O - Brownfields 2017 Area-Wide Planning Grant Fact Sheet
Wilmington, DE
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 clean up and revitalize
brownfields sites. Under this law, EPA provides financial
assistance to eligible applicants through competitive grant
programs for brownfields site assessment, site cleanup,
revolving loan funds, area-wide planning, and job training.
Additional funding support is provided to state and tribal
response programs through a separate mechanism.
Brownfields Area-Wide Planning
Program
EPA's Brownfields Area-Wide Planning
Program assists communities in responding
to local brownfields challenges,
particularly where multiple brownfield
sites are in close proximity, connected by
infrastructure, and limit the economic,
environmental and social prosperity of
their surroundings. This program enhances
EPA's core brownfields assistance
programs by providing grant funding to
communities so they can perform the
research needed to develop an area-wide
plan and implementation strategies for
brownfields assessment, cleanup, and
reuse. The resulting area-wide plans
provide direction for future brownfields
area improvements that are protective of
public health and the environment,
economically viable, and reflective of the
community's vision for the area.
Project Description
$200,000.00
EPA has selected the City of Wilmington as a
Brownfields Area-Wide Planning Grant recipient.
The city will work with the community and other
stakeholders to develop an area-wide plan and
implementation strategy for the 100-acre
Brandywine Riverfront Northeast project area.
This former hub of industrial activity is now an
underserved community with abandoned
properties and low property values. The area's
catalyst sites, including the Diamond State
Salvage property and Wilmington Maintenance
Yard, have the greatest potential to spur economic
development because of their location along the
Brandywine River and proximity to downtown
Wilmington. The area-wide planning project will
provide an opportunity to make substantial
progress in an impoverished community with
extensive social equity, environmental, and
brownfields challenges. It will enable residents to
develop a new vision for the neighborhood,
address environmental issues, provide economic
development to this urban waterfront area, and
build the capacity needed to continue to address
the social challenges facing residents. Key
partners who will work with the city on this
project include Old Brandywine Village, Inc., the
Delaware Department of Natural Resources and
Environmental Control, National Oceanic and
Atmospheric Administration, and four programs
at the University of Delaware: the Center for
Community Research and Service, Water
Resources Agency, Small Business and
Development Center, and Sea Grant College
Program.
Contacts
United States
Environmental
Protection Agency
Washington, DC 20450
Solid Waste
and Emergency
Response (5105T)
EPA 560-F-17-001C
January 2017

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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)814-3173
EPA Region 3 Brownfields Web site
(https://www.epa.gov/brownfields/brownfie
lds-and-land-revitalization-delaware-mar
yland-pennsylvania-Virginia-west)
Grant Recipient: City of Wilmington, DE
(302) 576-3100
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 560-F-17-001C
January 2017

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