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Brownfields 2002 Assessment Pilot Fact Sheet
City of Winchester, Virginia
EPA Brownfields Initiative
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. On
January 11, 2002, President George W. Bush signed into
law the Small Business Liability Relief and Brownfields
Revitalization Act. Under the Brownfields 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.
Background
EPA has selected the City of Winchester for a
Brownfields Assessment Pilot. The city also was selected
to receive additional funding for assessments at
brownfields properties to be used for greenspace
purposes. Winchester (population 23,585) is a medical,
industrial, commercial, and agricultural center located at
the northern entrance of the Shenandoah Valley in
northern Virginia. As an old city (founded in 1744), there
are few properties within the city limits available for
development, and many former industrial sites sit idle
due to real or perceived environmental concerns. Some
of these brownfields sites are barriers to implementation
of the city's Comprehensive Redevelopment Master Plan,
and negatively impact the health and safety of the
community. Brownfields also impair implementation of
the city's "Green Circle" Plan for using a series of creek
beds that encircle the city to form a linear park and
pathway that interconnect and tie together the outlying
city areas through its historic downtown by bike and
walking paths.
Pilot Snapshot
Date of Announcement: 05/01/2002
Amount: $200,000
$50,000 for Greenspace
Profile: City ofWinchester, Virginia. The Pilot
targets five former industrial sites that have impaired
the city's ability to implement its Comprehensive
Redevelopment Master Plan and "Green Circle" Plan.
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 3 Brownfields Team
(215)814-3129
EPA Region 3 Brownfields Web site
(http ://www .epa.gov/reg3hwmd/bf-lr)
Grant Recipient: City ofWinchester, Virginia
(540) 667-1815 ext478
Objectives
The city's primary objective is to redevelop key
brownfields sites that are barriers to ongoing
redevelopment and quality of life initiatives. This
redevelopment will be guided by the city's
Comprehensive Redevelopment Master Plan and "Green
Circle" Plan. To achieve this objective, the Pilot will
create an inventory of brownfields sites, select and
assess priority sites, identify and remove other barriers
to redevelopment of the priority sites, and convene
community meetings and information exchange forums.
Activities
The city is currently considering five sites for the Pilot: a Activities planned as part of this Pilot include:
former power substation, a former agricultural station
that may be contaminated with herbicides and pesticides,
and a former lumberyard that was converted into a
knitting mill and may be contaminated with residuals
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•	Identifying and prioritizing brownfields sites;
•	Developing strategies for overcoming barriers to
redevelopment;
i Assessing target sites;
United States
Environmental
Protection Agency
Washington, DC 20450
Solid Waste
and Emergency
Response (5105T)
EPA 500-F-02-070
May 02

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dying process. Two other properties have been targeted
for greenspace development. These sites may change
based on a thorough review of all sites in the city's
database of properties and community input. Roughly 18
percent of the city's residents are minorities, and 16
percent live below the poverty level.
•	Preparing cleanup plans; and
•	Creating forums for expanded and interactive
community involvement.
The cooperative agreement for this Pilot has not yet
been negotiated; therefore, activities described in this
fact sheet are subject to change.
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 500-F-02-070
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Protection Agency	Response (5105T)	MaV02
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