&EPA United States Environmental Protection Agency Washington, D.C. 20460 Solid Waste and Emergency Response (5101) EPA 500-F-98-173 July 1998 Assessment Demonstration Pilot Stamford, CT 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. Since 1995, EPA has funded more than 200 Brownfields Assessment Demonstration Pilots, at up to $200,000 each, to support creative two-year explorations and demonstrations of brownfields solutions. 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 has selected the City of Stamford for a Brownfields Pilot. The Pilot designation follows as part of EPA's commitment to Stamford as a Brownfields Showcase Community. Stamford (population 110,000) focuses its brownfields activities on the Stamford Harbor Redevelopment Project, seeking to restore the harbor areato amaj or economic and recreational resource. Restoration of the harbor will also provide a much-needed economic boost to Stamford's two lowest-income neighborhoods, Waterside and South End, which are located within a State Enterprise Zone. Waterside's population is 71 % minority, with 25% of families living below the poverty level, while South End's residents are 80% minority with a 16% poverty rate. The brownfields prevalent throughout these two low- income neighborhoods contribute to the area's blight and create an environment that fosters crime. The 8,300 residents ofthese two neighborhoods are living in former factory workers' housing, which was built prior to zoning regulations and is interspersed with factories, maximizing the potential for exposure to contaminants. Only 20 of the 250 acres of industrial land in the harbor area has been converted and redeveloped, leaving 230 acres of underused brownfields. PILOT SNAPSHOT Stamford, Connecticut Date of Announcement: July 1998 Amount: $200,000 Profile: The Pilot targets the harbor area, which includes Stamford's two lowest-income neighborhoods, South End and Waterside. The area has been designated as a State Enterprise Zone. Contacts: Office of Operations City of Stamford (203)977-4141 Regional Brownfields Team U.S. EPA-Region 1 (617)573-9681 Visit the EPA Region 1 Brownfields web site at: http://www.epa.gov/region01/remed/bmfld/ Forfurtherinformation, 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/ ------- OBJECTIVES Stamford plans to include the Pilot as an integral part of the City's redevelopment plan for the harbor area. The Pilot will stimulate redevelopment of the harbor and the adjoining neighborhoods by conducting Phase I and II environmental assessments and integrating Stamford' s Pilot and Showcase Community activities. ACCOMPLISHMENTS AND ACTIVITIES Activities planned as part of this Pilot include: • Leveraging Stamford's designation as a Brownfields Showcase Community to form new Federal partnerships, and leverage additional public funding to stimulate private demand; • Conducting Phase I assessments on eightbrownfields properties; • Conducting Phase II assessments on sixbrownfields properties; and • Partnering with community residents, particularly in Waterside and South End, to assure that existing low-income residents in the neighborhoods share in the benefits of brownfields redevelopment. The cooperative agreement for this Pilot has not yet been negotiated; therefore, activities described in this fact sheet are subject to change. Brownfields Assessment Demonstration Pilos Stamford, Connecticut July 1998 EPA500-F-98-173 ------- |