United States Environmental Protection Agency Washington, D.C. 20460 Solid Waste and Emergency Response (5101) EPA 500-F-00-048 April 2000 www.epa.gov/brownfields/ v>EPA Brownfields Supplemental Assistance Southeast Florida 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 Southeast Florida, encompassing the eastern portions ofPalmBeach, Broward, andMiami- Dade Counties, supplemental assistance for its Brownfields Assessment Demonstration Pilot and additional funding for assessments at brownfields properties to be used for greenspace purposes. The PilotdesignationfollowsaspartofEPA'scommitment to Southeast Florida as a brownfields Showcase Community. The Eastward Ho! Brownfields Partnership, which oversees the Pilot, is comprised of local, state, regional, and federal government agencies, as well as public, private, and non-profit community organizations in Southeast Florida. The Eastward Ho! Initiative was established in 199 5 to direct future growth to the region's urban core and away from the threatened Everglades ecosystem to the west. Because contaminated lands are a significant barrier to redevelopment in the Eastward Ho! corridor, the identification, assessment, cleanup, revitalization, and redevelopment of brownfields on a regional scale is essential to the Eastward Ho! strategy. The Eastward Ho! corridor spans approximately 115 miles along the eastern portions of Palm Beach, Broward, and Miami-Dade Counties and has a combined population of more than 2 million people. PILOT SNAPSHOT Southeast Florida Date of Announcement: March 2000 Amount: $100,000 Profile: The Pilot targets brownfields along a 115-milecorridoron the eastern portions of Palm Beach, Broward, and Miami-Dade Counties. The Eastward Ho! Brownfields Partnership seeks to alleviate growth pressure on the Everglades by encouraging sustainable brownfields reuse. Contacts: South Florida Regional Planning Department (954)985-4416 Regional Brownfields Team U.S. EPA - Region 4 (404)562-8661 Visit the EPA Region 4 Brownfields web site at: http^/www.epa.gov/region4/wastepgs/brownfpgs/bf.htm Forfutther information, including specific Pilotcontacts, additional Pilot information, brownfields news and events, and publications and links, visit the EPA Brownfields web site at: http://www.epa.gov/brownfields/ ------- While the entire corridor is not characterized by poverty, it contains pockets of some of the most severe poverty in the country. Three state-designated Enterprise Zones fall within the corridor, and much of the Miami-Dade County portion of the corridor is within a federally designated Enterprise Community. The corridor, which developed along two railroad tracks, contains more than 2,100 known contaminated sites, varying widely in size and degree and type of contamination. Miami-Dade and Broward Counties have completed databases of known contaminated lands; Palm Beach County is developing similar information. OBJECTIVES AND PLANNED ACTIVITIES The Eastward Ho! Partnership is a regional collaboration that brings together local, state, regional, and federal agencies with private sector, non-profit, and community organizations to address the rehabilitation andreuse of brownfield areas. The Pilot will use supplemental assistance to continue its three- pronged approach of collaboration, strategy, and action to allow the Partnership to address regional brownfields issues. Rehabilitation and redevelopment projects will feature sustainable reuse, including mixed- income housing, sound urban design principles, bicycle transit, and pedestrian development. To accomplish these objectives, the Pilot plans to: • Conduct site assessments and characterizations of marketable brownfields sites located within the Eastward Ho! corridor; • Further develop a regional Geographic Information System (a site assessment and characterization tool); • Utilize pre-existing framework for regional decision making that covers all potential brownfields sites to determine selection for site assessments and characterizations; and • Continuepublicoutreachandcommunity involvement activities related to the site selection and assessment processes. 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 Southeast Florida EPA 500-F-00-048 ------- |