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State money to help with brownfield project sites
By JIM HARRINGTON
| Article published on Thursday, May 24, 2007 |
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CLEARWATER – The city has received a grant to begin the first phase of a process to clean up a few of its brownfield sites.
The award, a total package of $400,000 that the state Department of Environmental
Protection for Clearwater projects, was one of the biggest grants given in the Southeast, according to a news release.
The block grant’s purpose is to clean up the environment of toxic contaminants and help the city’s efforts to turn the sites around. Divided into two parts, the Brownfields Assessment Grants include $200,000 for hazardous substances and $200,000 for petroleum cleanup and will go toward the city’s initial assessment, inspection, testing and monitoring of its brownfield sites, said spokesman Doug Matthews.
While the city has no specific sites in mind just yet, the money could go toward rehabbing abandoned gas stations, dry cleaning facilities and other industrial sites, he said.
The city’s brownfield area is generally bounded by Sunset Point on the north, Missouri Avenue to the east, Belleair Road to the south and Fort Harrison to the west.
The Mediterranean Village on Cleveland Street is one example of a site that has benefited from previous grants. Now the site of a plat of homes, the community once was
a brownfield site.
Another example, Matthews said, is the site of a former automotive shop on Greenwood Avenue that was contaminated with oil-based products.
During the beginning stages, the sites are studies for environmental impacts. A consultant will look for petroleum, chemicals and other pollutants, according to the city’s Web site. The city will get a good understanding of what the site contains, which will give officials a better idea of costs and how to clean up the site.
After that, the city will look for somebody who can improve the area.
“We need to have a good development partner,” said Matthews.
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Article published on Thursday, May 24, 2007
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