United States
Environmental
Protection Agency
Washington, D.C. 20460
Solid Waste
and Emergency
Response (5101)
EPA 500-F-00-013
April 2000
www.epa.gov/brownfields/
<&EPA BrownfieldsSupplemental
Assistance
Detroit, Ml
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 the City of Detroit supplemental
assistance for its Brownfields Assessment
Demonstration Pilot. For decades, Detroit has been
known as the Motor City—hub of the automobile
industry. As a re suit, a considerable portion of the city
has been subjected to heavy industrial activity, and a
number of Detroit properties have become
contaminated. More than 45,000 contaminated sites
have been abandoned by their owners and forfeited to
the city due to unpaid taxes.
The Pilot targets three areas—the Public Safety Mall
and Department of Public Works municipal yard
within Detroit's EmpowermentZone; the Brush Park
Residential Rehabilitation Project; and the Eastern
Market Retail Shopping District (Wholesale
Distribution Project). The Public Safety Mall site was
formerly ajunkyard, a vulcanizing facility, and an auto
service station. The Eastern Market site,
characterized by dilapidated structures and vacant
parcels, was once home to an incinerator and an
illegal junkyard. Historical uses of the Brush Park
Rehabilitation Project area include dry cleaners, felt
works, auto repair shops, and junk yards.
PILOT SNAPSHOT
Detroit, Ml
Date of Announcement:
March 2000
Amount: $65,000
Profile: The Pilot will conduct
site investigations and site
assessments at three sites: the
PublicSafetyMalland Department
of Public Works municipal yard
located within the Detroit
Empowerment Zone; the Brush
Park Residential Rehabilitation
Project; and the Eastern Market
Retail Shopping District.
Contacts:
City of Detroit
Department of
Environmental Affairs
(313)-237-3091
Regional Brownfields Team
U.S. EPA-Region 5
(312)886-1960
Visit the EPA Region 5 Brownfields web site at:
http://www.epa.gov/R5Brownfields/
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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OBJECTIVES AND PLANNED ACTIVITIES
Detroit will use the supplemental assistance to conduct
environmental site assessments at three major
brownfield redevelopment project areas. These
activities will allow the city to eventually develop a
centralized location for law enforcement agencies
and community services on the Public Safety Mall
site; redevelop the Department of Public Work
Municipal Yards site into a retail shopping center;
construct new food-related facilities within the
underutilized Eastern Market area; and construct
new condominiums in the Brush Park Rehabilitation
Project site.
To accomplish these objectives, the Pilot plans to:
• Conduct a Phase II/subsurface investigations at the
Public Safety Mall and Brush Park Rehabilitation
Project sites;
• Conduct Phase I and II environmental site
assessments on the Department of Public Work
Municipal Yards site and several city-owned parcels
in and immediately adjacent to the Eastern Market
project area; and
• Seek input from and disseminate information to
communities within the targeted areas.
The cooperative agreement for this Pilot has not yet been negotiated;
therefore, activities described in this factsheetare subject to change.
Brownfields Supplemental Assistance Detroit, Ml
April 2000 EPA 500-F-00-013
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