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Brownfields 1998 Assessment Pilot Fact Sheet
Grand Prairie, TX
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 Grand Prairie for a
Brownfields Pilot. Grand Prairie has a population of
99,606, covers about 75 square miles, and is centrally
located in the Dallas/Fort Worth area. Widespread
contamination in the northern part of Grand Prairie has
led to increased greenfields development in the southern
part of the city. As more businesses relocate to the south,
the city struggles with loss of business and blight in the
low-income, high-minority population areas at the city's
core. Although the city has attempted to recruit
businesses to redevelop these potentially contaminated
brownfields, the city's efforts have been hampered by a
lack of information concerning levels of contamination,
environmental liability issues, and available financing
options.
The Pilot targets three areas of the city with strong
redevelopment potential: the Old Town area (or
Northeast Sector), Dalworth, and Shady Grove.
Unemployment ranges from 4.9% to 8.4% in these target
areas, and an average of 13% of the residents live below
the poverty level. The historic Old Town area has been
severely impacted by a number of recent closings,
including the imminent closure of a naval air station. The
area's land uses have included salvage yards, open
storage areas, manufacturing companies, and various
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Pilot Snapshot
Date of Announcement: 05/01/1998
Amount: $200,000
Profile: The Pilot targets three areas of Grand
Prairie-Old Town, Dalworth, and Shady Grove;
environmental assessments will be conducted at two
to three sites within these areas.
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 6 Brownfields Team
(214) 665-6780
EPA Region 6 Brownfields Web site
(http ://www .epa.gov/region6/brownfields)
Grant Recipient: Grand Prairie, TX
(972)237-8058
Objectives
Grand Prairie plans to use the Pilot to develop a
framework for a comprehensive redevelopment program
for the three targeted brownfields. The city plans to
identify, assess, and prioritize contaminated properties
in the target areas, evaluate potential uses for those
properties, and formulate a cleanup and redevelopment
plan.
Activities
Activities planned as part of this Pilot include:
•	Identifying, prioritizing, and assessing
contamination on properties in the target areas;
•	Evaluating potential redevelopment options for
contaminated properties;
•	Integrating brownfields information into a
geographic information system (GIS) database;
•	Creating partnerships among community groups,
businesses, financial institutions, and schools to
United States
Environmental
Protection Agency
Washington, DC 20450
Solid Waste
and Emergency
Response (5105T)
EPA 500-F-98-155
May 98

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historically African-American community. Although
there have been a number of community-driven
environmental efforts in the area, there is a significant
need to clean up and redevelop brownfields. Located on
the northern border of the city, the Shady Grove area is a
sparsely populated, historically minority community.
Much of the area's land is marked by sand and gravel pits
that were mined to provide fill materials during the
growth of the Dallas/Fort Worth metropolitan area.
Potential developers have expressed interest in these
three target areas, but environmental uncertainty has
stalled major redevelopment projects.
support cleanup and redevelopment efforts
through forums, mailings, and outreach media;
and
• Formulating an overall brownfields cleanup and
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	c
Environmental	anri Fmpflpn™	EPA 500-F-98-155
j. i- a	ancl Emergency	..
Protection Agency	Response (5105T)	MaV98
Washington, DC 20450	^ v '

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