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'n Greenvi"e> SC, Coordinating Resources
from two EPA Programs Maximizes Their
Effectiveness and Results
Coordinated Cleanup Approach
T
x h
he City of Greenville, South Carolina (population 56,002) is located
in the state's Piedmont region, in the foothills of the Blue Ridge
Mountains. The city features a rich diversity of living environments and
neighborhoods. In a single decade (1992-2002), Greenville was home to
more than $ 160 million in new residential construction, and an additional
$100 million in renovations to older neighborhoods. The city has a thriving
downtown that has been nationally recognized as a 'state-of-the-art'
community in which to live. In addition to being Greenville's business
core, the downtown offers a variety of unique shops, restaurants, art
galleries, museums, public parks, and entertainment facilities, and has
seen a boom in new housing development as a result of its appeal.
The economic growth and prosperity experienced by Greenville's
downtown has yet to flow over into the city's West Greenville corridor.
Located approximately 1.2 miles from downtown, West Greenville is a
230-acre neighborhood best conceptualized as five distinct, but related,
subdistricts. Approximately 40 percent of families in West Greenville live
at or below the poverty level, and the area's unemployment rate is 12
percent. Minorities, primarily African-Americans, make up 66 percent of
residents. The area has been plagued by rising crime rates, dilapidated
and limited affordable housing, and antiquated infrastructure. The
neighborhood has a disproportionate number of brownfields—mostly
large, abandoned or underutilized industrial facilities. Gas stations, dry
cleaning facilities, railroad properties, and other commercial and industrial
sites line the corridor. Perceived or known environmental contamination
of these properties has impeded the area's development.
To address contaminated areas of the West Greenville neighborhood, the
city combined resources from multiple EPA Programs, using one grant to
fund administrative costs while another enabled environmental
assessments. The resulting findings have already allowed two major
redevelopment projects to proceed—offering critical new housing and
care for the area's homeless, providing a new community center with a
wealth of new activities for West Greenville residents, creating new jobs,
and revitalizing the local economy.
In partnership with Greenville County and Clemson University, the City
of Greenville developed a comprehensive revitalization plan for West
Greenville, identifying the intersection of Birnie and South Hudson
Reedy Place, a facility for the homeless in
Greenville, SC, opened in October 2006.
JUST THE FACTS:
Environmental concerns were inhibiting
critical redevelopment plans for five
properties located in the West Greenville,
SC Neighborhood.
The City of Greenville, SC coordinated
resources from multiple EPA cleanup and
land revitalization intiatives to address the
environmental concerns plaguing the West
Greenville Neighborhood properties.
No Further Action (NFA) letters were
issued to West Greenville property owners
by The South Carolina Department of
Health & Environmental Countrol.
To date, two major redevelopment projects
have proceeded on former USTField sites:
• Reedy Place, a $1.3 million dollar
HOME for the chronically homeless,
constructed in the West Greenville
Neighborhood, opened its doors in
October 2006.
• A $67 million Ray and Joan Kroc
Community Center is being constructed
to serve the residents of the West
Greenville Neighborhood.
This coordination of
resources, and the state's
efficiency in securing and working
with assessment contractors,
ultimately allowed the USTfields grant
to assess twice the number of
properties originally estimated—
including a number of
additional UST sites in
West Greenville.
continued
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Artist's rendering of the future site of the Salvation Army Ray
and Joan Kroc Community Center.
Streets as having particular redevelopment potential. Research
indicated that the plan's targeted area had been host to gas stations,
auto service, and other facilities that stored petroleum as early as
1913, though the area's last gas station closed in the 1980s.
To start addressing the environmental and economic concerns
identified in the West Greenville neighborhood, the city conducted
multiple environmental assessments on brownfields properties with
funding from a $200,000 EPA Brownfields Assessment grant
awarded in 2000. To remedy the environmental concerns caused
by the area's underground petroleum storage tanks, EPA awarded
the South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental
Control $100,000 under the Agency's USTfields Program in July
2002. The state used a portion of a $808,999 EPA Brownfields
Section 128(a) State and Tribal grant awarded to South Carolina in 2003 to handle the associated
administrative and grant management expenses, allowing 100 percent of USTfields funding to be used
for assessment costs. This coordinating of resources, and the state's efficiency in securing and working
with assessment contractors, ultimately allowed the USTfields grant to assess twice the number of
properties originally estimated—including a number of additional UST sites in West Greenville.
On West Greenville's targeted sites, ground-penetrating radar assessments and other environmental
investigations were completed in 2004 and 2005. Though one property required the removal of more
than 340 gallons of petroleum waste, the majority of targeted properties required no cleanup—resulting
in No Further Action Letters issued by the state to the property owners.
The removal of contamination uncertainties on these properties, and assurances of freedom from
liability, made all the difference. One of these sites was purchased by the Upstate Homeless Coalition,
which subsequently constructed "Reedy Place," a $1.3 million facility for the homeless that leveraged
approximately 70 jobs through construction and redevelopment. The project involved a collaboration
among the Upstate Homeless Coalition of SC, the SC Department of Mental
Health, the Greenville Mental Health Center, the Phoenix Center (a
locally-based substance abuse clinic), community churches, the
U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, state
housing programs, and the City of Greenville. Reedy Place
opened its doors in October 2006, providing the first safe haven
for the chronically homeless not only in Greenville, but in all of
South Carolina.
A vacant service station building in Greenville, SC,
future site of the Salvation Army Ray and
Joan Kroc Community Center.
The vast majority of those who seek refuge at Reedy Place are
mentally ill. As described by Mike Chesser, Director of the Upstate
Homeless Coalition, "[Reedy Place] is a housing-first model; once
people are stabilized in housing they are more open and able to work on
stabilizing their mental illness and the problems associated with that illness." The facility is within
walking distance of Greenville Mental Health Center, allowing residents to take advantage of those
services as well. "Officials from other South Carolina cities have inquired about our experience, the
design of the building and our program," Chesser added, "and are now exploring the possibility of
replicating the program in their cities."
continued
Brownfields Success Story
Greenville, South Carolina
Solid Waste
and Emergency
Response (5105T)
EPA-560-F-239
March 2008
www. epa. gov/brownfields/
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Another of the USTfields grant-assessed properties was purchased by the Salvation Army of Greenville
for construction of the new, $67 million Ray and Joan Kroc Community Center. Located in multiple cities.
Kroc Community Centers are known for their community accessibility, outreach to disadvantaged
residents and their families, and their high-quality facilities and programs including education, fitness, arts
and worship. Greenville's 90,000-square-foot Kroc Community Center has helped to leverage more than
200 jobs and strengthened the economical and social viability of the West Greenville neighborhood and
surrounding communities. The Center offers traditional Salvation Army resources as well as meeting
other community needs, including a state-of-the art golf-training academy for use by the local Boys and
Girls' Club; a 16-court tennis complex with lighted facilities and a stadium-style center court; and an
aquatics center that provides water safety, health and fitness, medical rehabilitation, and special-needs
programs. The Center uses income generated from memberships and court fees to offset program costs
and promote the Center's availability to disadvantaged areas of the city. According to G Frances Hines,
Director of Development for The Salvation Army in Greenville, "The center's design and programs were
determined by the residents for the residents and will serve current and future residents
for years to come."
A new elementary school, A. J. Wittenberg, is being constructed adjacent to
the Kroc Community Center, as part of a mutually-beneficial arrangement
between the Center and the school. Center members will have access to
state-of-the-art computer labs at the school, while students will have full
access to the Center. A groundbreaking ceremony for the Center was
held in November 2006, and all of the facility's additional amenities will
be completed in 2010.
CONTACTS:
For more information contact
U.S. EPA REGION 4
(404)562-9900
Visit the EPA Brownfields Web site at:
http://www.epa.gov/brownfields/
The transformation of contaminated properties in West Greenville, and
the economic resurgence of surrounding areas, exemplifies the goals of
EPA's Land Revitalization Initiative. The West Greenville properties
targeted through USTFields and Brownfields 128(a) funding not only have
had their contamination issues removed, but are being reused at tremendous
benefit to local residents—providing critical housing and care, and a wealth of
recreational and educational opportunities. Residents and community leaders can
attest to the resulting increase in community pride, and a newfound hopefulness that future generations
will be able to enjoy West Greenville's burgeoning resources.
As in Greenville, EPA programs dedicated to land revitalization are also being used to assess and clean up
contaminated properties across the nation. By removing perceived or real barriers to redevelopment,
communities just like West Greenville are becoming inviting, supportive and safe places for residents to
live and raise their children. For more information on EPA's Brownfields Program visit:
http://www.epa.gov/brownfields/. For more information on other EPA land revitalization programs visit:
http://www.epa.gov/landrevitalization/index.htm.
Brownfields Success Story
Greenville, South Carolina
Solid Waste
and Emergency
Response (5105T)
EPA-560-F-239
March 2008
www. epa. gov/brownfields/
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