The Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes and Energy is awarding over $3.5 million in Brownfield Redevelopment Grants to five community projects.
One will turn the former Maplewood Drycleaners in Holland into a flower shop.
EGLE Brownfield Coordinator Douglas Koop says a $200,000 grant will pay for cleanup and safety controls.
“Dry cleaning operations use some solvents, or at least they did in the past, and this happened to leak through the drains underneath the building. And so it created a risk in this situation of vapors working their way into the building.”
In Kalamazoo, a contaminated paper mill site will be converted into affordable housing and recovery services.
A $1 million grant will fund crucial environmental safety barriers.
“Those will include liners under the stormwater pond so the water doesn't mix with the soils below, a vapor mitigation system to deal with any solvents or petroleum gases that might still be present, and then a clean cap of any of the green space.”
The Grand Rapids University Preparatory Academy received $745,000 to clean up a former gas station site for the expansion of the middle and high school.
Other projects include a high rise in Ann Arbor and a warehouse facility in Oak Park.
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