United States
Environmental
Protection Agency
Washington, D.C. 20460
Solid Waste
and Emergency
Response (5101)
EPA 500-F-00-044
April 2000
www.epa.gov/brownfields/
v>EPA Brownfields Supplemental
Assistance
Salt Lake City, UT
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 Salt Lake City supplemental assistance
for its Brownfields Assessment Demonstration Pilot
and additional funding for assessments at brownfields
properties to be used for greenspace purposes. The
focus of the Pilot is SaltLakeCity's 65 0-acre Gateway
District (population 620) on the western edge of
downtown. This part of the city has been adversely
impacted by more than 100 years of transportation
activity. Rail lines and rail yards, an interstate highway
withfourfly-overoff-ramps,andalack of infrastructure
investment have created a neighborhood of shifting
land uses and abandonment. A majority of residents
in the area are low-income andun- or underemployed,
and economic investment is limitedby environmental
concerns.
Supplemental funding is needed to allow the city to
conduct the needed environmental assessments on a
number of properties in the south half of the district,
where revitalization activities are just beginning.
Assessment of these properties could overcome
uncertainty abouttheir environmental conditions and
facilitate the necessary investment to revitalize the
area.
PILOT SNAPSHOT
Salt Lake City, Utah
Date of Announcement:
March 2000
Amount: $150,000
Greenspace: $50,000
Profile: The Pilot will target
specific properties in the south
half of the Gateway District
that have the greatest
immediate potential for
cleanup and redevelopment.
Contacts:
Salt Lake City Regional Brownfields Team
(801)535-7240 U.S. EPA - Region 8
303-312-6803
Visit the EPA Region 8 Brownfields Website at:
http://www.epa.gov/region08/cross/brown/brownf.html
Forfutther information, including specific Pilotcontacts,
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
Salt Lake City's overall goal is to support an
accelerated redevelopment of the Gateway area to
allow for enhancement of downtown mixed-use
development with the associated creation of new
employment and commercial opportunity, as well as
additional downtown housing units. Because most of
the private investment in the Gateway District to date
has been in the northern half, the supplemental Pilot
targets properties in the southern half that have the
greatest immediate potential for cleanup and
redevelopment. Several sites have already been
identified as likely to be targeted by the Pilot. The
Pilot will conduct environmental assessments at the
selected properties and will workwithproperty owners
on appropriate cleanup options.
The Pilot will use the greenspace funding to support
Salt Lake City's "Open Space Plan," which calls for
bringing City Creek above ground in the Gateway
District and restoring its surface connection with the
Jordan River; the creek had been channeled to an
underground conduit around the turn of the twentieth
century. The greenway to be provided by this proj ect
will help to link downtown with the regional Jordan
River Parkway and reconnect the westside
neighborhoods with downtown. The project's
environmental cleanup, landscaping, recreational
opportunities, andaquaticrestorationwill improve the
image and habitability of the area and will make the
surroundingproperties—including brownfields sites—
more desirable for both residential and commercial
uses. In addition, significant community involvement
is planned with the support of the National Park
Service Rivers, Trails, and Conservation Assistance
program.
To accomplish these objectives, the Pilot plans to:
• Conduct environmental assessments on a number of
properties in the south half of the Gateway District
that have immediate cleanup and redevelopment
potential;
• Develop cleanup cost estimates and plans for
assessed properties;
Conduct environmental assessments for the
greenspace City Creek project, including soil and
groundwater sampling to evaluate the suitability of
environmental conditions for the proposed riparian
and recreational uses;
Involve the Gateway and Poplar Grove communities
in designing and planning the greenspace project,
including meeting with the local community councils,
meeting one-on-one with property owners and tenants
along the right-of-way, and providing an opportunity
for community input on the project; and
Conduct a study to determine measures of success.
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
April 2000
Salt Lake City, Utah
EPA 500-F-00-044
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