WEST BEND, WI – The US EPA has approved a $1.5 million Brownfield Coalition Assessment Grant for Washington County.
Washington County applied as the lead member of a coalition that includes the City of West Bend, the City of Hartford and the Village of Kewaskum. Although these three municipalities are formal members of the Coalition as part of this grant application, projects and sites throughout the County are eligible for use of funding.
County Executive Josh Schoemann said, “This is great news! Every brownfield redeveloped allows us to revitalize our communities with new workforce housing, hotel accommodations, commercial properties or other job-creating businesses while preserving farmland and putting properties back on the tax rolls. Due to these projects having more regulatory compliance issues, brownfield projects likely would not happen without assistance.”
Assessment, cleanup, and redevelopment of brownfields is critical for eliminating threats to human health and the environment and revitalizing communities. The County and municipalities will receive a wide range of benefits including increased tax base, increased employment opportunities, assessment of hazardous and petroleum contaminated brownfield sites and reuse/redevelopment opportunity analysis.
The US EPA funding has been a critical tool in the County’s continued economic development efforts, focusing on redeploying outdated former manufacturing facilities to clean, safe, and effective use. Similar US EPA grants were received by the County in 2014 and 2017, and have assisted the Washington County Site Redevelopment Program (SRP) in redeveloping 61 acres of brownfields with 479 new housing units.
These funds also helped leverage an additional $3.1 million investment in abatement, demotion, or cleanup, and an additional $115,153,900 investment in construction. There is a significant need for additional assessment funding for our target areas and priority sites, largely centered around historic downtown areas throughout Washington County.
