w5 Brownfields 1998 Assessment Pilot Fact Sheet Omaha, NE 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 Omaha for a Brownfields Pilot. The downtown riverfront has been the location of heavy industrial activity for more than 100 years. As these industrial facilities have closed or reduced the scope of their operations, much of the land along the riverfront has become underused or abandoned. Although many of these industries once used the Missouri River for shipment of raw materials or products, these commonly contaminated properties now effectively cut off the City and citizens of Omaha from making productive use of this resource. In addition, overall population shifts, coupled with the high level of business relocation out of the inner city to the western suburbs, have created corridors of distressed neighborhoods, boarded-up industrial facilities, and vacant sites of demolished structures. The Pilot is targeting the North 11th Street Industrial Redevelopment Area which lies within the boundaries of established Federal and State Enterprise Zones and along the Missouri River. These Enterprise Zones encompass Omaha's greatest concentrations of abandoned housing; 23.4% of the residents live in poverty and 56.6% are unemployed. To date, plans to revitalize and redevelop these areas have been somewhat fractured due to a lack of coordination among various municipal and State Pilot Snapshot Date of Announcement: 07/15/1998 Amount: $200,000 Profile: The City of Omaha is targeting the North 11th Street Industrial Redevelopment Area along the Missouri River, which lies within the boundaries of established Federal and State Enterprise Zones. 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/cleanup/brown fields) Grant Recipient: City of Omaha, Nebraska (402) 444-5000 Objectives The City's primary objective is to assess and revitalize underused and abandoned properties along the Missouri River in the North 11th Street Industrial Redevelopment Area. With the assistance of a local non-profit the City plans to bring together municipal and State agencies, local neighborhood associations, business groups, financial institutions, environmentalists, and other interested parties to provide ideas into the plans for environmental management and reuse of these properties. The City expects to revitalize these properties by integrating green space, recreational, commercial and industrial uses in a way that supports the Community's "Back to the River" vision of a green corridor of public parks along the riverfront. Activities Activities planned as part of this Pilot include: United States Environmental Protection Agency Washington, DC 20450 Solid Waste and Emergency Response (5105T) EPA 500-F-98-225 Jul 98 ------- agencies, private interests, and affected neighborhood associations. • Performing detailed Phase I and Phase II assessments, as appropriate, on the publically- owned City Dock Board property and on at least one or two additional brownfields in the North 11th Street Area; • Developing community outreach and engagement activities focused on forming partnerships to address the cleanup, redevelopment and reuse of brownfields; • Identifying potential future land uses, appropriate environmental actions to support those uses, and potential barriers to redevelopment; • Exploring potential solutions to the redevelopment barriers, such as identifying possible sources of funding for cleanup and redevelopment. 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-98-225 _ . . and Emergency . . Protection Agency Response (5105*0 Jul 98 Washington, DC 20450 ^ v ' ------- w5 Brownfields 1998 Supplemental Assessment Pilot Fact Sheet City of Omaha, Nebraska 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 awarded the City of Omaha supplemental assistance for its Brownfields Assessment Demonstration Pilot. Omaha is the largest city in eastern Nebraska. The target area for the supplemental assistance encompasses properties located west of the Pilot's initial study area along the Missouri River. The targeted Northeast Redevelopment District is a blighted industrial area populated largely by minority residents. Area residents suffer from a poverty rate of 56 percent and an unemployment rate of 23 percent. These statistics are drastically higher than citywide averages. The original Pilot completed Phase I environmental assessments, developed cleanup strategies, facilitated public involvement, and conducted redevelopment planning for three riverfront properties. Supplemental funds will be used to maintain the revitalization momentum begun under the original Pilot by assessing and planning for the redevelopment of underused and abandoned properties located west of the original Pilot properties. Phase I environmental assessments will be completed at a minimum of five properties in the Northeast Redevelopment District. Phase II environmental assessments will be completed at one or more of the properties, depending on the findings of the Phase I environmental assessments. Pilot Snapshot Date of Announcement: 05/01/2002 Amount: $150,000 Profile: City of Omaha, Nebraska. The Pilot plans to assess and revitalize underused and abandoned properties located in the blighted and economically distressed Northeast Redevelopment District. 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/cleanup/brown fields) Grant Recipient: City of Omaha, Nebraska (402) 444-3904 Objectives Omaha's overall objective is to integrate redevelopment of brownfields into an aggressive economic development program targeting impacted portions of the city, especially the Northeast Redevelopment District. The supplemental assistance will be used to perform Phase I and Phase II environmental assessments on selected sites in the target area, involve the public in land-use decisions, and develop a comprehensive land-use redevelopment plan. Activities Activities planned as part of this Pilot include: • Conducting Phase I environmental assessments on at least five underused and abandoned properties in the Northeast Redevelopment District; • Conducting Phase II environmental assessments on one or more of the targeted properties, United States Environmental Protection Agency Washington, DC 20450 Solid Waste and Emergency Response (5105T) EPA 500-F-02-107 May 02 ------- depending on Phase I findings; • Involving the public through workshops, public meetings and project newsletters; and • Developing a comprehensive land-use redevelopment plan. 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 500-F-02-107 May 02 ------- |