FORTVILLE Fortville received over $300,000. The federal government awarded the town for funding environmental studies before redeveloping properties.
The $305,700, which is provided by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency will pay for assessments of brownfields.
The grant will finance Phase 1 and 2 assessments. Phase 1 studies include digging into the past of sites. These could prompt Phase 2, which involves activities such as taking samples of soil and groundwater or asbestos.
Fortville planning director Adam Zaklikowski stated that the grant dollars have a lot potential.
Potential developers who are interested in purchasing properties in Fortville they suspect may have contamination, such as old gas station sites or auto repair sites, would need to conduct a Phase 1 or 2 environmental assessment study. These studies would be funded by grant money. It is also advantageous because some developers have opted not to do these studies in the past, as they don’t want to spend money on a project that doesn’t know what it contains. The grant money will reduce the development risk of a property, so it is very useful.
Fortville was helped by Indianapolis-based BCA Environmental Consultants. They will be conducting the studies to receive the grant funds. The firm is currently doing the Similar type of work in GreenfieldThrough an The city was awarded an EPA grant in 2021.
Len Hinrichs is the business development manager at BCA. He agreed that funding such assessments reduces development risk.
Hinrichs explained that this money is essentially seed money for future developments. Brownfield redevelopment is a difficult process because of the unknown. The problem is often not knowing what’s there, which can prevent properties from being redeveloped.
He added that the grant can be used to create an inventory of potential sites for which they would like to use the assessment funding.
The grant cannot be used to fund property cleanups but can be used to plan for remediation.
Fritz Fentz, president of Fortville Town Council and a business owner, said that he learned a lot about environmental regulations regarding redevelopment while he was there. turning the former auto repair shop at 110 E. Broadway St. into Denvers Garage Pizza & Brews. He worked with the Indiana Department of Environmental Management in order to remove large underground tanks from the property. After that, he had to have groundwater tested every quarter for a period of two years.
Fentz encouraged the municipality to apply for the EPA grant.
He said that this would be an excellent way to at most get some money so people can complete Phase 1 and 2 of the program.
Fentz noted that Fortville once had many gas stations and dry cleaners. This could have led to chemicals getting into the ground.
Fortvilles award was part a $9.4million grant to Indiana to assess brownfield sites and support revolving loans funds. This award was supported by President Joe Biden’s Bipartisan Infrastructure Law.
