City of Rochester
News Release
(Wednesday, May 28, 2104) – Mayor Lovely Warren announced today that the City has received a $200,000 grant to support its efforts to investigate, clean up and revitalize brownfield sites. The grant from the United States Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA) will be used for environmental site assessments of key brownfield sites located within Brownfield Opportunity Areas (BOA) in the city of Rochester. Four New York State BOAs, totaling 1,867 acres, have been established in the city’s northeast, northwest and southwest quadrants. The USEPA assessment grant will be used to create a BOA Site Assessment Program and will complement more than $1.5 million in N.Y. State Department of State BOA planning grants that the City has received.
Initial brownfield site inventories have been completed for all four BOAs. Under the EPA funded BOA Site Assessment Program, the City and its community partners will select strategic and accessible brownfield sites for environmental investigations. The grant funded investigations are an essential step in the process leading to clean up, neighborhood revitalization and job creation within the BOAs.
“This grant will help the City continue to address brownfield properties that are degrading many of our neighborhoods,” said Mayor Warren. “Brownfield properties inhibit investment and job creation and affect the quality of life in our neighborhoods every day. We very much appreciate the USEPA’s funding support for our brownfield projects.”
Since the USEPA began its brownfield initiative in 1995, the City has been awarded 19 competitive USEPA brownfield grants totaling $3,780,000.
The City expects to begin to use the brownfield grant to investigate properties in the fall after the cooperative funding agreement with the USEPA is executed.
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News Media: For more information, contact Communications Director Christine Christopher at 428-7135.