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The City of Baton Rouge/Parish of
East Baton Rouge was awarded $475,000 in Environmental Protection
Agency (EPA) Brownfields grant funding Friday. Louisiana received a
total of four (4) brownfields grants, three (3) of which were awarded
to Baton Rouge. The Baton Rouge Brownfields Program is a component of
the City Parish comprehensive plan, the Horizon Plan.
The City Parish received $400,000 to
assess brownfields sites throughout the Parish. In addition to
brownfields assessment funding, two (2) non-profit owned sites in
Baton Rouge were awarded brownfields cleanup funding. Hope Community
Development Corporation received $35,000 to cleanup a site at North
Street and North 46th Street. Pelican Nest Learning and Resource Center was awarded
$40,000 in funding to cleanup its site on Nicholson Drive.
In 2000, Baton Rouge was awarded an
EPA Brownfields Pilot Grant in the amount of $200,000. Since this
initial award, the Baton Rouge Brownfields Program has established a
brownfields inventory that includes over 110 sites and has funded
assessments for 27 properties in East Baton Rouge Parish. The program
has leveraged approximately $4.7 million dollars for construction and
redevelopment.
As defined by
EPA, a brownfield is property, the expansion, redevelopment, or reuse
of which may be complicated by the presence or potential presence of a
hazardous substance, pollutant, or contaminant. The Baton Rouge Brownfields Program works to eliminate concerns associated with the
purchase and redevelopment of these potentially contaminated sites. An estimated 400 brownfields sites exist in East Baton Rouge Parish.
For further information, or if you know of a potential brownfields
site that you would like included in the next round of grant funding,
contact Beth Hughes at the Office of the Planning Commission at (225)
389-3144 or email
brownfields@brgov.com |
