United States
Environmental
Protection Agency
Washington, D.C. 20460
Solid Waste
and Emergency
Response (5101)
EPA 500-F-00-018
April 2000
www.epa.gov/brownfields/
v>EPA BrownfieldsSupplemental
Assistance
Escambia County, FL
Outreach and Special Projects Staff (5105)
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. EPA is funding: assessment demonstration pilot programs (each funded
up to $200,000 over two years), to assess brownfields sites and to test cleanup and redevelopment models; job training
pilot programs (each funded up to $200,000 over two years), to provide training for residents of communities affected
by brownfields to facilitate cleanup of brownfields sites and prepare trainees for future employment in the environmental
field; and, cleanup revolving loan fund programs (each funded up to $500,000 over five years) to capitalize loan funds
to make loans for the environmental cleanup of brownfields. These pilot programs 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 awarded Escambia County, Florida supplemental
assistance for its Brownfields Assessment
Demonstration Pilot. Located in the northwestern
part of the state, Escambia County has a geographical
area of 661 square miles. Palafox Corridor, the
gateway to the City of Pensacola (population 4,401),
is the targeted Pilot community. The Palafox Corridor
Brownfield Redevelopment Area has approximately
400 properties and 228 vacant acres within its
boundaries. The Palafox Corridor is characterized by
oldhouses, solid waste transfer stations, andamultitude
of unused railroad spurs. Twenty-seven percent of
the city's residents earn less than $10,000, and
approximately 5 percent of the community is
unemployed.
The Pensacola area economy depends on military
installations, industry, shipping, tourism, agriculture,
health care services, and retail trade. The city has
suffered economically from industrial and military
reshuffling. The combination of low-income
employment, lay-offs in older, more established
industries, and former industrial contamination has set
the stage for much needed economic, environmental,
and social redevelopment in Pensacola.
PILOT SNAPSHOT
Escambia County, Florida
Date of Announcement:
March 2000
Amount: $100,000
Profile: The Pilot will
continue to target sites within
the Palafox Corridor Brownfield
Redevelopment Area by conducting
additional assessments to
encourage redevelopment and
reinvestment.
Contacts:
Neighborhood and
Environmental Services
Department
(850)595-3496
Regional Brownfields Team
U.S. EPA-Region 4
(404)562-8661
Visit the EPA Region 4 Brownfields web site at:
http://www.epa.gov/region4/wastepgs/brownfpgs/bf.htm
Forfutther information, including specific Pilotcontacts,
additional Pilot information, brownfields news and events, and
publications and links, visit the EPA Brownfields web site at:
http://www.epa.gov/brownfields/
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OBJECTIVES AND PLANNED ACTIVITIES
The Pilot will use the supplemental assistance to
continue to address environmental issues and barriers
by providing additional assessments in the brownfield
area and encouraging reinvestment and
redevelopment. The Pilot has been focusing on two
properties in the target area; however, the supplemental
assistance will enable the Pilot to address additional
properties. The long-term goal is to redevelop the
Palafox Corridor into a commercial, light industrial,
and/or eco-commerce center. One site that is being
targeted using supplemental assistance is a seven-
acre site that was formerly an auto junk yard and is
being considered as a site for a transit-oriented
development project and office space.
To accomplish these objectives, the Pilot plans to:
• Identify property owners in the Palafox Corridor
Brownfield Redevelopment Area and prioritize sites
for redevelopment;
• Conduct environmental assessments on selected
sites;
• Develop a market study of the target area, including
job training assessment;
• Evaluate site cleanup and reuse options and explore
models for redevelopment;
The cooperative agreement for this Pilot has not yet been negotiated;
therefore, activities described in this fact sheet are subject to change.
Brownfields Supplemental Assistance Escambia County, Florida
April 2000 EPA 500-F-00-018
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