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Brownfields 2006
Grant Fact Sheet
Florence, SC
EPA Brownfields Program
EPA's Brownfields Program empowers states, commu-
nities, and other stakeholders to work together to
prevent, assess, safely clean up, and sustainably reuse
brownfields. Abrownfield site is real property, the
expansion, redevelopment, or reuse of which may be
complicated by the presence or potential presence of a
hazardous substance, pollutant, or contaminant. On
January 11, 2002, President George W. Bush signed
into law the Small Business Liability Relief and
Brownfields Revitalization Act. Under the
Brownfields Law, EPA provides financial assistance to
eligible applicants through four competitive grant
programs: assessment grants, revolving loan fund
grants, cleanup grants, and job training grants. Addi-
tionally, funding support is provided to state and tribal
response programs through a separate mechanism.
Community Description
The City of Florence was selected to receive a brown-
fields assessment grant and a brownfields cleanup
grant. Florence (population 30,248), located in eastern
South Carolina, developed a Downtown Master Plan
in which a 20-acre area known as the "Triangle" was
determined to be the city's number one priority project
for cleanup and redevelopment. The Triangle contains
numerous brownfields sites, including a former metal
recycling facility, former textile facility, warehouse,
trucking facility, railroad property, drycleaners, and an
abandoned gasoline station. Some of these sites are
suspected of impacting groundwater in surrounding
residential communities. The railroad that runs along-
side the area is seen as the city's socioeconomic
dividing line. The demographics in the Triangle's
surrounding communities are very different from those
Assessment Grant
$200,000 for hazardous substances
EPA has selected the City of Florence for a
brownfields assessment grant. Hazardous sub-
stances grant funds will be used to conduct
community outreach activities, perform Phase I
and II environmental site assessments, and
develop cleanup and redevelopment plans for a
20-acre area known as the Triangle, which serves
as the gateway to downtown Florence.
Cleanup Grant
$200,000 for hazardous substances
EPA has selected the City of Florence for a
brownfields cleanup grant. Grant funds will be
used to clean up hazardous substances co-
mingled with petroleum contamination at the
former Bush Recycling site at 102 West Sumter
Street. Surface, subsurface, and groundwater
contamination at the site is the result of more
than 50 years of scrap yard and metal recycling
operations on the property and the migration of
contaminants from off-site sources. Contaminants
of concern include PCBs, metals, polyaromatic
hydrocarbons, herbicides, and volatile organic
compounds.
Contacts
For further information, including specific grant
contacts, additional grant information, brownfields
news and events, and publications and links, visit
the EPA Brownfields web site at: www.epa.gov/
brownfields.
EPA Region 4 Brownfields Team
404-562-8866
http://www.epa.gov/region4/waste/bf/index.htm
Grant Recipient: City of Florence, SC
843-665-3236
The cooperative agreement for this grant has not
yet been negotiated; therefore, activities described
in this fact sheet are subject to change.
Solid Waste and
Emergency Response
(5105T)
EPA 560-F-06-087
May 2006
www.epa.gov/brownfields
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of the city and the State of South Carolina. Ninety-
seven percent of residents in the adjacent census tracts
are African-American as compared to 44.4 and 29.5
percent for the city and state, respectively. More than
31 percent of local residents live below the poverty
level. In the months since the debris was removed from
the Bush Recycling site, area property values have
increased. The city anticipates that economic condi-
tions will continue to improve as revitalization moves
forward. Assessment and eventual cleanup of the
brownfields properties is expected to serve as a catalyst
for business expansion and relocation, job creation, and
community development.
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