Outreach and Special Projects Staff (5101) Quick Reference Fact Sheet

Yonkers, NY

Brownfields Assessment

Demonstration Pilot

Yonkers, New York

PILOT SNAPSHOT

Contacts:

City of Yonkers

(914) 377-6010

EPA’s Brownfields Economic Redevelopment Initiative is designed to empower states, communities, and other

stakeholders in economic redevelopment to work together in a timely manner to prevent, assess, safely clean up, and

sustainably reuse brownfields. A brownfield is a site, or portion thereof, that has actual or perceived contamination and

an active potential for redevelopment or reuse. Since 1995, EPA has funded more than 150 Brownfields Assessment

Demonstration Pilots, at up to $200,000 each, to support creative two-year explorations and demonstrations of

brownfields solutions. The Pilots are intended to provide EPA, states, tribes, municipalities, and communities with useful

information and strategies as they continue to seek new methods to promote a unified approach to site assessment,

environmental cleanup, and redevelopment.

Regional Brownfields Team

U.S. EPA - Region 2

(212) 637-4314

Visit the EPA Region 2 Brownfields web site at:

http://www.epa.gov/r02earth/superfnd/brownfld/

bfmainpg.htm

For further information, including specific Pilot contacts,

additional Pilot information, brownfields news and events, and

publications and links, visit the EPA Brownfields web site at:

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

BACKGROUND

EPA has selected the City of Yonkers for a

Brownfields Pilot. Like many industrial cities in the

northeast, Yonkers (population 188,082) has

experienced a sharp decline in its tax and job base

over the past 30 years. Once an important river port,

the Yonkers Municipal Pier became too frail and

dilapidated for docking large river boats and was not

used after the 1950s. Between 1977 and 1992,

Yonker’s manufacturing base declined by more than

25%, causing a loss of more than 2,400 of the city’s

8,900 manufacturing jobs. Thus, the city has watched

its once-productive Alexander Street Waterfront

(ASW) turn into an industrial wasteland.

The economic and environmental decay caused by

underuse of the ASW has had a negative impact on

the Southwest Yonkers community (population

73,474): more than half of this community falls

within the bottom 20% of median income levels citywide. Furthermore, the city has virtually no land for

industrial and commercial expansion, and must clean

up and redevelop brownfields to create new jobs.

The city believes that the ASW is a cornerstone for its

economic growth, and has adopted a comprehensive

plan that focuses on preservation and reuse of the

area.

Date of Announcement:

May 1998

Amount: $200,000

Profile: The Pilot targets

the Alexander Street

Waterfront, a 22-acre

cluster of 11 mostly vacant

industrial properties with

high potential for

redevelopment.

United States

Environmental

Protection Agency

Washington, D.C. 20460

Solid Waste

and Emergency

Response (5101)

EPA 500-F-98-139

May 1998
The Pilot will assist the ASW Brownfields Initiative

in building upon the successes of the adjacent

downtown waterfront redevelopment efforts by

continuing waterfront revitalization along the Hudson

River. The ASW has a high potential for

redevelopment, in part because of its rail, water, and

road transportation access. The ASW site is a 22-

acre cluster of 11 mostly vacant industrial properties

bordered on the south by the downtown waterfront

development area, on the west by the Hudson River,

and on the east by the Hudson Line railroad tracks.

The area is characterized by vacant industrial

brownfields with potential ownership and

environmental issues that constitute barriers to the

city’s redevelopment needs.

OBJECTIVES

The objective of the city’s ASW Brownfields

Initiative is to prepare the city for waterfront cleanup

and redevelopment. The Pilot plans to: 1) empower

community groups to be a part of the revitalization

decision-making process; 2) create a working plan to

assess, plan for cleanup, and return the ASW

brownfields area to productive use; 3) protect the

Hudson River from any further environmental

degradation; 4) provide Southwest Yonkers

community members with an understanding of

potential environmental and ownership concerns to

enable them to help shape redevelopment in an

informed manner; and 5) develop a program to

institutionalize brownfields decision making in all

city development and planning activities.

ACCOMPLISHMENTS AND ACTIVITIES

Activities planned as part of this Pilot include:

• Developing a “one-stop” shop for brownfields

information for community members, business

groups, and government organizations;

• Conducting a preliminary environmental assessment

of the 22-acre ASW area;

• Implementing a community involvement program,

including distributing outreach materials in both

Spanish and English and establishing programs

with youth groups, to ensure all members of the

affected communities are actively involved; and

• Developing a brownfields cleanup and reuse plan

for the ASW area that will direct future area use,

promote job and economic growth, and maximize

public access to the waterfront.

The cooperative agreement for this Pilot has not yet been

negotiated; therefore, activities described in this fact sheet

are subject to change.

Brownfields Assessment Demonstration Pilot Yonkers, New York

May 1998 EPA 500-F-98-139