United States
Environmental
Protection Agency
Washington, D.C. 20460
Solid Waste
and Emergency
Response (5101)
EPA 500-F-00-029
April 2000
www.epa.gov/brownfields/
v>EPA Brownfields Supplemental
Assistance
Long Beach, CA
Outreach and Special Projects Staff (5105)
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 for the 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
EPA awarded the City of Long Beach supplemental
assistance for its Brownfields Assessment
Demonstration Pilot and additional funding for
assessments at brownfields properties to be used for
greenspace purposes. Long Beach targets an
undeveloped area in the center of the city, immediately
adjacent to theCity of Signal Hill, forthe development
of a central sports facility for adult-league play.
Residents in this area are 79 percent minority, 21
percent live in poverty, and 7 percent are unemployed.
This area has a history of industrial, commercial, and
solid and liquid waste disposal uses since the 1920s.
The area is characterized by aging oil-gas production
and refining industries, dilapidated structures with
outdated equipment, abandoned commercial and light
industrial properties, vehiclerepair shops, sandblasting
facilities, a trash recycling business, and debris from
the 1933 earthquake and 1950s refinery fire. Soil at
the site contains volatile and semi-volatile organic
compounds, heavy metals, methane, and other
explosive and flammable gases.
The area has been the subject of more than 10 years
of unsuccessful redevelopment attempts due to
complications posed by the site' s topography, operating
oil facilities, hazardous materials, and other potential
PILOT SNAPSHOT
Long Beach, California
Date of Announcement:
March 2000
Amount: $150,000
Greenspace: $50,000
Profile: The City of Long Beach
targets properties in thecenterof
thecity, immediately adjacent to
the City of Signal Hill, for the
development of a sports park.
Contacts:
Department of Parks,
Recreation, and Marine
City of Long Beach
(562)570-3170
Regional Brownfields Team
U.S. EPA-Region 9
(415)744-2237
Visit the EPA Region 9 Brownfields web site at:
http://www.epa.gov/region09/waste/brown/index.html
Forfuttherinformation, including specific Pilot contacts,
additional Pilotinfotmation,brownfieldsnewsandevents, and
publications and links, visit the EPA Brownfields web site at:
http://www.epa.gov/brownfields/
-------
contamination. Additionally, earlier proposals have
not been popular with the community and have been
rejected. The communities surrounding the proposed
sports park have been underserved in terms of
greenspace and recreational opportunities, and
therefore, this proposal has received widespread
public support. The sports park would ease a long
shortage of sports fields for youth sports. It would
include softball and soccer fields, volleyball courts, a
multipurpose court area for basketball and other
sports, as well as a children's playground. A
neighborhood park that is also part of the plan would
include a community center.
OBJECTIVES AND PLANNED ACTIVITIES
Long Beach's objective is to provide a model for
successful brownfields cleanup and redevelopment
that can be used throughout the city. The city will
employ a cooperative approach to addressing
contamination issues and redevelopment planning in
the targeted area, including involving the community
throughout the planning process. Long Beach will use
the supplemental assistance Pilot to facilitate the
cleanup and redevelopment of the target area by
conducting site assessments, including soil sampling
and groundwater monitoring.
The Pilot will use the greenspace funding to work
towards the development of a neighborhood park
adj acent to the sports park, the restoration and possible
expansion of a wetlands area within the sports park,
and the development of an abandoned property located
northeast of the sports park into a community park.
To accomplish these objectives, the Pilot plans to:
• Monitor groundwater for one year and evaluate the
results to determine if the groundwater poses any
risks;
• Conduct a soil gas survey to determine the extent of
soil vapors and to design an appropriate vapor
collection system;
• Collect soil, soil vapor, and air samples and analyze
them for chemicals of concern to ensure the playing
surface is safe for park patrons and does not pose
any further risk to the environment;
• Conduct site research to delineate the wetlands and
jurisdictional waters;
• Develop a conceptual revegetation or enhancement
program;
• Generate a detailed plan for the riparian habitat; and
• Assess the 55th Way site as part of overall plan to
increase greenspace in the city.
The cooperative agreement for this Pilot has not yet been negotiated;
therefore, activities described in this fact sheet are subject to change.
Brownfields Supplemental Assistance
April 2000
Long Beach, California
EPA 500-F-00-029
------- |