United States
Environmental
Protection Agency
Washington, D.C. 20460
Solid Waste
and Emergency
Response (5101)
EPA 500-F-00-046
April 2000
www.epa.gov/brownfields/
v>EPA Brownfields Supplemental
Assistance
Shenandoah, VA
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 Town of Shenandoah supplemental
assistance for its Brownfields Assessment
Demonstration Pilot and additional funding for
assessments at brownfields properties to be used for
greenspace purposes. The town of Shenandoah is
located on the South Fork of the Shenandoah River in
Page County, Virginia. The Town built its heritage as
an iron-based industrial center and railroad
transportation hub. The decline of the iron industry
and the decreased rail traffic due to the advent of
diesel engines led to an economic downturn for
Shenandoah. In an area known as the Big Gem
Furnace Tract, located in the center of the Town, the
Big Gem Cast Iron Furnace, once the principal
producer of iron in the area, was dismantled and later
donated to the town by Bethlehem Steel. Although
several small factories have since opened, the economy
has remained severely depressed, with an
unemployment rate of 10.4 percent and apoverty rate
of 13.1 percent. In addition, there is very little land
available for commercial or industrial enterprise.
Shenandoah targets the 66.8-acre Big Gen Furnace
Tract and up to three additional brownfields sites for
assessment, cleanup, and redevelopment. The
supplemental project will leverage the partnerships
PILOT SNAPSHOT
Shenandoah, Virginia
Date of Announcement:
March 2000
Amount: $100,000
Greenspace: $50,000
Profile: The Pilot targets the
Big Gem Furnace Tract,
including twogreenspace
properties, and up to three
additional sites for assessment,
cleanup, and redevelopment.
Contacts:
TownofShenandoah
(540)650-8164
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
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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and consensus fostered by EPA's Brownfields
Facilitation Pilot support and is the focal point of a
larger community revitalization effort to capture the
rising heritage tourism industry in the Shenandoah
Valley through small business and greenway
development. The town aims to eventually develop a
recreational center and establish the Big GemFurnace
Historical Park on the Big Gem Furnace Tract. The
town believes this redevelopment will attract a
significant amount of tourism and create needed jobs,
thereby increasing the quality of life forarea residents.
OBJECTIVES AND PLANNED ACTIVITIES
Shenandoah's primary objective is to use the
supplemental assistance to enhance and complement
the existing Pilot project by facilitating the reuse the
BigGemFurnace Tract and other targeted brownfields
sites in the community. Specifically, the townplans to
redevelop the Big GemFurnace Tract into a multi-use
commercial and historical recreational park. To meet
this goal, the Pilot will conduct consensus building,
promote community awareness, and develop
partnerships. ThePilotplanstoconductenvironmental
assessments and develop cost-effective cleanup and
redevelopment plans.
The Pilot will use the greenspace funding to target the
former municipal dump located on the Big Gem
Furnace Tract and two acres of privately owned land
located just north of the dump for greenspace
redevelopment. The Pilot plans to incorporate these
properties into redevelopment of the Big Gem Furnace
Tract as a recreational park with a multiuse trail
connectingadjacentneighborhoods, the Shenandoah
River, and possibly the Shenandoah National Park.
To accomplish these objectives, the Pilot plans to:
• Establish a list of candidate sites for assessment,
cleanup, and redevelopment;
• Develop criteria for identifying and ranking sites;
• Prioritize and select targeted sites;
• Conduct Phase I and Phase II assessments at the
targeted sites;
• Identify cleanup alternatives and develop a cleanup
plan;
• Conduct various outreach and community
involvement efforts for the targeted projects;
• Facilitate the development of the Big Gem Furnace
Tract into the multiuse recreational park; and
• Conduct Phase I and II assessments on the
greenspace properties.
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
Shenandoah, Virginia
EPA 500-F-00-046
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