IONIA COUNTY BROWNFIELD REDEVELOPMENT AUTHORITY
101 Main Street; Ionia, MI 48846
Attention: Dennis Pepper
Dear Campbell Township:
The Ionia County Brownfield Redevelopment Authority (ICBRA) is reminding Ionia County stakeholders who are members of the Ionia County Brownfield Redevelopment Authority about the assistance that is available to you for revitalizing environmentally distressed areas within Ionia County.
In 2009, your administrative body approved a Resolution (see Attached), that allowed you to become a member of the Ionia County Brownfield Redevelopment Authority (ICBRA). This makes available to you all services through the Authority and Ionia County, for the redevelopment of sites or buildings, that are determined as a brownfield site or are determined as functionally obsolete by criteria set by the Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes, and Energy (EGLE). This means that you can take advantage of the opportunities available to you through the Brownfield laws adopted in Michigan. These laws continue to make established Brownfield Authorities and their services useful tools for redevelopment, utilizing Tax Increment Financing (TIF) and grants and loans. These programs have made brownfield redevelopment projects economically feasible for our smaller, local units of government in Ionia County to assist with the revitalization of environmentally distressed sites or buildings.
Brownfield sites are real properties where expansion, redevelopment, or reuse may be complicated by the presence or potential presence of hazardous substances, pollutants, or contaminants, or may be found to be functionally obsolete. The Ionia County Brownfield Authority, established under Michigan’s Redevelopment Financing Act, in 2001, assists Ionia County local governments and tracks brownfield sites located across Ionia County for potential redevelopment.
With Michigan now experiencing an economic recovery, the Ionia County Brownfield Redevelopment Authority believes this to be an opportune time to remind Ionia County stakeholders, who are members of the IC BRA, and those of you who are not members of the IC BRA, of the environmental services that the Ionia County Brownfield Redevelopment Authority and the services that EGLE can provide to you through being a member in the Ionia County Brownfield Redevelopment Authority. Ionia County and EGLE, have been jointly coordinating their services and programs to assist with brownfield projects in Ionia County since 2001, when the Ionia County Brownfield Redevelopment Authority was formed.
A Federal EPA grant in 2004, in the amount of $400,000 was awarded to Ionia County’s Brownfield Authority, which facilitated the assessment and clean up of nineteen sites across Ionia County. Ionia County’s Brownfield Plan was then adopted in 2009. Currently, the IC BRA is involved with two redevelopment projects: The complete rehabilitation of a middle school located in Saranac into condos. Reimbursable activities for this brownfield project Is projected to be close to $100,000. The redevelopment of a former gas station site located in Belding has received a $25,000 assessment grant from EGLE. This grant was successfully closed out with complete redevelopment planned for the future. The Ionia County Brownfield Redevelopment Authority is an experienced facilitator of EGLE’s Brownfield Programs, with the BRA made up of an experienced and committed board members, who have a broad range of knowledge of Ionia County.
If you have any questions concerning this letter, or your potential for participation in EGLE’s Brownfield Programs, please contact the Ionia County Brownfield Redevelopment Authority at the Administrative Offices of Ionia County:
Phone: 616-527-5300
Email: https: //ioniacounty.orq/brownfield-authority
Sincere regards,
IONIA COUNTY BROWNFIELD REDEVELOPMENT AUTHORITY
