MARCH 9, 2015
NEW YORK, NY
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency announced today it is providing
$200,000 to the South Bronx Overall Economic Development Corporation in New
York City to create a plan for revitalizing the 750-acre Bronx River-Sheridan
Expressway Corridor area. This funding is part of EPA’s Brownfields Area-Wide
Planning program, which helps communities develop specific strategies that
integrate the cleanup and reuse of brownfields sites in larger, coordinated
efforts to revitalize neighborhoods. Brownfields are properties where moderate
contamination threatens environmental quality and public health and can
interfere with productive reuse of properties.
“This EPA grant in the South
Bronx will empower communities to assess, clean up and revitalize formerly
contaminated sites and their impacted neighborhoods through a locally-driven
planning process,” said EPA Regional Administrator Judith A. Enck. “This
comprehensive approach will help create jobs while protecting the health of
area residents and improving the environment.”
The South Bronx Overall
Economic Development Corporation, the Bronx Office of the NYC Department of
City Planning, and Youth Ministries for Peace & Justice will establish a
community-driven plan to transform the Bronx River-Sheridan Expressway area.
The project will build on the 2013 U.S. Department of Transportation-funded
“Sheridan-Hunts Point Land Use & Transportation Study” and will create a
detailed framework for industrial, residential, commercial and open space uses
that seeks to unite and revitalize brownfield neighborhoods on both sides of
the Bronx River.
The EPA’s
Brownfields Program supports states, communities, and others to work together
to prevent, assess, safely clean up, and sustainably reuse brownfields sites.
The Brownfields
Area-Wide Planning program is part of the
Partnership for Sustainable Communities collaboration among EPA, the
Departments of Transportation and Housing and Urban Development. The
Partnership for Sustainable Communities ensures that the agencies consider
affordable housing, transportation, and environmental protection in concert to
create healthier communities.
The partnership is helping communities across the
country to create affordable housing choices, make transportation more
efficient and reliable, reinforce existing infrastructure investments, and
support vibrant and healthy neighborhoods that attract businesses. To date the
program has leveraged approximately $418 million in infrastructure and project
development investments.