United States
                      Environmental
                      Protection Agency
                      Washington, D.C. 20460
 Solid Waste
 and Emergency
 Response (5101)
EPA 500-F-97-052
May 1997
                      Regional  Brownfields
                      Assessment  Pilot
                                      Downriver Community
                                                     Conference,  Ml
  Outreach and Special Projects Staff (5101)
               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. Between 1995 and 1996, EPA funded 76 National and Regional Brownfields
Assessment Pilots, at up to $200,000 each, to support creative two-year explorations and demonstrations of brownfields
solutions. EPAis funding morethan 27 Pilots in 1997. The Pilots 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 Region 5 selectedthe Downriver Community
  Conference (DCC) for a Regional Brownfields
  Pilot.  DCC  is  a municipal collaboration which
  comprises 17 communities in suburban Detroit.
  The Brownfield Pilot focuses on sites within the
  Downriver Area Brownfields Consortium (DABC).
  Participants include the Cities of Dearborn, Monroe,
  Riverview, Romulus, Taylor and Trenton, and the
  Port of Monroe. Industrial disinvestment resulted
  in the creation of over 700 acres of brownfields. In
  Monroe alone,  about 65 percent of the  available
  industrial property is brownfields.  In Riverview,
  about 75 percent of the available industrial property
  is brownfields.

  OBJECTIVES

  DABC's objective is to create a collaborative
  process for small cities to share  financial and
  technical assistance and achieve their brownfields
  redevelopment objectives. Unlike many large urban
  cities, smaller  communities lack the  financial
  capacity and ability for obtaining intergovernmental
  assistance to individually addresstheir brownfields
  problems. Under the Pilot, DABC will develop
 PILOT SNAPSHOT
 Downriver Community
 Conference, Michigan
  Date of Award:
  September 1996

  Amount:  $75,000

  Site Profile: The Pilot
  targets a group of areas
  ranging from urban to
  suburban communities
  that often contain soil
  laced with lead, copper,
  chromium, and other
  heavy metals used in
  manufacturing.
Contacts:
Jim Tischler
City of Monroe
(313)243-0700

Stephen Van Every
Downriver Community
Conference
(313)281-0700
  Mike Gifford
  U.S. EPA-Region 5
  (312)886-7257

  Mary Beth Tuohy
  U.S. EPA-Region 5
  (312)886-7596
       Visit the EPA Brownfields Website at:
       http://www.epa.gov/brownfieids

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and test a  Redevelopment Model that identifies.
investigates, and evaluates the potential future land
use of selected  brownfields  sites within  the
participating communities. Success will be measured
by how many brownfields sites  advance through
Model stages,  and ultimately by the  sale  and
redevelopment of brownfields.

                     AND

The Pilot is:

* Identifying and selecting brownfields properties for
 development.   Participating communities have
 submitted candidate sites to DABC;

* Conducting baseline environmental assessments, an
 economic feasibility  assessment, and cost-benefit
 analysis for each site;

* Developing a remediation  feasibility study on a
 specific site(s), community involvement program,
 and ownership transfer plan; and

* Creating a development plan.



Experience with the Downriver  Community
Conference  Pilot  has  been a catalyst for related
activities including the following.

Collectively, the cities involved in this project have
secured a commitment of more than $11,000,000 in
private and public funding for environmental cleanup
and infrastructure development.

The Monroe City Council and the  Monroe  Port
Commission have championed the redevelopment of
formerindustrial sites. The Monroe County Industrial
Development Corporation  (IDC),  a non-profit
corporation  funded  by public and private funds,
markets industrial sites across Monroe  County.  The
IDC has made numerous presentations of the City's
former industrial sites to potential developers.
 Regional Brownfields Assessment Pilot
 May 1997
Downriver Community Conference, Michigan
                   EPA 500-F-97-052

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