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Cape Charles/Northampton County Chosen as EPA National Brownfields Showcase Community

Release Date: 6/18/2001
Contact Information: David Sternberg, (215) 814-5548

David Sternberg, (215) 814-5548

CAPE CHARLES, Va. – A ceremony was held this afternoon marking that Cape Charles/Northampton County has been chosen as a national showcase community for EPA's Brownfields program. Brownfields are abandoned, idled or under-used industrial or commercial properties where redevelopment is complicated by real or perceived contamination.

The community was chosen because of its launch of a new eco-industrial park built partially on a former 25-acre town dump here three years ago – a project that revived the abandoned brownfields property, gave a boost to the local economy and is projected to create 1,500 new jobs.

“The Cape Charles eco-industrial park is fairly unique. It’s one of the few projects that not only revives an abandoned, contaminated property, but it houses businesses that have an eye toward protecting the environment," said Abe Ferdas, director of EPA's Hazardous Sites Cleanup Division.

The Sustainable Technology Park Authority of Cape Charles and Northampton County, along with more than $5 million from federal, state and private investment is creating a 200-acre development including a 31,000 square foot solar powered building and 90 acres of combined coastal and land habitat.

An additional 130 acres of land has been purchased and planning is now underway for the second phase of the project. Phase II will include additional green buildings and the establishment of parks, playgrounds, trails, gardens and habitat restoration. The Sustainable Technology Park Authority plans to use a portion of the former town dump along with some adjacent land as a conference and training facility.

The Brownfields National Showcase Partnership, a consortium of federal agencies, designated Cape Charles/Northampton County as one of 28 national brownfields showcase communities. The federal agencies participating in the Brownfields National Partnership offer technical and financial assistance to selected communities. The project is the centerpiece of the federal government’s Brownfields Initiative. The Brownfields Initiative was set up to empower states, local governments and other stakeholders to assess, clean up and sustainably reuse brownfields.

The goals of brownfields showcase communities are to:

• Promote environmental protection, restoration, economic redevelopment, job creation, community revitalization, and public health protection through assessment cleanup and sustainable reuse of brownfields;

• Link federal, state, local and non-government action supporting community efforts to restore and revitalize brownfields; and

• Develop national models demonstrating the positive results of public and private collaboration in addressing brownfields.