&EPA
United States
Environmental
Protection Agency
Washington, D.C. 20460
Solid Waste
and Emergency
Response (5101)
EPA 500-F-98-154
May1998
Assessment
Demonstration Pilot
Oklahoma City, OK
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 150 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 Oklahoma City for a
Brownfields Pilot. The city encompasses 621 square
miles, making itthe sixth-largest city in the country by
land area. The size of this area has contributed to
urban sprawl and the movement of commercial and
industrialfacilitiestooutlyinggreenfields. Companies
interested in development have given little attention to
inner city areas due to actual or perceived
contamination of numerous properties and the
availability of undeveloped greenfields. Oklahoma
City received a federal Enterprise Community (EC)
designation in 1994 foran 18-square-mile central city
area. Although environmental and redevelopment
progress is ongoing throughout much of the city,
progress is slow in the EC.
OBJECTIVES
The objective of Oklahoma City's brownfields
redevelopment program is to bring together available
resources to address environmental issues and
revitalize priority sites in the older Bricktown
neighborhood, the downtown area, and the EC. The
Pilot funds will be used to conduct Phase I and Phase
II environmental assessments and involve the
community in site decision-making.
PILOT SNAPSHOT
Oklahoma City, Oklahoma
Date of Announcement:
May 1998
Amount: $200,000
Profile: The Pilot targets
11 properties for Phase I
Environmental Site
Assessments and 6 of
those properties for Phase
11 assessments.
Contacts:
Department of Public
Works
City of Oklahoma City
(405) 297-2581
Regional Brownfields Team
U.S. EPA-Region 6
(214)665-6736
Visit the EPA Region 6 Brownfields web site at:
http://www.epa.gov/earth1 r6/6sf/
bfpages/sfbfhome.htm
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/
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ACCOMPLISHMENTS AND ACTIVITIES
Activities planned as part of this Pilot include:
• Using the city's geographic information system
(GIS) to identify properties with a high potential for
cleanup and redevelopment;
• Prioritizing identified sites to create a list of 11
candidate properties, emphasizing abandoned,
condemned, and city-owned sites;
• Conducting Phase I environmental assessments at
11 properties;
• Conducting Phase II assessments at 6 of these 11
priority properties; and
• Creating a citizen's advisory group and conducting
public meetings to obtain input from affected
communities.
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 Pilot Oklahoma City, Oklahoma
May 1998 EPA 500-F-98-154
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