The Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources (DNR) today announced the department awarded a Brownfields Grant to the Village of Johnson Creek.
The financial award is from the DNR’s Wisconsin Assessment Monies program, which provides contractor services worth up to $35,000 for the environmental assessment and cleanup of eligible brownfields sites.
The Village of Johnson Creek is the latest recipient of a WAM award to assess environmental contamination at a former dry cleaner/laundromat.
Brownfields are abandoned, idle and underused commercial or industrial properties where reuse is stalled by potential contamination. Brownfields vary in size, location, age and past use; they can be anything from a 500-acre former automobile assembly plant to a small, abandoned gas station.
The grant awarded to the Village of Johnson Creek will support the contractor assessment of a former dry cleaner and laundromat located at 236 Union St. Following the closure of the business in the early 2000s, the DNR discovered environmental contamination at the property in 2013. The village demolished the empty building in 2015, leaving the site vacant.
The DNR’s commitment to performing an additional assessment will help determine the degree, nature and extent of contamination and address remaining barriers to redevelopment at the site.
“Local officials have waited a long time to see this property return to productive use,” said Jodie Peotter, DNR Brownfields, Outreach and Policy Section Chief. “This funding will get the site one step closer to a potential redevelopment.”
Since 2009, the DNR’s Wisconsin Assessment Monies program has provided nearly $2.8 million to 68 communities across Wisconsin, partnering to help clean up and redevelop often run-down or underused properties that detract from a community’s potential. Applications for assistance may be submitted to the DNR at any time.
The DNR has a wide range of financial and liability tools available to help local governments, businesses, lenders, and others clean up and redevelop brownfields in Wisconsin, including Ready for Reuse financial awards, which may be used for environmental cleanup. DNR staff around the state are available to meet with community leaders, bankers, developers and private individuals to discuss brownfield projects through Green Team meetings.
More information about the DNR’s brownfields cleanup programs and services is available on the DNR’s brownfields website.