Projects in Boston, Indianapolis, Iowa City, Denver, and National City, Calif., were
chosen to demonstrate the potential of redeveloper brownfields as sustainable community
developments by a partnership between the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the U.S. Department of Housing and
Urban Development (HUD) and the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT).
Fairmount Line—Boston, Massachusetts
The Boston project will focus
on continuing the work of cleaning up many brownfields along the Fairmount Line
commuter rail by creating a transit-oriented development (TOD) village on the
site of a former brownfield. The poartnership will assist the community with TOD
planning to help minimize displacement of existing residents and encourage
development of affordable housing. Federal assistance will also help increase
the capacity of nonprofit housing providers, such as community development
corporations, to clean up and redevelop brownfield properties. Assistance could help to develop public- and private-sector partnerships within the
community to leverage investment in brownfields redevelopment projects.
Smart Growth Redevelopment District—Indianapolis, Indiana
In Indianapolis’s Smart Growth
Redevelopment District, the pilot program will focus on two areas: a former
rail yard that will be redeveloped to support urban agriculture, and two former
maintenance facilities that will be redeveloped as affordable housing and permanent
supportive housing units. The partnership will assist the community with
developing a land reuse plan to support urban agriculture at the former
rail yard that will include environmental design components, neighborhood
strategies, and local policies necessary to make reuse successful, as well as an
implementation plan. The federal partners will also help the community develop
form-based codes to support brownfield site reuse planning and green building
design. Once these codes are successfully applied, they will serve as a model
for other sites within the Redevelopment District.
Riverfront Crossings District—Iowa
City, Iowa
Iowa City was chosen to support plans to redevelop brownfields in its
Riverfront Crossing District to create a walkable, urban neighborhood close to
a proposed light rail stop. The project aims to provide residents with a mix of
uses, including affordable housing; ground floor retail and office space;
pedestrian-oriented streetscapes; entertainment and recreational facilities;
and public open space and trails along the Iowa River. The partnership will
assist the community with developing a strategy to identify, clean up, and
redevelop brownfields and other sites within the district. Federal assistance
will also help the community plan for sustainable, mixed-use redevelopment
to revitalize an area within Iowa City affected by recent flooding.
La Alma/South Lincoln Park—Denver,
Colorado
The pilot program will assist the
Denver Housing Authority take advantage of redevelopment opportunities in the
community of La Alma/South Lincoln Park. Project goals include the design and
construction of green buildings, storm water control best management practices
in traffic control corridors, green job generation through community gardens
and fresh food markets, the promotion of energy efficiency, the reuse and
recycling of demolition materials, and the promotion of water-efficient buildings and
infrastructure.
Westside Affordable Housing
Transit-Oriented Development—National City, California
The partnership chose National
City to aid the Westside Affordable Transit-Oriented Development project by
creating and implementing a sustainability plan and financial strategy for a
14-acre brownfield site, once the state’s largest auto mall and home to heavy
industrial and commercial services. The closures have disproportionately
impacted residents in the Westside area, a community with a density of 389
polluters per square mile and more than 50% of adults with no health
insurance, according to HUD. HUD, DOT, and EPA will help the community develop
a plan to address the former brownfield and focus on green building and
energy-efficient redevelopment plans that incorporate storm water and flood
control management.