( ^8^71 Brownfields 2009 Cleanup Grant Fact Sheet
V c/ Beacon Hill Homeowners Association, Kansas City, MO
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 cleanup and revitalize
brownfields sites. Under this law, EPA provides financial
assistance to eligible applicants through four competitive
grant programs: assessment grants, revolving loan fund
grants, cleanup grants, and job training grants.
Additionally, funding support is provided to state and
tribal response programs through a separate mechanism.
Community Description
The Beacon Hill Homeowners Association was selected
to receive a brownfields cleanup grant. The Beacon Hill
neighborhood (population 4,948) in Kansas City is a
predominantly African-American community. Sixty
percent of the neighborhood is now vacant land and
contains a concentration of former businesses and
abandoned residences. These potentially contaminated
properties are a critical barrier to new economic
opportunities in the neighborhood, where the poverty rate
is over 22 percent, the unemployment rate is 10 percent,
and the per capita income is $14,645. In recent years,
Beacon Hill neighborhood residents have been working
with the city, developers, and federal agencies on plans to
redevelop the entire neighborhood. Cleanup of the four
targeted Beacon Hill neighborhood lots is expected to
remove blight in this disadvantaged neighborhood and
help move redevelopment forward.
Cleanup Grant
$160,000 for hazardous substances
EPA has selected the Beacon Hill Homeowners
Association for a brownfields cleanup grant.
Hazardous substances grant funds will be used to
clean up four lots in the Beacon Hill
neighborhood, north of Robinson Hospital at 2600
and 2604 Paseo and 2601 and 2605 West Paseo
Boulevards. The sites had been the location of a
steam power plant and may have housed an
incinerator. Site soil is contaminated with metals,
including mercury. Grant funds also will be used
to support community outreach activities.
Contacts
For further information, including specific grant
contacts, additional grant information, brownfields
news and events, and publications and links, visit
the EPA Brownfields Web site
(http://www.epa.gov/brownfields).
EPA Region 7 Brownfields Team
(800) 223-0425
EPA Region 7 Brownfields Web site
(http://www.epa.gov/region7/cle anup/brownfields
)
Grant Recipient: Beacon Hill Homeowners
Association,MO
(816)513-3002
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	c
Environmental	anri Fmpflpn™	EPA 560-F-09-242
Protection Agency	Response (5105T)	May 2009
Washington, DC 20450	Kesponse (si us )

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