PARCHMENT, MI (WKZO AM/FM) – The City of Parchment is set to receive an $800,000 grant for an environmental site assessment and cleanup of a former mill site.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency made the announcement back on May 25 that the city will get the funds through the EPA’s Multipurpose, Assessment, Revolving Loan Fund, and Cleanup Grant Program. Officials say funds through this program are highly competitive to secure and Parchment’s grant was one of only 18 of its kind awarded nationally.
The grant will fund assessment, cleanup planning, and cleanup activities at the former Parchment Mill Site #2. Funds will be used for a variety of activities with priority being given to investigation and removal of underground storage tanks, cleanup and removal of above-ground fuel tanks, and preparation of a portion of the site for possible residential development.
“We are extremely excited to be receiving this Multipurpose Grant from the EPA,” said Robert D Britigan III, Mayor of Parchment. “It will be a catalyst for cleaning up and preparing our mill property for sustainable development into the future.”
The former Crown Vantage paper mill ceased operations in 2000. Efforts to redevelop the property by a private developer failed to materialize and the City took back the property in 2020.
Since that time the City has rezoned the property to make redevelopment easier and amended its Master Plan to help create a focus on redevelopment of the site. The grant award announcement was a culmination of collaborative activity funded partly by the Kalamazoo County Brownfield Redevelopment Authority and completed by Fishbeck, a West Michigan-based environmental and engineering services firm.
“We are grateful for the opportunity to work with the City on the grant proposal and thrilled to see our joint efforts pay off,” stated David Stegink, Vice President and Brownfield Program Manager for Fishbeck “It is a large, complex effort to restore use to this property and it will take a significant amount of time and multiple funding sources. We are happy to have played a key role in getting that process restarted for the City of Parchment.”
Grant funds will be available on October 1, and will have a five-year term.
Officials project the initial several months of the grant period will be spent on preliminary activities necessary before onsite investigation and cleanup work begins in 2024 to 2026.
