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Brownfields 1996 Assessment Pilot Fact Sheet

Charlotte, NC

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 Charlotte for a Brownfields
Pilot. The Brownfields Pilot area is adjacent to uptown in
the Wilmore neighborhood and South End business
district, which includes Charlotte's earliest industrial
area, dating back to the late 1800s. Brownfields
redevelopment is an important component of Charlotte's
effort to revitalize its urban neighborhoods, which are
showing significant signs of economic distress and
physical deterioration. Approximately 1.5 million public
dollars in physical improvements within the South End
area have leveraged the private redevelopment of several
mills into retail, entertainment, and residential uses.
However, there are many brownfields sites where
redevelopment has yet to occur.

Pilot Snapshot

Date of Announcement: 06/13/1996
Amount: $200,000

Profile: The Pilot targets redevelopment efforts in
the city's Wilmore neighborhood and South End
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: Charlotte,NC
(704)336-4522

Objectives

The city plans to return brownfield properties to
productive use by creating jobs, contributing to the tax
base, providing needed community services, and
creating environmentally safe sites. The city, in
conjunction with the state, is establishing clear
guidelines for appropriate levels of cleanup on selected
sites through community consensus and innovative
cleanup plans. Additionally, the city is educating
lenders on managing brownfields risk for private sector
investment. Volunteer partners (including law firms,
lending institutions, environmental professionals,
neighborhood representatives, and universities) provide
assistance with addressing potential regulatory barriers.

Activities

The Pilot has:

• Held three community meetings, with more than
50 people attending each session. Meetings have
focused on defining risk and contamination, and

United States
Environmental
Protection Agency
Washington, DC 20450

Solid Waste
and Emergency
Response (5105T)

EPA 500-F-00-262
Dec 00


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were a joint effort by the brownfields partners.
Partners presented information on the
environmental and liability content related to the
targeted area and staffed tables for participants to
ask specific questions at the end of the meetings;

•	Created a site selection committee to select the
actual brownfields sites based on input from the
community meetings and the criteria cited in the
work plan. A representative from each of the
following groups is included in the team: South
End Development Corporation; Wilmore
Neighborhood Association; West Enterprise
Community; Dilworth Community Development
Corporation; the Sierra Club; a real estate
industry representative; a banker; and an
environmental engineer;

•	Identified, through the work of the site-selection
committee, seven cleanup and redevelopment
projects for assessment that offer significant
public benefits to the community;

•	Completed environmental assessments on the
following seven sites: Thomas Construction,
Camden Square project, Truck Equipment
Manufactures' expansion, South Tryon, Cost
Effective Maintenance, Wilmore CDC housing
project, and Westover Shopping Center; and

•	Created the following: a brownfields project logo
as a community outreach tool; invitations to the
first community meeting; door hangers to inform
residents about community meetings; and
reminder postcards in conjunction with efforts to
publicize the community meetings. The Pilot was
recognized for these strong community outreach
materials, receiving a Saavy Award from the
national City County Marketing and
Communications Association.

The Pilot is:

•	Completing cleanup plans for two more sites in
the targeted area; and

•	Keeping community residents and partners
informed of the activities of the Pilot.

Experience with the Charlotte Pilot has been the catalyst
for related activities, including the following:

•	Cleanup activities have been completed at three
properties, and redevelopment activities have
begun at four sites.

•	The Pilot has leveraged a total of $45,483 in
assessment funding and $203,938 in cleanup
funding.

United States
Environmental
Protection Agency
Washington, DC 20450

Solid Waste
and Emergency
Response (5105T)

EPA 500-F-00-262
Dec 00


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•	The Pilot has leveraged the creation of 400
redevelopment jobs and a total of $17,310,000 in
redevelopment funding, including $14.5 million
for the Camden Square site, $2.5 million for the
Truck Equipment Manufacturing site, $175,000
for the Cost Effective Maintenance site, $75,000
for the Gaines Brown Design site, and $60,000
for the Thomas Construction site.

•	The city created a Facade Improvement Grant
program and an Infrastructure Grant program to
remove blight and make infrastructure
improvements in specific business districts,
including the Pilot area.

•	North Carolina Citizens for Business and
Industry and other Pilot partners drafted state
legislation simplifying the regulatory review
process and offered covenants-not-to-sue to
non-responsible owners whose cleanup and
redevelopment plans have been completed and
approved by the state. City staff participated in
ongoing dialogues with North Carolina
Department of Environment and Natural
Resources regarding proposed state legislation.
The Brownfields Property Reuse Act was signed
by the Governor in August 1997.

•	Pilot partners sponsored a conference for
bankers, titled "New Lending Opportunities,"
with more than 60 people in attendance,
including 29 lenders representing 10 banks from
8 cities in North Carolina and South Carolina.

•	The city produced a segment on the Brownfields
Project for the public access television talk show
that discussed the impact of brownfields
redevelopment in Charlotte and announced the
first community meeting.

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-00-262

_ . .	and Emergency _ __

Protection Agency	Response (5105T) Dec 00

Washington, DC 20450	^ v '


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/!T^. Brownfields 1996 Supplemental Assessment
I jig) Pilot Fact Sheet

C/'*y of Charlotte, NC

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 Charlotte supplemental
assistance for its Brownfields Assessment Demonstration
Pilot. The city will expand the targeted area beyond the
Wilmore neighborhood/South End business district to
include all of its distressed communities, in alignment
with the area targeted by the Brownfields Cleanup
Revolving Loan Fund (BCRLF) Pilot. The area has a 25
percent average poverty rate for families, and 67 percent
of its residents are minority. This area includes the city's
major distressed business corridors that are the target of
several other economic revitalization incentives (e.g,
low-interest, deferred loans; tax incentives; grants)
through initiatives such as the federal Enterprise
Communities, North Carolina's State Development
Zones, Charlotte's City Within a City (CWAC) Equity
Loan Program, Business Corridor Revitalization
Program, and Business Investment Zones.

Pilot Snapshot

Date of Announcement: 03/01/2000
Amount: $100,000

Profile: City of Charlotte, NC. The Pilot will target
6 to 10 properties within Charlotte's major distressed
business corridors.

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: Charlotte,NC
(704)336-4522

Objectives

The Pilot will coordinate these supplemental assessment
efforts with the BCRLF program to facilitate completion
of the cleanup and redevelopment of a mix of large
developer projects and smaller projects handled by
small- to medium-sized businesses.

The Pilot's efforts will be integral to the city's
commitment to improve its older business areas and
neighborhoods.

To accomplish these objectives, the Pilot plans to:

•	Identify and convene an Advisory Committee
that will lead the property selection process and
work with the community to ensure that each
project conforms with local needs;

•	Develop communications and outreach materials
to ensure community input; and

•	Conduct 6 to 10 environmental assessments at
properties selected by the Advisory Committee.

United States	c

Environmental	anri Fmpflpn™	EPA 500-F-00-006

nil- a	ancl Emergency	. __

Protection Agency	Response (5105*0	Apr°°

Washington, DC 20450	^ v '


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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-00-006
Apr 00


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