United States
                       Environmental
                       Protection Agency
                       Washington, D.C. 20460
 Solid Waste
 and Emergency
 Response (5101)
EPA 500-F-97-030
May 1997
                       National  Brownfields
                      Assessment  Pilot
                                                        Richmond,  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 selected the City of Richmond for a
  Brownfields Pilot. The project area is the 900-acre
  North Richmond Shoreline, which contains a
  variety of brownfields in a relatively compact area.
  Aging heavy industry, low-income housing, idle
  and vacant properties, and waste disposal facilities
  are concentrated in an areathat borders a distressed
  neighborhood and an estuarine ecosystem known
  to support two endangered species. At least 36
  properties (90 percent of the City's developable
  area) are contaminated with volatile  organic
  compounds,polychlorinatedbiphenyls,andmetals.
  The sector has a mix of thriving large businesses
  and struggling smaller  ones.  The presence of
  hazardous materials on the latter's property,
  combined with their shaky financial condition, has
  stymied growth in that sector.
  OBJECTIVES

  The focus of Richmond's brownfields effort is to
  stimulate  economic growth and improve public
  health and the environmental quality of the Bay.
  To do this, the project is building on the intensive
  planning and cooperative partnerships that have
  evolved over the last five years. Richmond has
 PILOT SNAPSHOT
 Richmond, California
Contacts:

Nancy Kaufman
Planning Department
(510)620-6706
  Date of Award:
  September 1996

  Amount: $200,000

  Site Profile: The Pilot
  targets 900 acres of the
  shoreline containing aging
  heavy industry and waste
  disposal facilities of
  Western Contra Costa
  County which is in the
  northwest corner of the
  City.
 Wally Woo
 U.S. EPA-Region!
 (415)744-1207
 woo.wallace@
 epamail.epa.gov
       Visit the EPA Brownfields Website at:
       http://www.epa.gov/brownfields

-------
included a green component in their planning, that
will provide public recreation, open the shoreline for
public use, and establish zoning standards to limit
industrial activities that may endanger human health
and the environment. Richmond is working to increase
public awareness of contaminated  sites and involve
the  community  in remedial  planning  and
redevelopment activities.

ACCOMPLISHMENTS AND ACTIVITIES

The Pilot has:

• Created a computerized inventory of all properties
 within the project area. Listing includes assessor
 parcel number, site names, jurisdiction, address,
 property owner, and other site related information.
 A site inventory has been distributed to interested
 parties;

• Identified tentatively the site selection criteria and
 potential sites that will use matching funds from the
 private property owners of the sites in the inventory;
 and

• Held meetings with the  North Richmond Industrial
 and Agricultural Association, the Municipal Advi-
 sory Committee, neighborhood councils, the League
 of Women Voters, and  West County Toxics.

The Pilot is:

• Completing preliminary site assessments of two to
 five sites within the North Richmond Shoreline;

• Developing financing mechanisms specifically to
 promote the City's brownfields process;

• Working  to clarify jurisdictional authorities  to
 promote coordination among the City, County, and
 State;

• Continuing to streamline the regulatory  process
 through cooperative partnerships of the State and
 Federal authorities; and

• Implementing community education and outreach
 programs to promote full stakeholder participation.
LEVERAGING OTHER ACTIVITIES

Experience with the Richmond  Pilot has been a
catalyst for related activities including the following:

• Several property owners, representing a number of
  large properties in the Pilot Project Area, are working
  togetherto explore issues of mutual concern such as
  regulatory cleanup processes and site assessments.

• The Pilot is working with Contra Costa College's
  Center for Science Excellence to develop information
  on the environmental status of each property in the
  inventory.
  National Brownfields Assessment Pilot
  May 1997
                             Richmond, California
                               EPA 500-F-97-030

-------