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Brownfields 2005 Assessment Grant Fact Sheet
Lakewood, CO
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. 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.
Community Description
The City of Lakewood was selected to receive two
brownfields assessment grants. Lakewood, located on the
western edge of the Denver metropolitan area, is home to
144,150 residents. The city's early development was
spurred by West Colfax Avenue and the Denver,
Lakewood and Golden (DL&G) rail line. Interstate
construction in the 1960s eliminated the DL&G line as a
significant transportation route. The decline of these
transportation links has left a legacy of deteriorating
industrial and commercial districts on the once prominent
mile-wide transit corridor. The corridor, which accounts
for 45 percent of the city, encompasses four residential
neighborhoods. Ten percent of residents in these
neighborhoods live below the poverty level. Although 15
percent of residents are Hispanic, the percentage jumps to
45 percent in pockets adjacent to the corridor. The city
plans to update the aging freight rail corridor with light
rail transit, which would enable redevelopment to occur at
the same time the metro Denver region undertakes a major
transportation upgrade. Brownfields assessment is key to
removing barriers to new development that will support
the new light rail transit corridor. Redevelopment is
expected to revitalize the Lakewood community by
expanding its retail and commercial tax base and creating
new employment centers.
Assessment Grant
$200,000 for hazardous substances
$200,000 for petroleum
EPA has selected the City of Lakewood for two
brownfields assessment grants. Grant funds will be
used to support community outreach and
education, conduct Phase I and II environmental
site assessments, prepare risk assessments, and
develop cleanup plans for sites contaminated with
hazardous substances along the Denver, Lakewood
and Golden (DL&G) transit-oriented development
corridor of Lakewood. The rail line, established in
1891, ran its last freight train in 1988. Petroleum
funds will be used to perform the same tasks at
sites along the corridor with potential petroleum
contamination.
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 8 Brownfields Team
(303)312-7074
EPA Region 8 Brownfields Web site
(http://www.epa.gov/region8/bro wnfields )
Grant Recipient: City of Lakewood,CO
(303) 987-7192
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
Solid Waste
and Emergency
Response (5105T)
EPA 560-F-05-125
May 2005

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