City of Durham Receives $200,000 EPA Grant to Address Environmental Conditions in Northeast Central Durham

Grant to Assess Potentially Hazardous Environmental Conditions in Pettigrew Street Corridor

By Amy C. Blalock
Friday, May 19, 2006

Summary: The City of Durham recently received notification from the U.S. EPA that it has been awarded a grant to conduct environmental assessments.

Durham, N.C. – Durham residents living near the Pettigrew Street corridor of Northeast Central Durham will soon benefit from a federal grant to help clean up potentially hazardous substances from old scrap yards, garages and other businesses with industrial activities.

The City of Durham’s Office of Economic and Employment Development (OEED) recently received notification from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) that it has been awarded $200,000 grant to conduct environmental assessment for properties near the Pettigrew Street corridor where redevelopment or reuse of properties may be complicated by the potential presence of hazardous substances.

According to Alan DeLisle, director of the City’s OEED, the grant will help the City redevelop this targeted area in accordance with the City’s Northeast Central Durham Strategic Revitalization Plan. “The City is working to redevelop several key areas, one of which is the Pettigrew Street area in Northeast Central Durham,” said DeLisle. “Because this area contains scrap yards, garages and other industrial businesses, the presence of potentially hazardous substances may be possible. This grant is going to help us conduct community outreach, perform environmental site assessments and prepare clean up and redevelopment plans as well as monitor the health of citizens living in the area.”

According to DeLisle, once the assessment of this area is complete, the City plans transform the Pettigrew Street corridor into a community-based retail and commercial complex. “Our goal is to encourage residential development in close proximity to these primary shopping and employment centers, with landscaping to reduce run-off and excessive erosion,” DeLisle said. “The grant will go a long way toward helping us identify and quantify environmental issues associated with this area, thereby facilitating the clean up and reuse.”

The City’s assessment grant was issued through the EPA's Brownfields Program, a program designed to empower states, communities and other stakeholders to work together to prevent, assess, safely clean up and reuse brownfields. A brownfield site is real property that’s expansion, redevelopment, or reuse may be complicated by the potential presence of a hazardous pollutant or contaminant.

For further information, including specific grant contacts, additional grant information, brownfields news and events and publications and links, visit the EPA Brownfields website at www.epa.gov/brownfields. For additional information about the City’s grant and its plans for the Northeast Central Durham area, contact Christopher Dickey, economic development administrator with the City’s OEED, at (919) 560-4965, extension 226 or christopher.dickey@durhamnc.gov.

About the Office of Economic and Employment Development The City of Durham’s Office of Economic and Employment Development (OEED) serves as the gateway to business and workforce development services. The OEED’s vision is to make Durham - North Carolina’s leading city in providing an excellent and sustainable quality of life. Its mission is to develop and administer programs with an emphasis on central Durham that assist the private sector in generating quality jobs for Durham residents; train and place residents in jobs leading to self-sufficiency; support commercial revitalization; and contribute to the non-residential tax base. To learn more about this department, visit the City’s website at http://www.durhamnc.gov/departments/eed/.