BROOKSVILLE — About a dozen city residents and business owners listened Monday evening as the Environmental Protection Agency outlined the scope of a $400,000 Brownfields assessment grant that will be used to identify and assess troubled properties, with the goal of making many of them developmentally viable once again.
The meeting was the first step in establishing a community redevelopment task force that will work with the Brownfields program team to help build an inventory of properties and to ensure that the community has a say about which properties should be targeted for investigation of possible underground contaminants.
“The community’s input is very vital to the success of the program,” said Brian Kvam, project manager for the EPA’s Southeast Brownfields program. “Not only does it help us to identify properties in need of remedial help; it gives us an idea of where any money will be best spent.”