On October 23, Gov. Tom Wolf announced $3.4 million in funding to support 7 projects funded by the Industrial Sites Reuse Program to clean up former industrial sites in Allegheny, Berks, Bucks, Dauphin, Lehigh, and York counties to prepare them for use as parks, and business and residential properties.
“Refurbishing an old property for the benefit of the community is a vital step in attracting business investment and job creation,” said Gov. Wolf. “These projects will provide a clean and safe environment for communities and businesses to use for years to come.”
ISRP provides loans and grants for environmental assessments and remediation carried out by eligible applicants who did not cause or contribute to the contamination. The program is designed to foster the cleanup of environmental contamination at industrial sites, thereby bringing blighted land into productive reuse.
The seven approved projects are:
-- Allegheny County: The Regional Industrial Development Corporation of Southwestern Pennsylvania was granted $637,500 for environmental remediation of the former Roundhouse and Guard Shack building. The Roadhouse building is a 23,000-square-foot building located at the Industrial Center of McKeesport, a former steel site. Funds will be used to include remediation or encapsulation of asbestos-containing material throughout the structure, as well as lead-based paint remediation throughout the interior walls.
The Regional Industrial Development Corporation of Southwestern Pennsylvania (RIDC) was also granted $33,700 for environmental remediation of the former Open Hearth building, a 3,200-square-foot building located at the City Center of Duquesne, a former steel site. Funds will be used to remediate lead-based paint and encapsulate surfaces where lead-based paint was removed. RIDC plans to redevelop the site into a planned urban industrial park.
-- Berks County: The Borough of Robesonia was granted $279,533 to perform environmental remediation at the former Robesonia Furnace property. The ISRP funds will be used to remediate the property of contaminates to create a compost transfer and passive recreation areas.
-- Bucks County: The Redevelopment Authority of the County of Bucks was granted $426,675 for site remediation at the former Sellersville Landfill Site in Sellersville. ISRP funds will be used for soil excavation, soil sampling and analysis, surface water sampling and analysis, groundwater monitoring, and well abandonment. Once remediated, the RDA plans to reuse the site for residential purposes.
-- Dauphin County: Steelton Economic Development Corporation was granted $43,337 for an environmental assessment of the 6.25-acre Steelton Steel Works plant. ISRP funds will be used for soil characterization, monitoring well installation, groundwater characterization sampling, and a receptor survey/pathway exposure evaluation.
The Steel Works Redevelopment project is a strategic public/private partnership between the Steelton Economic Development Corporation and Integrated Development Partners, LLC. Together they plan to redevelop the site with 65,000 square feet of commercial, retail, and office space, and multi-level senior housing units. Once completed, the partnership anticipates creating 100 full-time jobs.
-- Lehigh County: Catasauqua was granted $1,000,000 for environmental remediation of the former Crane Iron Works, a 120,000-square-foot building located in Catasauqua. The ISRP funds will be used for remediation of asbestos-containing material throughout the structures, removal, and disposal of all debris within the buildings and capping the site with imported certified clean fill. Once remediated, the proposed plan will create a mixed-use development.
-- York County: The York County Industrial Development Authority (YCIDA) was granted $1,000,000 for the environmental remediation of the former Yorktowne Hotel Building, an 11-story, Renaissance Revival styled hotel built in the 1920s. ISRP funds will be used for site remediation to include removal of asbestos-containing materials, contamination debris, demolition debris, and removal of debris and other hazardous materials. Once remediated, most of the space will remain as a hotel, to also include some retail shops, restaurants, apartments, and office space.
For more information on this funding program, visit the DCED Industrial Site Reuse Program webpage.
For more information on brownfields redevelopment, visit DEP’s Brownfield Redevelopment webpage.
(Photo: Hazelwood Green, last of the large former steel sites undergoing redevelopment in Pittsburgh.)
Related Article:
[Posted: October 23, 2019] www.PaEnvironmentDigest.com
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