United States
Environmental
Protection Agency
Washington, D.C. 20460
Solid Waste
and Emergency
Response (5105)
EPA 500-F-01-032
June 2001
www.epa.gov/brownfields/
&EPA Brownfields Assessment
Demonstration Pilot
Winston-Salem, NC
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 selected the City of Winston-Salem for a
Brownfields Pilot. Winston-Salem (population
approximately 165,000) was built on the tobacco and
textile industries. A by-product of this past is the
Liberty Street Corridor, which historically supported
such industrial and commercial operations as tobacco
product manufacturing, automobile-related businesses,
and textile manufacturing. The southern portion of
the corridor includes what was once the business,
cultural, and social hub ofthe Winston-Salem African-
American community. The Liberty Street area has a
population of22,917, of which 84 percent are minorities,
27 percent live below the poverty level, and 12
percent are unemployed. Winston-Salem has invested
more than $27 million in housing redevelopment
projects in the Liberty Street corridor; however, the
stigma of actual or perceived environmental
contamination at old industrial facilities has contributed
to a reluctance by businesses to redevelop the area.
Past efforts to build an industrial park were abandoned
due to fear of contamination, even though the corridor
is a prime gateway between the Smith Reynolds
Airport and the downtown area.
The Pilot will reinforce existing efforts to redevelop
Liberty Street and capitalize on the state's recently
enacted brownfields law. Recent studies have
PILOT SNAPSHOT
Winston-Salem, North Carolina
Date of Award:
September 1998
Amount: $200,000
Profile: The Pilot targets
the Liberty StreetCorridor.a
former tobacco and textile
industrial corridorthat serves
as a prime gateway between
the Smith Reynolds Airport
and downtown Winston-
Salem.
Contacts:
City of Winston-Salem
(336)727-8040
U.S. EPA-Region 4
(404)562-8661
Visit the EPA Region 4 Brownfields web site at:
http://www.epa.gov/region4/waste/bf/bf.htm
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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recommended improvements in transportation, zoning,
safety, and sense of community for the area. Major
transportation routes intersecting Liberty Street
recently were designated as a corridor for U.S.
Interstate 73. This will facilitate development near
the downtown area rather than in outlying greenfield
sites. The Pilot complements this transportation
strategy by targeting abandoned and idle properties in
the Liberty Street Corridor for cleanup and
redevelopment.
OBJECTIVES
The City of Winston-Salem would like to revitalize the
Liberty Street Corridor while retaining its historical
identity. The Pilot strategy centers on compilation of
existing environmental information, Phase I and Phase
II environmental assessments at properties where
actual or perceived contamination is preventing
economic redevelopment, and extensive community
involvement. Current plans for the project area
include development of an Airport Business Park.
ACCOMPLISHMENTS AND ACTIVITIES
The Pilot has:
• Conducted numerous outreach activities with
community members and other stakeholders;
• Created a database of property owners for those
properties fronting Liberty Street and a Liberty
Street site map identifying properties under
consideration for assessment;
• Met with developers, Fannie Mae representatives,
the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, and Smith
Reynolds Airport to discuss partnership opportunities
for the proposed Airport Business Park in the
project area;
• Met with property owners in the project area to
discuss the possibility of conducting Phase I
assessments, provide information onpotential owner
liability, and distribute site access agreements and
letters of explanation;
• Developedapartnership withtheDowntownMiddle
School to educate youth to the importance of
brownfields remediation; and
• Developed a Brownfields web site to educate the
community and other interested individuals about
brownfields.
The Pilot is:
• Collecting and analyzing available data on
brownfields in the Liberty Street Corridor; and
• Conducting Phase I and Phase II site assessments
on targeted properties.
LEVERAGING OTHER ACTIVITIES
Experience with the Winston-Salem Pilot has been a
catalyst for related activities, including the following:
• Winston-Salem has established an Enterprise
Community, and the Liberty Street Corridor Project
is one of the economic development initiatives
associated with this community.
• Winston-Salem was awarded a $3 million
Brownfields Economic Development Initiative
(BEDI) grant from the U.S. Department of Housing
and Urban Development for the proposed Airport
Business Park.
• Voters also approved $4 million in General Obligation
Bonds as a local leverage for this proposed Airport
Business Park.
• The city was awarded an additional $500,000 grant
under EPA's Brownfields Cleanup Revolving Loan
Fund Pilot pro gram, anda$200,000 grantunderthe
Brownfields Job Training program.
Brownfields Assessment Demonstration Pilot
June 2001
Winston-Salem, North Carolina
EPA 500-F-01-032
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