In 2022, the Indiana Finance Authority, through the Indiana Brownfields Program, was awarded $2,000,000 in U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Brownfields Assessment Grant funding to conduct assessment activities statewide. The City of Frankfort (City) was selected to receive approximately $390,000 of this grant funding to help assess brownfields in our community.
The Brownfield Assessment Grant opportunity gives our community the resources to identify many of our environmental legacy sites and provide additional grant funding for cleanup and redevelopment opportunities. The grant could leverage other public and private investments, improving the City’s economy, ultimately resulting in reduced exposure to hazardous pollutants.
Assessment tasks that this grant can fund for eligible commercial or industrial sites include:
- Develop a Brownfields Inventory
- Perform Phase I Environmental Site Assessments (environmental history of site; required by many banks/lenders for business property transactions)
- Perform Phase II Environmental Site Assessments (soil, groundwater, vapor, waste, asbestos, lead paint, etc. sampling & analyses; potential drum & underground storage tank removal, etc.)
- Community Engagement activities (public meetings)
- Cleanup Planning (remediation work plans, soil management plans, cleanup funding development, Comfort/Site Status Letter Requests, etc.) Note: this grant is for site assessment activities only. No active cleanup can be performed. Other available funding may be sought if cleanup is needed.
The City is seeking eligible sites to participate in this program. Interested parties can include potential buyers of commercial or industrial properties, property owners seeking to market their properties for sale, banks or other lending institutions to reduce their risk on loans toward brownfield properties, and municipal entities interested in seeing unused properties redeveloped to useful purpose.
A “brownfield” is any abandoned or underutilized property where the redevelopment, reuse, or expansion has not occurred due to the presence or potential presence of pollution. For such sites, the unknown nature of environmental conditions and potential contamination issues is the primary barrier to reuse and/or redevelopment. While many properties have no current or historical environmental conditions, some do. It is essential that the environmental conditions of these properties be identified.
If interested in participating in the program or for any questions or additional information about the program, contact Don Stock, Director of Planning & Housing Initiatives at 765-654-5278 or dstock@frankfort-in.gov.
