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Brownfields 1999 Assessment Pilot Fact Sheet
Fort Myers, FL
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 Fort Myers for a
Brownfields Pilot. Historically, the city (population
46,522) has been the population, government, business,
and financial center of Lee County. Fort Myers' earliest
industries revolved around coastal shipping and cattle
and produce distribution. There are an estimated 440
potential brownfields sites in the city that are found in
several commercial and industrial areas; these properties
have not been redeveloped due to environmental liability
concerns. The city is in the process of designating these
areas as community redevelopment districts. The poverty
rate for the city, 20.7 percent, is more than double the
and regional average. The unemployment rate has been
estimated to be more than 50 percent higher than that of
the rest of the county.
Pilot Snapshot
Date of Announcement: 03/01/1999
Amount: $169,000
Profile: The Pilot targets five neighborhoods, with
special emphasis on the Dunbar area.
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 4 Brownfields Team
(404) 562-8792
EPA Region 4 Brownfields Web site
(http ://www .epa.gov/region4/waste/bf)
Grant Recipient: City of Fort Myers,FL
(941)332-6781
The Pilot will target five areas in the city that contain the
highest concentrations of brownfields (Dunbar,
Downtown and Central Fort Myers, the U.S. 41 Corridor, Activities
the Fowler/Evans Corridor, and the Palm Beach
Corridor). At least half of the Pilot activities will be
focused on the Dunbar area, which is home to a large
segment of the city's African American population and is
characterized by junkyards, recycling centers, auto repair
shops, and abandoned gas stations. The Dunbar area is
located in a state Enterprise Zone.
Objectives
Fort Myers' objective is to eliminate the brownfields
impediments in the city's designated and proposed
community redevelopment districts, directing the
majority of time and effort toward the Dunbar
community. The city hopes to stem the tide of urban
decay and blight which has resulted in job loss,
deterioration of physical structures, and continued
environmental degradation. To help accomplish these
objectives, the city will hire a brownfields coordinator
who will complement existing city planning efforts by
focusing on environmental issues related to cleanup and
redevelopment.
Activities planned as part of this Pilot include:
•	Reviewing and creating an inventory of historical
data for the targeted areas;
•	Identifying and analyzing a minimum of five
sites in each of the five target areas and
prioritizing these sites based on redevelopment
United States
Environmental
Protection Agency
Washington, DC 20450
Solid Waste
and Emergency
Response (5105T)
EPA 500-F-99-006
Mar 99

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potential;
•	Performing Phase I environmental assessments
on the prioritized sites, and performing at least
ten Phase II environmental assessments, five of
which will be in the Dunbar area and five in the
other four areas; and
•	Implementing a community involvement
program to ensure that affected neighborhoods
participate in the planning processes associated
with brownfields target areas.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
Environmental
Protection Agency
Washington, DC 20450
and Emergency
Response (5105T)
Solid Waste
EPA 500-F-99-006
Mar 99

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