This picture captures (in part) the parcel of land owned by Mt. Zion Community Development Corporation designated in the Brownfield assessment.  Photo: Urban News

Staff reports

Cleanup will support mixed-use redevelopment.

Mt. Zion Missionary Baptist Church of Asheville will reap big dividends from the Environmental Protection Agency’s decision to approve Mt. Zion’s application for a comprehensive brownfield assessment and cleanup, and to assign a national environmental remediation firm, Tetra Tech, Inc., to begin work on a two-acre distressed parcel in The Block, the historic commercial center of Asheville’s African American community. Studies of the parcel, the former site of a foundry, done in the 1990s indicated evidence of underground storage tanks and other residue from industrial operations.

The June 30 announcement by EPA’s Region 4 staff in Atlanta was seen as a major advance in federal leadership on environmental justice issues. Environmental justice is one of many social equity issues adding color to national discussions within the sustainability and Smart Growth movements, yet brownfields in African American communities were not included in a July 2009 brownfield workshop held in Asheville, nor during an official brownfields tour arranged by local and regional governments for federal visitors in February 2010.

Mt. Zion’s direct engagement of the EPA began when BluEcon Project Management led EPA to tour brownfields in Asheville’s African American community. BluEcon Project Management specializes in managing green economy projects during economic downturns and advocates for public adoption of transparent benchmarks for sustainability and livability, and federal leadership and support of innovative projects that advance sustainability goals.

The leadership of Mt. Zion Missionary Baptist Church and its community development nonprofit, Mt. Zion Redevelopment Corporation, envision reusing the brownfield’s open spaces as spiritual and sculptural gardens and for LEED-certified renovation of the vacant industrial masonry structures into affordable residential rental lofts. A wellness facility is also included in the Mt. Zion Neighborhood Master Plan.

“From the moment we gave EPA their first tour of The Block’s two brownfields, they’ve been enthusiastic,” said Gregory Sills, founder of BluEcon Project Management. “Before reaching EPA, we had been told in February at a meeting attended by city, regional and state brownfield staff, that if underground storage tanks are involved in projects in that part of Asheville, then a fresh Phase I assessment must be paid for and completed by the developer before remediation services can be funded locally.”

“That hurdle was OK for our other client in The Block because they had already paid for a Phase 1,” Sills explained. “But for the larger Mt. Zion cleanup site, we had to turn directly to EPA in Atlanta. Their brownfield staff informed us of our options given the tight budget of the Mt. Zion project and knowing that the parcel’s prior Phase I was out-dated.”

The Mt. Zion brownfield remediation effort gives a major federal agency an opportunity for direct contact with Asheville’s African American institutions and to hear the community express its unique perspectives in their own voices. At the same time, EPA will have front-row seats for many months in 2010 and 2011 while exploring how environmental justice, along with urban demolition and renewal, were played out in Asheville in the historic East End and South Side communities. Interested agency researchers will have time to explore connections between the legacy of demolition that created South Charlotte Street, the current lack of services, and related conditions in communities linked to The Block’s history.

Perspectives of Asheville as seen through The Block may be added to national discussions on who is and is not included when funding opportunities for sustainability projects arise. The legacy of past decisions and choices weigh heavily in North Carolina communities striving to improve their livability and sustainability. EPA has designated Camilla Warren, EPA Brownfields Project Manager in Atlanta as the project manager for the Mt. Zion Targeted Brownfield Assessment.