I
Brownfields 2015 Area-Wide Planning Grant Fact Sheet
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U55Z,- Fresno, CA
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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. In 2002, the Small Business Liability Relief and
Brownfields Revitalization Act was passed to help states and
communities around the country clean up and revitalize
brownfields sites. Under this law, EPA provides financial
assistance to eligible applicants through competitive grant
programs for brownfields site assessment, site cleanup,
revolving loan funds, area-wide planning, and job training.
Additional funding support is provided to state and tribal
response programs through a separate mechanism.
Brownfields Area-Wide Planning
Program
EPA's Brownfields Area-Wide Planning
Program assists communities in responding
to local brownfields challenges,
particularly where multiple brownfield
sites are in close proximity, connected by
infrastructure, and limit the economic,
environmental and social prosperity of
their surroundings. This program enhances
EPA's core brownfields assistance
programs by providing grant funding to
communities so they can perform the
research needed to develop an area-wide
plan and implementation strategies for
brownfields assessment, cleanup, and
reuse. The resulting area-wide plans
provide direction for future brownfields
area improvements that are protective of
public health and the environment,
economically viable, and reflective of the
community's vision for the area.
Project Description
$175,000.00
EPA has selected the City of Fresno as a
Brownfields Area-Wide Planning Grant recipient.
The city will work with the community and other
stakeholders to develop an area-wide plan and
implementation strategy for the Elm Avenue
Corridor in southwest Fresno. This 2.25-mile long
corridor connects several southwest Fresno
neighborhoods which are considered among the
most economically disadvantaged and polluted in
the city and in California. A legacy of automobile
industry-related uses has left behind several
vacant and blighted properties along the corridor.
The area's poverty rate of 43 percent and
unemployment rate of 21 percent are more than
double the state averages. With this project, the
city expects to identify environmental
contamination and a specific implementation
strategy for cleanup, develop a participatory reuse
plan for three catalyst sites that aids in the
transformation of the corridor to more
community-serving uses, and build resident
capacity to identify and assess brownfields, and
address land use issues in the community. Key
project activities include the development of a
community advisory committee comprised of
residents and key stakeholders, engagement with
property owners along the corridor, and
community workshops to develop revitalization
priorities and reuse. Key partners who will work
with the city on this project include Habitat for
Humanity of Fresno County, the Building
Neighborhood Capacity Program, and Saint Rest
Missionary Baptist Church.
Contacts
For further information, including specific grant contacts, additional
grant information, brownfields news and events, and publications and
United States
Environmental
Protection Agency
Washington, DC 20450
Solid Waste
and Emergency
Response (5105T)
EPA 560-F-15-019
March 2015

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links, visit the EPA Brownfields Web site
(http://www.epa.gov/brownfields).
EPA Region 9 Brownfields Team
(213)244-1821
EPA Region 9 Brownfields Web site
(https://www.epa.gov/brownfields/brownfie
lds-and-land-revitalization-california-a rizona-nevada-and-hawaii)
Grant Recipient: City of Fresno, CA
(559)621-7910
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
and Emergency
Response (5105T)
Solid Waste
EPA 560-F-15-019
March 2015

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