Crawford County to get $1.5M for brownfield assessment and cleanup

Crawford Partnership for Education and Economic Development has been selected to receive a $1.5 million grant to assess and cleanup brownfield sites in Crawford County.

It is one of seven grants totaling more than $6 million the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency awarded in Ohio to help transform once-polluted, vacant and abandoned properties into community assets, while helping to create jobs and spur economic revitalization in overburdened communities.

Crawford Partnership will use the money to inventory sites and conduct 39 Phase I and 23 Phase II environmental site assessments. Grant funds also will be used to develop eight cleanup plans, three revitalization plans and community visioning sessions, one market study and to support community engagement activities.

Assessment activities will focus on the City of Bucyrus and the villages of New Washington and Crestline. Priority sites include two former gas stations and automotive service facilities, and a 1.6-acre former rubber manufacturing facility located in a high foot-traffic area. Non-lead coalition members include the city of Bucyrus and the village of Crestline.

"The Crawford Partnership submitted an application last fall for an EPA brownfield assessment grant. It was announced that we have been awarded the full amount − $1.5 million, which will allow us to support brownfield development in Bucyrus, Crestline and throughout Crawford County," said Sarah Herrle, economic development manager. "This tied for the largest grant awarded in Ohio. Basically, the Partnership will be able to assist with Phase I and Phase II assessments at no cost to property owners over the next four years."

EPA selected six communities in Ohio to receive grants totaling $5.5 million in competitive EPA Brownfields funding through the multipurpose, assessment and cleanup grant programs. In addition, the agency announced $1 million in supplemental funding to one existing, high-performing Brownfields revolving loan fund grant program to help expedite their continued work at sites in Ohio.

EPA’s Brownfields program began in 1995 and has provided nearly $2.7 billion in grants to assess and clean up contaminated properties and return blighted properties to productive reuse.

This article originally appeared on Bucyrus Telegraph-Forum: U.S. EPA awards Crawford County $1.5M brownfield cleanup grant