By Mary Velan
Gov1
What Happened
Middletown, Connecticut, was awarded a $143,970 grant from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to study brownfield sites for potential reuse or rehabilitation. Middletown is one of seven cities receiving the grant which is intended to help communities identify the effects of hazardous substances in the environment before converting available space into sites for public recreation.
Goal
Middletown officials plan to use the grant funding to hire a part-time intern to collect data at brownfield sites, conduct surveys in the area and organize community meetings. The city will also hire a consultant to moderate community forums and hold discussions on the study with all stakeholders. When studying the different brownfield sites, the planning department wants to collect a variety of ideas and feedback from residents. This will help the department have a better idea of which sites will generate the most interest and use for recreational purposes, the Hartford Courant reported.
The city created a brownfield site inventory a few years ago, and the current project will focus on 70 sites that have been underutilized due to contamination from oil, chemicals or other toxic substances. Once the surveys and forums have been completed, the city will consider the results and resident recommendations when prioritizing which brownfield sites should be repurposed into recreational areas. The city hopes to add more trails and parks to enhance local neighborhoods and improve the quality of life for citizens, the Hartford Courant reported.
CDC Brownfield Initiative
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have a ATSDR Brownfield/Land Reuse Health Initiative designed to promote healthy communities and educational partnerships. The initiative aims to accomplish the following goals:
- Promote a well-rounded approach to redevelopment
- Include health as an important part of redevelopment
- Grow community resources to promote health
- Measure changes in community health
- Encourage early community involvement in decision making
- Restore and revitalize communities in a way that is fair to all community groups
- Promote relationships among agencies, partners and communities
- Improve ways to talk about health and environmental risks
The initiative focuses on both brownfield sites and land reuse sites. A brownfield site is typically abandoned or underused industrial or commercial properties with a perceived or real contamination. Land reuse sites are formally utilized for commercial and industrial purposes with a perceived or real contamination. To ensure a site is safe for redevelopment, the CDC has created a series of health checks including:
- Explaining data about chemicals in people and the environment
- Helping people learn more about health risks in their area
- Checking to find out if there are health issues that can be made better through changes in land use
- Measuring health factors to find out if land reuse projects make people healthier
The CDC also offers communities with a variety of community health and site inventory tools to make the evaluation process more efficient.