United States
Environmental
Protection Agency
Washington, D.C. 20460
Solid Waste
and Emergency
Response (5105)
EPA 500-F-00-259
December 2000
www.epa.gov/brownfields/
&EPA Brownfields Assessment
Demonstration Pilot
Baltimore County, MD
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 selected Baltimore County for aBrownfields Pilot.
For decades, the economic base of Baltimore County
consisted ofmany large heavy manufacturing operations
that occupied much of the county's east side. Closures
and downsizing by manufacturing employers since 1960
have resultedinasignificantreductioninmanufacturing
jobs. Vacant and underused industrial properties in the
area are suspected of environmental contamination.
State and local policies have been used to concentrate
efforts on already-developed land while preserving rural
areas of the county and the Chesapeake Bay watershed.
Concerns about known and suspected contamination
can impede the use of otherwise valuable sites. The
county has redirected staff and resources to improve its
older communities and has recently developed a
comprehensive community and economic revitalization
strategy, of which the brownfields is apart. The county's
southeast and southwest industrial corridors have been
designated as state Enterprise Zones.
OBJECTIVES
Baltimore County plans to use the Pilot to assess
brownfields properties, evaluate potential uses forthe
properties, and thenmatchthe properties withpotential
PILOTSNAPSHOT
Date of Announcement:
September 1997
Amount: $200,000
Profile: ThePilotwillfocus
on vacant and underused
properties in the county's
southeast industrial corridor.
Baltimore County, Maryland
Contacts:
Baltimore County Department of
Economic Development
(410)887-8023
U.S. EPA-Region 3
(215)814-3132
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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purchasers who would be encouraged to enroll in
Maryland's Voluntary Cleanup Program (VCP). The
VCP can provide eligible parties with releases from
state liability if they complete certified cleanups of
brownfields properties that are then redeveloped.
This Pilot will coordinate state programs, including the
state VCP, the Brownfields Revitalization Incentive
Fund, the Neighborhood Revitalization Program, and
the Enterprise Zone program to better benefit the
county's communities.
ACCOMPLISHMENTS ANDACTIVITIES
The Pilot has:
Created an inventory of more than 100 brownfields
and targeted two sites (the former J&L Industries
site located at 6923 Ebenezer Road and the former
Pikesville Fire Station) for redevelopment;
Completed Phase I environmental assessments on
the J&L Industries site and the former Pikesville
Fire Station site;
Conducted preliminary environmental screens on
67 potential brownfields;
Developed fact sheets on each of the 100+ sites in
the inventory, including aerial photos andtaxmaps;
Organized a brownfields redevelopment workshop
for 75 real estate brokers, bankers, and members of
the real estate industry to convey information about
the Pilot's activities; and
Integrated the county's existing Economic
Development Site Inventory, which includes fact
sheets onbrownfields-related data, with ageographic
information system (GIS) to identify environmentally
sensitive sites.
The Pilot is:
Enhancing the Economic Development Site
Inventory to include information on former site uses,
redevelopment potential, and publicly available
environmental data;
Coordinating the "Brownfields Working Group," a
group of citizens, businesses, public officials, and
technical environmental specialists that will be
Baltimore County's vehicle for ensuring ongoing
community participation in the brownfields program;
and
Facilitating the assessment and cleanup planning of
brownfields properties through its participation in
Maryland's VCP.
LEVERAGING OTHER ACTIVITIES
Experience with the Baltimore County Pilot has been
a catalyst for related activities, includingthe following:
The Pilot served as a liaison between a metal
fabricator, the Maryland Department of the
Environment (MDE), and a lender in order to clarify
environmental liability issues. On February 26,
1998, B&B Welding purchased the vacant site in
the North Point Enterprise Zone.
The Pilot worked with the State of Maryland to
secure the expansion by General Motors/Allison of
an under-construction manufacturing facility located
on a former brownfields site to include an additional
390jobs.
The Pilot acted as a catalyst for the revitalization of
the former Bendix manufacturing facility into an
office park to be opened in the fall of 2000. The
estimated private sector investment is $30 million,
and 1,000 jobs are expected to be created.
In conjunction with both the Maryland brownfields
legislation passed in early 1997 and the award of the
EPA Pilot, the Baltimore County Council adopted
its own brownfields tax credit legislation on
September 2, 1997.
A $10,000 grant from the county is being used to
convene the Brownfields Working Group, to conduct
outreach activities, and to organize educational
seminars on brownfields cleanup and redevelopment;
one out of the three planned has already been held.
Baltimore County shares a $500,000 EPA
Brownfields Revolving Loan Fund grant with MDE
and Prince George's County.
Brownfields Assessment Demonstration Pilot
December 2000
Baltimore County, Maryland
EPA 500-F-00-259
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