City of Cherryvale Brownfields Project Brownfields are real property, the expansion, redevelopment, or reuse of which may be complicated by the presence or potential presence of a hazardous substance, pollutant or contaminant.  Clearing up and reinvesting in these properties takes development pressures off of undeveloped open land, and both improves and protects the environment.  A Brownfield property can be former gas stations or convenient marts; the old lumberyard, or a vacant lot where waste is buried.  Brownfields sites can include residential as well as commercial and industrial properties. A few examples of brownfields include properties that were dry cleaners, auto repair shops, service stations, warehouses, industrial/commercial facilities, or illegal dump sites. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Brownfields Program is designed to empower states, communities, and other stakeholders in economic redevelopment to work together in a timely manner to prevent, assess, safely cleanup, and sustainably reuse brownfields.  Cleaning up and reinvesting in brownfield properties increases the local tax base; facilitates job growth; utilizes existing infrastructure; takes development pressures off of undeveloped and agricultural land; and improves and protects the environment.  Grants from EPA provide the means to a community to assess and measure Brownfields.  Once the assessment has been completed, the community can move forward with solving the issues, if any, associated with the property in question. The EPA has selected the City of Cherryvale for two brownfields assessment grants.  Grant funds will be used to conduct Phase I and Phase II environmental site assessments, and plan for the clean up of sites contaminated with hazardous substances or petroleum in target areas.  Funds will also be used to conduct community outreach activities.  The target areas are Downtown, the Liberty Street Corridor, and the Former Smelter Site area, which are among the oldest districts in Cherryvale.  Numerous vacant properties are located in the area, which have seen little new investment.  These factors have contributed to reduced property values of the vacant and abandoned industrial buildings and of homes in adjacent neighborhoods. Please contact Becky Swain at 620-336-2776, if you are interested in participating in the program.