Using an EPA Technical Assistance Grant for Rural Sustainable Community Redevelopment
Presented by: John D'Addona, The Traverse Group; and Gary Knapp, Community Resource Development, Inc.

This presentation will focus on a small rural community in Antrim County, in the northwest portion of the lower-peninsula of Michigan, approximately 250 miles northwest of Detroit. The Mancelona community has been the recipient of three U.S. EPA grants relating to the cleanup and reuse of the Mancelona Tar Lake Superfund site, and the reuse of Brownfields within the village of Mancelona and two adjacent townships. These grants include a Technical Assistance Grant (TAG), and an EPA Superfund Site Reuse Pilot Grant, as well as an EPA Brownfields Assessment Demonstration Grant. The heart of the EPA grants has been a sustainable community redevelopment process that has engaged the community in assessing Brownfields and working with state and federal agencies to formulate the best reuse of these properties.

Rural communities offer unique challenges that are in clear contrast with urban communities. The presenters will discuss the experience of organizing citizen groups, finding and hiring a technical advisor, and working with the EPA, state and local units of government, as well as private developers in the removal, remediation, and reuse/Brownfields process. The presentation will include outcomes, pitfalls, successes, and lessons learned.

No additional materials are available for this session