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Brownfields 2001 Assessment Pilot Fact Sheet
Montgomery, AL
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 Montgomery 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. Montgomery (population 187,106) is the state
capital and is situated on the banks of the Alabama River.
The riverfront area, which is the target area for this
Brownfields Assessment Pilot, has a population of 5,118,
53 percent of whom live below the poverty level and 70
percent are minorities.
For much of Montgomery's history, the Alabama River
was the focal point for the city's economic growth.
Following the Civil War, industrial development along
the riverfront north of the downtown spurred the
construction of warehouses and factories. Today, much
of the area's growth is occurring to the east of the city
and in communities in neighboring counties, leaving
many blighted neighborhoods in downtown
Montgomery. This growth is drawing tax base away from
Montgomery, contributing to urban sprawl, and reducing
business and employment opportunities for those
remaining in the city.
Pilot Snapshot
Date of Announcement: 04/01/2001
Amount: $200,000
$50,000 for Greenspace
Profile: The Pilot targets the dilapidated riverfront
area north of downtown Montgomery for assessment
and redevelopment into a multi-use commercial,
recreational, and residential complex.
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: Montgomery, AL
(334)241-2699
Objectives
The city's overall objective is to obtain economically
viable and sustainable mixed use development along its
riverfront. The city intends to accomplish this objective
through a planned redevelopment, instead of a
piecemeal approach that emphasizes a limited number of
isolated projects. The Pilot will conduct a detailed
historical land-use assessment of the riverfront to
identify potentially contaminated sites. Following this
assessment, the Pilot will develop guidance for land use
planning. The Pilot will use the majority of funds to
conduct Phase I and Phase II environmental site
assessments and cost estimates for proposed park and
greenspace areas. Finally, the city will enhance the
Riverfront Redevelopment Master Plan community
involvement program to provide an avenue for effective
community participation in the Pilot.
Activities
United States
Environmental
Protection Agency
Washington, DC 20450
Solid Waste
and Emergency
Response (5105T)
EPA 500-F-01-257
Apr 01

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Activities planned as part of this Pilot include:
•	Reviewing riverfront land use history and
incorporating the results into a Geographic
Information Systems (GIS) database;
•	Conducting Phase I and Phase II environmental
site assessments on brownfields sites within the
planned riverfront trail area; and
•	Implementing the redevelopment plan
community participation program.
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-01-257
Apr 01

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