E.P.A. Chooses 20 Communities for Brownfield Grants to Revitalize Communities, Strengthen Local Economies

WASHINGTON - Today, the E.P.A. (EPA) announced the selection of 20 communities in 16 states receiving approximately $4 million in Brownfields Area-Wide Planning (AWP) grants for cleanup and reuse of Brownfields sites to revitalize communities and strengthen local economies.

Modeled after New York State's Brownfields Opportunity Area (BOA) Plan and part of the Partnership for Sustainable Communities-a interagency partnership between the U.S. Department of Transportation, Department of Housing and Urban Development and EPA-- these grants recognize that successful, sustained community revitalization, particularly in economically distressed communities, occurs when neighborhood stakeholders, local governments and the private sector are provided tools to develop a shared project for redevelopment and community-wide improvement.

The agency made the announcement at a press conference in Huntington, W.Va.; the city projects to use its $200,000 AWP grant to help launch the Advanced Manufacturing & Polymer Commercialization Center, a hi-tech campus that will develop innovative new technologies, create new jobs, and lead to the redevelopment of vacant and polluted brownfields on the Ohio River. The E.P.A. grant will help the city build a 21^st century advanced manufacturing economy.

"Every region of the country from the Pacific Northwest to the deep south to the midwest Rust Belt and New England has communities that are new AWP recipients, ranging from a community of just over 1000 people to large urban neighborhoods," said Mathy Stanislaus, assistant administrator for EPA's Office of Solid Waste and Emergency Response. "The selected grantees have demonstrated a strong vision and partnership to catalyze brownfield redevelopment as a pathway to transform their communities into vibrant destinations for housing, manufacturing, and transit-oriented development."

"The U.S. Economic Development Administration (EDA) has a longstanding and productive history of working with the E.P.A. in assisting communities undergoing economic transformation," said U.S. Assistant Secretary of Business for Economic Development Jay Williams. "EPA's Area Wide Planning grants can help identify potential areas for EDA investment, both of which are intended to create conditions for private investment and job creation."

"The Area Wide Planning Grants emerged out of the early years of the HUD-DOT-EPA Partnership for Sustainable Communities," said Harriet Tregoning, Director of the U.S. Housing and Urban Development Office of Economic Resilience. "This year's awardees continue the tradition of comprehensive approaches to community-based problem solving and revitalization. We are thrilled to support our E.P.A. colleagues as the agencies work in partnership with local communities in places as diverse as California's Central Valley, rural Washington, and the Bronx to build more resilient communities that grow our nation's economy."

E.P.A. is awarding up to $200,000 per recipient to work with communities on Brownfields planning activities and reuse in conjunction with community assets such as housing, recreation and open space, employment, education and health facilities, social services, transportation options, infrastructure and Business needs. The area-wide planning approach acknowledges that revitalization of the area surrounding Brownfield sites is also critical to the successful reuse of the property. The approach enables local leaders to conduct a community-wide systematic approach to identify uses and enhancements in the area to foster public-private redevelopment efforts. This inclusive, locally driven planning approach advances health and equity by fostering projects for livable communities through jobs, recreation, housing, and an increased tax base.

Considered reuses of Brownfield sites include advanced manufacturing businesses, recreation hubs, mixed-income housing, community centers that serve youth and unskilled workers, leveraging existing infrastructure to support a walkable, transit-oriented community and capitalizing on Tax Increment Finance (TIF) districts. This group is also leveraging partnerships with local universities, community groups, local health facilities, local businesses and other neighborhood-based nonprofit groups.

This is the 3rd round of grants awarded under the Brownfields AWP program. The 2010 pilot program, where approximately $4 million was awarded to fund AWP project development in 23 communities, has leveraged approximately $418 million in infrastructure and plan development investments.

Several of the selected communities-Milwaukee and Racine, Wisconsin; Portland, Maine; Rochester, New York; and Pittsburg, Kansas-- participate in the Economic Development Administration's (EDA) Investing in Manufacturing Communities Partnership. Others are recipients or key partners of the Partnership for Sustainable Communities. These programs seek to leverage and build upon the resources already in the communities and the AWP grants will complement these targeted efforts. Building on federal partnership efforts, DOT has committed to prioritizing communities who use the outcomes of the AWP process to inform subsequent transportation plans in the DOT's TIGER grant selection process. Not only will this new grant award ensure a robust approach to brownfields reuse, it may also assist the community in securing additional resources to implement the plan.

2015 Area-Wide Planning grants provide backing for the planning of the following reuse activities:

More information on the grant recipients: http://epa.gov/brownfields/areawide_grants.htm

More information on the Partnership for Sustainable Communities: http://www.sustainablecommunities.gov/

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