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U.S. EPA awards $175,000 to the City of Phoenix for Brownfields Development

Release Date: 10/18/2010
Contact Information: Francisco Arcaute, 213 244 1815, [email protected]

LOS ANGELES – The City of Phoenix, Ariz., will receive $175,000 as part of U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s $4 million in assistance to 23 communities, many in under-served and economically disadvantaged areas, to develop area-wide plans for the reuse of brownfields properties.
EPA is awarding approximately $4 million in total across 23 recipients. Recipients will each receive up to ap­proximately $175,000 in EPA cooperative agreement and/or direct technical assistance. Assistance will help recipients initiate develop­ment of an area-wide plan and identify next steps and resources needed to implement the plan.

"This area-wide approach recognizes that revitalization of the communities impacted by multiple brownfield sites or a large individual site – particularly in distressed communities – requires a strategy for area-wide improvement to attract investment to redevelop brownfields properties,” said Mathy Stanislaus, assistant administrator for EPA’s Office of Solid Waste and Emergency Response. “The approach also recognizes the importance of identifying and leveraging additional local, state, and federal investment to implement the plans.”

Details on the $175,000 award to the City of Phoenix are as follows:

EPA has selected the City of Phoenix as a Brownfields Area- Wide Planning Pilot Program recipient. The city will focus its pilot project on the Del Rio Area (population 3,708) located in the center of Phoenix along Rio Salado. More than 85 per­cent of residents are minorities. Unemployment is nearly 12 percent, and more than 37 percent of residents live below the poverty level. Within the project area, the 160-acre Del Rio Landfill site is a high priority brownfields site for the city.

With 80 percent of the land zoned for heavy industry, there is a severe shortage of recreational facilities for area residents. The city has adopted a Rio Salado Beyond the Banks Area Plan that includes the Del Rio Area and will continue to work with the community to develop a cohesive brownfields area-wide plan. The area-wide planning will facilitate community involve­ment with bilingual sessions to prepare the public to partici­pate in brownfields site reuse planning.

Development of the plan is expected to encourage the assessment, cleanup, and redevelopment of brownfield sites and connect these sites to improved recreational areas for residents, access to mass transit, and increased commercial and business opportunities.

The plans will integrate site cleanup and reuse into coordinated strategies to lay the foundation for addressing community needs such as economic development, job creation, housing, recreation, and education and health facilities. Brownfields are properties where the presence or potential presence of hazardous substances, pollutants, or contaminants may complicate the properties’ expansion, redevelopment, or reuse.

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