Press Release - Wednesday, September 21, 2005
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IEPA Director Doug Scott Recognizes Successful Brownfields Revitalization Partnership With South Suburban Communities
CHICAGO --- A unique partnership between Illinois EPA, the South Suburban Mayors and Managers Association and local municipalities was praised by Illinois EPA Director Doug Scott in a tour of local "brownfields" sites today.
"On behalf of Governor Blagojevich, I wanted to see first hand the regional cooperation and pooling or resources that is resulting in potentially contaminated and abandoned industrial and commercial sites getting cleaned up and redeveloped," said Director Scott.
"Since Governor Blagojevich took office the cleanup of contaminated sites under IEPA supervision and with state assistance has accelerated in Illinois and brownfields sites are a major focus of his Opportunity Returns regional economic development initiative," he added.
With a total of $400,000 in federal demonstration pilot project grant funding from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the South Suburban Chicago Brownfields Coalition has pooled resources to inventory, assess and select sites for brownfields cleanup redevelopment in seven pilot communities---Chicago Heights, Lansing, Riverdale, South Chicago Heights, Posen, Burnham, Markham and Robbins.
The project has also been a catalyst for action on other sites in Calumet City, Crete, Ford Heights, Harvey, Lynwood, Park Forest and Thornton. So far, nearly $2.5 million in state funding has been provided for cleanups at 48 sites covering 221 acres in 15 "Southland" (south suburban Cook County) communities, as well as an additional $1 million in leveraged funds.
"This project is meeting its goal of achieving collectively what individual small communities with limited technical and financial resources could not do on their own," said Director Scott.
"I would like to thank the Illinois EPA for their partnership in kicking of our redevelopment efforts. They have been a key partner in the redevelopment our downtown area and the industrial corridor. We appreciate their commitment to the South Suburban Brownfield Coalition," said Riverdale Mayor Zenovia Evans, who is also President of the South Suburban Mayors and Managers Association.
"The City of Chicago Heights is extremely fortunate to have received $240,000 in Brownfield Redevelopment funds from the Illinois EPA and it is our hope that the process to promote economic growth we have begun will continue as we area able to address additional assessment and cleanup issues and achieve even greater successes in the future," said Chicago Heights Mayor Anthony DeLuca.
"Resources are limited for south suburban communities, so the assistance that the Village of Lansing received from participation in the South Suburban Brownfields Program was extremely useful. Knowing the status of environmental conditions helped enormously in the Village's redevelopments. We still struggle with the local economic conditions but the major hurdle has been overcome with funding from the Illinois EPA," said Lansing Mayor Daniel Podgorski.
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