Editor’s note: This story has been updated to reflect comments from Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms and state and local officials during a May 12 press conference.
The Environmental Protection Agency has awarded grants to two Georgia cities Wednesday under its Brownfields Program.
Atlanta and Albany each received two of the 155 grants awarded this year. The grants for 2020 total more than $65.6 million. The city of Atlanta received a total $800,000 in grants; Albany received $1.15 million.
During a press conference this week, Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms thanked the EPA for investing in Atlanta and commended local development leaders on thoughtful planning that is helping to create a more equitable city.
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Brownfield sites are properties slated for redevelopment, expansion or reuse that are or could be contaminated or polluted. There are more than 450,000 brownfields in the United States. The EPA’s Brownfields Program began in 1995 and has issued nearly $1.6 billion in grants to assess, clean up and revitalize properties.
“U.S. EPA grants are especially important for triggering cleanup and re-purposing at worthy sites that for whatever reasons have not yet acquired the requisite private investment,” said Richard Dunn, Director of the state Environmental Protection Division.
A $300,000 grant to the City of Atlanta will be used in part to conduct several environmental site assessments including the 75-acre Chattahoochee Brick Company site near the Chattahoochee River just northwest of downtown Atlanta and the CSX rail lines known as the Kudzu Line. The area is an important component of the Westside Beltline expansion.
Invest Atlanta also received $500,000 for clean up of a segment of the Atlanta Beltline’s Southside corridor, which runs from the southern end of Windsor Avenue to Milton Avenue southeast. Currently being used as an unpaved interim trail, the 0.85 mile site is contaminated with heavy metals and hydrocarbons, according to EPA documents.
With the Beltline’s history as a former railroad, Brownfield remediation has always been an important part of its development, said Clyde Higgs, CEO of Atlanta Beltline, Inc.
“This grant truly is a major boost for the Southside corridor,” he said, noting that the segment will flow under the interstate through a former railroad tunnel and will be within walking distance of more than 3,000 housing units, 25% of which will be affordable housing.
Grant funds provided to the city of Albany will be used to provide loans and grants to nonprofits involved in cleaning up and repurposing properties in underserved areas of the city. The money will also go to the clean up of heavy metals, contaminants and petroleum at the site of the former Belk Building on the city’s West Broad Avenue.
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