City of Pueblo receives $300,000 to revitalize downtown properties
PUEBLO, Colo. (KRDO) — The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency announced Wednesday that the City of Pueblo will receive a $300,000 Brownfields grant to assess and revitalize properties in the city’s downtown and riverfront areas.
The city will use the EPA Brownfields Assessment grant to assess brownfield sites for possible cleanup.
A brownfield is a property where redevelopment or reuse may be complicated by the presence of a hazardous substance, pollutant or contaminant.
Grant funds will also be used to develop four cleanup plans and support community outreach activities.
The assessments will focus on Pueblo’s downtown and riverfront areas. Priority sites include a decommissioned power plant, former railroad and coal yards, a filling station and a motor freight station, according to a city spokesperson.
“We are thrilled to be awarded this grant which will greatly assist us in redeveloping the core of our city,” Pueblo Mayor Nick Gradisar said in a statement.
“This will help us remove one of the impediments to creating a vital downtown area with additional commercial and residential uses.”
Grants awarded by the EPA’s Brownfields program help communities transform contaminated sites into community assets that attract jobs.
A study of 48 brownfields sites found that an estimated $29 million to $97 million in additional local tax revenue was generated in a single year after cleanup, according to the EPA. That is two to seven times more than the $12.4 million the EPA contributed to the cleanup of those sites.
A press release from the City of Pueblo said another study found that property values of homes near revitalized brownfields sites increased between 5% and 15% following cleanup.
Pueblo is among 151 communities across the nation receiving EPA Brownfields funding. Together all those grants add up to more than $65.6 million.
Under President Trump’s Administration, the EPA has delivered approximately $287 million in Brownfields grants to communities through the award of more than 948 grants.
