United States
Environmental
Protection Agency
Washington, D.C. 20460
Solid Waste
and Emergency
Response(5101)
EPA 500-F-99-036
May 1999
www.epa.gov/brownfields/
&EPA Brownfields Cleanup
Revolving Loan Fund Pilot
Richmond, VA
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. EPA is funding: assessment demonstration pilot programs (each funded
upto $200,000 overtwo 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 brownfieldstofacilitatecleanupofbrownfieldssites and preparetrainees for future employmentintheenvironmental
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
The BCRLF Pilot target area encompasses three
state-designated Enterprise Zones. These areas
comprise more than 10,000 acres and include more
than 55,000 residents. The North and South Enterprise
Zones contain the primary industrial areas of the city.
The East Enterprise Zone has a limited number of
industrial properties but contains the densest
concentration of population and poverty in the
metropolitan area. These Enterprise Zones exhibit
signs of economic distress including a declining
population base, higher-than-normal unemployment
rates, and a large number of vacant housing units.
BCRLFOBJECTIVES
As the administrator of the BCRLF Pilot, Richmond's
Office of Economic Development (OED) will continue
and expand its practice of implementing public/private
economic development loan programs. The funds
will help the city retain and attract businesses and
jobs, and restore inner-city neighborhoods. The goal
of the Pilot is to return abandoned, underused, and
potentially contaminated sites back to productive use,
and to leverage public and private financing to achieve
this objective.
PILOTSNAPSHOT
Date of Award:
September 1997
Amount: $350,000
BCRLF Target Area: Three
state-designated Enterprise
Zones.
Richmond, Virginia
Contacts:
City of Richmond, Office of
Economic Development
(804) 780-5633
Regional Brownfields Team
U.S. EPA - Region 3
(215)814-3129
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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FUNDSTRUCTUREANDOPERATIONS
Richmond plans to implementthe BCRLF Pilotthrough
the OED in partnership with the city's Industrial
Development Authority (IDA), which will serve as
the Fund Manager. The IDA will use its long-
standing Loan Committee to determine which
businesses and projects are eligible for the BCRLF
funding and other IDA financing. The primary
borrowers will be current and prospective owners of
brownfields sites, and businesses already in or wishing
to locate in one of the three Enterprise Zones.
The city will combine local matching funds ($350,000)
with the original BCRLF Pilot funding to create a
$700,000 loan pool, with the hopes of expanding the
pool with further public/private funding. The city will
provide in-kind contributions and funding ($75,000
total) to cover initial administrative and cleanup
oversight/certification costs. The minimum BCRLF
loan size is $100,000; however, no more than 50
percent of the total loan pool principal will be loaned
to any one entity. The borrower will be charged a
service fee equal to no more than one percent of the
total loan amount to help defray administrative costs.
The city may require borrowers to provide security
(e.g., liens on assets, personal guarantees) for the
BCRLF loans.
LEVERAGINGOTHERRESOURCES
Richmond's IDA will serve as Fund Manager, in part,
to take advantage of IDA's role as manager for other
funding sources and to facilitate the leveraging of
other federal, state, local, and private funds.
By targeting the Enterprise Zones, the city hopes to
leverage other existing funding mechanisms such as
tax-increment financing, Enterprise Zone incentive
loans, industrial revenue bonds, U.S. Economic
Development Administration (EDA) grant and RLF
funding, and private funding.
Use of BCRLF Pilot funds must be in accordance with
CERCLA, andallCERCLA restrictions on use of funding
also apply to BCRLF funds.
Brownfields Cleanup Revolving Loan Fund Pilot
May 1999
Richmond, Virginia
EPA500-F-99-036
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