United States
Environmental
Protection Agency
Washington, D.C. 20460
Solid Waste
and Emergency
Response (5101)
EPA 500-F-00-015
March 2000
www.epa.gov/brownfields/
<&EPA BrownfieldsSupplemental
Assistance
East Palo Alto, CA
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 awarded the City of East Palo Alto supplemental
assistance for its Brownfields Assessment Pilot.
East Palo Alto has an ethnically diverse population of
approximately 25,000 residents within a 2.5-square-
milearea. According to the 1990 Census, community
residents are 86 percent minority, including African
Americans, Latinos, Pacific Islanders, and Asians.
Incorporated in 1983, the city inherited an area with
inadequate infrastructure, low sales and property tax
revenues, no central business district, and the 130-
acre Ravenswood Industrial Area (RIA). The RIA
overlooks wetlands and the San Francisco Bay and is
located near technology-based Silicon Valley, making
it an attractive location for local industries.
Redevelopment in the RIA, however, has been
hampered by the perception of widespread
contamination. The RIA Brownfields Stakeholders
Group met over a period of nine months, making a
series of overarching recommendations regarding
redevelopment of the area.
PILOT SNAPSHOT
EastPaloAlto, California
Date of Announcement:
March 2000
Amount: $100,000
Profile: The Pilot will target two
adjacent sites at the mouth of the
Ravenswood Industrial Area for
assessment, cleanup, and
redevelopment into a community-
oriented service center.
Contacts:
Development Department
City of East Palo Alto
(650)853-3121
Regional Brownfields Team
U.S. EPA - Region 9
(415)744-2237
Visit the EPA Region 9 Brownfields web site at:
http://www.epa.gov/region09/waste/brown/index.html
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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OBJECTIVES AND PLANNED ACTIVITIES
East Palo Alto's objective is to continue efforts to
revitalize the RIA. Through the supplemental
assistance Pilot, the city will target two sites—the
People's Plaza site and a city-owned property—that
sit adjacent to one another at the entrance to the RIA.
Because of their location, East Palo Alto plans to use
these sites as flagship projects to set the image, tone,
and character of future development in the area. The
city hopes that redevelopment plans for these sites—
a Family Resource Center and a possible health
clinic—will bring the RIA into the "community fold,"
changing perception about the area and encouraging
community relationships with the adjacent San
FranciscoBay and wetlands. The supplemental grant
will provide the city with the resources it needs to
conduct assessments on these properties and to
develop site-specific land use plans that will facilitate
cleanup decisions and optimize site reuse.
To accomplish these objectives, the Pilot plans to:
• Conduct site assessments to determine the nature
and extent of contamination at the two targeted
sites; and
• Develop cleanup and site-specific land use plans in
conjunction with one another.
The cooperative agreement for this Pilot has not yet been negotiated;
therefore, activities described in this fact sheet are subject to change.
Brownfields Supplemental Assistance East Palo Alto, California
April 2000 EPA 500-F-00-015
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