E.P.A. Brownfields Grant Will Aid City of Spokane with Projects to Revitalize Hillyard Industrial Area

(Seattle - March 17, 2015) The City of Spokane, Washington has been selected to gain a $200,000 Brownfields Area-Wide Planning (AWP) grant from E.P.A. to help move towards the goal of revitalizing a former industrial property in their city.

The City of Spokane will use the backing to work with the community and other stakeholders to develop an area-wide project and implementation strategy for the Hillyard Industrial Area. This area once housed a thriving industrial center that was built around a freight rail yard and included steam engine manufacturing, maintenance and repair facilities. The rail yard closed in the 1960's and the property deteriorated.

The goals of this plan are to develop strategies to address legacy contamination and position the Hillyard Industrial Area for redevelopment. Through the grant, the city will conduct financial feasibility studies, prepare a framework to make sure that the necessary infrastructure is in place and put together a redevelopment strategy for the plan area.

"We support the vision of the City of Spokane as they work to revitalize and sustainably reuse this abandoned industrial property in their community," said Rick Albright, Director of E.P.A. Region ten Office of Environmental Cleanup. Key partners who will work with the city on this plan include Hillyard Neighborhood Council, the Greater Hillyard Business Association, the Organizations of Northeast Spokane, Greater Spokane Incorporated, Spokane Regional Health District and the Washington State Departments of Commerce, Transportation and Ecology.

The grant is one of 20 new Brownfields AWP grants selected for backing across the nation. Assistance provided by this plan supports local efforts to perform research needed to develop a project and implementation strategy to assess, cleanup and reuse brownfields.

Read the fact sheet on the City of Spokane AWP proposal: http://go.usa.gov/3C8gH

Read the national announcement listing all 20 winners at: http://go.usa.gov/3CZGh

For more information on the Brownfields Area-Wide Planning Program: http://epa.gov/brownfields/areawide_grants.htm

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