‘Brownfield’ assessment, cleanup grants topic of hearing

ALBANY — Officials with the Cardno Engineering consulting firm gave an update Tuesday on the city of Albany’s efforts to obtain EPA Brownfield assessment and cleanup grants during the first of what will be a series of community engagement meetings.

Cardno Senior Principal/Branch Manager Keith Ziobron from the company’s Atlanta office and Project Manager Beth Norman from its Tallahassee, Fla., office updated a small gathering on efforts to obtain funding that will allow the city to work to redevelop contaminated property.

The city has already secured a $300,000 Brownfield Assessment Grant and the City Commission voted last week to apply for a $500,000 cleanup grant that may be used to ready the former Water, Gas & Light Commission building at 207 Pine Ave. for redevelopment.

“A Brownfield site is defined as real property, the expansion, redevelopment and re-use of which may be complicated by the presence or potential presence of hazardous substances, pollutants, contaminants, controlled substances, petroleum or petroleum products, or that is mine-scarred land,” Ziobron explained. “Basically, we’re talking about a site that has contamination or perceived contamination that limits the site’s redevelopment potential.”

Norman said the sites may contain asbestos, lead-based paint, mold, or “any other potential contaminants.”

The Cardno officials said they have used the Brownfield Assessment Grant to generate generic quality assurance project and community involvement plans and to make assessments of properties at 207 Pine, the former Belk Building that had been selected and later rejected as the downtown home of the Albany Museum of Art and the former “Mule Barn” building. The latter two properties are on West Broad Avenue.

Among their findings on the former WG&L building, which was turned over by the city to the Downtown Development Authority last week to facilitate cleanup and redevelopment, were asbestos-containing materials in the drywall, white sink undercoating, vinyl floor tile, plaster and piping; lead-based paint throughout the building; and evidence of an old service station that once existed at the site.

The objectives of the Brownfield program, Norman noted, is to return abandoned properties to productive re-use, generate tax revenue, create jobs and support redevelopment.

“The goal is to eventually get these properties back on the tax roles,” she said.

Added Ziobron, “A phrase we use is ‘from blight to right.’”

The city has until next Thursday to complete its application for the Brownfield Cleanup Grant.

“There are tax credits — including freezing taxes on abandoned properties at the low level they currently have — that provide incentives for developers and the city,” Ziobron said. “There are even job-creation grants that are associated with the program.”

Norman said the property at 207 Pine is being considered for a “boutique hotel plan.”

For further information or to nominate a property for a Brownfield assessment, contact Ziobron at [email protected] or call (678) 787-9576. Contact Norman at [email protected] or call (850) 661-5475.