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A New Workshop for EPA Grantees!
First, congratulations on your EPA Brownfields Grant. To get you off to a great start, EPA Region 4 is hosting a workshop just for you. During the workshop you will learn about grant management, community engagement, hiring contractors, best practices, planning, and much more. There is a lot to learn, and this is where you do it. Learn more »
| Date | Location |
|---|---|
| September 22 – 23, 2022 | Charlotte, NC |
| October 5 – 6, 2022 | College Park, GA |
To get the most out of the workshop, consider engaging the ICMA TAB team beforehand. We can help get you prepared to get the most out of the workshop and ready to catalyze brownfield transformation.
Apply for free technical assistance
Project Details
About
Through the ICMA TAB program for EPA Region 4, you can access free technical assistance to support your brownfield redevelopment efforts. These services are made available through an award from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).
Definition: The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) defines a brownfield as "...a property, the expansion, redevelopment, or reuse of which may be complicated by the presence or potential presence of a hazardous substance, pollutant, or contaminant."
- What are Brownfields?
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What are Brownfields?
In everyday terms, brownfields are property that might be contaminated, and that makes reusing the site difficult. Examples include the abandoned gas station on the corner, vacant building on Main St., or the large fenced off industrial site where people in your community used to work. Brownfields are in all our communities, large, small, urban, and rural.
Every site has a history. Some site histories include operations that might have released contamination, pollutants, or toxins into the soil, groundwater, and surface water. Buildings might have also been impacted by releases or otherwise contain building materials known to be hazardous.
Redeveloping brownfields does not follow a typical development process. Known or suspected contamination on a site creates legal, technical, and financial uncertainty that requires a
- Impacts
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Impacts
Public Health – Environment – Economy – Environmental Justice
These releases create negative public and environmental health conditions that need to be addressed before a brownfield can be redeveloped. Brownfields also do not host employment, housing, goods, services, amenities, or other activity that benefits the surrounding community. This has significant economic implications greatly reducing tax revenue, employment, and business opportunities.
These impacts are not felt evenly across all communities. Lower income communities and communities of color endure a greatly disproportionate share of brownfields and their negative impacts. As such, achieving Environmental Justice is a central goal in brownfield redevelopment.
- Benefits of Redevelopment
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Benefits of Redevelopment
Brownfield redevelopment catalyzes a series of benefits including healthier communities, a stronger natural environment, jobs, economic development, sustainability, resilience, sense of place, and community building. Using improved public health and environmental quality to leverage economic development gets to the heart of brownfield redevelopment.
The EPA Brownfield program provides financial and technical resources to local governments and nonprofit organizations who facilitate brownfield planning, assessment, cleanup, and redevelopment.
- Description of impacts/liabilities to assets
- ICMA and TAB
Technical Assistance
ICMA offers tailored technical assistance, free of charge, to assist you transition your brownfields from liability to asset. This assistance is made possible through the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Technical Assistance to Brownfield Communities (TAB) program. In EPA Region 4, ICMA can provide technical assistance and give you clear and actionable direction and feedback about specific sites, building a program, EPA grant resources, financial, legal, regulatory processes, brownfield basics, best practices, technical subjects, and more.
There are three tracks for assistance, each offering a tailored approach that capitalizes on the ICMA team’s national experience with dynamic brownfield challenges. Regardless of the track will engage with professionals who have navigated brownfield redevelopment processes and implemented creative approaches to overcome obstacles to their redevelopment.
- Brownfield 311
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Brownfield 311
Readily accessible, short term, engaging assistance provided remotely (video calls/email/telephone) by 2 - 4 subject matter experts. This is a great resource for new grantees, and seasoned programs and organizations alike. Our team comes prepared with background research into your circumstances prior to meeting so as to make the most of our time.
- Challenge Assessments
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Challenge Assessments
Communities requiring more in-depth assistance can access our one-day onsite Challenge Assessments. Challenge Assessments may include, but are not limited to stakeholder engagement such as workshops/charrettes, SWOT analysis, meeting facilitation between multiple groups; technical review of planning documents, environmental site assessments, cleanup plans, and more.
- Implementation Engagement
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Implementation Engagement
These are our most in-depth level of assistance, intended to help a community keep brownfields plans “off the shelf” and their redevelopment goals moving forward. Implementation Engagements include in person engagement up to 2 site visits and remote communication. Activity may include but are not limited to “Collider” events where multiple stakeholder groups forge an action plan; community workshops and charrettes; Evaluation of cleanup alternatives considering development opportunities; community and local government capacity building; real estate development assistance, such as market studies, land planning, and identification of potential developers and/or end users.
Knowledge Resources
- EPA
- Alabama Brownfields
- Florida Brownfields
- Georgia Brownfields
- Kentucky Brownfields
- Mississippi Brownfields
- North Carolina Brownfields
- South Carolina Brownfields
- Tennessee Brownfields
- Webinar: Successful Brownfields Grant Writing (October 21, 2022) (Recording)
Contact
Clark Henry, chenry@icma.org, 910.386.1540
New, Reduced Membership Dues
A new, reduced dues rate is available for CAOs/ACAOs, along with additional discounts for those in smaller communities, has been implemented. Learn more and be sure to join or renew today!
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