(Lenexa, Kan., May 6, 2020) – The city of Waterloo, Iowa, was selected to receive a $300,000 Brownfields Assessment Grant by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency today to conduct environmental site assessments, planning, and community outreach activities in the city. Under President Trump’s Administration, EPA has delivered approximately $287 million in Brownfield grants directly to communities and nonprofits for cleanup and redevelopment, job creation, and economic development through the award of over 948 grants.
Nationwide, this year, the agency is announcing the selection of 155 grants for communities and tribes totaling over $65.6 million in EPA brownfields funding the Agency’s Assessment, Revolving Loan Fund, and Cleanup Grant Programs. These funds will aid under-served and economically disadvantaged communities, including neighborhoods located in Opportunity Zones, in assessing and cleaning up abandoned industrial and commercial properties.
“We are pleased to recognize the city of Waterloo and look forward to the opportunities this EPA Brownfields Grant will provide to the community,” said EPA Region 7 Administrator Jim Gulliford. “Brownfield assessment, cleanup and revitalization helps communities put underutilized properties back to good use. Reclaiming these sites benefits the community and its residents, our economy, and our environment.”
City officials plan to use the $300,000 grant to conduct 19 Phase I and up to four Phase II environmental site assessments, focusing on blighted and vacant properties in the city’s Urban Core and Broad Street Corridor. They will also use the funds to support reuse planning and community outreach activities. Priority sites include a former bulk oil paint and welding shop, recently-acquired Tech Works lots, former railyard, and former River Road area, part of a Qualified Opportunity Zone.
“This is excellent news. I am pleased that our partnership with the EPA for the redevelopment of infill and brownfield sites in Waterloo continues,” says Waterloo Mayor Quintin Hart. We have seen great success working with the EPA and DNR on brownfield programs. It has helped us to educate the public that all brownfield sites do not have contaminants. Now we are able to attract new small business development and new investment by private businesses. These funds will help strengthen our community from within, bringing new life to existing business districts and older industrial sites. We look forward to this next wave of transformative projects.”
Nearly 30% of the communities announced nationwide today will receive brownfields funding for the first time. Of the 151 communities selected, 118 can potentially assess or clean up brownfield sites in census tracts designated in Opportunity Zones.
Grants awarded by EPA’s Brownfields Program provide communities across the country with an opportunity to transform contaminated sites into community assets that attract jobs and achieve broader economic development outcomes, while taking advantage of existing infrastructure. For example, brownfields grants are shown to:
Increase Local Tax Revenue: A study of 48 brownfields sites found that an estimated $29 million to $97 million in additional local tax revenue was generated in a single year after cleanup. This is two to seven times more than the $12.4 million EPA contributed to the cleanup of these sites.
Increase Residential Property Values: Another study found that property values of homes near revitalized brownfields sites increased between 5 and 15% following cleanup.
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