to develop an area-wide soil and groundwater
cleanup approach and integrate this information with
the redevelopment and reuse of certain targeted
brownfields in the South Bayshore area.
ACCOMPLISHMENTS AND ACTIVITIES
The Pilot has:
• Ensured public participation in the decision-making
process. Used the Base Closure model of linking
community members with regulatory and redevel-
opment agencies, to establish the Brownfields
Advisory Board, which is composed of community
members, governmental agencies, businesses, and
lenders. Convened several times to discuss the
project and the community members' involvement
related to land use, zoning, economic development,
and environmental justice. Additional community
representatives will be joining the Board; and
• Begun the process to collect background
hydrogeologic data and historical land use informa-
tion for the area as part of the initial phase of the Risk
Management Plan.
The Pilot is:
• Continuing the first phase of the Risk Management
Plan including obtaining and evaluating background
information on historical land use and gathering the
existing hydrogeologic data for the area. The area is
currently a redevelopment survey area, the first step
in the process of being designated as a
Redevelopment Area. The final redevelopment plan
is expected to be approved in September 1998;
• Continuing to obtain and evaluate background
information of the areato identify potential chemical
sources and exposure pathways;
• Developing an areamap illustrating areas of potential
environmental concerns based on identified potential
receptors;
Reviewing proposed land uses based on the
information developed through the Redevelopment
Planning Process; and
Conducting risk assessments and fate and transport
modeling to define acceptable residual levels of
contamination based on proposed zoning and land
use.
Regional Brownfields Assessment Pilot
May 1997
San Francisco, California
EPA 500-F-97-070
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