Harlem Receives $200,000 in Federal Funding to Enhance Community Redevelopment

By Harlem Newsletter
Thursday, May 1, 2008

Summary: EPA awards grant funding to the City of Harlem.

The City of Harlem is actively seeking community involvement in the implementation of a new grant project. In March 2007, Harlem secured a $200,000 Brownfields Assessment grant from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to assess the level of petroleum contamination at multiple sites throughout the City. Other cities and towns throughout the U.S. have used this program to turn dilapidated buildings into new parks, businesses, and residences. You can help by letting us know of any abandoned or underutilized sites in your area. This can be done by contacting: Kristen Long, Brownfields Project Manager, Concurrent Technologies Corporation at (803) 929-6067 or longk@ctc.com or Denise Carter, Grants Administrator, City of Harlem at (706) 556-0043 or dcarter@harlemga.org.

Recommended sites may be thought or known to be contaminated with petroleum, such as leaking underground storage tanks from former gas and/or service stations, or hazardous substances, such as dry cleaners, former manufacturers, or anything non-petroleum related. The City is currently evaluating and assessing petroleum-only sites at this time due to the type (petroleum) of grant they received, but the City is pursuing additional EPA grants to address hazardous substances in the future. Therefore, please feel free to submit information on any site that impacts your neighborhood.

Over the project lifespan, the City of Harlem will be hosting a series of city meetings and workshops where you can communicate which sites you feel should be redeveloped first as well as learn the basics of the brownfields project. The first workshop is scheduled to occur prior to the City Council meeting on May 19, 2008, 6:30 pm at City Hall, 230 N. Louisville Street, Harlem, Georgia.