INDIANAPOLIS — Indianapolis is starting the process of evaluating several old industrial sites for potential pollution and contamination, and, if so, what it will take to clean them up. The initiative comes after the city was awarded a $450,000 Brownfields Assessment Grant from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
The first site the Department of Metropolitan Development chose is an empty lot located in the Riverside neighborhood, 1176 Roache St. That was formerly the site of an Oilway Inc. fuel terminal. WRTV spoke with neighbors who live close to the lot, many of whom were concerned about why it's only happening now.
"What took so long?" Melissa Shepherd asked.
Shepherd lives right behind the vacant lot. She told WRTV pollution hadn't really been on her mind.
"Kids play in the lot over there, so I feel like it should have probably been tested, or have it blocked off or fenced off so they couldn't get over there," Shepherd said.
Her reaction comes after learning this is one of 25 properties the city will assess for environmental concerns.
“These have been priority sites for a long time," Kathleen Leonard, Brownfields Project Manager, explained. "And [we] really just needed the funding to fully assess and characterize the full extent of remediation.”
All 25 sites are on Indianapolis' north side, covering the neighborhoods of Martindale Brightwood, Crown Hill, Riverside, Near Northside and Mapleton-Fall Creek.
“It’s been heavily, historically industrialized, and we are just assessing these sites for future reuse opportunities within the city," Leonard said.
They first must determine if there is contamination at those sites. Then, they will figure out what it will take to clean it up. The Brownfields Assessment Grant will pay for it.
“It’s really our first step in reducing any barriers and having any reuse opportunities be economically and environmentally feasible," Leonard emphasized.
While residents still have concerns, Shepherd agrees it sounds like a good start.
“I hope they would put something there to fill it, to make the neighborhood look better," she said.
Leonard hopes to see those spaces filled in the future as well,
“We want to bring local good jobs to the area, or green spaces, or light industrial commercial properties," she said.
The Department of Metropolitan Development has four years to use the Brownfields Grant money.
For more information or to apply for a grant to assess an industrial property, contact DMD’s Brownfields Redevelopment Program at brownfields@indy.gov.
