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Brownfields 1997 Assessment Pilot Fact Sheet
City of St Petersburg, 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 selected the City of St. Petersburg for a
Brownfields Pilot. The brownfields project is part of a
comprehensive set of commitments made by the Federal
Interagency Task Force to St. Petersburg. The Task
Force was formed by President Clinton in response to the
two civil disturbances that occurred in the city in the fall
of 1996 and includes seven federal agencies: Department
of Labor, Department of Housing and Urban
Development, Department of Commerce, Department of
Education, Department of Justice, the Small Business
Administration, and EPA. The Task Force worked with
local and state officials to identify federal resources to
assist the affected community in order to address the
problems that precipitated the unrest. The federal
agencies will provide both financial and technical
assistance to the city.
Pilot Snapshot
Date of Announcement: 04/01/1997
Amount: $200,000
Profile: The Pilot targets brownfields activities in
the state Enterprise Zone and the Business Retention
Target Area west of the city's Central Business
District.
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 St. Petersburg,FL
(813)893-7100
Objectives
The City of St. Petersburg's objective is to implement a
number of activities to support a demonstration site
project in the federal Enterprise Zone. The Enterprise
Zone overlaps the Business Retention Target Area,
which is west of the city's Central Business District. The
city will work with the Brownfields Working Group and
its teams (Plan Action, Communication Strategies,
Finance, and Regulatory) to build a community base of
understanding, resources, and support for the
Brownfields Redevelopment Project. Ultimately, the
city anticipates that its revitalization efforts will create
jobs and stimulate economic development.
Activities
The Pilot has:
•	Developed a site selection process and a
community participation strategy;
•	Completed environmental assessments on 187
United States
Environmental
Protection Agency
Washington, DC 20450
Solid Waste
and Emergency
Response (5105T)
EPA 500-F-00-266
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properties, with 158 not requiring cleanup; and
•	Developed a geographic information system
(GIS) database of brownfields sites in the Pilot
area. The database can query, research, store,
and display property information, including
digital photos. It will be linked with the county
property appraiser's database and will be updated
weekly.
The Pilot is:
•	Involving the public in the Pilot area in the
brownfields redevelopment process through
workshops and other outreach strategies; and
•	Identifying and supporting new funding options
for brownfields redevelopment.
Experience with the St. Petersburg Pilot has been a
catalyst for related activities, including the following:
•	EPA, the city, and St. Petersburg Junior College
worked together to certify 26 people for
hazardous materials (HAZMAT) and basic
hazardous waste operators (HAZWOPER)
emergency situations.
•	The Pilot has leveraged redevelopment dollars
totaling $7,500,000
[$4 million from a Section 108 loan; $1 million from a
Brownfields Economic Development Initiative (BEDI)
award; $570,000 from the Economic Development
Administrations (EDA); $550,000 from a Community
Development Block Grant (CDBG); $500,000 from the
state; and $880,000 from the city].
•	The city was awarded an additional $350,000
grant under EPA's Brownfields Cleanup
Revolving Loan Fund Pilot Program.
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-00-266
Dec 00

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