Brownfields 2004 Grant Fact Sheet

Richmond, VA

EPA BROWNFIELDS PROGRAM

EPA's Brownfields Program empowers states, communities, and other stakeholders in economic development 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, the President 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.

ASSESSMENT GRANT

$200,000 for petroleum

EPA has selected the City of Richmond for a brownfields assessment grant. Grant funds will be used to conduct community involvement, perform Phase I and Phase II site assessments, and conduct special studies at sites contaminated with petroleum in the city's three city- and state-designated Enterprise Zones, and in portions of the Richmond Redevelopment and Housing Authority's (RRHA) designated redevelopment, conservation, and rehabilitation areas outside the zones.

COMMUNITY DESCRIPTION

The City of Richmond was selected to receive a brownfields assessment grant. About 114,500 of Richmond's 197,790 residents live in the zones targeted for assessment. Unemployment in the target areas is about 13 percent, compared to the city-wide rate of 5 percent. The poverty rate in the target areas is 28 percent, compared to a 21.4 percent rate in the city. These areas include older commercial and industrial neighborhoods with many vacant and underutilized properties. Richmond, along with other long-standing industrial municipalities, is experiencing a shift toward residential and mixed-use development in the older industrial zones. The James River, which once represented a source of power and means of transportation, now is a place for riverfront residential and mixed-use development. Cleanup and redevelopment of brownfields in these target areas is expected to enhance the city's capability to attract and support new, cleaner uses for these properties. This will help the city's efforts to attract investment and level the playing field between the city's brownfields and the greenfields in the suburban counties.

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 at: www.epa.gov/brownfields.

EPA Region 3 Brownfields Team
215-814-3129
http://www.epa.gov/reg3hwmd/bfs/index.htm

Grant Recipient: Richmond, VA
804-646-3792

The cooperative agreement for this grant has not yet been negotiated; therefore, activities described in this fact sheet are subject to change.