MDEQ News Release: Ottawa County Awarded Grant to Assist with Redevelopment

For Immediate Release: October 3, 2017                                                                                         

Contact: Roman Wilson, MDEQ Brownfield Coordinator, wilsonr30@michigan.gov, 616-888-0134

Ottawa County Awarded Grant to Assist with Redevelopment

A former gravel mine and oil well field in Georgetown Township will be returned to productive use with help from the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality (MDEQ). A $24,850 grant to the Ottawa County Brownfield Redevelopment Authority was awarded to investigate environmental contamination at the site, located east of the Fillmore Street and Cottonwood Drive intersection.

The brownfield grant will help evaluate whether past land uses resulted in environmental contamination. The evaluation will help determine cleanup needs and costs.

When Lansing, Michigan revitalized its downtown riverfront, the city's biggest challenge was a huge, vacant, obsolete coal-fired power plant in the heart of downtown. Its redevelopment, with help from the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality, changed the riverfront and the city.

After the evaluation the 231-acre property, which has access to the Grand River, will be combined with adjoining parcels to create the Bend Area, a 700-acre recreational facility. The Bend Area will include a swimming beach, kayaking and canoeing, picnicking, hiking, and fishing. The redevelopment will cost nearly $15 million.

The MDEQ’s Brownfield Redevelopment Program awards grants and loans to local governments to investigate and address environmental conditions on vacant or abandoned properties with known or suspected environmental contamination.

The MDEQ’s grants and loans have resulted in over $4 billion in private investment and nearly 29,000 new jobs over the life of the Brownfield Redevelopment Program. For each dollar invested in environmental cleanup by the MDEQ, an average of $23 is invested in the state’s economy. When brownfields are redeveloped, property values increase both on the cleaned-up site and on other nearby properties, creating new tax revenues for communities. Learn more at www.michigan.gov/deqbrownfields.