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EPA Awards $200,000 to The Enterprise Center, Inc. to Help Cleanup and Reuse Brownfields Sites

Release Date: 04/25/2013
Contact Information: James Pinkney, (404) 562-9183 (Direct), (404) 562-8400 (Main) pinkney.james@epa.gov

(Atlanta - April 25, 2013) - The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced today that it plans to award The Enterprise Center, Inc. with a brownfield grant to help them plan for the assessment, clean up and reuse of Brownfields properties. This funding is part of the Brownfields Area-Wide Planning program, which aims to help communities develop area-wide plans and specific implementation strategies for integrating the cleanup and reuse of brownfield sites into neighborhood revitalization efforts.

“EPA is certainly excited about the opportunity for communities in the Southeast Region to realize sustainable environmental results,” said EPA Region 4 Administrator, Gwen Keyes Fleming. “Through EPA’s Brownfields Program we support not just environmental revitalization but economic revitalization.”

EPA has selected The Enterprise Center, Inc. as a Brownfields Area-Wide Planning grant recipient. The Enterprise Center, working with the community, the City of Chattanooga, Hamilton County, and many other key stakeholders, will develop a brownfields area-wide plan and implementation strategy for the 3rd Street Corridor. Currently the 3rd Street Corridor is a blend of large institutions, small neighborhoods, and historic landmarks, and includes a 17-acre Cannon/Cumberland industrial brownfields site. Through community involvement and existing conditions research, The Enterprise Center will develop brownfield site reuse plans that will help guide redevelopment in the area toward a multifaceted medical cluster that will encompass healthcare delivery, higher learning, research and manufacturing. Key partners include the City of Chattanooga, University of Tennessee at Chattanooga, Fort Wood Neighborhood Association, Hamilton County, and various other business, neighborhood, and nonprofit groups.

Brownfields are 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. In 2010, EPA launched the Brownfields Area-Wide Planning (BF AWP) program as a pilot program with the goal of broadening the approach that communities take with existing Brownfields grant programs. With this second round of grant funding, EPA has now awarded approximately $8 million to 43 communities.

This is the second round of grants awarded under the BF AWP program. EPA’s BF AWP program supports the collaboration among EPA and the Departments of Transportation and Housing and Urban Development to leverage a range of programs to meet common revitalization needs. The collaboration ensures that the agencies consider affordable housing, transportation, and environmental protection together. The Partnership is helping communities across the country to use existing in-fill sites to create more housing choices, make transportation more efficient and reliable, reinforce existing investments, and support vibrant and healthy neighborhoods that attract businesses.

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

More information on the partnership: http://www.sustainablecommunities.gov/

Connect with EPA Region 4 on Facebook: www.facebook.com/eparegion4
And on Twitter: @USEPASoutheast