November 1, 2010

City of Lexington Seeks Developer for its Depot District Brownfields Project

The City of Lexington, NC is a Prospective Developer in the NC Brownfield Program for a former furniture manufacturing property, now known as the Lexington Home Brands Plant 1 site (LHB Plant 1) in downtown Lexington. The City is seeking a professional firm(s) to prepare a Depot District Redevelopment Plan in downtown Lexington, a portion of which includes the LHB Plant 1 site. The City of Lexington purchased the LHB Plant 1 property that consists of approximately 18 acres and 1 million square feet of building space. The objective is to formulate a Depot District Redevelopment Plan that would maximize the potential use, character and value of the former LHB Plant 1 property.

The Request for a Statement of Qualifications can be found at the City’s website:
http://www.lexingtonnc.net/comdev/RFQ.pdf

July 1, 2010

$75 Million in Funding Available--HUD-DOT Announce Community Challenge Grants and TIGER II Planning Grants

U.S. Departments of Transportation (DOT) and Housing and Urban Development (HUD) will join forces to award up to $75 million in funding — $35 million in TIGER (Transportation Investment Generating Economic Recovery) II Planning Grants and $40 million in Sustainable Community Challenge Grants for localized planning activities that ultimately lead to projects that integrate transportation, housing and economic development.

The new program builds on the Partnership for Sustainable Communities, an innovative new interagency collaboration, launched by President Obama in June 2009, between the Department of ransportation (DOT), the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). The Partnership is designed to remove the traditional federal government silos that exist between departments and strategically target the agencies' transportation, land use, environmental, housing and community development resources to provide communities the resources they need to build more livable, sustainable communities.

TIGER II Planning Grants may be used to plan, prepare or design surface transportation projects that would be eligible for funding under the TIGER II Discretionary Grant program. These projects include highways, bridges, transit, railways, ports or bicycle and pedestrian facilities.

HUD's Sustainable Communities funding will target urban and community planning projects that foster reform and reduce barriers to achieving affordable, economically vital and sustainable communities. Such efforts may include amending or replacing local master plans, zoning codes, and building codes either on a jurisdiction-wide basis or in a specific neighborhood or sector to promote mixed-use development, affordable housing and the re-use of older buildings for new purposes with the goal of promoting sustainability at the local level.

For more information: http://www.hud.gov/offices/adm/grants/nofa10/huddotnofa.cfm.

July 1, 2010

Brownfield Grant Will Help Clean Up Contaminated Land in Charlotte

The City of Charlotte has been awarded a $400,000 grant from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to decontaminate land, making it suitable for development. The City’s Engineering & Property Management (E&PM) and Neighborhood and Business Services (NBS) departments teamed up to apply for and win the federal grant. In April, the City was selected by the EPA for a Brownfield Community-Wide Assessment Grant.  The $400,000 competitive grant provides funds for developing inventories of brownfield properties, prioritizing sites, conducting community involvement activities and conducting site assessments and cleanup planning.

“With this grant, we can support both public and private development, which leads to job creation within the City's most economically distressed areas," said Environmental Program Manager David Wolfe.

The brownfields program encourages redevelopment of contaminated sites such as abandoned gas stations, old textile mills and other industrial and commercial properties. Grant funds in Charlotte will support environmental assessment activities within the City’s Business Corridor Revitalization geographical area.  For more info click HERE.

For additional information contact:
Kristen Behlke, Communications Specialist
City of Charlotte
704-336-8917

May 24, 2010

City of Durham Brownfields Job Fair and Reception

The City of Durham Office of Economic and Workforce Development has been training qualified applicants for technician positions in the environmental workforce.  This robust, focused training program provides the certifications workers need to "hit the ground running" and have an immediate, positive impact on your company.  It was designed by local environmental professionals and is the only one of its kind in North Carolina.

The City of Durham would like for you to have the opportunity to meet and talk with program graduates about your business and invites you to the first ever Brownfields Job Fair and Reception.  The event will take place on May 27, 2010, from 1:45 to 4:00 pm, at the Durham Technical Community College Corporate Education Center located at 1637 Lawson Street, Durham NC 27703.

Please RSVP to Katharine Neuman at 919-560-4965, ext. 15209, or by email at Katharine.Neumen@durhamnc.gov.

For more information please click HERE.

May 18, 2010

FINANCIAL ASSISTANCE OPPORTUNITY FOR BROWNFIELDS GRANTEES TO APPLY FOR GROUNDWORK USA PILOT FUNDING

The National Parks Service is offering a grant opportunity (up to $180,000) for EPA Brownfields Grantees to fund the establishment of a Groundwork USA trust.  The letter of interest due date is June 16, 2010.  The Groundwork USA Initiative is a pilot program of the National Park Service (NPS) Rivers and Trails Program in cooperation with the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Brownfields Program to establish a network of independent nonprofit environmental businesses called Groundwork Trusts.  The Groundwork USA Initiative builds the capacity of communities impacted by brownfields and derelict lands to improve their environment for conservation, recreation and economic development by supporting the establishment of locally organized and controlled Groundwork Trust organizations.  Each Groundwork Trust represents a strong partnership between municipal government, business and civic leaders, foundations, churches, community organizations and residents.  They are focused on delivering projects and programs to improve their communities’ environment, economy and quality of life.  There are presently 20 Groundwork USA pilot communities across the United States.  Details on this funding opportunity can be found here…GW USA Pilot Funding.pdf

May 11, 2010

Durham Holding Environmental Networking Session For EPA Job Training Grant Students

The City of Durham’s Office of Economic and  Workforce Development has Development has utilized its EPA Brownfields Job Training Grant to train numerous students and is holding a job and networking session for its graduates.  Environmental firms through throughout the research triangle area have been invited to attend.  Hosted by the Research Triangle Foundation of NC, the session will take place at Foundation offices at 12 Davis Drive, Research Triangle Park, NC from 8:00 to 9:45 on May 17.  RSVP requested, details found here.  The Brownfields Program supports Durham’s job training efforts.  Significant investment has been made in these students as they have received numerous OSHA-required training certifications.  Please come out and network with the City and find out more about this valuable workforce!

Mar 1, 2010

Submittal of Reports in Electronic Format

As of March 1, 2010, all reports submitted to the Brownfields Program should be in electronic format.

Oct 2, 2009

New Public Comment Guidance Document Now Available

A new guidance document has been created to help Prospective Developers comply with the revised public comment requirements that took effect on October 1, 2009. The guidance document may be accessed on the “Statutes and Guidance” webpage, or by clicking HERE.

Sep 9, 2009

EPA Region 4 is holding a Brownfields Grant Writing Tips Webinar on Thursday, September 17, 2009 from 1:00 PM to 3:00 PM EDT.

This webinar will give prospective Brownfields grant applicants and grant writers an opportunity to understand the FY-2010 Proposal Guidelines for Brownfields Assessment, Revolving Loan Fund, and Cleanup Grants. Through this training, EPA will provide participants with tips on writing a winning Brownfields Assessment, Revolving Loan Fund, or Cleanup grant proposal.

The targeted audience includes representatives of eligible Brownfields applicants, including states, tribes, local governments, quasi-governmental organizations, and non-profits, as well as grant writers. Participants should have at least a basic understanding of Brownfields sites and of EPA’s Brownfields program.

Register Now! This course is limited to 125 participants. EPA intends to monitor registration and encourages participants from the same organization to share a phone line and computer. Please cancel your registration if your schedule does not permit you to attend. A call-in number and access code will be emailed to participants prior to the call.

To register, go to:

http://www.trainex.org/BF-GWT-Webinar

For questions, please contact:
Mike Norman: 404-562-8792 or via email at norman.michael@epa.gov
Margaret Olson: 404-562-8601 or via email at olson.margaret@epa.gov

AUG 14, 2009

To Local Governments…The 2009-2010 U.S. EPA Brownfield Grant Application Guidelines Now Available

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has published guidelines for local governments to apply for this year’s round of brownfields grants. The guidelines can be found at http://www.epa.gov/brownfields/applicat.htm. The proposals for these competitive grants are due October 16, 2009. Grant awards for winning applicants will be announced in Spring 2010. Under these guidelines, the EPA provides brownfields funding for three types of grants:

  1. Brownfields Assessment Grants – provides funds to inventory, characterize, assess, and conduct planning (including cleanup planning) and community involvement related to brownfield sites.
  2. Brownfields Revolving Loan Fund (RLF) Grants – provides funds for a grant recipient to capitalize a revolving fund and to make loans and provide subgrants to carry out cleanup activities at brownfield sites.
  3. Brownfields Cleanup Grants – provides funds to carry out cleanup activities at a specific brownfield site owned by the applicant.

North Carolina local government entities were awarded $2.26 million worth of these grants last year in support of brownfields activities, including the cities of Concord, Durham, Greensboro, Greenville, New Bern, and the Land-of-Sky Regional Council.

JUL 1, 2009

General Assembly Modifies Brownfields Public Comment Process

Introduced during the current session of the General Assembly, House Bill 1388 was ratified and signed into law on June 26, 2009. It will become effective on October 1, 2009 (full text of the bill). The new statute changes the process by which brownfields agreements are made available to the public for review and comment. The existing notice requirements for posting the Summary Notice of Intent to Redevelop a Brownfields Property (SNI) on the property and publishing it in a newspaper local to the brownfields property remain unchanged. The new law: 1) removes the previous requirement that the SNI be published in the N.C. Register, and 2) adds the requirement that Prospective Developers (PDs) mail or deliver a copy of the SNI to all owners of property contiguous to the brownfields property, directly notifying them of the brownfields agreement and public comment period. The new contiguous owner notice requirement will provide more effective public notice of brownfields agreements, and will streamline notification by eliminating the 3-week time lag inherent in N.C. Register publication. Only those N.C. Brownfields Program projects that will be going into public comment on or after the new law’s effective date will be affected, and the Program will provide guidance on these new requirements to the PDs for those projects.