LANSING, Mich. — Following months of preparation, the Lansing Regional Brownfields Coalition (LRBC) is ready to activate federal environmental assessment dollars throughout the Lansing region. Led by the Lansing Economic Area Partnership (LEAP) and City of Lansing as lead coalition member and fiduciary, LRBC received the maximum grant award of $600,000 through the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) Brownfields Assessment Coalition Grant in June 2019, the scale of which relied heavily on the regional component to the coalition’s application to the EPA. Property owners of suspected contaminated sites can now apply to LRBC for environmental assessment and redevelopment planning dollars.
“Often seen as an initial and overwhelming uncertainty, necessary environmental due diligence can be a hurdle for brownfield redevelopment,” said LEAP President & CEO, Bob Trezise. “This grant helps remove that barrier in a cost-effective manner, which jump-starts development of properties that would otherwise be forgotten, putting those properties back on our tax rolls, improving the environment and public health in communities across the region.”
“Kick-starting the cleanup of contaminated sites is a priority of the City of Lansing. I’m excited to see these dollars put to use to clean up blighted properties and help get them back on the tax rolls,” said Andy Schor, Mayor of the City of Lansing.
In 2015, LEAP also led a regional coalition to successfully acquire a $500,000 EPA Brownfield Assessment Grant, which helped spark well over $150,000,000 in investment from 42 assessments, including Provident Place in Lansing, East Lansing’s Center City project and Meridian Township’s Elevation Pointe project. With the 2019 grant, LRBC looks to build upon these outstanding results with an experienced coalition, strong regional economy and committed environmental consultants.
Marking the launching point for the LRBC’s ability to disseminate funding, PM Environmental, Triterra and SME earned authorization from the City of Lansing through a competitive bid process, and will soon be entering into agreements as the authorized contractors to conduct the various Phase I and Phase II assessments, Due Care Plans, Baseline Environmental Assessments and more throughout the region.
More information about the application process can be found on LEAP’s website at www.purelansing.com/epa [purelansing.com], including a project intake form property owners will submit as the first step to brownfield redevelopment.
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