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Brownfields Assessments Project

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Project Overview

The $600,000 US EPA Brownfields Coalition Assessment Grant was awarded to the City of Vancouver, Clark County Public Health, and the Vancouver Housing Authority to fund the City Brownfield Assessment Project, which supports environmental investigation of properties whose past uses may have led to contamination by hazardous materials or petroleum. This grant allows the City to work with owners of suspected contaminated properties and provide them with the resources to conduct environmental assessments on their property. This was originally a three-year grant that has been extended to end September 30, 2024.

This project prioritizes assessments in the Fourth Plain focus area in central Vancouver but also includes other sites throughout the City of Vancouver and Clark County. The Fourth Plain focus area includes an area around a five-mile stretch of Fourth Plain Boulevard between I-5 and I-205.

Project map highlighting the five mile focus area surrounding Fourth Plain Boulevard between I-5 and I-205

This project aims to support local economic development, environmental protection, and housing goals. The City is currently recruiting interested property owners to partner with. Participation is entirely voluntary.

If necessary, the project team can help you find additional funding and support beyond the Brownfields Coalition Assessment Grant, which includes helping the property owner find grant opportunities to pay for environmental cleanup costs, previous/old insurance policies on the property (not your current insurance policy), and low interest rate loans.

If you are interested in learning more about this process, please contact:

Shannon Williams
Senior Long-Range Planner
360-487-7898
shannon.williams@cityofvancouver.us

or visit our City website.

The project team will work with interested property owners at key sites to determine their specific environmental constraints and facilitate clean-up activities if needed, as well as engage the community and area stakeholders in site reuse and design for future redevelopment. The Brownfield Assessment project is funded by a $600,000 Brownfields Coalition Grant from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to complete the following work over three years:

  • Update and expand the City's brownfields site inventory to include the expanded Clark County geography (the original site inventory was completed with a 2013 EPA Brownfields Community-Wide Assessment Grant and only addresses the City of Vancouver’s potential brownfields sites).
  • Conduct up to 15 Phase I Environmental Site Assessments (ESAs), evenly divided between petroleum and hazardous substance sites (10 ESAs to be included in the Fourth Plain focus area).
  • Conduct up to 12 Phase II ESAs, evenly divided between petroleum and hazardous substance sites (8 ESAs to be included in the focus area)
  • Prepare an Analysis of Brownfield Cleanup Alternatives (ABCAs) at one hazardous substance site and one petroleum site.
  • Develop an Area-Wide Plan (AWP) and a Final Cleanup Plan for up to two brownfield impacted areas, potentially including real estate market analysis, infrastructure assessment, conceptual reuse planning and design, and targeted community outreach and engagement.

As of October 2023, the grant has supported environmental site assessments and/or planning work at 23 sites across Vancouver and Clark County, including at eight sites within the Fourth Plain focus area (see the table below for more details).

A Brownfields Advisory Committee (BAC) will provide guidance and oversight to the project team throughout the term of the grant. The BAC will meet several times a year over the course of the project term and includes strong representation from the Fourth Plain target area. BAC members represent the following stakeholders:

  • City of Vancouver Economic Prosperity and Housing Department
  • City of Vancouver Parks, Recreation & Cultural Services Department
  • Fourth Plain Forward nonprofit
  • Fourth Plain residents
  • Habitat for Humanity
  • League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC)
  • Vancouver Housing Authority
  • Vietnamese Community Association

Get Involved

There will be opportunities for community involvement and public input at key milestones over the course of the project. To receive updates about the Brownfields Assessments project and opportunities for public input, you can:

Project Overview

The $600,000 US EPA Brownfields Coalition Assessment Grant was awarded to the City of Vancouver, Clark County Public Health, and the Vancouver Housing Authority to fund the City Brownfield Assessment Project, which supports environmental investigation of properties whose past uses may have led to contamination by hazardous materials or petroleum. This grant allows the City to work with owners of suspected contaminated properties and provide them with the resources to conduct environmental assessments on their property. This was originally a three-year grant that has been extended to end September 30, 2024.

This project prioritizes assessments in the Fourth Plain focus area in central Vancouver but also includes other sites throughout the City of Vancouver and Clark County. The Fourth Plain focus area includes an area around a five-mile stretch of Fourth Plain Boulevard between I-5 and I-205.

Project map highlighting the five mile focus area surrounding Fourth Plain Boulevard between I-5 and I-205

This project aims to support local economic development, environmental protection, and housing goals. The City is currently recruiting interested property owners to partner with. Participation is entirely voluntary.

If necessary, the project team can help you find additional funding and support beyond the Brownfields Coalition Assessment Grant, which includes helping the property owner find grant opportunities to pay for environmental cleanup costs, previous/old insurance policies on the property (not your current insurance policy), and low interest rate loans.

If you are interested in learning more about this process, please contact:

Shannon Williams
Senior Long-Range Planner
360-487-7898
shannon.williams@cityofvancouver.us

or visit our City website.

The project team will work with interested property owners at key sites to determine their specific environmental constraints and facilitate clean-up activities if needed, as well as engage the community and area stakeholders in site reuse and design for future redevelopment. The Brownfield Assessment project is funded by a $600,000 Brownfields Coalition Grant from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to complete the following work over three years:

  • Update and expand the City's brownfields site inventory to include the expanded Clark County geography (the original site inventory was completed with a 2013 EPA Brownfields Community-Wide Assessment Grant and only addresses the City of Vancouver’s potential brownfields sites).
  • Conduct up to 15 Phase I Environmental Site Assessments (ESAs), evenly divided between petroleum and hazardous substance sites (10 ESAs to be included in the Fourth Plain focus area).
  • Conduct up to 12 Phase II ESAs, evenly divided between petroleum and hazardous substance sites (8 ESAs to be included in the focus area)
  • Prepare an Analysis of Brownfield Cleanup Alternatives (ABCAs) at one hazardous substance site and one petroleum site.
  • Develop an Area-Wide Plan (AWP) and a Final Cleanup Plan for up to two brownfield impacted areas, potentially including real estate market analysis, infrastructure assessment, conceptual reuse planning and design, and targeted community outreach and engagement.

As of October 2023, the grant has supported environmental site assessments and/or planning work at 23 sites across Vancouver and Clark County, including at eight sites within the Fourth Plain focus area (see the table below for more details).

A Brownfields Advisory Committee (BAC) will provide guidance and oversight to the project team throughout the term of the grant. The BAC will meet several times a year over the course of the project term and includes strong representation from the Fourth Plain target area. BAC members represent the following stakeholders:

  • City of Vancouver Economic Prosperity and Housing Department
  • City of Vancouver Parks, Recreation & Cultural Services Department
  • Fourth Plain Forward nonprofit
  • Fourth Plain residents
  • Habitat for Humanity
  • League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC)
  • Vancouver Housing Authority
  • Vietnamese Community Association

Get Involved

There will be opportunities for community involvement and public input at key milestones over the course of the project. To receive updates about the Brownfields Assessments project and opportunities for public input, you can:

Ask A Question

Do you have a question about the Brownfields Assessments Project? Ask it here!

Project staff will respond to your questions as soon as possible. 

In most cases, your question and our answer will be visible to all users after we respond to it. Should we need to ask a clarifying, follow-up question, we may respond to you privately instead.

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  • Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Share on Linkedin Email this link

    Heya, I'm just curious. Has anyone considered setting up a project where folks get paid for turning in litter? It might help boost economy, get some of the homeless some financial help for in return of not leaving an absolute mess. $10 a full trash bag or something at minimum, so it can cover a meal w/ a drink and tax.

    BerryMad asked about 1 year ago

    Thank you for your question. While we do not currently have a program that pays people in the community to pick up and turn in litter, the City of Vancouver hosts regular volunteer opportunities citywide to pick up litter. For more information on this and other resources for picking up litter in your neighborhood, visit the City's Litter Removal website. 

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    How can I join efforts to clean up trash on the freeways?

    Jamie Cotton asked about 2 years ago

    Thank you for your interest joining the City of Vancouver to pick up litter on select WSDOT on and off-ramps in Vancouver. You can learn more about our Litter Stewards program here: Litter Removal | City of Vancouver, Washington, USA. To sign up to volunteer, fill out the application form here: Ongoing Litter Steward Volunteer Application (volgistics.com). This is the first step to begin and get you trained and equipped as a Litter Steward Volunteer to be able to join our team in litter cleanups throughout the city as well as participate in supervised cleanup events to remove litter along WSDOT on and off-ramps. WSDOT litter cleanup activities happen two Saturdays per month in 2022 thru June 2023 and training and registration are required prior to participating.

     

    To sign up to volunteer to remove litter from state highways and freeways please check out WSDOT’s Adopt A Highway program here: Adopt-a-Highway volunteers | WSDOT. This is a program managed by the state. Note, due to COVID-19 impacts the program may have changed or be temporarily paused, so it is best to reach out directly to WSDOT to learn more about highway cleanup volunteering opportunities.

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    Do the number of sites with low level contamination correspond with order of priority? For example do Fourth Plain assessments outnumber other areas with contamination?

    KLQ323 asked over 2 years ago

    Thanks so much for your question. The City of Vancouver received a grant in 2013 to create a brownfields inventory, which established a database of potential brownfields sites throughout the city. This analysis showed that the Fourth Plain area was one of the areas in the city with higher concentrations of potential brownfields sites than the citywide average. Site assessments are needed to determine the level, if any, of contamination that actually exists on these sites. The current project will not only update and expand the previous brownfields inventory, but it provides some funding to conduct site assessments on potential brownfields sites - the next step in getting contaminated areas cleaned up and improving the environmental and community health in our communities.

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    Who owns the properties that will be improved? If a private party owns it, will the city get repaid by the land owner?

    Kpett asked about 3 years ago

    The Brownfields project is focused on providing funding to inventory and assess potential brownfield sites throughout Vancouver and Clark County. Inventorying and assessing potential brownfield sites are the first necessary steps before these sites can be improved for reuse and redevelopment, however funds are not directly used to improve properties. The City of Vancouver, in partnership with Clark County Public Health and the Vancouver Housing Authority, was awarded an Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) grant that will be utilized to fund activities undertaken as part of this project, including those on private property. Because the EPA grant will fund all activities of the Brownfields project, there is no reimbursement needed by property owners.

Page last updated: 23 Oct 2023, 04:26 PM