s jQLI Brownfields 1996 Assessment Pilot Fact Sheet / Kalamazoo, Ml 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 Region 5 selected the City of Kalamazoo for a Regional Brownfields Pilot. Kalamazoo (population 81,000) has 28 State-designated environmental hazardous waste sites, 49 leaking underground storage tank sites, and three Superfund sites. Five percent of the City's taxable property (about 450 acres) are brownfields located in older neighborhoods where 64 percent of the City's minority population live. More than 30 percent of the population in these neighborhoods live below the poverty level, and unemployment is 16 percent. Without adequate resources to address brownfields, new development has migrated to greenfields - causing the loss of jobs, a reduced tax base, and a strain on local resources to support urban sprawl. Pilot Snapshot Date of Announcement: 08/28/1996 Amount: $100,000 Profile: The Pilot targets brownfields clustered along older industrial and commercial corridors in and around the City's central business district, along railroad lines, and along the Kalamazoo River. 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 5 Brownfields Team (312)886-7576 EPA Region 5 Brownfields Web site (http://www.epa.gov/R5Brownfields) Grant Recipient: City of Kalamazoo,MI (616) 337-8044 Objectives Kalamazoo's brownfields objective is to prevent future brownfields and retain existing industry while promoting a renewed interest in industrial and commercial investment within the City. Kalamazoo intends to create a systematic approach for redeveloping under-used and potentially contaminated properties in the City. Activities The Pilot has: • Completed inventory of City-owned brownfields and maps of the brownfields sites have been entered into the GIS system. Site evaluation criteria were used in creating an inventory of priority brownfields sites; • Initiated data collection inventory for privately-owned brownfields; and • Produced several television programs to update United States Environmental Protection Agency Washington, DC 20450 Solid Waste and Emergency Response (5105T) EPA 500-F-97-055 May 97 ------- the community on the progress of the Brownfields Pilot through the local cable station. The Pilot is: • Involving the community in developing options for possible site reuses; • Working with the Coalition for Urban Redevelopment in community outreach; • Conducting assessments and developing redevelopment plans for top priority sites; • Preparing analyses of potential land uses based on the results of the environmental assessments and cleanup plans; and • Identifying financial and human resources for brownfields redevelopment through public/private partnerships. Experience with the Kalamazoo Pilot has been a catalyst for related activities including the following. • The City is using the Kalamazoo Custom Metal Works (Lyons Manufacturing) project as a model for its brownfields implementation plan. This project demonstrates a successful mix of City, State, and private sector involvement to return the property to productive use and create, as well as retain, jobs. • The City expects to sign its first site redevelopment agreement with a local small business that has committed to build a light manufacturing facility at one of the top five priority brownfields. • The community outreach team is working on program development for a regional brownfields conference. 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-97-055 May 97 ------- w5 Brownfields 1996 Supplemental Assessment Pilot Fact Sheet City of Kalamazoo, Ml 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 awarded the City of Kalamazoo supplemental assistance for its Brownfields Assessment Demonstration Pilot and additional funding for assessments at brownfields properties to be used for greenspace purposes. Kalamazoo (population 81,000) has 28 state-designated environmental hazardous waste sites, 49 leaking underground storage tank sites, and three Superfund sites. In addition the Kalamazoo River has been neglected, with past industrial waste discharges leaving the river unsightly and odorous. Five percent of the city's taxable property (about 450 acres) are brownfields located in older neighborhoods where 64 percent of the city's minority population live. More than 30 percent of the population in these neighborhoods live below the poverty level, and the unemployment rate is 16 percent. Without adequate resources to address brownfields, new development has migrated to greenfields-causing the loss of jobs, a reduced tax base, and a strain on local resources due to urban sprawl. Through its Brownfields Redevelopment Initiative, Kalamazoo is rebuilding its tax base, addressing the problem of blighted and contaminated properties, and ensuring that neighborhood goals and quality-of-life issues are an integral part of the redevelopment process. Pilot Snapshot Date of Announcement: 03/01/2000 Amount: $100,000 $50,000 for Greenspace Profile: City of Kalamazoo, MI. The Pilot will target more than a dozen priority brownfields, most of which are located along the waterfront or within Renaissance Zones. 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 5 Brownfields Team (312)886-7576 EPA Region 5 Brownfields Web site (http://www.epa.gov/R5Brownfields) Grant Recipient: City of Kalamazoo,MI (616) 337-8044 Objectives The Pilot will use the supplemental assistance at priority sites for which cleanup and redevelopment can improve environmental and human health protection, enhance the tax base, create new jobs in distressed neighborhoods, and bolster the overall vitality of the affected neighborhoods. Most of the brownfields are city-owned, and many of them are located along the waterfront or within Renaissance Zones. The Pilot will continue to work with affected citizens, informing and involving them in developing reuse visions for the priority brownfields. The Pilot will use the greenspace funding to target waterfront properties that are included in the city's Waterfront Redevelopment Plan, which seeks to develop greenways along the entire length of the Kalamazoo River to reestablish the community's connection with the river. That plan provides for United States Environmental Protection Agency Washington, DC 20450 Solid Waste and Emergency Response (5105T) EPA 500-F-00-025 Apr 00 ------- development of public greenspace, trails, and canoe launches along portions of the Kalamazoo River within the city limits. To accomplish these objectives, the Pilot plans to: • Conduct environmental assessments and/or cleanup planning and design at approximately 13 priority brownfields; • Facilitate community involvement and input to the brownfield reuse plans; • Identify other resources to fill financing gaps; and • Conduct assessments at five waterfront sites to characterize the nature and extent of contamination and to design appropriate cleanup plans. 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-00-025 Apr 00 ------- |