Hinesville officials are hoping for better luck the second time around with a grant from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to assist with the continuing effort to clean up Brownfield sites along Memorial Drive.
The Hinesville City Council granted the Community Development Department authorization to re-apply for the U.S. EPA Brownfields Grant, after being selected as a grant winner in last year’s round of applications and losing the funding due to not completing a requirement.
“This grant would be used to clean up property at 120 Welborn St. that is also called 123 Memorial Dr. Petroleum contaminants have been found at this site, as well as underground storage tanks,” Hinesville Grants Administrator Tewana LeCounte said during Thursday’s council meeting.
“We had applied for this particular site in the last round of the 2007 (grant applications) and we were actually approved by EPA for this site. However, we had not acquired the site by the time we should have started the grant,” she noted.
The city still has yet to purchase the property, but is eligible to receive funding if awarded the grant and have obtained the land by June 2008, according to LeCounte.
CDD administrators are in the process of determining how much funding to request, with the maximum grant award being $200,000.
The city will be required to match up to 20 percent of the award amount.
The deadline to turn in the application is Oct. 19.
What is a brownfield?
In city planning, a brownfield is land previously used for industrial purposes, or certain commercial uses, and that may be contaminated by low concentrations of hazardous waste or pollution and has the potential to be reused once it is cleaned up.
The Hinesville City Council granted the Community Development Department authorization to re-apply for the U.S. EPA Brownfields Grant, after being selected as a grant winner in last year’s round of applications and losing the funding due to not completing a requirement.
“This grant would be used to clean up property at 120 Welborn St. that is also called 123 Memorial Dr. Petroleum contaminants have been found at this site, as well as underground storage tanks,” Hinesville Grants Administrator Tewana LeCounte said during Thursday’s council meeting.
“We had applied for this particular site in the last round of the 2007 (grant applications) and we were actually approved by EPA for this site. However, we had not acquired the site by the time we should have started the grant,” she noted.
The city still has yet to purchase the property, but is eligible to receive funding if awarded the grant and have obtained the land by June 2008, according to LeCounte.
CDD administrators are in the process of determining how much funding to request, with the maximum grant award being $200,000.
The city will be required to match up to 20 percent of the award amount.
The deadline to turn in the application is Oct. 19.
What is a brownfield?
In city planning, a brownfield is land previously used for industrial purposes, or certain commercial uses, and that may be contaminated by low concentrations of hazardous waste or pollution and has the potential to be reused once it is cleaned up.