Grass Valley, CA – An interested crowd attended a meeting on Wednesday evening at City Hall in Grass Valley to learn more about two Brownfields Assessment Grants awarded to the City by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. The meeting, attended by more than 20 local residents, included a presentation about the opportunities created by these EPA grants to assess and plan the safe cleanup of non-residential properties that might be contaminated by hazardous substances and/or petroleum products.
Mayor Jason Fouyer opened the meeting, 
welcoming people to the public event. “This work, funded by federal grants, improves our community’s understanding of challenges to economic development within the City,” he observed in his opening remarks. “This [Brownfields] program has worked in collaboration with property owners willing to participate” in the voluntary program. The program incentivizes property owners to address potential contamination on their property to remove this hurdle to redevelopment.
The presentation was greeted with great interest, lively questions and conversation. Jim Brake, with the consulting firm Geocon that is leading the effort, remarked that the City’s continued success in winning these grants is noteworthy. “I am pleased to see these organizations working together with the city to build on the great work that has already been completed in this area. I would like to see the program include the full cycle from identification of contaminated properties through clean-up and re-purposing. Although this can be an expensive process, working with property owners to identify funding opportunities will be a good step in the right direction,” noted Ray Bryars, a local resident and property owner attending the event.
Members of the public eager to learn more about the program can visit the City of Grass Valley’s website: http://www.cityofgrassvalley.com/whats-new/epa-brownfield-update
For more information on participating in the program, contact Amber Taxiera at (530) 265 8454 x 216 or Amber.Taxiera@sierrafund.org
