November 11, 2004

Don West

Environmental Management Support, Inc.

8601 Georgia Avenue, Suite 500

Silver Spring, MD 20910

Dear Mr. West,

The Regional Planning Commission of Greater Birmingham is the sponsoring organization for the Brownfields Regional Redevelopment Task Force. This Task Force was formed in 2003 in to provide a format for partnerships to guide redevelopment in our region. Brownfields are a complicated issue with numerous obstacles. Birmingham is behind in addressing the issues, and this Task Force’s main objective is to build membership partners, seek and define the problems, develop strategies and put programs on the ground.

Through funding available from the Metropolitan Planning Organization, we have sponsored this cooperative partnership of 20 entities to bring new growth through redevelopment into our community. The Task Force has been able to bring a series of forums on subjects pertinent to their mission, meets regularly and is now able to provide proposals for work in our community. The program design and implementation will be funded through our MPO partnership using transportation funding, with the work proposed to be funded through EPA being an Assessment Grant. This group has also applied for funding to produce a publication of their work (SMBBFDCG-05). Funding is not known at this time on these grants, but our planning, meeting and learning is continuing with greatest anticipation of funding for action of this group.

We now request funding for a Community Wide Assessment Grant for Hazardous Substances in Tarrant, Alabama. We are requesting $200,000 for the assessment grant. The assessment will be established as pilot work to produce a project that can be duplicated in other communities in our region. We look forward to this opportunity.

Respectfully submitted,

Larry Watts

Executive Director.

cc: Wanda Jennings, EPA Region 4

Project Title: City of Tarrant Brownfield Assessment and Redevelopment Project

Type of Grant: Community Wide Assessment for Hazardous Substances

Total Dollar amount: $190,000

Name of Applicant: Brownfields Regional Redevelopment Task Force

Project Contact: Bob Wilkerson

Senior Planner and Project Manager, Community Planning

Regional Planning Commission of Greater Birmingham

1731 1^st Ave North, Suite 200

Birmingham, AL 35203

205-264-8428

bwilkerson@rpcgb.org

Chief Executive: Larry Watts

Executive Director

Regional Planning Commission of Greater Birmingham

1731 1^st Ave North, Suite 200

Birmingham, AL 35203

205-264-8401

lwatts@rpcgb.org

Location: Tarrant, Jefferson County, Alabama

Population: 7,022

The Brownfields Regional Redevelopment Task Force ("Task Force") is an initiative of the Regional Planning Commission of Greater Birmingham ("RPCGB), a six county planning organization, formed in 1963 as a state service agency to assist local governments in planning activities. RPCGB’s district includes the counties of Blount, Chilton, Jefferson, Shelby, St. Clair and Walker and is governed by an executive committee. RPCGB’s mission is to promote regional excellence and community development.

The Task Force was formed in 2003 to address the complexity of the redevelopment arena and to bring together expertise to address underutilization of properties in our Metropolitan area. The partnership includes 20 members representing organizations from around the Birmingham Metropolitan Area.

Community involvement is an integral part of all projects developed by our lead organization, the Regional Planning Commission of Greater Birmingham (RPCGB). As we moved from an idea into a team, to a committee then to a project level with our Task Force, we have been engaging the community.

We began developing our project for Tarrant in mid 2003. We built our committee and solicited members and began working. We assessed our strengths and wrote a mission statement. We began looking at what Birmingham communities were currently attempting in and what other initiatives were progressing.

Partners in our committee, as well as staff for RPCGB, were involved with several initiatives focused along Five Mile Creek. The projects are attached for an overview; they indicated to our Task Force a collaboration of efforts was in order. Working with City officials, we examined all of the projects in Tarrant and determined that a focus of work on redevelopment issues would enhance the other projects. We determined through committee discussion that we would provide a community led initiative; the City of Tarrant Brownfield Assessment and Redevelopment Project.

We were able to present our ideas for Tarrant, at a meeting for the Mayors of the Five Mile Creek Watershed on October 1, 2004. At this meeting, the mayors of the 6 communities along the watershed were introduced to the EPA Brownfields programs, what assessment grants mean for their communities, extended definitions of brownfields, and the anticipated plan of work.

We also met individually with Fire Chief Billy Hewitt of Tarrant and the Mayor to detail the process of this proposal, and we presented this information at the general public meeting in the target community of Tarrant on October 21, 2004. The citizens involved in this meeting discussed this opportunity and provided public comment incorporated into this proposal.

During this period, our Task Force has been meeting with organizations to improve our understanding of brownfields, attending the Brownfields Conference in St. Louis, and meeting regularly to discuss our next steps.

We were able to hold an EPA Grant Training at our offices for all members and interested parties for this grant opportunity on October 14, 2004.

Our next step was to meet with the Tarrant City Council on Nov 1^st at their pre-council meeting to further discuss this grant proposal. The Council was very supportive and asked questions regarding the process and timelines. We outlined our major objectives of education within the community including power point presentations at the Council meeting, Rotary, churches and other meetings that the city will co-sponsor. These presentations will focus on brownfields redevelopment and how the community will participate. We feel that this preliminary educational component will help guide our work, build community support and bring a larger group of people to workshops and public involvement meetings.

Our work will provide information for the assessment work and provide education to enhance the redevelopment efforts of, and for, the community. The project will provide data for the assessment grant while also providing the groundwork for the next steps of cleanup and redevelopment for Tarrant.

Letter from the Alabama Department of Environmental Management – attached

(Total funding request: $200,000)

Detailed Budget narrative

The focus of the Assessment grant inventory and site selection, a component embedded into our community outreach, education and involvement, is to identify potential brownfield sites and create a summary containing details to indicate the type, placement and condition of each site. Along with the site specific information we will include the neighborhood profile information. This will be recorded in a GIS database. Parallel to this data collection will be the development of ranking criteria that will consider the location, transportation access, size, infrastructure, environmental condition and threats and redevelopment potential to provide site selection.

At this point, the list will be ‘completed’ and made public for review and additional refinement. This will be done through city council meetings as well as other opportunities that may arise, such as meetings of rotary or other civic clubs. This ‘final’ list will be presented in the form of an informational public meeting, but open to further discussion through Q/A sessions. This will also be our opportunity for the public to give a ranking of properties. This will help our Task Force further analyze the property’s hierarchy and help to establish the final properties in the site selection for assessment.

Our estimate for Inventory and Site Selection is: $29,000

We will provide a thorough pre-assessment on each site so that we may reduce the cost of "official" Phase I assessments. The Task Force will research each site and has the complete support of the City of Tarrant to provide further information as needed on each site. We will also utilize members’ information from their organizations to provide a summary that includes the history and use. Once this pre-assessment is complete, we will engage with ADEM to produce the final Phase I Assessments.

Phase II will provide the tests on soil, water and air. We will contract for this service through competitive bid. The sites for Phase II assessments will be determined by a number of considerations; community input, pre-assessment and Phase I assessments, redevelopment potential and feasibility. We will draw on the expertise of our members, the community's needs, and the consultants reports.

Our estimate for this work is: $132,000

The Task Force has engaged the City Council, Officials, the Mayor and citizens in anticipation of the City of Tarrant Brownfield Assessment and Redevelopment Project. We have been involved with the public meetings held for the six communities along the Five Mile Creek Watershed. We provided information about our Task Force and our proposal for work in the communities to all of the mayors involved. We have worked closely with the city officials of Tarrant as we prepared for the proposal and feel that the city is ready, and the citizens are informed and receptive to our proposed work in Tarrant.

The public meeting in Tarrant was very encouraging. The people were very interested in providing additional information regarding properties they would like to have redeveloped. Follow-up calls to each person to conduct a more detailed interview and provide for further community involvement with their families and neighbors are planned.

The Task Force also met with City Councilors on Nov 1^st to discuss the City of Tarrant Brownfield Assessment and Redevelopment Project. At this meeting we encouraged participation in the process, and we were encouraged to continue our work. Our Task Force also met individually with the Mayor and the Fire Chief to discuss our work. We are creating a power point presentation to begin an education process that we will take to community meetings across Tarrant during this grant process. We will be providing information regarding this grant at the presentation of the Comprehensive Plan for Tarrant by our parent organization, Regional Planning Commission of Greater Birmingham, to the public on Nov 16^th.

The Task Force plans to incorporate this approach into all further outreach in the Birmingham Metropolitan area, and will document each outreach effort, monitor and evaluate the process, and do staff follow-up with the goal to develop a "lessons learned". We plan to develop a publication based on this outreach program. This publication would be funded by a proposal we have submitted to the USEPA (SGBFS-05).

We believe the cost involved with the public information/outreach and education component to be $31,000

The Task Force is determined to follow through with the work associated with this proposal and will be involved in applications for cleanup. We will continue the work through to conclusion. Planning for cleanup will be included in each property discussion. We will rely on member expertise to provide information regarding the cleanup costs. The planning for the cleanups will be part of workshops and community outreach. Our Task Force will be applying for cleanup grants and will assure that the requirements are met to provide for this next step in the redevelopment process for the City of Tarrant.

Our estimate for this work is: $5,000

Members of our Task Force attended the St Louis Brownfields Conference 2004 and brought valuable information back into our committee. We are providing funds for conferences in this grant proposal so that we may continue the education, networking and assistance to all communities in our area.

We have allotted $3,000 towards conferences and other training opportunities for our committee members.

1. The City of Tarrant, part of the Birmingham MSA, population 7,022, is proud of its industrial heritage and many industries there are still major components of its economy, yet it has suffered greatly due to the decline of the steel and coke industry. This distress is not only economical, but environmental, as evident in the many industrial remnants along State Highway 79, a major industrial corridor running through the middle of Tarrant that sees 65,000 vehicles per day. Due to its historical dependence on the industrial sector and its declining quality of life, Tarrant is facing an out-migration of youth leaving behind a City whose residents are relatively poor, under-educated and aging. Plus, Tarrant has a significant African American population much of whom reside along the east side of the industrial corridor, home to many of the blighted areas. Both the economic and demographic struggles facing Tarrant are evident in the chart below.

(Census 2000)

The City is definitely one of need. In addition to its population having a greater percentage of impoverished, elderly, and minority than most U.S. cities, the level of education and income among Tarrant’s citizenry are highly problematic. Less than 10 (8.3) % of the population has a bachelor’s degree, this is 34% of the national average, plus income level and home value are extraordinarily low, compared to the rest of the Metro area, not to mention the United States.

Tarrant needs to assess and redevelop its brownfields not only because of the social and economic ills that have transpired, but also because of the great potential that exists for creation of an economically vibrant and quite livable city. The city has the advantages of having an intact urban fabric residing within a few miles of the City of Birmingham and the Birmingham International Airport. Its downtown blossomed in the early 1900s creating a compact community with pleasant neighborhoods that are now outlined with sidewalks and mature trees. The city was planned and developed in such a manner that people could walk to work, commercial stores and other communal destinations.

The people of Tarrant have realized they can overcome many of their economic and environmental struggles, and have accomplished much with their initiation of a sustainable development vision that includes the following:

1. Park Revitalization- developed a city park on a property that formerly housed a trailer park which would flood a few times a year. Now, the property has been turned into an environmental amenity by providing critical streamside buffers that will serve as a filter for non-point pollution and sediment control.

2. Walkable Communities- Tarrant has implemented a walkable communities program helping to reduce fuel consumption and vehicular emissions while improving the health of the community through increased activities. This is made possible because of its population density of 1,205 people per square mile, ranking 43^rd of out 494 cities in Alabama.

3. Greenway Partnership- Includes over 600 acres acquired by the Land Trust (The Land Trust was established to implement the Jefferson County Greenways project, a $30 million program designed to create a county-wide greenways system for the benefit and improvement of overall water quality) between Five Mile creek and State Highway 79 that is slated for use as a park and starting point for a hiking trail.

4. Comprehensive Plan- Developed a comprehensive plan with objectives towards brownfield redevelopment and historical preservation (approximately 62 percent of Tarrant’s structures were built before 1959 and eligible for "historic" designation).

The City of Tarrant needs vigorous brownfield redevelopment program in its comprehensive plan for it to have the desirable sustainable impact. The effect of the listed initiatives can be accelerated by successful redevelopment of their brownfields.

2. There are many economic and environmental benefits to be gained from the assessment and revitalization of Tarrant’s brownfield properties. Many of the existing and abandoned industrial facilities are very close to residential neighborhoods. This is due to both the relatively small land area of the City of Tarrant, only 6.4 square miles, and because of past historical development practices that were employed so people could walk to work. Thus, reclamation of these properties would not only benefit an aging and environmentally sensitive population from any hazards, but would also likely initiate a much needed increase in property values for adjacent and nearby properties. Due to median property value in Tarrant being only $52,800, any increase would have significant results.

The African American neighborhoods would certainly benefit from the redevelopment of the city brownfields. Though the city is dense and relatively small, the neighborhoods are mostly homogenous racially. Much of the African American citizens in Tarrant live in neighborhoods that are adjacent to Highway 79, the area with most of the industrial development. Any redevelopment of these properties would directly impact these neighborhoods the most, therefore helping alleviate existing environmental justice issues.

Redevelopment of the brownfields would also tie in with the current development of the city comprehensive plan which plans to spur an economic rebound. Bringing these abandoned properties back to viability would help bolster a stagnant tax base while offering Tarrant’s citizens much needed employment opportunities, subsequently helping to raise the median income.

Tarrant has undertaken many environmental initiatives, noted above, but have yet to connect these plans with local economic development. Establishing parks, walking paths and nature preserves help provide a higher quality of life and research has shown that businesses will surely follow those citizens willing to live in an area with such environmental amenities. Therefore, redevelopment of Tarrant’s brownfields is a clear and logical initiative to help establish a sustainable economy and environment.

3. The number of brownfields within the Tarrant community is unclear, although their prevalence is certain. As indicated previously, Tarrant has a heavy industrial past, much of which is visible in both abandoned and functioning form along State Highway 79. The sites; however, are not limited to just industrial. They range in function and form; from the small closed corner gas station to the expansive dilapidated metal factory. Regardless of their diversity, one fact is clear; they have been an economic drain and an aesthetic eyesore for many years. Thus, reclamation of these properties should have noticeable impact on the adjacent neighborhoods and the local tax base for the City of Tarrant. Additionally, any net gains in employment or quality of life due to redevelopment will help create a healthy community by making Tarrant attractive to their younger populace.

There will clearly be an environmental benefit. Five Mile Creek is one of the most heavily polluted tributaries in the State and it dissects the City of Tarrant. It has at times been called "the worst of the worst" due to it being the receptor of industrial discharge of cyanide and heavy metals from current functioning industries. The brownfields along the Five Mile Creek watershed are currently being assessed by the Black Warrior-Cahaba Rivers Land Trust, a recipient of an EPA brownfield assessment grant in fiscal year 2004. Many of the brownfield properties along Highway 79 through Tarrant are outside of the watershed, but any runoff from these properties directly enters Five Mile Creek. Therefore, any cleanup of brownfields within Tarrant, yet outside the work conducted on the watershed will help water quality in the tributary. This would be significant contribution due to the history of the creek and help bolster its use as a recreational and fishing destination.

Any health benefits would be mostly speculative because the connection has not been research in Tarrant; however, if proximity to contaminated properties indicates poorer health, as much research has shown, then the people of Tarrant could only become healthier. Due to past development practices the people of Tarrant often reside next door to these properties, thus there exists a clear possibility of health hazards. Plus, since these neighborhoods and industries have existed for decades, the probability of negative impacts on health would seemingly increase and may span several generations.

1. We will use the community charette workshops to identify all of the potential sites in Tarrant. The workshops will guide the community in expression of their visions and will provide for a ranking of sites based on their priorities. All sites discussed and identified will be incorporated into a GIS database, and then the mapping will come back to the community for further discussion in workshops. Ranking will begin at this stage as we identify sites with the highest redevelopment potentials.

2. Tarrant has redeveloped one Brownfield site and created Tarrant Park. Two other sites have been assessed and are sited for industrial usage and for a public utility.

3. In conducting our site selection, we will consider brownfield sites for assessment if they provide the redevelopment potential to further the community’s goals. We will draw upon our close working relationship with the City of Tarrant and its citizens to help resolve any ownership conflicts that may arise.

The Task Force believes that with a design charette we can educate the citizens to see that a smart growth redevelopment process is the way to provide economic stability and growth while preserving and building community. Relevant issues such as encompassing multi-use developments, lowering automobile trips, (82.4% drive alone), reducing gas consumption, clearing the air, and promoting healthy lifestyles, will be incorporated into the Brownfield Redevelopment focus.

Tarrant is an underutilized community. It has a close proximity to the Birmingham downtown, as do the flourishing municipalities of Hoover and Vestavia, but Tarrant has been unable to take advantage because it is considered an old industrial community; one which does not garner attention from developers. With design charettes and work on assessments of brownfields, we hope to market the community as a modern place with historical significance. We will build the concept of proximity and history to build this community to the level of its more affluent neighboring communities. With 21^st century community designs on the boards, developers interested through our networking, we can revitalize this community.

This will be done by education, the design charettes and word of mouth. As the community starts to learn, then engage in the concept of redevelopment, we will see new growth in this area.

Jefferson County is now adopting an expansion policy for their sewer system. The County Commission is discussing using incentives to guide development towards brownfields to utilize existing infrastructure and save our greenfields. The Task Force membership is working with the County to promote brownfield redevelopment.

By using design and education components in all of the charettes, we will bring the ideas and philosophies of transit oriented development to this community. Lessoning the need for automobiles is an economic necessity as gas prices rise. As the community begins to embrace smart growth principles, the transportation possibilities will become more extensive and advanced. We hope to encourage new thoughts on this matter as we explore the possibilities for connections within Tarrant, as well as connections to the metro area.

The Task Force will encourage and promote all aspects of smart growth in this community. We will continue to discuss these principles with the Metropolitan Planning Organization and other meetings of member governments at the Regional Planning Commission meetings. If the principles are embraced by all the communities, we can prevent brownfields by incorporating smart growth and re-development practices while offering options that avoid out-dated methods of community planning.

In all of our design charettes, we will examine the use of open space for recreation and health. We are partnered with the Jefferson County Department of Health and will showcase numerous study findings that show open areas as contributing to health and well being. We will also use health matters in determining walking routes as they apply to schools and community centers. In addition, we will be discussing community food needs, and providing design concepts for gardens that offer more nutritious fruits and vegetables, which will also increase health statistics in Tarrant.

The citizens and elected officials will provide the information and feedback that guides this project. We have engaged in presentations, meetings and conversations with the citizenry of this community in anticipation of our work in Tarrant. We are committed to continuing our involvement and will continue to speak and communicate regarding brownfields and redevelopment issues. Our Task Force intends to reproduce the efforts we are making in Tarrant, and continue with this work for the entire Metropolitan area.

We have mapped all of the initiatives currently ongoing in Tarrant and have secured the time from our GIS department to map the sites identified. These sites are directly from community input.

Our next step is to provide a detailed power point presentation about the history of Tarrant, redevelopment concepts that revolve around the smart growth principles, workshops that we will be holding and an outline of their design and the outcomes we anticipate. We will also include brownfield success stories and next steps involving clean up and redevelopment for Tarrant.

Our workshops have been designed by members of the Task Force. The workshops allow citizens to become engaged and provide conceptual input for the eventual redevelopment of sites identified in the Task Force’s Assessment program. Citizens will have the opportunity to become enlightened on smart growth redevelopment, and then apply that enlightenment to their vision for physical redevelopment as an enhancement to economic development and sustainability.

Review of all Brownfield findings

Explanation of the connection between all initiatives in the community.

Define and then focus on a manageable collection of sites.

Reinforce redevelopment potential/opportunities within the community.

Educate relative to redevelopment through smart growth concepts. Applicable components including: transit oriented development, walkable communities, stormwater management BMPs, mixed use development, open space preservation, greenways, green buffers.

Identify and then connect existing smart growth initiatives within the community to the redevelopment study sites, providing potential for a high impact smart growth community.

Conduct a site based SWOT analysis: gathering ‘big picture’ citizen input for redevelopment concepts based on newfound enlightenment through smart growth principles.

Summarize all concepts and desires of the citizen participants.

Following are action items and processes to be applied as a framework and guide producing successful charette experiences and conceptual products: 

Divide participants into small work groups of three to five each. Assign a task force member to assist each group.

Provide each group with a specific site and supporting materials including: site photos, aerial photo, topo, parcel map, examples of sketches/working drawings that will be produced in these charettes, complementary initiative information and drawing materials.

Assign a design professional to float between two or three groups each, providing technical assistance as requested by the charette group.

Conduct four one hour segments covering standard phases of the design process:

#1- Brainstorming, conceptual sketches, and bubble diagrams. Define a program for the redeveloped site: its function, purpose, and economic development potential.

#2- Evaluate the program against a legend of smart growth objectives developed in work session #1, then begin to incorporate ideas and concepts into a pragmatic, site plan: still a rough draft with scribble, sketches, and ideas noted across the composition.

#3-Produce a final site plan, by transferring on trace medium the working drawings to reveal a coherent discernable plan, with annotations as needed.

#4- Presentations: Each group will share their plans and ideas with the entire work session group.

 

 

As an act of community service, design professionals from within the local practicing community, and architecture students at Auburn University, will be recruited to produce a conceptual design board for a selected site: the design to be based upon the conceptual master plan derived from citizen designs produced during workshop.

Citizen ideas synthesized into professional design graphics are presented to the community at workshop #3 including analysis of smart growth components within each design solution and discussion of economic development impacts through the specific redevelopment plan for each site.

Final thoughts and input will be taken from the reviewing public, including evaluation of the workshop’s effectiveness and suggestions for program improvements.

Our process will involve the community in the design of their vision, their ideas, their wants and needs for their community. All of the concepts and ideas will be converted into a visual presentation with the work and information displayed in the public buildings, distributed to meetings, and presented in a final public meeting.

The site/s chosen through the community process will be targeted for the Phase II assessment and future work – clean up and redevelopment.

Once we have determined the sites to be assessed, we will work with a consultant to further analyze the site and the hazardous substances we will be addressing. We will work with the consultant to identify the substances and relate their threats back to the communities desires for this property to access how best to remediate. This work will involve Task Force members and other partners’ expertise. For a redevelopment, the threats will be consider in light of the reuse proposed. Our membership includes the Jefferson County Department of Health and their expertise throughout this process will be sought. During the workshops, if a site is not likely or suitable for housing development, we will be able to address that issue as it arises through prior research and membership expertise.

All exposure threats will be scrutinized with our membership, the City of Tarrant and the consultant/s. We have access to trial remediation techniques that we will consider and hopefully utilize in this process. This includes phytoremediation, greenroofs, and bioremediation.

The Regional Planning Commission of Greater Birmingham and all member organizations have designated funds to this project via staff time and expertise. We will also be engaging design professionals and architecture students in the workshops and in our Task Force outreach. We estimate this in kind contribution to be $60,000 to date.

The Task Force has also applied for a grant to provide educational materials for this project and for its duplication in the Birmingham Metropolitan area. The in kind for this project is $25,000 with funding requested for $19,000.

The Brownfields Regional Redevelopment Task Force will work with the Regional Planning Commission of Greater Birmingham to manage all requirements and financial aspects of this grant.

The Task Force has numerous committee members with thorough knowledge and ability to manage a federal grant, and we will work with the RPCGB to provide all necessary grant related paperwork and reports.

The Task Force has not received an EPA Brownfields Assessment Grant.

The Task Force has not received an EPA Brownfields Assessment Grant.

The Task Force has not received an EPA Brownfields Assessment Grant.