United States
Environmental
Protection Agency
Washington, D.C. 20460
Solid Waste
and Emergency
Response (5101)
EPA 500-F-97-004
May 1997
National Brownfields
Assessment Pilot
Birmingham, AL
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 selected the City of Birmingham for a
Brownfields Pilot. The City has also been selected
as a pilot for EPA's Common Sense Initiative to
review regulatory impacts on the iron and steel
industry. TheCity'sNorthBirminghamIndustrial
Redevelopment Project is a 900-acre planning
area approximately one mile north of Birmingham,
Alabama's City Center. Forty percent of the area
property is vacant, in many cases due to
contamination from old iron foundries and blast
furnaces. The industrial area is surrounded by low
income, predominately African-American
neighborhoods. The project's efforts include: l)a
land use plan for the redevelopment of over 150
acres of vacant industrial land and dilapidated
housing; 2) an improvement plan for Village Creek;
3) the extension of Finley Avenue, a critical
industrial and neighborhood transportation link;
and 4) the creation of the Birmingham
Environmental Clearinghouse to carry out the
Pilot's investigation and education activities. Other
community-based projects, such as a revitalized
merchant association have been initiated in
response to the bottom-up planning process which
has involved many local businesses as well as
neighborhood residents.
PILOT SNAPSHOT
Birmingham, Alabama
Date of Award:
September 1995
Amount: $200,000
Site Profile: The Pilot
targets the North
Birmingham Industrial
Redevelopment Project
area, which is a 900-acre
planning zone one mile
north of the City Center.
Contacts:
John Gemmill
City of Birmingham
(205) 254-2872
jhgemmi@ci.
birmingham.al.us
Keith Strother
Birmingham Environmental
Clearinghouse
(205) 324-7483
brownfield@worldnet.att.net
Barbara Caprita
U.S. EPA-Region 4
(404) 562-9969
caprita.barbara@epamail.epa.gov
Visit the EPA Brownfields Website at:
http://www.epa.gov/brownfields
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OBJECTIVES
LEVERAGING OTHER ACTIVITIES
The Birmingham Pilot is working to remove
environmental obstacles to the redevelopment of
industrial lands in North Birmingham in order to
create space for 2,000,000 square feet of commercial
and light industrial buildings employing over 2,000
workers. In the course of environmental investigation
and redevelopment planning, the community of
approximately 10,000 has been kept informed of the
many environmental and development issues.
ACCOMPLISHMENTS AND ACTIVITIES
The Pilot has:
• Created the Birmingham Environmental Clearing-
house, a repository for the redevelopment area's
brownfields environmental data;
• Recreateda"RedevelopmentAuthority." The design
of this authority is based on products developed in
a cooperative effort with the Northwest Indiana
Brownfields Pilots and EPA's Common Sense
Initiative; and
• Created a technical assistance team to analyze
environmental issues, develop remediation plans,
and provide financial resources to small businesses
and community organizations unable to sustain
environmental compliance efforts or undertake large
scale remediation programs.
The Pilot is:
• Creating a technical and educational consortium to
target environmental planning, research, educational,
and technical resources on assessment and cleanup
of brownfields in the North Birmingham
redevelopment area; and
• Developing a comprehensive environmental plan
that will link approaches to programs such as flood
control and storm water and groundwater
contamination reduction with remediation of soil
and site-specific contamination.
Experience with the Birmingham Pilot has been a
catalyst for related activities including the following.
• Developing apartnership of environmental activists;
technical experts; City, State, and Federal officials;
and members of the business community that will
support the Pilot program with staff and materials.
• Four new companies have located in the project area
as of April 1997.
• The redevelopment team is facilitating the purchase
of35 acresforthefirstphaseofa 150-acre industrial
park.
• EPA Region 4 assisted the project by intervening
with Alabama's Highway Departmentto encourage
the continuation of engineering work on the Finely
Avenue extension.
• The brownfields team is working to raise funds to
clean up a 40-acre site for housing, recreation, and
light industry. The area is being designated as an
urban renewal district to allow the use of public
funds in it. The brownfields approach is to allow
Finely Avenue Extension right-of-way purchase.
National Brownfields Assessment Pilot
May 1997
Birmingham, Alabama
EPA 500-F-97-004
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