Greenville lands $300K brownfield grant

BY BRUCE BRANUM

The Greenville Standard

 

At the recent community Brownfield Kickoff reception hosted by the City of Greenville at the Ritz Theater, Greenville Mayor Dexter McLendon announced the award of a $300,000 grant for the City of Greenville by the Environmental Protection Agency.

McLendon said he heard about the grant at a Delta Regional Authority meeting and decided to pursue.

“It is an opportunity for us to find out what our next steps are and what we need to do to get the old Boss building site cleaned up,” said McLendon.

The grant will provide for environmental assessment, community outreach, and cleanup planning and will be used to conduct four Phase I and three Phase II environmental site assessments, and develop two cleanup plans.

Community-wide petroleum grant funds will be used to conduct five Phase I and four Phase II environmental site assessments, and develop two cleanup plans. Grant funds of both types also will be used to conduct community outreach activities.

PPM Consultants, Inc. will oversee the site assessments and development of cleanup plans. Keith Pyron, with PPM, stated Greenville was to be congratulated for receiving the grant. “It is a very competitive grant. Hundreds are applied for all across the United States,” he said.

A brownfield is a property that has real or perceived environmental issues that limit the property from redevelopment.

There have been 25 properties identified as possible brownfield sites from a preliminary assessment.