EPA Assistance Grant
Amount: $175,000
Grantor: United States Environmental Protection Agency
Awarded: October 15, 2010
Status: Awarded and In progress.
Estimated Completion: November 2012
Project Summary: Ranson and its partners will conduct activities supporting the community-based "Commerce Corridor Council;" holding a "Commerce Corridor Community Conference;" conducting market studies to confirm the feasibility of workforce housing, technology jobs development, and mixed-use development strategies in the brownfields area; developing a green overlay district, green streets, and green infrastructure strategies for stormwater in the Commerce Corridor; identifying the best approach for addressing potential public health threats; connecting the Commerce Corridor to community facilities and investments; conducting broader project outreach in the community; and confirming a strategy for leveraging public and private resources.
2010 EPA Area Wide Brownfields Planning Assistance Grant
In June 2010, the City of Ranson took another step forward in its endeavor to continue the progress of the Charles Town / Ranson Commerce Corridor and applied for a $175,000 EPA Area Wide Brownfields Planning Assistance Grant. Area-wide planning assistance will help Ranson and Charles Town form additional partnerships with community organizations and encourage investors to clean up and build in Old Town Ranson and Charles Town. Since the community contains significant brownfield properties and is not located on a four-lane, high traffic volume highway, Ranson needs updated market studies and analyses to help attract retailers and businesses. Ranson is dedicated to facilitating environmentally sustainable and equitable brownfields redevelopment, including promoting green healthy homes, buildings and neighborhoods; enhancing access to greenspace/recreation, affordable housing, transit, schools, other public services, and healthy affordable food; and developing green stormwater infrastructure to manage stormwater runoff and mitigate the impact of new development on the Shenandoah and Potomac Rivers and ultimately the Chesapeake Bay watershed. EPA assistance will enable Ranson to advance these ambitious initiatives strategically, allowing for a comprehensive approach to the entire Corridor, located in the heart of the community on existing infrastructure. Assistance will also help facilitate further mitigation of the environmental and public health threats associated with these brownfield sites by increasing community awareness; promoting creation of green space/recreational properties on several brownfield sites; and identifying and prioritizing sites for future assessment and/or cleanup.
City of Ranson, WV – EPA Area-Wide Brownfields Planning Application
Executive Summary
Now partnered with U.S. EPA Brownfields Office for a decade on its Commerce Corridor brownfields revitalization efforts, Ranson and Charles Town have used this project to bring community members and stakeholders together to address a wide area of empty factories and brownfield sites in the heart of our cities' downtown areas. The Commerce Corridor brownfields project is central to our broader effort to create a sustainable community and economy – an initiative that has already resulted in tremendous progress and successes.
Ranson and its partners including the City of Charles Town, the Jefferson County NAACP, the State of West Virginia Brownfields Technical Assistance Center, the Boys & Girls Club of Jefferson County, academic institutions, and the business community now seek to renew the Commerce Corridor gameplan and take it to the next level. The community must update the Commerce Corridor plan to match changes in the economy, take advantage of new job creation opportunities, deploy green infrastructure and sustainable community design, and connect the brownfield project to broader smart growth strategies, sustainable transportation investments, workforce housing, and community facilities and parks.
To reach this next level on the Commerce Corridor plan, Ranson is seeking a combination of EPA funding, contract assistance, and collaboration. Specific activities that Ranson and its partners would conduct if selected for Area-Wide Assistance would include supporting the community-based "Commerce Corridor Council;" holding a "Commerce Corridor Community Conference;" conducting market studies to confirm the feasibility of workforce housing, technology jobs development, and mixed-use development strategies in the brownfields area; developing a green overlay district, green streets, and green infrastructure strategies for stormwater in the Commerce Corridor; identifying the best approach for addressing potential public health threats; connecting the Commerce Corridor to community facilities and investments; conducting broader project outreach in the community; and confirming a strategy for leveraging public and private resources.
EPA Assistance Requested: Ranson requested a grant of $140,000 to support the City and its team in this effort, together with $35,000 (or more if possible) in EPA-contracted support. This contract support would focus on the following tasks:
- Participation in quarterly meetings and/or teleconferences on the "Commerce Corridor Council," the stakeholder group convened to guide this initiative
- Assistance organizing and participating in a "Commerce Corridor Community Conference" that will help educate the local and business community on the opportunities, challenges, needs and action plans for the Commerce Corridor;
- Assistance in collaborating with partner organizations that can help Ranson and Charles Town develop "green streets / complete streets" approaches, green infrastructure approaches for stormwater, and green zoning incentives in the Commerce Corridor; and
- Assistance in leveraging HUD, DOT, EDA, and USDA resources and expertise to connect the Commerce Corridor to workforce housing, transportation infrastructure, green jobs development, and farmers market efforts.
Ranson Area Wide Brownfields Assistance Grant Application
EPA Press Release Announcing Grant Awards
Charles Town/Ranson Brownfields Area Wide Work Plan