United States
Environmental
Protection Agency
Washington, D.C. 20460
Solid Waste
and Emergency
Response (5101)
EPA 500-F-97-046
May 1997
Regional Brownfields
Assessment Pilot
Buffalo, NY
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. Between 1995 and 1996, EPA funded 76 National and Regional Brownfields
Assessment Pilots, at up to $200,000 each, to support creative two-year explorations and demonstrations of brownfields
solutions. EPAis funding morethan 27 Pilots in 1997. 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 Region 2 selected the City of Buffalo for a
Regional Brownfields Pilot. Economic decline and
contaminated industrial sites have negatively impacted
the quality of life for residents. The City of 328,000
residents bears a disproportionate number of
contaminated sites — over 60 in the Comprehensive
Environmental Response, Compensation, and
Liability Information System (CERCLIS), as well as
over 20 on the New York State Registry of Inactive
Hazardous Waste Sites. Fear regarding possible
contamination is attached to countless other properties
in the City.
OBJECTIVES
The Buffalo Brownfields Pilot is a cooperative effort
working to promote the safe, productive, and
appropriate reuse of the City's brownfields. This
effort will contribute to ensuring a safer, cleaner
environment, as well as creating and promoting new,
clean, high quality residential, commercial, and
industrial acreage. EPA funds will help to develop a
City-wide master list of potential brownfields sites,
create a database of information, and develop a
process for prioritizing sites for further assessment
and analysis.
PILOT SNAPSHOT
Contacts:
Jim Smith
Office for the
Environment
City of Buffalo
(716)851-5608
Date of Award:
September 1995
Amount: $200,000
Site Profile: The Pilot
targets public and private
properties that have near
term development
potential and are located
in areas needing
Buffalo, New York revitalization.
Larry D'Andrea
U.S. EPA-Region 2
(212)637-4314
dandrea.larry@
epamail.epa.gov
Visit the EPA Brownfields Website at:
http://www.epa.gov/brownfields
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The Pilot is guided by the Buffalo Brownfields Task
Force, comprised of County and City Department
officials; regional State regulatory agency officials; a
member of the Interagency Working Group on
Environmental Justice; representatives from the City' s
official Buffalo Environmental Management
Commission; members of the banking, legal, real
estate, business, and university communities; and the
general public.
ACCOMPLISHMENTS AND ACTIVITIES
The Pilot has:
• Initiated development of a geographic information
system (GIS) database. The GIS database will
allow for input and manipulation of planning,
environmental, and economic site data, and will
serve as a key information resource for anyone
interested in any property in Buffalo;
• Prepared a detailed inventory of 22 potential
brownfields sites;
• Completed six environmental site assessments; and
• Prepared a Community Outreach Plan, which is
expected to be released in mid-1997. The plan will
serve as the mechanism for informing the public of
the City's brownfields community participation
process.
The Pilot is:
• Preparing a Brownfields Redevelopment Manual to
be available to the City, business, and environmental
communities and serve as a tool for future
development efforts;
• Coordinating a brownfields workshop/developer
showcase to be held in 1997;
• Improving the affected public's ability to understand,
evaluate, and fully participate in the decision-making
process;
• Finalizing a development strategy for roughly 1,000-
1,500 former industrial acres in southern Buffalo.
The Pilot will prioritize sites for brownfields
assessment. In addition, based on the results of a
Phase I environmental site assessment, project
developers are beginning development of a
conceptual plan for a property in this area; and
• Finalizing a development strategy for overall
brownfields redevelopment projects based on com-
munity vision, economic development possibilities,
and health and environmental concerns.
LEVERAGING OTHER ACTIVITIES
Experience with the Buffalo Pilot has been a catalyst
for related activities including the following.
• Assistedthe assessment, cleanup, and redevelopment
of the LTV Republic Steel Site. A 25-acre
hydroponic tomato greenhouse will now occupy the
former industrial site on the banks of the Buffalo
River. Petroleum waste from the LTV Republic
Steel site may be recycled to make asphalt and
reduce runoff into the river.
• Assistedthe assessment, cleanup, and redevelopment
of the Atlas Steel site. A 16-screen cinema with a
total expected seat-capacity of 3,500, will join a
restaurant, delicatessen, and discount department
store as new occupants of the former steel plant site.
Regional Brownfields Assessment Pilot
May 1997
Buffalo, New York
EPA 500-F-97-046
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