United States
                  Environmental
                  Protection Agency
                  Washington, D.C. 20460
Solid Waste
and Emergency
Response  (5101)
 EPA500-F-99-058
 May 1999
 www.epa.gov/brownfields/
 >>EPA   Brownfields Cleanup
                  Revolving  Loan  Fund  Pilot
                                                                    Chicago, IL
 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. 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 forthe 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

The City of Chicago has abroad and diverse population
of nearly 3  million people. Chicago's average
unemployment rate is just under 7 percent, with certain
areas of the City at a rate nearing 25 percent. Many
Chicago brownfields are located in or near communities
with high rates of unemployment, poverty, and crime.
Three  Chicago  communities  are  designated
Empowerment Zones (the near West Side, Pilsen/
Little Village, and near South Side). Six areas also are
designated as State Enterprise Zones. Since 1993, the
City of Chicago' s Department of Environment (DOE)
has remediated or overseen the remediation of 33 sites
with a total acreage of over 50 acres, and is currently
overseeing environmental aspects of assessment and
cleanup at 28 sites with a total area of 480  acres.

BCRLF OBJECTIVES

The City of Chicago's BCRLF will advance the
objective of the Chicago Brownfields Redevelopment
Initiative to  create jobs and generate tax  revenues
through industrial redevelopment, thereby improving
the environmental and economic health of the inner
city. The Chicago BCRLF plans to give priority to sites
thatare located within EmpowermentZones, Enterprise
Zones, and tax increment financing districts.
 PILOT SNAPSHOT
   Chicago, Illinois
  Date of Announcement:
  May 25,1999

  Amount:  $500,000

  BCRLF Target Area:
  Sites located  within
  Empowerment  Zones,
  Enterprise Zones, and TIF
  districts
 Contacts:
 Chicago Department
 of Environment
 (312) 744-9139
Region 5 Brownfields
Coordinator
(312) 886-7576
      Visit the EPA Region 5 Brownfields web site at:
           www.epa.gov/R5Brownfields/

   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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FUND STRUCTURE AND OPERATIONS

Chicago's Department of Environment will serve as
lead agency and site manager. The City has identified
three possible options for fund manager: Chicago's
Office  of Budget and  Management; the Illinois
Development Finance Authority; and aprivate entity.
Chicago anticipates cleaning up between four and
seven acres during the initial round of loans.

LEVERAGING

B CRLF funds may be supplemented by tax increment
financing, HUD Section 108 loans, and  Brownfield
Economic Development Initiative Grant funds. In
addition, the City anticipates providing funds to assist
in the cleanup of brownfield sites.
Use ofBCRLF Pilot funds must be in accordance with
CERCLA, and all CERCLA restrictions on use of funding
also apply to BCRLFfunds.
 Brownfields Cleanup Revolving Loan Fund Pilot                                            Chicago, Illinois
 May 1999                                                                     EPA 500-F-99-058

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