CINCINNATI — The City of Cincinnati is in the process of identifying brownfields with plans to revitalize them, and both the city and Groundwork Ohio River Valley received EPA grants to make this happen.
A brownfield is a site that's contaminated, making redevelopment difficult.
“I’m pretty sure we’re all tired of seeing the same dusty buildings just sitting there and not being used," said Anthony Smith, a member of Groundwork Ohio River Valley's Green Corp.
That's how you could describe some brownfields in Cincinnati, like the Lunkenheimer building in South Fairmount.
Smith wants to be part of the solution, and so does the EPA.
“Once these sites are cleaned up, then they become ripe for economic development. So we seek in communities all over the country, revitalization and new life brought to communities," said Debra Shore, the EPA's Region 5 administrator.
The EPA is helping to get more students involved in this work with it's Brownfield Job Training Program and a grant for Groundwork Ohio River Valley. It'll allow them to train 40 students in Brownfield remediation work and encourage them to pursue environmental jobs in the future, like Smith did.
On Shore's visit Wednesday, she saw the Lick Run Greenway, where officials say 400 million gallons of raw sewage was overflowing into Mill Creek from Cincinnati sewers every year. That was before a court ordered the Metropolitan Sewer District to solve the problem. It built the Lick Run Greenway, which may look like just a park at first glance, but MSD said it collects and funnels stormwater.
Just down the street from the Lick Run Greenway is another brownfield: the Lunkenheimer building.
It used to be a foundry but was abandoned, with toxic waste left inside.
The Greater Cincinnati Port Authority currently owns the building and is working with the City of Cincinnati to finish the cleanup and revitalize it.
The city is also in the process of taking a brownfield inventory, then it plans to start community engagement.
“Why do we want to assess and clean-up one site over another? Is this important to the community?" said Howard Miller who works in the city's office of environment and sustainability.
Those are the things the city hopes to learn about any brownfield sites in the city.
