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Brownfields Grant awarded to Salt Lake City Gateway Project

Release Date: 4/12/2000
Contact Information:
(303) 312-6803,

Release Date: 4/12/2000
Contact Information:
(303) 312-6512,

Release Date: 4/12/2000
Contact Information:
(303) 312-6602

DENVER -- The Salt Lake City Gateway project today received an additional $200,000 in funding from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency for its “Brownfields” redevelopment work. As one of 56 “pilots” nationwide to receive added funds, the City plans to conduct environmental assessments on a number of properties in the southern half of the district where revitalization activities are just beginning.

The area received an initial $200,000 in 1996 and the same amount in 1998 when it became a Brownfields “Showcase Community.”

Brownfields are idled, abandoned, or under-used industrial and commercial properties where redevelopment is complicated by possible environmental contamination. The uncertainties surrounding liability and cleanup costs usually discourage reuse and redevelopment.

Salt Lake City’s overall goal is to speed redevelopment of the Gateway area, enhancing downtown mixed-use development and creating new jobs and additional downtown housing. Because most of the private investment in the Gateway District has been in the northern half, new funds will target several properties in the southern half for environmental assessment. The City will work with property owners on cleanup options.

Some $50,000 of the new funds will go to the City’s Open Space Plan to help bring the City Creek above ground along the Gateway District and restore its surface connection with the Jordan River. During the last century, the creek had been channeled to an underground conduit. “Resurfacing” the creek will help link downtown with the Jordan River Parkway and reconnect the westside neighborhoods with downtown.

The project’s environmental cleanup, landscaping, recreation and aquatic improvements will boost the image and habitability of the area and make the surrounding properties more desirable for residential and commercial uses. In addition, significant community involvement is being planned with the support of the National Park Service’s - Rivers, Trails, and Conservation Assistance program.

The funding will help:

• Conduct environmental assessments on properties that have immediate cleanup and redevelopment potential.
  Develop cleanup cost estimates and plans for those properties.
• Conduct environmental assessments for the City Creek project, to evaluate the suitability of environmental conditions for the proposed uses.
• Involve the Gateway and Poplar Grove communities in designing and planning the greenspace project, including meeting with the local community councils, meeting one-on-one with property owners and tenants along the right-of-way, and providing an opportunity for community input on the project.
  Conduct a study to determine measures of success.
• Brownfields funds are used to bring together community groups, investors, lenders, developers, and other affected stakeholders to find ways to assess environmental problems at sites and leverage funding mechanisms to clean them up and return them to productive use. EPA has helped over 300 communities nationwide leverage nearly $1.9 billion to clean up and redevelop abandoned properties fostering creation of nearly 6,000 jobs as well.