Kildee Announces $600,000 in Brownfield Grants for Genesee County Land Bank 

WASHINGTON - Congressman Dale E. Kildee (D-MI) announced today that the Genesee County Land Bank has been awarded a total of $600,000 in Brownfield grants to assist in the revitalization of abandoned and contaminated property.  Genesee County was awarded $400,000 in two separate Assessment Grants for hazardous substances and a $200,000 Cleanup Grant.  As part of the Brownfield Economic Redevelopment Initiative, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) awarded these funds to Genesee County to help revitalize and rejuvenate blighted areas.  The Land Bank has now received $2.8 million in EPA grants since 2004.

“These grants will help prepare for future cleanup activities, which will help revitalize and redevelop abandoned and contaminated land,” said Congressman Kildee. “Once these areas are cleaned up, they will be part of a new strategy of productive redevelopment that will increase the local tax base, generate jobs, create trails and other green spaces, and revitalize neighborhoods.  We must continue to provide resources to maintain and preserve the health of the environment so that these areas can be safely used by future generations.”

“The new EPA grants will help the Land Bank speed up the process of returning tax foreclosed, contaminated, and abandoned properties to productive use,” added Land Bank Chairman Dan Kildee.  “The additional funds will enable the Land Bank to inventory and assess tax foreclosed properties.  In addition, the Land Bank will use the funds to facilitate the acquisition of vacant brownfields for use as trails, green space or commercial and residential purposes."

The Land Bank’s Brownfield program, funded by a $5 million county bond issued in 2004 and $2.2 million in EPA grants awarded to the county in 2004, aims to eliminate blight and address environmental contamination concerns on abandoned and tax foreclosed properties.  The Land Bank works in collaboration with the Genesee County Treasurer’s Office to prevent tax foreclosure on area homes and bring tax reverted properties back into productive use. Through partnerships with public, private and non-profit stakeholder groups, the Land Bank encourages reinvestment in the more than 4000 residential, commercial and industrial properties that it has acquired through the tax foreclosure process since its inception in 2002.

The EPA’s Brownfields Economic Redevelopment Initiative is designed to enable states to work together with other agencies to prevent, assess and safely clean up brownfield sites for economic redevelopment.  The Brownfields Grants Program was created to help revitalized blighted areas, which in turn will create jobs, preserve green-space and open land. The program specifically focuses on distressed communities that are in need of economic and environmental rehabilitation.

There are four different types of Brownfield grants, which represent different stages of the revitalization process.  Assessment Grants are used to provide funding for brownfield inventories, planning, environmental assessments, and community outreach.  Brownfields Cleanup Grants provide direct funding for cleanup activities at certain properties with planned green-space, recreational, or other nonprofit uses.  Brownfields Revolving Loan Fund Grants provide funding to capitalize loans that are used to cleanup brownfield sites.  Brownfields Job Training Grants bring together a wide variety of public and private stakeholders to help provide environmental employment and training for residents in communities impacted by brownfields.