Brownfields 1997 Assessment Pilot Fact Sheet
Gainesville, FL
EPA Brownfields Initiative
EPA's Brownfields Program empowers states.
communities, and other stakeholders to work together to
prevent, assess, safely clean up, and sustainably reuse
brownfields. A brownfield site is real property, the
expansion, redevelopment, or reuse of which may be
complicated by the presence or potential presence of a
hazardous substance, pollutant, or contaminant. On
January 11, 2002, President George W. Bush signed into
law the Small Business Liability Relief and Brownfields
Revitalization Act. Under the Brownfields Law, EPA
provides financial assistance to eligible applicants
through four competitive grant programs: assessment
grants, revolving loan fund grants, cleanup grants, and
job training grants. Additionally, funding support is
provided to state and tribal response programs through a
separate mechanism.
Background
EPA selected the City of Gainesville for a Brownfields
Pilot. Construction of new transportation routes west of
the city during the 1960s significantly affected downtown
Gainesville's business center. Suburban land availability,
opportunities for commercial development, access to
new transportation routes, and the emergence of
shopping malls have prompted many businesses to leave
the downtown area. Gainesville is working to manage the
environmental and economic legacies left in the
downtown area.
The Pilot targets a 20-acre area in the city's downtown
known as the East Gainesville Sprout Project. The target
area is located within a state Enterprise Zone, which
provides additional redevelopment incentives to
developers and financial lenders. A critical need to treat
storm water runoff from the downtown area has prompted
the city to pursue efforts to create a stormwater park
within the East Gainesville Sprout Project. This site,
which contains contaminated soil and groundwater, is
similar to other downtown brownfields.
Pilot Snapshot
Date of Announcement: 09/01/1997
Amount: $200,000
Profile: The Pilot targets the East Gainesville Sprout
Project, a 20-acre parcel in downtown Gainesville.
Contacts
For further information, including specific grant
contacts, additional grant information, brownfields
news and events, and publications and links, visit the
EPA Brownfields Web site
(http ://www .epa.gov/brownfields).
EPA Region 4 Brownfields Team
(404) 562-8792
EPA Region 4 Brownfields Web site
(http://www.epa.gov/region4/waste/bf)
Grant Recipient: City of Gainesville,FL
(352)334-5000
Objectives
Gainesville's objective is to use the Pilot as a model for
further brownfields assessment, cleanup, and
redevelopment efforts. As part of the East Gainesville
Sprout Project, the Pilot will assess properties to
support the city's goals of reducing on-site soil and
groundwater contamination and contaminated runoff
and thereby increase new business development, jobs,
and the tax base and reverse trends toward greenfields
development. The Pilot will serve as a model for two
other brownfield areas within the city-the Waldo Road
Corridor and the Airport Industrial Park-as well as other
future brownfields projects.
Activities
The Pilot has:
• Developed a geographic information system
(GIS) that compiles environmental data from
state agencies into a comprehensive inventory
for analysis;
• Conducted an environmental assessment at the
United States
Environmental
Protection Agency
Washington, DC 20450
Solid Waste
and Emergency
Response (5105T)
EPA 500-F-00-263
Dec 00
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Rinker site;
• Begun a Phase I environmental assessment at the
site of the future storm water park, the CSX
property;
• Developed a Pilot web site
(www.state.fl.us/gvl/Development/Sprout); and
• Convened a Project Task Force, which will
provide community input regarding Pilot
activities.
The Pilot is:
• Developing plans for additional assessments as
well as cleanup and redevelopment of the East
Gainesville Sprout Project; and
• Researching funding sources to establish a
cleanup and redevelopment fund.
Experience with the Gainesville Pilot has been a catalyst
for related activities, including the following:
• Redevelopment dollars leveraged total
$1,895,000, including $195,000 from an EPA
Sustainable Development Challenge Grant;
$200,000 from the Florida Department of
Environmental Protection; $600,000 from the
Florida Communities Trust; and $900,000 from
the city.
• A site assessment was completed on the MGP
property.
The information presented in this fact sheet comes from
the grant proposal; EPA cannot attest to the accuracy of
this information. The cooperative agreement for the
grant has not yet been negotiated. Therefore, activities
described in this fact sheet are subject to change.
United States _ ., . w__tp
Environmental and Emergency EPA 50°-F-0n°-26n3n
Protection Agency ResDonse(51oVn Dec 00
Washington, DC 20450 Kesponse (bl Ob I)
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