United States
Environmental
Protection Agency
Washington, D.C. 20460
Solid Waste
and Emergency
Response (5101)
EPA 500-F-00-005
April 2000
www.epa.gov/brownfields/
<&EPA BrownfieldsSupplemental
Assistance
Cape Charles/Northampton County, VA
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 Cape Charles/Northampton County
supplemental assistance for its Brownfields
Assessment Demonstration Pilot. Cape Charles is
located at the southern tip of Virginia's Eastern Shore
on a narrow strip of land between the Chesapeake
Bay and the Atlantic Ocean. The area boasts rich
farmlands, productive waters, vast wetlands, and
miles of unspoiled coastline. However, 27 percent of
the 13,000 people in the area live below the poverty
line. Forty-seven percent of the population is of
African-American heritage.
The President's Council on Sustainable Development
selected Cape Charles as one of four sites for a
national eco-industrial park demonstration project,
the Cape Charles Sustainable Technology Park. The
Sustainable Technology Park, recognized as the
nation's first eco-industrial park and located in a
federal Enterprise Community, is designed to
demonstrate advanced facilities in resource efficiency
and pollution prevention. A 155-acre portion of this
eco-industrial park is aredevelopment area surrounding
Cape Charles Harbor on the Chesapeake Bay. The
site includes a former municipal dump, dockside,
railyard, and the remains of abandoned industrial
PILOT SNAPSHOT
Cape Charles/
Northampton County, VA
Date of Announcement:
March 2000
Amount: $100,000
Profile: The Pilotwilltarget
key brownfields sites in Cape
Charles and throughout
Northampton County for
assessment, cleanup, and
redevelopment as part of
the Sustainable Technology
Park network.
Contacts:
Joint Industrial
Develop me nt Autho rity
(757)331-1998
Regional Brownfields Team
U.S. EPA-Region 3
(215)814-3129
Visit the EPA Region 3 Brownfields web site at:
http://www.epa.gov/reg3hwmd/brownfld/hmpage1.htm
For further information, including specific Pilot contacts,
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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operations. Through assessments conducted under
the original Assessment Pilot and through leveraged
cleanup and redevelopment efforts from the public
and private sectors, the first phase of the park is
operating.
OBJECTIVES AND PLANNED ACTIVITIES
Cape Charles and Northampton County plan to
continue efforts to return brownfields sites to
productive use in Cape Charles and throughout the
county. They will use the supplemental assistance
Pilot for continued assessment and follow-up activities
to support the cleanup and redevelopment of key
brownfields sites at the center of the eco-industrial
park, as well as to identify and assess additional sites
in the Town of Exmore and throughout Northampton
County for inclusion in the Sustainable Technology
Park network.
To accomplish these objectives, the Pilot plans to:
• Investigate prospective brownfields sites for
assessment, cleanup, and redevelopment in Exmore
and other communities within Northampton County;
• Perform Phase I and, as needed, Phase II
environmental assessments on targeted sites;
• Prepare feasibility studies that will address
appropriate cleanup technologies and cost estimates
for assessed sites;
• Prepare redevelopment plans for the targeted
properties; and
• Involve the affected communities through
community meetings and workshops in conjunction
with assessment and cleanup and redevelopment
planning.
The cooperative agreement for this Pilot has not yet been negotiated;
therefore, activities described in this factsheetare subjectto change.
Brownfields Supplemental Assistance Cape Charles/Northampton County, VA
April 2000 EPA 500-F-00-005
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