Alabama ~ Florida ~ Georgia ~ Kentucky ~ Mississippi ~ North Carolina

before investing time in preparing a Brownfields grant
proposal.

Take a long view, Brownfields assessment grants
typically provide $400,000 in funding over three years.
That's often not enough time or money to address a
single target area, much less other needy communities
or neighborhoods in your jurisdiction. Brownfields
cleanup grants provide a maximum of $200,000 in
federal funding. Additional public or private sources
of funding may be needed. EPA wants to work with
successful grantees who want to continue to grow
their Brownfields programs through additional
assessment grants, moving sites from assessment to
remediation through Brownfields cleanup grants, and
on to redevelopment.

After you get a grant. Keep your community
involved and enthusiasm high. Hold routine
community meetings to seek input and provide
updates. Use a variety of methods for notification,
including web sites, newsletters, or social networking
sites. Get community members to actively participate
with volunteer events, weekend markets, or festivals.

Don't limit your efforts to Brownfields assessment
and remediation. The target area may have other
challenges and needs beyond those that can be
addressed through EPA Brownfields grants. High crime
rates, substandard housing, poor transportation
options, limited access to healthy food may all need to
be addressed before investors are willing to
participate in the renaissance of a community. A
variety of partners including federal government
agencies, charitable foundations, and nearby colleges
and universities may be drafted as participants in your
project.

Consider incentives to spur redevelopment. Some
local governments take on the role of a pre-developer,
acquiring and assembling properties, and taking
actions to improve the appeal of Brownfields,

including demolition of deteriorated structures, site
cleanup and infrastructure improvements.
Development of master plans, establishment of
overlay districts, zoning changes, and tax abatements
may also help attract investment.

Special consideration before purchasing
Brownfields properties. Often communities have a
priority property that the local government or other
entity will want to acquire for cleanup and
redevelopment purposes. In this case careful attention
should be given to pre-purchase inquiries which are
necessary to avoid assuming liability for cleanup under
federal laws. Appropriate inquiry prior to acquisition is
also required to be eligible for EPA Brownfields
assessment and cleanup funding.

Don't have an end use? Consider an interim use.

Properties that aren't attracting investment may be
able to benefit the community in other ways. For
example, many communities offer vacant properties to
area residents for community gardens. Community
gardens not only provide a neighborhood with
delicious and healthy food choices, but they also
create recreational opportunities and attractive
greenspace. And perhaps the community garden itself
will become the missing catalyst to attract investment
to a neighborhood.

Go Green! Whether you're preparing a property for
reuse, developing plans and designs, or constructing a
project, consider employing sustainable practices. For
example, when removing structures, many parts of
buildings can be recycled. If you're installing
pavement, consider sustainable stormwater
management practices such as pervious pavement,
bioswales and rain gardens. And if you're constructing
buildings, consider energy efficient design and the use
of renewable energy.

www.epa.gov/region4/rcra/bflr

https://www.epa.gov/brownfields

~ South Carolina ~ Tennessee

So You Want To Apply
For A Brownfields Grant?

Have questions,? Visit our website at https;/ /
www. epa. gov / brownfields

SEE ALSO:

https: / Zwww3.epa.gov/

https: / / www.epa.gov/ aboutepa/forms/
contacting-epa-region-4-southeast

Before: Union Mill - Union, South Carolina

After: Union Mill - Union, South Carolina

U. S. Environmental Protection Agency

&EPA

Region 4
Sam Nunn Federal Center
61 Forsyth Street
Atlanta, GA 30303
(404) 562-8729

Serving: AL, FL, GA, KY, MS, NC, SC, TN & 6 Tribes

https://www.epa.gov/brownfields

Visit our web site:
https://www.epa.gov/brownfields


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Alabama ~ Florida ~ Georgia ~ Kentucky

BACKGROUND

Who can apply? State, tribal, local, and other
governmental organizations, and, in some cases,
non-profit organizations.

What can I apply for? Funding to conduct planning,
environmental assessment and site cleanup, including
establishing a revolving loan fund program for clean-
up.

When can I apply? EPA conducts an annual
competition with requests for proposals usually in late
summer.

What are my chances of success? Only about one in
four applications will be successful. To increase your
chances of success, the steps you take long before you
submit your application are extremely important.
Applicants who have taken the following steps are not
only able to write stronger proposals, but they are also
more likely to be successful Brownfields grantees.

(This brochure will focus on those applicants who are
applying for assessment grants, but many of these
recommendations are important for revolving loan
fund and cleanup grant applicants as well.)

What are Brownfields? Property that is, or may be,
contaminated with hazardous substances or other
pollutants. Often, the perception of contamination is
the only impediment. Historically, nearly 30% of the
sites assessed under EPA Brownfields grants do not
have contamination that requires cleanup. For
contaminated sites, cleanup costs may be significant
or not. Uncertainty on needed cleanup and cleanup
costs is a big hindrance to redevelopment of
Brownfields. Brownfields assessment grants offer
communities an opportunity to eliminate that
uncertainty. Brownfields can be found just about
everywhere. An everyday example could be the
vacant corner gas station or abandoned warehouse
that has attracted vandals, vagrants, and graffiti
artists. Some in your community will see Brownfields
as blight on their neighborhood, a symbol of America's

industrial decline, or the reason for chronic health
problems. Others will look beyond the blight and see
Brownfields as an opportunity to create an economic
engine, a new community gateway, or a jobs magnet.

GETTING STARTED

Assess your capacity to manage a Brownfields grant.

Brownfields grants require a great deal of effort to
manage. You must have the ability to contract with
and manage an environmental consultant. You must
have a financial and accounting system to manage a
budget, draw down funds, make payments, and report
accomplishments quarterly to EPA. Even if you
delegate some of these tasks to your consultant, you
are ultimately responsible for meeting the Terms and
Conditions of your grant. (If you decide that
management of a grant is too much to take on, EPA
can assist you in other ways. For example, EPA offers
Targeted Brownfields Assessments, a non-grant
option, where an EPA project manager can conduct
Phase I and II environmental site assessments and
cleanup planning using EPA contract resources.)

Identify your project manager. A dedicated, energetic
project manager is often the difference between a
successful community Brownfields program and an
unsuccessful one. Make sure he/she has plenty of time
and energy to devote to the project and empower
your project manager with clear decision-making
authority. You should also ask yourself some
important questions. Can you retain this person for
the three year life of the grant or beyond, when your
Brownfields program begins to flourish? Or, how will
you replace your Project Manager if he/she leaves
your organization?

Put together a Brownfields Team. Whether you call it
a Brownfields Team, a Brownfields Advisory
Committee or something else, your program will
benefit from the collective thinking of many diverse
minds. Team membership could consist of political
leaders, local government planners, community
leaders, local environmental consultants, and

https://www.epa.gov/brownfields

https://www.epa.gov/brownfields

sissippi ~ North Carolina ~ South Carolina ~ Tennessee

developers. Your Team will likely evolve to include new
membership after you get the grant.

Look at political support for a Brownfields program.

Even if your current political leaders support a
Brownfields program, will the administration potentially
change over the life of the grant? Would potential new
leaders support such a program? Some leaders do not
want a Brownfields grant because it places a perceived
stigma of blighted, abandoned, and contaminated
properties on a community.

Find a mentor. The Southeast has many communities,
big and small, that have successfully redeveloped
Brownfields. Most are more than happy to give you
advice and assistance in developing your Brownfields
program. EPA can help you identify present and past
successful Brownfields grantees.

Identify your project area. Most assessment grant
applications are for community-wide assessment grants.
This can cover the entire geographic jurisdiction of an
applicant, such as a sprawling city or an entire county.
Realistically, the limited funding will not allow you to
spread dollars equally over a large area and you should
consider concentrating the funding into a few areas with
the greatest need. The Community Need information
requested in our grant proposals examines human
health, environmental, and financial indicators.

Targeting areas with demographic data that compare
unfavorably with city, county, state, or national
averages will not only score your proposal more points,
but it will help those with the greatest need.

Get your targeted community(ies) involved. As a first
step, consider education for your targeted community
on Brownfields. EPA and your state environmental agen-
cy can assist with this. A community's challenges often
go well beyond the Brownfields properties
themselves, to include health concerns, housing
issues, and transportation limitations. In such cases,
EPA can connect you with other federal partners for
assistance. Keep the community informed through

flyers, newsletters, web sites or other appropriate means.
If you have any language barriers, provide translations of
information to maximize participation.

Discuss your vision for your project area. If you don't
have a vision, develop one. Hold a charrette to get your
community talking about its future. A shared vision can
motivate a community and attract outside interest, and
lead to a winning Brownfields grant proposal.

Start identifying Brownfields in your target area.

Development of an inventory of Brownfields properties is
a critical step in creating a community Brownfields
program. Initial development of an inventory doesn't
have to be an expensive undertaking. Community
members are often the best source of information about
blighted or abandoned properties in their neighborhood.
EPA Cleanups in My Community
(https://www.epa.gov/cleanups/cleanups-my-
communitv) is a web-based mapping tool that can be
searched to identify additional sites that may be of con-
cern. Your state environmental agency may also have on-
line resources with information on sites in your target ar-
ea. If applicable, your tax assessor's office may be able to
identify tax-delinquent properties in your target area that
may meet the definition of a Brownfields site. Business
directories with information on plant closings are another
possible source of information.

Develop an approach to prioritize sites. Which sites
should you address first? Develop a priority scheme based
on your objectives and vision for your target area. Some
factors that might help prioritize sites include community
concerns, health hazards, and potential for
redevelopment.

Involve private property owners. In many cases
Brownfields properties are under private ownership. If
you intend to target these properties with your grant, be
sure to have conversations with the landowner to ensure
their willingness to participate. If you are applying for a
site-specific assessment grant that addresses private
property, it is wise to get a signed access agreement

https://www.epa.gov/brownfields

https://www.epa.gov/brownfields


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