w5 Brownfields 1995 Assessment Pilot Fact Sheet City of Buffalo, NY 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 Buffalo supplemental assistance for its Brownfields Assessment Demonstration Pilot. Economic decline and contaminated industrial sites have negatively impacted the quality of life for Buffalo communities. The city of 328,000 residents bears a disproportionate number of contaminated sites-more than 60 in the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Information System (CERCLIS) and more than 20 on the New York State Registry of Inactive Hazardous Waste Sites. Fear regarding possible contamination is attached to countless other properties in the city. Pilot Snapshot Date of Announcement: 03/01/2000 Amount: $150,000 Profile: City of Buffalo, NY. The Pilot targets public and private properties that have near term development potential and are located in areas needing revitalization. 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 2 Brownfields Team (212) 637-4309 EPA Region 2 Brownfields Web site (http://www.epa.gov/region02/brownfields/) Grant Recipient: City of Buffalo,NY (716)851-5633 Objectives The Pilot's objective is to use the supplemental assistance to retain its Brownfields Manager and, thereby, continue its activities as a cooperative effort working to promote the safe, productive, and appropriate reuse of the city's brownfields. This effort will contribute to ensuring a safer, cleaner environment, as well as creating and promoting new, high-quality residential, commercial, and industrial acreage. The overall strategy of the Pilot is to provide technical assistance and support during the environmental assessment phase of planning and development projects, accomplished by conducting or leveraging Phase I and Phase II assessments and more extensive environmental investigations as warranted. The Pilot is guided by the Buffalo Brownfields Task Force, comprising county and city department officials; regional state regulatory agency officials; a member of the Interagency Working Group on Environmental United States Environmental Protection Agency Washington, DC 20450 Solid Waste and Emergency Response (5105T) EPA 500-F-00-004 Apr 00 ------- Justice; representatives from the city's official Buffalo Environmental Management Commission; members of the banking, legal, real estate, business, and university communities; and the general public. To accomplish these objectives, the Pilot plans to: • Address new sites as identified through interest by the city's planning and development agencies; • Communicate Pilot activities and results to the appropriate stakeholders for decision making on property redevelopment; and • Conduct or leverage Phase I and Phase II assessments and more extensive environmental investigations as warranted. 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-00-004 Apr 00 ------- w5 Brownfields 1995 Supplemental Assessment Pilot Fact Sheet Buffalo, NY 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 2 selected the City of Buffalo for a Regional Brownfields Pilot. Economic decline and contaminated industrial sites have negatively impacted the quality of life for residents. The City of 328,000 residents bears a disproportionate number of contaminated sites - over 60 in the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Information System (CERCLIS), as well as over 20 on the New York State Registry of Inactive Hazardous Waste Sites. Fear regarding possible contamination is attached to countless other properties in the City. Pilot Snapshot Date of Announcement: 07/26/1995 Amount: $200,000 Profile: The Pilot targets public and private properties that have near term development potential and are located in areas needing revitalization. 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 2 Brownfields Team (212) 637-4309 EPA Region 2 Brownfields Web site (http://www.epa.gov/region02/brownfields/) Grant Recipient: City of Buffalo,NY (716)851-5633 Objectives The Buffalo Brownfields Pilot is a cooperative effort working to promote the safe, productive, and appropriate reuse of the City's brownfields. This effort will contribute to ensuring a safer, cleaner environment, as well as creating and promoting new, clean, high quality residential, commercial, and industrial acreage. EPA funds will help to develop a City-wide master list of potential brownfields sites, create a database of information, and develop a process for prioritizing sites for further assessment and analysis. The Pilot is guided by the Buffalo Brownfields Task Force, comprised of County and City Department officials; regional State regulatory agency officials; a member of the Interagency Working Group on Environmental Justice; representatives from the City's official Buffalo Environmental Management Commission; members of the banking, legal, real estate, business, and university communities; and the general public. Activities United States Environmental Protection Agency Washington, DC 20450 Solid Waste and Emergency Response (5105T) EPA 500-F-97-046 May 97 ------- The Pilot has: • Initiated development of a geographic information system (GIS) database. The GIS database will allow for input and manipulation of planning, environmental, and economic site data, and will serve as a key information resource for anyone interested in any property in Buffalo; • Prepared a detailed inventory of 22 potential brownfields sites; • Completed six environmental site assessments; and • Prepared a Community Outreach Plan, which is expected to be released in mid-1997. The plan will serve as the mechanism for informing the public of the City's brownfields community participation process. The Pilot is: • Preparing a Brownfields Redevelopment Manual to be available to the City, business, and environmental communities and serve as a tool for future development efforts; • Coordinating a brownfields workshop/developer showcase to be held in 1997; • Improving the affected public's ability to understand, evaluate, and fully participate in the decision-making process; • Finalizing a development strategy for roughly 1,000-1,500 former industrial acres in southern Buffalo. The Pilot will prioritize sites for brownfields assessment. In addition, based on the results of a Phase I environmental site assessment, project developers are beginning development of a conceptual plan for a property in this area; and • Finalizing a development strategy for overall brownfields redevelopment projects based on community vision, economic development possibilities, and health and environmental concerns. Experience with the Buffalo Pilot has been a catalyst for related activities including the following. • Assisted the assessment, cleanup, and redevelopment of the LTV Republic Steel Site. A 25-acre hydroponic tomato greenhouse will now occupy the former industrial site on the banks of the Buffalo River. Petroleum waste from the LTV Republic Steel site may be recycled to make asphalt and reduce runoff into the river. United States c Environmental anri Fmpflpn™ EPA 500-F-97-046 j. i- a ancl Emergency .. Protection Agency Response (5105T) MaV97 Washington, DC 20450 ^ v ' ------- • Assisted the assessment, cleanup, and redevelopment of the Atlas Steel site. A 16-screen cinema with a total expected seat-capacity of 3,500, will join a restaurant, delicatessen, and discount department store as new occupants of the former steel plant site. 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-97-046 May 97 ------- |