&EPA
LAND REVITALIZATION FACT SHEET
BUILDING HEALTHY COMMUNITIES BY
INCREASING ACCESS TO HEALTHCARE
SERVICES
Cleaning up and redevelop-
ing brownfields helps create
safer, healthier communities
in many ways. When redevelopment
includes siting new medical offices,
community health centers, or other
healthcare facilities on former brown-
fields, increased access to health-
care services benefits public health
and improves the quality of life and
economic well-being of a community.
Furthermore, healthcare facilities can
act as economic engines that attract
new businesses and employers.
No one knows exactly how many
health care facilities are built on
brownfields. Most expect the number
to grow. The New York Times reports
that with enactment of the Affordable
Care Act, the number of Americans
who will use community health centers
could double to 40 million by 2015.
While brownfields sometimes are
overlooked, they can be attractive
sites to redevelop for healthcare facili-
ties because they often are located in
areas with unmet healthcare needs.
NEW ENVIRONMENTAL SOLUTIONS
EPA's land revitalization initiatives are producing significant environmental
benefits and helping to transform communities into more sustainable and
livable places. The strategy of encouraging market-driven redevelopment of
brownfields and other contaminated sites for economic reuse is proving to
be a successful approach at many sites. However, challenging real estate
markets and economic realities can leave some formerly contaminated
properties unused, possibly for a long time. New approaches are needed to
revitalize these sites and protect human health and the environment.
EPA's Land Revitalization Team is working with communities, states, other
federal agencies, academic institutions, nonprofit organizations, and the
private sector to develop and test new approaches that recognize valuable
reuse alternatives for formerly contaminated properties. Building green
infrastructure to help manage stormwater runoff and floods, promoting safe
soil management to support urban agriculture, and siting renewable energy
on contaminated sites can bring environmental, ecological, and social
benefits to communities. Unlocking the potential value of these underused
properties often requires creativity and close collaboration with many public
and private partners. These projects can help stabilize communities and
spur economic development.
In addition, the sites often are in areas
that already have highways, rail, sewer,
gas, water, and electrical supplies. This
means that developers can save time
and money because they will not have
to build new infrastructure.
HEALTH CLINIC ON BROWNFIELD KEY TO MEETING
PUBLIC HEALTH NEEDS OF DISASTER VICTIMS
In Graniteville, South Carolina, a new
health clinic in an unused shopping
center is being used for monitoring
and assessing the long-term health
of residents following the largest
chlorine spill in U.S. history. The spill
occurred in 2005, when a freight
train collided with a parked train
near the Avondale mill in the small,
unincorporated city of Graniteville.
Four tank cars carrying hazardous
materials derailed. Three of the cars
contained chlorine, and one of them
breached. About 40 tons of chlorine
vapor and liquid were released. Nine
people were killed, and hundreds
suffered respiratory distress.
In addition to causing a public
health crisis, the accident led to the
immediate closure of the Avondale
Mill and the loss of about 2,000 jobs.
Workers and their families no longer
had access to healthcare services at
the mill—the only healthcare in town.
When the National Institute of Environ-
mental Health Services funded a
five-year, $2.9 million study examining
the lung health of community members
and workers exposed to the chlorine
gas, Graniteville lacked a conveniently
located clinic that participants could
visit regularly for health monitoring. For
its first year, the Graniteville Recovery
and Chlorine Epidemiology (GRACE)
Study Center was located in Augusta,
Georgia. The study center offers free
lung testing for any resident as part of
a program to identify and document
any long-term lung problems that
occurred since the accident.
EPA's Office of Brownfields and Land
Revitalization assisted with commu-
nity meetings to share how brown-
fields could be reused for a variety
of community services, including a
local clinic. A brownfield site was
selected in the Masonic Lodge
Shopping Center at 50 Canal
Street. The clinic site is centrally
uraiiiteville Recovery And
Chlorine Epidemiology Study
P3 Tulane
University
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located in the community, making
access easy for chlorine monitoring
and other non-emergency health
services. The GRACE Study Center's
laboratories and administrative
offices are housed at the clinic,
where there is also room for commu-
nity meetings and the center's
annual health fair. The new facility
allowed the study center to move
from Augusta to Graniteville in July
2012 to better serve the affected
community.
The Graniteville community is
grappling with economic fallout from
the accident, including the need to
clean up contamination at several mill
sites. EPA brownfields grants provided
funds for environmental assessment
and cleanup of mills in the commu-
nity. The community also would like
to address the need for a permanent
community health center. EPA helped
the community identify additional
sources of federal funding for revitaliza-
tion projects, such as the $11 billion
available through the Department of
Health and Human Services' Health
Resources and Services Administration
for the construction and renovation of
community health centers. fhttp://www.
hrsa.aov/about/oraanization/bureaus/
Graniteville in touch with the Agency
for Toxic Substances and Disease
Registry to produce a video that
enables Graniteville to share its story so
others can learn from its experience.
IOWA TOWN ANCHORS DOWNTOWN REVITALIZATION WITH
NEW WELLNESS CENTER BUILT ON FORMER BROWNFIELD
In spring 2013, the City of Ogden,
Iowa, plans to begin construction
of the new Boone County family
medicine center. The wellness
center will be built on three centrally
located brownfield properties in the
downtown commercial district. The
new building will be the cornerstone
of Ogden's Main Street revitalization.
Construction of the new family
medicine center is the first step
toward realizing Ogden's downtown
revitalization plan. The plan was
developed with the help of EPA
Region 7 in partnership with the
Iowa Department of Natural
Resources (IDNR).
The 3,100 square-foot building will
have space for two doctors and
an extra room for medical equip-
ment or another doctor. The build-
ing is designed to meet the needs
of Boone County Hospital, which
will lease and eventually purchase
the building. Part of the building lot
will be beautified during construc-
tion and will be used for the center's
second phase of construction, which
will include medical facilities avail-
able for lease.
The project began several years
ago under EPA Region 7's Historic
Highways Initiative. EPA identified
abandoned gas stations along the
historic Lincoln Highway in Iowa and
Nebraska and along the former Route
66 in Missouri and Kansas, and worked
with communities to help clean up
and reuse petroleum-contaminated
brownfields and nearby brownfield
properties. EPA Region 7 worked with
Ogden to identify reuse strategies for
an abandoned gas station and other
brownfields within the city's downtown
area. The former gas station site will
be developed as a way station on
central Iowa's rapidly expanding bike
trail system.
Funding from EPA's Office of Brown-
fields and Land Revitalization
supported a market analysis and
needs study, a project web portal,
and a design charrette to engage
the community in reuse planning.
EPA also provided training on the
brownfields assessment and cleanup
process and on partnering with other
state and federal agencies, particu-
larly the U.S. Department of Agricul-
ture's Rural Development program.
The process identified revitalization
priorities that include a new medical
clinic and retail space, and design
options for a new, improved gateway
to downtown Ogden.
City officials used these products to
market new business opportunities and
promote downtown revitalization. The
city purchased vacant properties,
which gave the city greater control
over redevelopment planning.
Ownership also enabled the city to
receive additional support from IDNR
for assessment and cleanup work.
Once the properties were assessed
and cleaned up, the city demolished
the vacant buildings and graded the
sites for redevelopment.
The city also created Ogden Legacy,
a nonprofit economic develop-
ment corporation, and initiated a
downtown redevelopment plan.
The wellness center project got a
big boost when Ogden secured a
USDA Rural Economic Development
Loan Grant for up to $300,000 and
received a $500,000 grant from
the local Leonard A. Good Trust.
The grant from the trust, which will
be paid over four years, is a major
step towards meeting the project's
$850,000 price tag.
MORE INFORMATION:
EPA Land Revitalization Program: http://www.epa.qov/landrevitalization/
United States
Environmental Protection
Agency
Office of Solid Waste and
Emergency Response
(5105T)
EPA 560-F-13-035
May 2013
www.epa.gov/brownfields/
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