Brownfields 2003 Assessment Grant  Fact Sheet
               Rockford>IL
EPA Brownfields Program

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.

Community Description

The City of Rockford was selected to receive an
assessment grant. Rockford (population 150,114) is
located in north-central Illinois, approximately 90 miles
northwest of Chicago. The city was home to several
manufacturing giants in the years following World War
II, but many of these  companies shut  down their plants
during the last 30 years, leaving behind abandoned
factories and an unemployed workforce. Most of
Rockford's targeted brownfields sites are located within
tax increment finance districts that were created to
combat the downtown business area's economic and
physical decline. Nearly 30 percent of residents living
in the targeted Barber Colman Village area have
incomes below the poverty level. The unemployment
rate in one of the target neighborhoods is more than
three times the national average. The  city intends to
promote sustainable reuse of existing brownfields,
improve the quality of life for impacted residents,
protect and restore the natural environment, and prevent
the creation of future brownfields.
                   Assessment Grant

                   $200,000 for hazardous substances
                   $200,000 for petroleum

                   EPA has selected the City of Rockford for a
                   brownfields assessment grant. The city will use the
                   funds to perform Phase I and Phase II site
                   assessments at properties that are contaminated with
                   hazardous substances and petroleum within the
                   Barber Colman Village and the Davis Park Corridor
                   Enterprise Zone. Rockford also will use grant funds
                   to conduct community outreach activities and
                   coordinate brownfields reuse planning activities at
                   sites along the Illinois 251 Corridor.

                   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 5 Brownfields Team
                   (312)886-7576
                   EPA Region 5 Brownfields Web  site
                   (http://www.epa.gov/R5Brownfields)

                   Grant Recipient: Rockford, IL, City of
                   (815)987-5611

                   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
  Environmental
  Protection Agency
  Washington, DC 20450
Solid Waste
and Emergency
Response (5105T)
EPA500-F-03-176
        Jun 03

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