&EPA
United States
Environmental
Protection Agency
Washington, D.C. 20460
Solid Waste
and Emergency
Response (5101)
EPA 500-F-98-210
July 1998
Assessment
Demonstration Pilot
Toledo, OH
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 200 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 Toledo for a Brownfields
Pilot. Toledo has one of the largest railway centers
in the country and the fourth largest port on the Great
Lakes. Like many older cities in the Midwest, Toledo
has seen its factories abandon downtown locations
for suburban greenfields. The empty buildings and
vacant lots within the City have created health and
safety risks and lowered the quality of life in
surrounding neighborhoods. Toledo has identified
more than 100 priority brownfields sites that have a
negative impact on the City's communities.
The presence or fear of environmental contamination
in current and former industrial areas has been a
deterrent to industries seeking development and
expansion opportunities. Thus, the steady decline of
Toledo's population over past 25 years is partly
attributable to a lack of employment opportunities.
Two-thirds of the commercial/industrial real estate
transactions conducted in the City are encumbered by
questions about properties' environmental status.
Twenty-five percent of the property transactions
conducted over the previous year were aborted
because of contamination concerns. In addition,
Toledo's unemployment rate is 10% higher than the
State of Ohio's as a whole, and the median household
income in the City's brownfields neighborhoods is
25% lower than the State's median income.
PILOT SNAPSHOT
Toledo, Ohio
Contacts:
Department of Public
Service
City of Toledo
(419)936-3729
Date of Announcement:
July 1998
Amount: $200,000
Profile: The Pilot will
prioritize and then target
several sites for
redevelopment from an
inventory of more than 100
contaminated properties or
properties with suspected
contamination.
Regional Brownfields Team
U.S. EPA-Region 5
(312)353-3161
Visit the EPA Region 5 Brownfields web site at:
http://www.epa.gov/R5Brownfields/
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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OBJECTIVES
Toledo plans to use Pilot funding to gather more
information (e.g., previous use, level of contamination)
on known and suspected brownfields sites; re-establish
the Brownfields Group, a committee composed of
public and private agencies that sets cleanup and land
use goals; and leverage additional funding sources for
brownfields redevelopment activities. The Pilot will
also conduct community outreach activities in the
affected neighborhoods to ensure that residents are
represented in the decision-making process.
ACCOMPLISHMENTS AND ACTIVITIES
Activities planned as part of this Pilot include:
• Prioritizing sites from the City's inventory of more
than 100 contaminated properties or properties
believed to be contaminated, and creating a complete
brownfields inventory of known and suspected
contaminated sites to more fully characterize
redevelopment potential;
• Conducting assessments on those prioritized sites
from the City's existing inventory;
• Re-establishing the Brownfields Group; and
• Conducting community outreach activities for each
brownfields site so that the needs of local residents
will be considered.
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 Toledo, Ohio
July 1998 EPA500-F-98-210
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