United States
                       Environmental
                       Protection Agency
                       Washington, D.C. 20460
 Solid Waste
 and Emergency
 Response (5101)
EPA500-F-97-071
May 1997
                      Regional  Brownfields
                      Assessment  Pilot
                                  Sand Creek Corridor,  CO
  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 8 selected Colorado's Sand Creek
  Corridor for a Regional Brownfields Pilot. Sand
  Creek Corridor is a 20-square mile area located in
  Northeast Denver which is heavily impacted by
  industry,  but which has great potential as a
  commercial and recreational resource.   Water
  quality  in  Sand Creek  has  been significantly
  affected by industrial discharges. In addition to
  brownfields, four Superfund sites are also in the
  immediate Sand Creek area, one of which has been
  identified as an environmental justice site. Sand
  Creek Corridor is characterized by ahigh minority,
  low-income population.

  OBJECTIVES

  The overall focus of the Pilot project is to address
  environmental quality, land use, and economic
  development in Sand Creek Corridor. The project
  also seeks to develop strategies to address issues
  related to the perception of contamination, transfer
  of ownership, pollution  prevention, and
  environmental justice. Specific objectives of the
  project  include: defining barriers to economic
  development  in contaminated  areas, or areas
  perceived to be contaminated; and developing and
  implementing strategies to allow for appropriate
  PILOT SNAPSHOT
 Sand Creek Corridor, Co
  Date of Award:
  September 1994

  Amount:  $175,000

  Site Profile: The Pilot
  targets 3 sites within a 20-
  square mile area that is
  heavily impacted by
  industry. The sites are
  located in northeast
  Denver.
Contacts:

Tom Stauch
City of Denver
(303) 436-7305
U.S. EPA-Region 8
(303)312-6982
    Dan Scheppers
    Co. Dept. of Public
    Health and Environment
    (303) 692-3398

    Marlene Goettleman
    City of Commerce City
    (303)289-8196
       Visit the EPA Brownfields Website at:
       http://www.epa.gov/brownfields

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and sustainable development of brownfields.

ACCOMPLISHMENTS AND ACTIVITIES

The Pilot has:

• Formed cooperative working relationships with
 representatives from Commerce City, the City of
 Denver, the Colorado Department of Public Health
 and the Environment, and EPA Region 8 to lead the
 Pilot. Additionally, Adams County, environmental
 and public interest groups, other Federal agencies,
 local community  groups, and the  Chamber of
 Commerce are involved in the Pilot efforts;

• Identified barriers to redevelopment resulting from
 liability concerns in the Sand Creek Corridor through
 a Lender Liability Focus Group meeting in March
 1995;and

• Developed possible solutions to impediments for
 brownfields redevelopment during a Policy Forum
 in April 1996 which included the perspectives of
 local, State, Federal, and the private sector.

The Pilot is:

• Focusing assessmentefforts on three sites within the
 Corridor;

• Creating partnerships between communitymembers,
 local, State, and Federal officials and the private
 sector through all-day workshops aimed at promoting
 the dialogue on redevelopment issues;

• Establishing an information clearinghouse to provide
 easy access to information on approaches to cleanup
 and reuse;

• Assembling  and  disseminating information on
 alternative financing mechanisms for cleanup and
 redevelopment of contaminated property throughout
 the Corridor;

• Compiling the history of the Pilot and documenting
 its successes and failures in order to share "lessons
 learned;" and

• Conducting an intensive outreach effort targeted at
 the lending community. This is taking the form of
 small facilitated meetings with lenders to exchange
 information and concerns.

LEVERAGING OTHER ACTIVITIES

Experience with the Sand Creek Corridor Pilot has
been a catalyst for related activities including the
following.

• Facilitated the redevelopment of the Colorado
 Organic Chemical site. The site is approximately
 six acres  and has a Federally-owned warehouse
 located on it. The Pilot worked with the appropriate
 Federal agencies to resolve the issue of ownership
 and then assisted  in  identifying an interested
 developer.

• Helped identify a developer for the 48th and Holly
 Streets Landfill. Worked to bring the municipality,
 the developer, and the Federal governmenttogether
 to arrive at a mutually acceptable redevelopment
 plan, and to transfer the  property out of Federal
 ownership.

• Selecting and working on redevelopment of
 brownfields properties in addition to the three
 currently included in the pilot.

• Assisted the City of Denver in planning for the
 redevelopment of the Northside Treatment Plant.
 The Colorado National  Guard plans to begin
 construction of a new facility at the site in the fall of
 1997. This facility will also serve as a community
 center.  A large portion of the 50 acre site will be
 developed as a park, with  sports fields, trails along
 the South Platte River and wildlife viewing areas.
 About one-third of the site is planned for commercial/
 retail development.
 Regional Brownfields Assessment Pilot
 May 1997
                      Sand Creek Corridor, Colorado
                               EPA 500-F-97-071

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