Recommend approval to authorize City staff to prepare and submit an application for an Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Community-Wide Brownfield Assessment grant for fiscal year 2018. The focus will be on sites that are not currently in use that have a land-use history with a higher likelihood of contamination such as former dry cleaners or gas stations, and that have a strategic alignment with existing urban development plans. This grant will allow the City to assess properties to 1) Determine if contamination exists, 2) Develop cleanup plans for contaminated sites, and 3) Help sites to become eligible for EPA Cleanup Grant funding.

In some cases, if site cleanup is determined to be relatively minor, such as removal of an underground storage tank, Assessment Grant funds can be used to complete the cleanup. This allows the property to return to full productive value without going through the Cleanup Grant process. Property owners will not be required to clean up properties as a result of this grant.

The proposal will focus on the Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard / Montgomery Street corridor from 52nd Street on the South to Bay Street on the North, and the area in and around the location of the future Canal District.

If awarded, the grant will provide up to $300,000 in funding to identify, inventory, and assess the potential for contamination on properties within the focus area. This program does not require a financial match.

Approval