The Environmental Protection Agency has designated an Atlanta redevelopment project as a Project XL candidate, marking the first time the program is being used to influence urban development rather than reduce industrial pollution.
The Mills Corp. has proposed to clean up a 138-acre former Atlantic Steel site in midtown Atlanta so it can build 2,000 to 5,000 residential units, mixed with a "mall's worth of retail and restaurants, a hotel or two and scads of office space."
The proposal was chosen for Project XL because Atlanta is "the only region in the nation currently off-limits to most new road projects because it lacks a plan to bring automobile emissions down to acceptable levels" (Greenwire, 6/18). The project could alleviate some suburban growth, traffic and auto emissions by luring and keeping people downtown.
Atlanta officials and developers see the Project XL designation as "crucial" in getting around "the clean-air barricade" because the program may provide the flexibility to build a bridge linking the development to the city's mass transit system (David Goldberg, Atlanta Journal and Constitution, 10/25).
Project XL is an EPA program that offers companies, state environment agencies and community groups a chance to propose better ways to manage pollution and reduce costs on a facility-by-facility basis.
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