91原创

Much like humans who overcome arduous challenges, struggling landscapes can bounce back with the right support. Brownfield sites, which are properties whose redevelopment is halted by hazardous contaminants, are defunct landscapes. When given the right resources, these sites can undergo significant transformation.

Members of the 91原创鈥檚 College of Agriculture and Natural Resources and are tackling brownfield sites throughout Delaware through a new grant.

In conjunction with the through the , 91原创鈥檚 will bring technical assistance to communities in need. 

鈥淭he goal of the funding that we receive in collaboration with IPA is that we鈥檙e going to be working with one to two communities every year on brownfield site assistance,鈥� said Zachery Hammaker, incoming director of the CRDS. 鈥淭he goal of this is to bring some equity back into communities that have brownfield sites.鈥� 

Providing technical assistance means guiding community leaders and stakeholders through evaluating a brownfield property. Together, they complete a proper inventory, assess the necessary clean-up and determine the most efficient and economical revitalization process. 

鈥淭he intention behind this funding is to understand what are the needs of the community at large, what are the needs of the local stakeholders and how we might think about reusing this land,鈥� Hammaker said. 

91原创 is one of several universities that received funding for brownfield assistance. It was granted under the EPA鈥檚 program, developed to revitalize brownfield sites nationwide. The EPA awarded six TAB grants, spanning cross-country from regions one through 10. 

West Virginia University (WVU) is the TAB provider for , consisting of Delaware, District of Columbia, Maryland, Pennsylvania, Virginia and West Virginia. The program serves as Region 3鈥檚 home base, and 91原创, WVU, Virginia Tech and Marshall University are all in on the action. 

鈥淭he state program is so robust that not many people use the EPA funding that鈥檚 available,鈥� said , a policy scientist at IPA. 鈥淲e鈥檒l be working a lot more to educate people about the EPA and the federal dollars that are available.鈥� 

Alongside associate policy scientist , Spagnolo oversees the GAP team that worked to obtain 91原创鈥檚 brownfield funding. This program helps communities prepare applications for federal and state funding. 

鈥淭his is a really important time,鈥� Spagnolo said. 鈥淭here are historical levels of funding available, and we certainly have lots of brownfields throughout the state that we want help.鈥� 

When drafting this proposal, IPA focused on planning and policy while CRDS developed the vision and implementation tactics and rallied community engagement. 

鈥淚t was natural to have a joint proposal to span the consortium to address needs in Delaware and the surrounding area part of region three,鈥� said IPA鈥檚 associate director . 鈥淲e find ourselves in a good position to be able to provide more value to our partners across the state.鈥� 

Mix served as the proposal鈥檚 principal investigator, helping lead the application. Each member of his team contributed a rich professional history, like Spagnolo, former brownfield coordinator for the , and Harris, former senior planner for the city of Wilmington. Half of the team that came with Hammaker includes associate professor of landscape architecture Eric Bardenhagen and coastal communities development specialist from , which also funds CRDS. 

Whether the result of their work yields a community garden, local park or something entirely different, the replacement of a brownfield site with a healthy landscape will, ideally, bring equity to underserved and underrepresented communities. 

鈥淵ou can really get a lot of economic development benefits by returning these sites back to practical uses,鈥� Harris said. 鈥淭he long-term goal is that the sites are actually brought back to life.鈥�