&EPA
                  United States
                  Environmental
                  Protection Agency
                  Washington, D.C. 20460
                          Solid Waste
                          and Emergency
                          Response (5101)
      EPA 500-F-98-231
      July 1998
                                Assessment
Demonstration  Pilot
                        Alameda County, CA
  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. Since 1995, EPA has funded more than 200 Brownfields Assessment
Demonstration Pilots, at up to $200,000  each, to support creative two-year explorations and demonstrations of
brownfields solutions. The Pilots 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 has selected Alameda County for a Brownfields
Pilot.   The County's  Community Development
Agency (CDA) is focusing its redevelopment
activities on the commercial corridor along East 14th
Street and Mission Boulevard from  150th Avenue
south to Grove Way. This corridor passes though the
Ashland and  Cherryland communities, and is the
longest continuous roadway in the East Bay area.
Once a major throughway, but now a bypassed state
highway, this corridor contains  deteriorated
commercial establishments, vacant properties, and
pockets of crime. Auto repair shops and gas stations
once operated along this route and may have contributed
to contamination on  the  sites.  The need for
environmental testing and cleanup at these commercial
properties is a deterrent to  planned streetscape
improvements and redevelopment efforts.  Since
1981, the  area has lost  30% of its business
establishments and 25% of its retail sales.  The
population of the Ashland and Cherryland
communities  is predominantly minority and the
median household income is 28% lower than the
Alameda County average.
                          PILOT SNAPSHOT
                           Alameda County,
                              California
Date of Announcement:
July 1998

Amount: $200,000

Profile: The Alameda
County CDA plans to focus
redevelopment activities on
the commercial corridor
that passes through the
Ashland and Cherryland
communities.
                          Contacts:

                          Community Development
                          Agency
                          Alameda County
                          (510)670-6509
  Regional Brownfields Team
  U.S. EPA-Region 9
  (415)744-2237
                                Visit the EPA Region 9 Brownfields web site at:
                             http://www.epa.gov/region9/waste/brown/index.html

                             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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OBJECTIVES

The  Pilot's primary  objective is to implement a
redevelopment plan that will stimulate the local
economy.  The Pilot will conduct environmental
assessments in the public right-of-way and on selected
commercial parcels to  facilitate  the County's
streetscape improvement program, which includes
the placement of utilities  underground. Because the
Ashland  and  Cherryland  communities  are
unincorporated and have  no formal mechanisms for
leveraging redevelopment funds, the Pilot project
will  also encourage and plan for large-scale
improvement programs.

ACCOMPLISHMENTS AND ACTIVITIES

Activities planned as part of this Pilot include:

• Conducting Phase II environmental assessments on
 potential brownfields redevelopment properties;

• Creating cleanup and  redevelopment plans for
 targeted sites;

• Aiding in the identification of alternative funding
 sources; and

• Conducting community outreach activities  in
 partnership   with  the  Alameda   County
 Redevelopment Citizens Advisory Committee.

The cooperative agreement for this Pilot has not yet been
negotiated; therefore, activities described in this fact sheet
are subject to change.
Brownfields Assessment Demonstration Pilot                                         Alameda County, California
July 1998                                                                         EPA500-F-98-231

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