When: Wednesday, February 25th, 2015, 6:00 pm – 7:30 pm
Where: Council Chambers, City Hall, Downtown Grass Valley, 125 E. Main Street (for directions, click here)
The City of Grass Valley will host an informational, free public meeting about the 2012 and 2013 Brownfields Assessment Grants awarded to the City by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. These funds were granted to the City to assess and plan the safe cleanup of properties contaminated by hazardous substances and/or petroleum products. The program incentivizes property owners to address potential contamination on their property to remove this hurdle to redevelopment. Nonresidential property owners are encouraged to attend and learn about opportunities to participate.
The public meeting will be held on Wednesday, February 25, 2015 at the City Hall Council Chambers in downtown Grass Valley. Participants will learn how federal funds will assist with the planned assessment, clean up and potential re-use of targeted areas in commercial and industrial blocks of the City. Nonresidential property owners interested in learning about how to participate in this program are especially welcome to attend. The program will include presentations by a representative of the City of Grass Valley as well as project consultants providing information about the overall program goals and activities. There will be a question and answer session following the presentation.
The City of Grass Valley is home to historic mining, timber, and milling activities, and parcels in the town are suspected to be contaminated with hazardous substances and petroleum products – lands that are referred to as “Brownfields.” The City will be using the newly awarded EPA funds to conduct targeted assessments of properties which are known or suspected to have some level of contamination from these legacy activities. Once these assessments are complete, the City can leverage this information to plan appropriate cleanup and decrease the risk to human health and the environment for those properties requiring it, thereby allowing property development to move forward. This program will serve to revitalize the community by turning formerly contaminated industrial and commercial sites into thriving business and public districts.
The City has already managed a similar grant, awarded in 2009, totaling $400,000. The City exceeded program objectives by completing numerous property assessments to owners at no cost, while clearing several properties for redevelopment. Due to the success of the 2009 EPA Brownfields Assessment Grant, the City of Grass Valley was consecutively awarded two further grants in 2012 and 2013. The implementation of these grants is now underway.
For more information about this program, check out our Grass Valley Brownfields Outreach webpage or on the City of Grass Valley’s website at: http://cityofgrassvalley.com/whats-new/epa-brownfield-update.
UPDATE: This event has passed. Click here to view the Power Point slides from the event
