Using Partnerships, Collaboration,

and a Brownfields Pilot to 

Revitalize a Community 

Shenandoah, VA 

In Shenandoah, Virginia, a rural community of 2,300 residents, a single 

abandoned industrial site symbolizes the community's past and is defining 

A community outreach meeting to provide 

input regarding reuse plans for Shenandoah,

Virginia's Big Gem site. 

its future. The community is coming together around the reuse of the Big 

Gem site–and Shenandoah's EPA Brownfields Assessment Pilot is assisting through the development of university partnerships, in the adaptation of 

state community development policy, and by making brownfields redevelopment the cornerstone of a town-wide revitalization strategy. Shenandoah's 

revitalization effort began with an EPA Brownfields Pilot, and now the 

town is using more than $3 million in federal and state environmental, economic development, and transportation funds to renovate vacant storefronts, 

reconstruct the street scape, build an access road to the nearby Shenandoah 

River, and establish a small business revolving loan fund. A number of 

recently enacted local tax incentives and the promotion of Shenandoah as a 

federal HUB Zone—allowing businesses to compete for special federal 

contracting opportunities—strengthen the town's position for renewal. These 

activities complement the commercial, industrial, and recreational uses 

planned for the Big Gem site. 

The Big Gem site was once the location of one of the most prominent iron 

production facilities in the south. Locals called the large furnace the "Big 

Gem" because of the brilliant glow that radiated out of the ravine where the 

foundry and iron facility was located. With the exception of its brief use as 

a municipal landfill in the 1950s, the Big Gem site remained idle from the 

1890s to 1998. It was that year that the Shenandoah Town Council decided 

to not let the town's limited financial and technical resources preclude it 

from economic expansion. Town officials recognized that if the community 

could harness the resources of its nearby, nationally recognized universities, 

Shenandoah could experience an economic resurgence. Town Councilman 

Chuck Tomney commented, "Our community just did not have the expertise 

to embark upon this revitalization effort alone. We've been absolutely blessed 

by the interests and talents of James Madison University (JMU) as well as 

the University of Virginia (UVA)." 

continued 

JUST THE FACTS: • The Big Gem site was once the location 

of one of the most prominent iron 

production facilities in the South, but had 

sat idle for much of the past century. 

• With the exception of its brief use as a 

municipal landfill in the 1950s, the site 

essentially sat idle from the 1890s 

through 1998. 

• Graduate students at James Madison 

University (JMU) identified EPA's 

Brownfields Pilot program as a potential 

fit for Shenandoah, leading to an EPA 

Assessment Pilot award. 

• JMU supplied the town government with 

access to its wide array of technical 

assistance resources, including graduate 

students who were eager to gain handson economic development experience. 

"If three years ago, you would 

have told me that we would have 

come this far by talking with local 

universities and providing internships 

for students, I might not have believed 

you. 

have created, I don't believe we can 

possibly fall short of our goal of 

revitalizing Shenandoah." 

Chuck Tomney, Shenandoah 

Town Councilman 

Now, with all the momentum we 
A community outreach meeting to provide 

input regarding reuse plans for Shenandoah, 

Virginia's Big Gem site. 

JMU's Office of Economic Development supplied the town government with access to its wide array 

of technical assistance resources, including graduate students who were eager to gain hands-on economic 

development experience. The graduate students identified EPA's Brownfields Pilot 

program as a potential fit for Shenandoah, and JMU's Vice President, Dr. John 

Noftsinger, and his colleague in the university's economic development office, 

Liz Knight, agreed. AAssessment 

Pilot award, and at the time was among the smallest communities to receive 

Pilot status. ," explains Ms. Knight. 

"Students from various disciplines were able to get real life experience in 

environmental science, public management, and economic development, 

and now the town is being revitalized." 

Through EPA's Alternative Dispute Resolution Program, the Pilot used 

experienced facilitators to design and carry out a number of community input 

sessions. 

technical assistance providers organize themselves into the Big Gem Advisory Board. The board is 

divided into three committees: 

efforts of the advisory board are augmented by the Big Gem Resource Group, a collection of officials 

and technical assistance providers from a number of organizations including the Shenandoah National 

Park, the Virginia Department of Housing and Community Development, the Virginia Economic 

Development Partnership, JMU, the UVA, and private corporations. 

Collectively, members of the group have developed a strategic plan that includes a town-wide 

revitalization strategy and action items for achieving plan goals. The UVA's Landscape Architecture 

Department conducted its annual design contest at the Big Gem site, generating media attention and a 

number of green space and economic development ideas for the property and the town's blighted 

commercial district. 

and economic development concepts, which were then refined and tested by a UVA landscape 

architecture graduate student and through marketing studies by JMU's School of Business. 

The next step involved obtaining the resources to refine planning and begin implementation. 

small population, Shenandoah cannot access some of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban 

Development's redevelopment-related resources such as Section 108 loans, Brownfields Economic 

Development Initiative grants, and federal Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) funds. 

However, the Virginia Department of Housing and Community Development (VDHCD) provided the 

town with a Small Cities CDBG planning grant, recognizing cleanup and redevelopment of the Big 

Gem site as a critical community development need. 

While Brownfields Pilot funds were being used to conduct an environmental assessment of the Big 

Gem site, VDHCD's planning grant helped the town evaluate the economic development potential of 

both the Big Gem site and Shenandoah's lone, but deteriorated, commercial district. 

the planning effort was a comprehensive economic development strategy. As funding deadlines 

In 1998, the town received a $200,000 EP

"It has been a rewarding opportunity

The facilitators helped town officials, community members, and 

site planning and design, financing, and community outreach. The 

The design contest helped Shenandoah identify a number of redevelopment options 

Due to its 

The outcome of 

Brownfields Success Story Solid Waste EPA 500-F-03-011 

Shenandoah, Virginia and Emergency May 2003 

Response (5105) www.epa.gov/brownfields/ 
CONTACTS: 

For more information contact 

U.S. EPA-Region 3 (215) 814-3132 

Or visit EPA’s Brownfields Web site at: 

http://www.epa.gov/brownfields/ 

approached, VDHCD was still considering how to adapt its CDBG program to meet the brownfields 

needs of small communities, and environmental assessment activities at the Big Gem site 

were not yet completed. To capitalize on the revitalization energy created through 

the Brownfields Pilot, the town decided to pursue a CDBG grant for the first 

phase of a comprehensive town revitalization: 

historic First Street commercial district. 

As Shenandoah began redeveloping its commercial district, it 

communicated with representatives from the VDHCD, helping the state 

enhance its annual Small Cities CDBG program to address small 

communities with brownfield issues. VDHCD Associate Director Todd 

Christensen explains, "Because our CDBG program works with small rural 

communities, we had not yet had experience in official 'brownfields' projects, 

but see many economically obsolete properties. We recognized that there are 

other communities in Virginia like Shenandoah and so we now offer assistance for 

abandoned sites where there is a community-based plan in place with real economic 

development and job creation potential." The result is the Virginia Site Redevelopment Program, 

which provides a grant for site cleanup and a loan for infrastructure and building improvements. 

"By characterizing it as a brownfield site," Christensen elaborates, "we are able to assist in speculative 

development that we could otherwise not do through our standard industrial development program." 

Developments like these at the state level are helping to align the pieces of the puzzle that will make 

the Big Gem redevelopment a reality. The Pilot recently held a final outreach meeting to celebrate 

EPA's approval of the Big Gem's environmental assessment, which determined that no cleanup is 

necessary. 

the advent of a Virginia Site Redevelopment Program creates new opportunities for the Big Gem 

site just as the revival of the commercial district is accelerating. 

The partnerships with prominent universities, collaboration with state officials, and the use of 

brownfields redevelopment as the centerpiece of Shenandoah's economic development strategy 

are producing dramatic results. Tomney explains, "If three years ago, you 

would have told me that we would have come this far by talking with local universities and providing 

internships for students, I might not have believed you. , with all the momentum we have 

created, I don't believe we can possibly fall short of our goal of revitalizing Shenandoah." 

the revitalization of the town's 

Discussions with private firms who are interested in locating to the town continue, and 

Shenandoah Councilman 

Now

Brownfields Success Story Solid Waste EPA 500-F-03-011 

Shenandoah, Virginia and Emergency May 2003 

Response (5105) www.epa.gov/brownfields/