U.S. EPA REGION 8 WBWIRE Brownfields and Land Revitalization in Region 8 Brownfields Grant Funding Opportunity EPA is announcing several brownfield grant funding opportunities including: • Brownfield Assessment Grants (site-specific $200,000, community-wide $300,000 and coalition assessment grants $600,000), • Brownfield Cleanup Grants ($500,000 and can be used to cleanup multiple sites), and • Brownfield Multipurpose Grants ($800,000), Click here for a copy of the grant guidelines. Proposals are due January 31, 2019 in grants.gov. Due to grant guideline changes, we highly recommend attending EPA's Brownfields grant guideline outreach webinar scheduled for Tuesday, December 11, 2018 at 12:00 pm Mountain Time. Participants can join at https://epawebconferencing.acms.com/fyl9 mac/ and/or dial into the audio conference line at 1-866-299-3188/202-566-1817. Brownfields Funding Opportunities! Assessment, Cleanup and Multipurpose Grants Grant Guideline Outreach Training 1 Turviav, Dcccmbet 11,2018 at 12:00 pm Mouniam Time £ ------- Technical Assistance and Training Opportunities • KSU TAB provides free technical assistance to communities and other stakeholder with brownfields redevelopment efforts. KSU TAB provides several tools that can assist you with your brownfields program. One tool is TAB EZ which was developed to help streamline and simplify the grant writing process when applying for EPA brownfields assessment cleanup grants. KSU TAB may need time from when EPA releases the guidelines to get the tool updated to match the current year grant guidelines. KSU TAB also provides past successful grant proposals on their website. The KSU TAB contact for communities in Region 8 is Mark Walker. • The Brownfields Inventory Tool (BIT) is another tool that KSU TAB provides to help communities inventory and manage brownfields sites. KSU TAB recently came out with a mobile phone application for BIT. • This was a fantastic year for accomplishments in the Brownfields program. Check out this year's Brownfields accomplishments in the November ACRES Bulletin. Entering your site information in ACRES helps EPA show the value of the brownfields program in a tangible way. If you are new to ACRES, EPA offers a "Getting Started" training which is being offered on December 11, 2018 at 12:00 pm Mountain Time. EPA also offers a "Next Level" training for those already familiar with ACRES which will be offered on January 8th, 2019 at 12:00 pm Mountain Time. Click here for the all the ACRES training dates and web links. • EPA's brownfields program provides environmental assessment services free of charge to communities through the Targeted Brownfields Assessment fTBA) program. Services typically include Phase I and II assessments and cleanup planning. The application form is short and it doesn't require any grant management. Click here to get started with a TBA! Other Grant Opportunities • EPA is requesting applications for Environmental Justice Small Grants fEJSG). Recipients can receive up to $30,000 for one-year, community-driven projects that help communities better understand local environmental and public health issues and identify ways to address these issues at a local level. Applications are due February 15, 2019. EJSG Request for applications • Five Star Urban Waters Restoration Grant Program 2019 Request for Proposals solicitation is available. This multi- organization grant program seeks to provide modest financial assistance to diverse local partnerships focused on improving water quality, watersheds and the species and habitats they support. Grants range from $20,000- $50,000. Proposals are due Thursday, January 31, 2019. • The U.S. Department of Transportation pre-existing Transportation Investment Generating Economic Recovery (TIGER) grant program has been replaced by the Better Utilizing Investment to Leverage Development (BUILD) transportation discretionary grants program. View the fact sheet describing BUILD grant vs TIGER grant. The BUILD Solicitation closed July 19, 2018. ------- Region 8 Brownfield Project Highlights Brownfield projects helping to create more affordable housing and greenspace in Missoula, Montana Redevelopment is happening on three City of Missoula Brownfield grant projects. The City of Missoula used their Brownfields RLF to provide a $75,000 subgrant to the non-profit Homeword to cleanup contaminated soils that will allow them to pilot a new kind of affordable housing project. Six small homes will be placed on a piece property next to the Missoula Food Bank. The homes are expected to be completed in early 2019. Read more about the homes on Homeword's Website and a Missoula Current newspaper article. Construction has begun on another Missoula RLF subgrant affordable housing site. The City of Missoula subgranted $79,000 to the North Missoula Development Corporation for hazardous building materials abatement and the Montana Department of Environmental Quality's Orphan Share Fund was used to remove soils contaminated with lead. The building on site was deconstructed with materials salvaged and the history documented. The Lee Gordon place redevelopment wiil include seven permanently affordable townhouses that will remain permanently affordable through lease restrictions. This will be the first permanently affordable home ownership project in Missoula's city core. The townhouses will be move in ready in early 2019. Figure 2: Construction has begun at the Lee Gordon Place Missoula used a brownfields assessment grant to complete due diligence with a limited Phase II assessment on the Montana Rail Link property prior purchasing the property and then transformed the property into Montana Rail Link (MRL) Park (under constructions). In Summer 2018, the Golden Spike Trail opened on the MRL Park property completing a long awaited connection between downtown Missoula and Hamilton. In the beginning of November, a new dog park opened which neighborhood residents asked for during City planning sessions. Finally, Garden City Harvest worked with the City to design and start construction on a community garden that will be open to the public in the spring. See Conceptual drawing (below) for other components of the park that will be open in the spring 2019. ------- MONTANA RAIL LINK PARK OVERALL PARK SITE PLAN 2018 02.26 CONCEPTUAL DRAFT FOR REFERENCE ONLY Figure 3: Montana Rail Link Park Conceptual Site Plan Design ------- Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa Indians Completed another Brownfields cleanup On July 27, 2018, the Turtle Mountain Band of the Chippewa Indians (TMBCI) completed the brownfields cleanup and demolition of the former Block Grant Building in Belcourt, North Dakota, The vacant building was contaminated with asbestos, lead-based paint and there was lead in the soil. The TMBCI used their CERCLA 128 (a) Brownfields Tribal Response Program grant to fund the environmental cleanup, and leveraged tribal resources for the demolition, foundation removal and disposal of debris. The TMBCI utilized EPA's Targeted Brownfields Assessment (TBA) program to assess the property and identify the asbestos containing materials and confirm the presence of lead in the soil prior to the cleanup. The Tribe plans to reuse the property as an ice skating rink and a warming hut. This project was highlighted in EPA's state and tribal publication. Contact Us For more information about U.S. EPA Region 8's Brownfields Program, please visit: https://www.epa.gov/brownfields/brownfields-and-land-revitalization-region-8 or contact Stephanie Shen with the EPA Region 8 Brownfields Team at: shen.stephanie@epa.gov. vvEPA ------- |