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JOIN THE BROWNFIELD COMMUNITIES NETWORK Free Membership Join Today!
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New Tools Emerge From Partnership
Location:
Oakland, CA
Area of Focus:
Brownfields
Local Contact
For more information, contact California’s Liz Haven at 916.341.5752 or visit www.swrcb.ca.gov; or contact EPA Region IX’s Matt Small at 415.744.2078 or April Katsura at 415.744.2024. Program documents may be downloaded from www.oaklandpw.com/ulrprogram.
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As the brownfield universe evolves in California, it is clear that sites with tank-related contamination are a key concern in communities across the state. Oakland has led the way in USTfield redevelopment through its Urban Land Redevelopment (ULR) Program. ULR is a collaborative effort by the City of Oakland and the principal agencies charged with enforcing environmental regulations in the city to facilitate the cleanup and redevelopment of contaminated properties. In creating the ULR, the city made a proactive effort to include Oakland residents by forming a Community Review Panel. The Panel:
- Included individuals from environmental groups, community-based organizations and business groups, who met twelve times from 1996 to 1997;
- Obtained assistance from the EPA’s Technical Outreach Services for Communities (TOSC) Program and representatives from U.S. EPA and the local environmental regulatory agencies; and
- Issued a report of recommendations that helped shape the ULR program.
The ULR program clarifies environmental investigation requirements, facilitates regulatory negotiations, and establishes Oakland-specific, risk-based corrective action (RBCA) standards for eligible sites. The Oakland RBCA standards are criteria that, when met, adequately address the risk posed to human health by contamination and are based on the geology, hydrogeology, and climate of Oakland. These standards are often more accurate and more cost-effective than federal and state RBCA standards that must account for highly diverse environments. The Oakland RBCA standards are organized into easy-to-read tables, and represent an “evergreen” set of values that is updated as new information becomes available.
The Oakland RBCA approach has already been used successfully at several sites throughout the city, including the location of a new Courtyard by Marriott Hotel, and the site of a new, five-story residential development in downtown.
The city has implemented an innovative institutional control known as permit tracking. The system flags sites with residual contamination in the city’s computerized permitting system. This facilitates redevelopment by allaying community concerns about possible contamination and bolstering regulatory confidence that the conditions of site closure will be met. On average, Oakland’s RBCA and permit tracking approaches have reduced the cost of field investigations and risk assessments by 50 percent. Hundreds of thousands of dollars in remediation costs have been saved on city-owned sites alone.
Oakland has focused it's USTfield pilot efforts on properties such as:
Housewives Market Block Mixed Use Development. The Housewives Market Block sits in the middle of downtown Oakland. Over time, multiple gas stations have occupied the site and nearby properties. In 1983, the Oakland Redevelopment Agency acquired the block.
Construction is scheduled to begin in the summer of 2002 on a new, six-floor, mixed-use development. The first floor will be a mix of commercial and residential uses, while the remaining five floors will be solely residential. In total, there will be 202 new units, with lofts on three sides and four stories of more conventional residential housing on the other.
A risk assessment using the Oakland RBCA approach has shown no on-site risk from the existing contamination. Additional investigation is under way to better understand contaminant migration via groundwater and to confirm that all tanks have been removed. The city expects to receive a “no further action” letter from the local regulatory authority by spring of 2002.
Habitat For Humanity Housing Project. Once the site of an abandoned gas station in Oakland’s Fruitvale-San Antonio district, the land at 2662 Fruitvale Avenue has been earmarked for a new Habitat for Humanity housing project. The city acquired the property in 1983 and has entered into an exclusive development agreement with the non-profit organization Habitat for Humanity. Construction is scheduled to begin this fall on four single-family homes. The houses will be built with “sweat equity” (i.e., volunteer work). They will be privately-owned by the future occupants upon completion of construction. A risk assessment using the Oakland RBCA approach has shown no on-site risk from the existing contamination. While an off-site risk analysis is ongoing, the city expects to receive a “no further action” letter from the local regulatory authority by the summer of 2002.
Updated Date: 01/23/2004
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