LENEXA–Pittsburg has been chosen to receive funding from EPA’s Brownfields Grant Program to conduct area-wide planning in support of community redevelopment efforts aimed at the revitalization of properties that may be contaminated by hazardous substances or pollutants, EPA officials announced today.

The two grants in EPA Region 7 – $200,000 to Dubuque, Iowa, and $196,400 to Pittsburg – are among a total of approximately $4 million in new area-wide planning grants that EPA will provide to help strengthen the economies of 20 communities in 16 states across the country.

EPA’s Brownfields Program empowers states, communities and other stakeholders to work together to prevent, assess, safely clean up and sustainably reuse brownfields. A brownfield is defined as real property, the expansion, redevelopment or reuse of which may be complicated by the presence or potential presence of a hazardous substance, pollutant or contaminant.

EPA’s Brownfields Area-Wide Planning (AWP) Program helps communities respond to local challenges, particularly where multiple brownfield sites are in close proximity, connected by infrastructure, and limit the environmental and social prosperity of their surroundings. AWP grants help communities perform the research needed to develop area-wide plans and strategies for brownfields assessment, cleanup and reuse.

The City of Pittsburg will use its $196,400 AWP grant to work with the community and other stakeholders to develop an area-wide plan and implementation strategy for the 350-acre Mid-City Renaissance area, located near the city’s newly revitalized downtown.

The site was home to several zinc smelters dating from the late 1800s, a clay pipe manufacturing plant, and an industrial site that generated hazardous materials. The area is ideally located for many redevelopment options, which could include retail businesses, restaurants, housing, and transportation choices such as expanded biking and hiking trails.