The City of Lawrence Redevelopment Committee heard a presentation about brownfield remediation during the committee’s March 28 meeting, including information about a $400,000 grant the city has been awarded from the Environmental Protection Agency.
Leonard Hinrichs of BCA Environmental Consultants led the presentation, focusing on the brownfields grant, which can help the city pay for assessing the condition of land to help with economic development efforts. He also talked about potential funding sources to clean up contaminated sites.
Hinrichs, a geologist, started with a definition of a brownfield.
“EPA says a brownfield is any property the expansion and redevelopment or reuse of which might be complicated by the presence or potential presence of a hazardous substance pollutant or contaminant,” he said. “One of the interesting words in that statement is ‘potential,’ because a lot of times, … you have no idea (a site) used to be something else. And so, there’s a potential for hazardous materials or petroleum or whatever associated with that property and you don’t realize it.”
Other times, he said, it’s more obvious — a former gas station, for example.
The EPA grant can be used to test those sites and determine whether and to what extent they are contaminated. That’s often a requirement before selling or developing a piece of property.
“(EPA) can help conduct environment assessments through these types of grants,” he said. “They can also, in some instances, provide cleanup funding and in a lot of cases, depending on the project cleanup funding, to revitalize those areas again.”
Hinrichs said every community has some property that, with some effort, could become useful again and help rejuvenate neighborhoods. He said that with proper mitigation, a brownfield site could be used for commercial development, residences or a park.
Some sites need only a little mitigation — removing a patch of dirt. For others, the contamination can be capped by putting in a paved parking lot, he said. Some sites are more complex, though, and Hinrichs said those can take many years to properly clean up.
The Redevelopment Commission’s next regular meeting is scheduled for 3:30 p.m. April 25 at Lawrence Government Center, 9001 E. 59th St.
