Norristown Wins $300K Grant To Redevelop Contaminated Properties

NORRISTOWN, PA — Norristown has been awarded a $300,000 grant to help determine the feasibility of cleaning up and redeveloping environmentally damaged properties around the borough.

The Brownfields grant, disbursed by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, provides funding for site assessments and cleanup planning for land that may contain environmental contamination, known as brownfields.

"This funding will allow Norristown to continue on the road of redevelopment and revitalization that we have been working towards," Norristown Municipal Administrator Crandall O. Jones said in a statement. "We have felt the impacts of former industrial sites sitting idle and loss of jobs and our workforce. However, with the assistance of EPA funding, we have been able to step in front of the problem of historic environmental legacy issues and remove the obstacle of unknown and uncontained impacts."

Specific sites have not been published - there are numerous possibilities in industrial Norristown - but the EPA said that more than 60 sites have been identified for potential redevelopment. To date, 17 properties in the borough have already been assessed using previous Brownfields grants.

"The city of Norristown will use this funding to evaluate vacant unused industrial properties and explore ideas on how these properties can be cleaned up and returned to productive use," EPA Region 3 Administrator Cosmo Servidio said in an announcement from the EPA.

Brownfields may contain hazardous materials such as lead-based paint or asbestos-containing materials that need to be removed from the site before redevelopment.

Officials hope that the assessments will ultimately lead to an economic boon. According to the EPA, assessed Brownfields sites increased the value of homes in the area by five to fifteen percent following cleanup.

Norristown is one of 144 communities around the country to receive a 2018 grant.

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