City of San Diego Redevelopment Agency Receives $400,000 EPA Brownfields Assessment Grants

April 26, 2010 - PRLog -- SAN DIEGO, Calif.—The San Diego Redevelopment Agency was awarded two Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) grants, each valued at $200,000, to inventory, assess and plan efforts to clean up and redevelop brownfield sites.

The Agency submitted a grant application in partnership with SEDC, the Jacobs Center for Neighborhood Innovation and Price Charities and will focus its efforts on sites that are owned by these entities as well as other suitable sites in collaboration with willing property owners. These project partners will concentrate on sites within City Heights (commercial corridors along El Cajon Boulevard and University Avenue), the Village at Market Creek  (along the Euclid Avenue/Market Street corridor), and sections of southeastern San Diego.

“Environmental assessment is an expensive but crucial first step to assist property owners in understanding the environmental conditions of their property.  Through these initial steps we can ultimately achieve the larger goals of thoughtful redevelopment,” said Janice Weinrick, San Diego Redevelopment Agency’s deputy executive director.  “The long term impact of these grant funds can range from job creation for local residents to enhanced neighborhood amenities or infrastructure.”  

A brownfield site is generally defined as property in which the expansion, redevelopment, or reuse may be complicated by the presence or perceived presence of hazardous substances, pollutants, contaminants and/or petroleum products due to current or previous land uses. While brownfields are frequently found in older urban areas, the target sites were chosen because of their particular fit with the goals of the EPA Brownfield Assessment Program. The goal of the project partners is to advance plans to put under-utilized, untended properties back into productive use and strengthen the local economies.

The EPA program is designed to encourage the redevelopment of America’s estimated 450,000 abandoned and contaminated waste sites. As of March 2010, the program has leveraged more than $14 billion in cleanup and redevelopment funding, and created 61,277 jobs in clean up, construction, and redevelopment.

About the City of San Diego Redevelopment Agency
The City of San Diego Redevelopment Agency, created by the City Council in 1958, uses special legal and financial mechanisms to eliminate blight and improve economic and physical conditions in designated areas of the City. The Agency’s purview encompasses 17 project areas, study areas and affordable housing. Activities within the project areas are carried out by the city’s Redevelopment Division and two public, nonprofit city corporations: Centre City Development Corporation (CCDC) and Southeastern Economic Development Corporation (SEDC).  The Agency also administers seven Project Area Committees (PAC) that advise the agency on the adoption of redevelopment plans and implementing redevelopment projects. For more information, visit: http://www.sandiego.gov/redevelopment-agency/