Four projects receive funding from Cleaner Commonwealth Fund

Provides financial assistance for projects that clean up brownfield sites

FRANKFORT, Ky. (June 22, 2015) — The Kentucky Department for Environmental Protection’s (DEP) Brownfield Redevelopment Program today announced the second round of grant recipients of the Cleaner Commonwealth Fund.

Four projects are being funded in this round:

• A former shoe factory in Vanceburg will receive $50,000. The building is no longer useable. This grant, along with a $200,000 grant from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), will help address asbestos issues as the building is demolished. Once the property is cleared, Peoples’ Self Help Housing will construct low-income, high-energy efficiency homes on the property.
• Gateway Center in Louisville will receive $50,000. This is a former chemical plant. The grant will help address asbestos issues as buildings are cleared to improve the marketability of this property, which is located in an impoverished portion of the city.
• Spalding University will receive a $34,000 grant to review options to address contamination at former industrial properties, 916 S. Eighth St. and 939 S. Ninth St., and to develop a cleanup or management plan.
• The Old Fayette County Courthouse in Lexington will receive $12,000. The grant, along with a $200,000 EPA grant, will help address asbestos and lead-based paint within the building, enabling the structure to be redeveloped.

The fund, which is administered through the Division of Compliance Assistance, provides financial assistance for projects that clean up brownfield sites, including old factories, former gas stations and other properties that are abandoned or underutilized due to environmental contamination. The fund is a grant-and-loan fund established with an $850,000 EPA Brownfield Revolving Loan Fund grant.

Since its inception in 2002, brownfield redevelopment activities have leveraged more than 90,000 jobs across the nation. According to EPA studies, property values rise between 5.1 and 12.8 percent when a nearby brownfield property is redeveloped.