The United States Environmental Protection Agency has selected the City of Atlanta as a Brownfields Area-Wide Planning Pilot Program grant recipient. The city is focusing on a 3,282-acre project area in southwest Atlanta, which consists of five redevelopment locations within two miles of each other, connected by commercial and industrial corridors. From 2006 to 2009, more than 3,500 jobs were lost in the project area. The area includes at least 25 brownfields, including a former auto service and repair shop, heavy industrial facilities and vacant warehouses. The city has been involved since 2005 in two redevelopment plans that identified the need and provided the framework for future area-wide brownfield planning in the project area. These plans will be the critical next step in coordinating community involvement around the assessment, cleanup, and reuse of brownfields in the project area, helping to anchor the area's commercial, industrial, residential and greenspace redevelopment. To learn more about this program, contact Charles Whatley at 404.614.8288 or cwhatley@atlantada.com.
