Reimagine 85: Evans Property Initiative

The City of Evans was recently awarded a $500,000 Community-wide Assessment grant from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to fund activities that support brownfields site assessment and reuse planning. With the EPA grant, the Evans Property Initiative (EPI) will facilitate redevelopment activities that have not occurred on properties within the US-85 corridor through normal market forces and possibly because of environmental challenges. Learn more about EPI on our About page.

WHAT IS A BROWNFIELD?

The U.S. EPA defines a brownfield as “a property where expansion, redevelopment or reuse may be complicated by the presence or potential presence of a hazardous substance, pollutant or contaminant.”

Environmental site assessments and cleanup activities make it is possible to transform brownfields from potential liabilities to assets that benefit the community.

WHAT ARE THE BENEFITS OF BROWNFIELDS REDEVELOPMENT?

The cleanup and reuse of brownfields provides benefits to property owners, developers, business owners, and the surrounding community. Benefits include:

  • Removing unknowns regarding site conditions that might hold up a future sale, financing agreement, and/or redevelopment project

  • Avoiding actions by regulatory agencies that may impose penalties and costly cleanups

  • Tax benefits for cleaning up and reusing the property

  • Reducing the likelihood that contamination will migrate off the site or into groundwater and eliminating additional cleanup costs

  • Making the property more valuable and marketable

  • Contributing to economic prosperity, job creation, and environmental restoration in the community

  • Making neighborhoods safer, healthier, and more resilient

EPI offers resources to aid in the revitalization of the US-85 corridor and surrounding neighborhoods by incentivizing investments in challenging projects. EPI provides the following FREE offerings to support owners of underutilized properties:

  1. Community-wide planning

  2. Environmental site assessments

  3. Reuse and cleanup planning

  4. Community engagement and public education

Want to learn more about brownfields, the redevelopment process, and the Evans Property Initiative?