BELGRADE, Mont. — Belgrade is moving ahead with plans to update older buildings afterreceivingan EPAbrownfieldsgrant.
Brownfieldsgrantsare very flexible. They can help pay for properties that were contaminated oraresuspected of contamination. The funding can cover assessments for city-owned sites or privateproperty,and if problems are found, the money could then be used for cleanup.
Those grants were often used atold structures like former gas stations or dry cleaners, where chemicalcontaminationconcerns were more likely.
Katharine King, Belgrade community and economic development director,said the funding could help the city makebetteruse of sites that already havekey services in place.
“Oncewe'reable tosort of jumpthose hoops, figure out what the issues are and resolve them. Theseare typically properties that already have infrastructuretothem. So,nowwe'rereally talking about infill and efficient use of municipal infrastructure. So, the streets, theroadand the pipes in the ground, all of that,”King said.
The city bought Big Red, an old grain elevator off Main Street, in February. They plan to eventually repurpose it. King said the building once held a large amount of fertilizer, raising concerns about whether it was safe to work in.
“Ifyou were to walk into the building, you would see thatthere'sa layer of dust throughout the entire structure. And so that will need to be remediated prior to any potential reuse in that specific case,” King said.
Once remediation is done, the city plans to move forward with public engagement tocome up withanreuse plan for the structure to keep it alive for the community, she added.
Besides Big Red, Belgradeis also looking at using grant money ontheHeck andQuawelementary buildings,which the city recently took over. Officialsanticipatefinding asbestos because of the age of those buildings.
“It's really an important financial tool to help a community unlock properties that are otherwise going to go unused,” King said.
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