United States
Environmental
Protection Agency
Washington, D.C. 20460
Solid Waste
and Emergency
Response (5105)
EPA 500-F-00-260
December 2000
www.epa.gov/brownfields/
&EPA Brownfields Assessment
Demonstration Pilot
Baltimore, 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 the City of Baltimore for a Brownfields
Pilot. Many of the old industrial sites in Baltimore
have been abandoned, causing the city to lose more
than 50 percent of its manufacturing jobs between
1970 and 1990. The threat of contamination and
liability at these sites has inhibited reuse and
redevelopment. The city estimatedthat 3,500 to 5,300
acres of land zoned for heavy manufacturing contain
environmental problems that impairtheirmarketability.
In particular, the city was concerned about sites
located in Baltimore's Empowerment Zone, where
contamination could present an additional obstacle to
economic revitalization.
OBJECTIVES
Baltimore's brownfields efforthas soughtto encourage
economic growth and redevelopment in urban areas
while continuing to provide appropriate and sufficient
protection of the environment, especially the
Chesapeake Bay watershed area. Brownfields
redevelopment in the city will promote efficient land-
use patterns, reduce the air and water pollution
associated with urban sprawl, and expand job
opportunities in locations that are accessible to lower-
income populations.
PILOTSNAPSHOT
Date of Announcement:
September 1995
Amount: $200,000
Profile: The Pilot targets
sites in the Empowerment
Zone and the city's planned
Ecological Industrial Park.
Baltimore, Maryland
Contacts:
Baltimore City Department of
Planning
(410)396-4367
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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ACCOMPLISHMENTS ANDACTIVITIES
The Pilot has:
• Targeted 20 brownfields sites to assist in assessment,
cleanup, and redevelopment efforts;
• Launched a Lender Initiative, which will educate
lenders of new brownfields redevelopment
opportunities that exist due to changes in state and
federal legislation and regulations and show them
what barriers they still face with regard to
redevelopment projects;
• Developed an inventory of vacant and underused
industrial property in Baltimore the Pilot area, in
cooperation with the Baltimore Development
Corporation (BDC). The inventory/geographic
information system (GIS), called VU-Baltimore, is
operational.
The Pilot is:
• Continuing to work with BDC to fill information
gaps in the VU-Baltimore inventory/GIS; and
• Working with property owners, prospective
developers, and the Maryland Department of the
Environmentto identify opportunities for brownfields
revitalization.
LEVERAGING OTHER ACTIVITIES
Experience with the Baltimore Pilot has been a
catalyst for related activities, including the following:
• The Maryland Department of the Environment
funded preliminary assessments and site
investigations at 20 sites. Six sites have entered the
State Voluntary Cleanup Program (VCP).
• The ASARCO/Highland Marine site owner hired
200 short-term cleanup and construction workers to
demolish and renovate sections of the 750,000-
square-foot complex. A total of $16 million was
leveraged from both public and private sources for
redevelopment of this site, and a British precious
metals firm has begun expansion onto the site.
• In partnership, the city Planning Department and
Empower Baltimore Management Corporation
created a $3 million revolving loan and grant program
dedicated to the financing of brownfields
revitalization projects in the Empowerment Zone to
give matching grants for assessment and loans for
cleanup.
• The former site of Parker Metal Decorating, located
in Baltimore's Empowerment Zone, has successfully
passed through Maryland's VCP and will be
redeveloped as an office building for more than 100
employees.
• Approximately 1,200 redevelopment jobs were
leveraged, including 800 jobs at the American Can
site, 220 jobs at the Highland Marine Terminal, 100
jobs at the Guilford Pharmaceuticals site, and 80
jobs at the Continental Can site.
• The National Association of Local Government
Environmental Professionals (NALGEP), with a
grant from EPA, chose the Pilot area to conduct a
federal-local communications study. The NALGEP
Smart Growth and Brownfields Business Drivers
Work Group is determining which factors influence
whether or not businesses will locate in "Smart
Growth" areas.
• The city was chosen to participate in a Clean Air/
Brownfields Partnership Pilot, along with Chicago
and Dallas, in which all three cities share a $400,000
grant.
• The city was awarded an additional $200,000 as one
of EPA's Brownfields Showcase Communities and
an additional $350,000 grant under EPA's
Brownfields Cleanup Revolving Loan Fund Pilot
program.
Brownfields Assessment Demonstration Pilot
December 2000
Baltimore, Maryland
EPA 500-F-00-260
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