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Among the sites slated for clean-up are the Spalding sports equipment manufacturing facility on Meadow Street and properties along the North Chicopee Street Corridor, said Congressman Richard Neal.
The money is coming from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s “brownfields” program, which provides funds for areas that have been severely polluted. To be named a brownfield property, the area has to be available for demolition, redevelopment or other reuse once the environment is restored.
The clean-up funds are expected to help Chicopee in its long-running efforts to restore any contaminated parcels in the city’s historic industrial area.
“These properties across the city of Chicopee hold a tremendous amount of potential for economic development,” Neal said.
The grant will be used to do an environmental site assessment, develop plans, and support reuse planning and community outreach for the sites.
Other Massachusetts communities that received brownfield grants include Great Barrington, Lawrence, Lowell, New Bedford, and Peabody.
This isn’t Chicopee’s first brownfield grant. The city was accepted to the brownfields program in 2010 and won four grants in 2012 for remediation of hazardous building materials for the Uniroyal Buildings.
Chicopee successfully used its brownfield grants and matching funds from taxpayers to build the RiverMills Center at the former Facemate parcels.
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