The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Region 7 is set to present a $500,000 Brownfields Assessment Grant to the City of Springfield. The award ceremony will take place at 11 a.m. Thursday at Hammons Field Suite 33 on the Executive Level.
According to the EPA, the grant funds are designated for community-wide efforts to address brownfield sites in Springfield. The city plans to use the funding to inventory brownfield locations and conduct 20 Phase I and 10 Phase II environmental site assessments. Additionally, four cleanup plans and two area-wide plans will be developed with support for community engagement.
The targeted areas for this initiative include the Chase Street Corridor and College Street Corridor within Springfield. Priority sites that have been identified are a 24,000-square-foot foundry complex, a 5.62-acre rail yard, and a 0.96-acre site formerly used for auto sales, repair, and salvage.
Attendees of the award event are instructed to park in the lot at the southeast corner of Trafficway and John Q Hammons Parkway, enter through the main gates of Hammons Field stadium, and proceed by elevator to the third-floor executive level.
Hammons Field itself was built in 2002 on land that was previously considered a brownfield site, utilizing EPA funding at that time.
