MADISON, Wis. – The Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources (DNR) today announced a Brownfields Grant to the city of Manitowoc to assist with the assessment of potential environmental contamination at a property that has been owned and operated by multiple railroad companies since 1895.
The award is from the DNR’s Wisconsin Assessment Monies program, which provides contractor services worth up to $35,000 for the environmental assessment of eligible brownfields sites.
Brownfields are abandoned, idle and underused properties where reuse is stalled by potential contamination. Brownfields vary in size, location, age and past use; they can be anything from a 500-acre former automobile assembly plant to a small, abandoned gas station.
The awarded grant will support the environmental assessment of a three-acre property near the intersection of 11th Street and York Street. Manitowoc’s Community Development Authority purchased the property in 2019 to conduct blight elimination activities and add this land to the city’s River Point redevelopment district.
“The DNR applauds the city’s decision to acquire this property and work to put it back to use,” said Jodie Peotter, DNR Brownfields, Outreach and Policy Section Chief, Remediation and Redevelopment Program. “Assessment of this property will supplement the city’s ongoing revitalization efforts in River Point.”
Since 2009, the DNR’s Wisconsin Assessment Monies program has provided over $2.9 million to 71 communities across Wisconsin, partnering to help address and redevelop run-down or underused properties that detract from a community’s vitality. Applications for assistance may be submitted to the DNR at any time.
The DNR has a wide range of financial and liability tools available to help local governments, businesses, lenders, and others clean up and redevelop brownfields in Wisconsin, including Ready for Reuse financial awards, which may be used for environmental cleanup. DNR staff around the state are available to meet with community leaders, bankers, developers and private individuals to discuss brownfield projects through Green Team meetings.
More information about the DNR’s brownfields cleanup programs and services is available on the DNR’s brownfields website.
