This offer for free testing is limited to the Division Avenue area from Wealthy Street to 68th Street.

If you wish, Grand Valley Metro Council will test your property for free and, if it is polluted, provide a state approved plan for dealing with the pollution.

If you ever wish to sell or transfer your property, a prospective buyer would probably request an official investigation of the history of the site for indications of pollution. ( $1500-$2000, your cost)   If pollution is indicated, the buyer would want the site tested (Phase II); to determine what must be done to do with the pollution (Baseline Environmental Assessment). Owner’s cost: $15,000 to $40,000.

The sole intent of this program is to facilitate the redevelopment of Brownfields by removing environmental uncertainty that often scares away potential buyers and developers. Neither the owner nor the purchaser needs to repay any of the Grant funds. This is not a “witch hunt” to find contaminated sites to enforce regulatory action on property owners.

That said, there is always the potential that significant, previously unknown contamination may be found during environmental due diligence activities. Unearthing extra-ordinary contamination could have negative consequences on the re-sale and/or redevelopment potential of a property. Depending on the current owner’s use of the property and whether or not they conducted any due diligence prior to acquisition, the current owner may be liable for the contamination. However, it is rare that significant, unknown contamination is found that requires costly cleanup.

Additionally, it is likely that contamination will be found eventually even if Grant funds are not used, as any new purchaser is likely to do their own due diligence activities to satisfy their lender and obtain liability protection from existing contamination. There are Brownfield incentives available to help cleanup contamination during property redevelopment. Therefore, it is in the property owner’s best interest to identify contamination now using “free” Grant funds, as opposed to spending their own money or have a potential purchaser discover the problem later.

Links:

Liability protection for new or prospective owners

or operators of contaminated property

MDNE Citizen Guide_BEAs.pdf

What You Need to Know If You Own

or Purchase Property with

Environmental Contamination

MDNE Citizen Guide_Contaminated Prop.pdf

Due Care Requirements

MDNE Citizen Guide_Due Care.pdf

The purpose of the Brownfield Assessment Grant is to provide funding to inventory, plan, assess, conduct community outreach, and promote the redevelopment of Brownfield sites. The EPA Brownfield Grant program is a mature, proven program that has been used to assist communities, property owners, businesses, and developers acquire, redevelop, and safely re-use Brownfield properties. Since the program’s inception in the mid 1990’s, over 150 cities and counties within the State of Michigan have received and implemented Brownfield Grants. Over 1,000 Michigan properties have been assessed under the Grant program.

Your local business association may well include members who have used this grant.  Otherwise check out these websites:

Garnet Johnson

NTH Consultants, Ltd.

(616) 451 – 6261

Jay Hoekstra, AICP

Senior Planner, GVMC

(616) 776 – 7605

If you own property within the project area and are considering selling or leasing your property, or you are looking to acquire property within the project area, or you are otherwise involved in the sale or transaction of property within the project area (e.g. a realtor, attorney, etc.), the Grant may be able to provide significant financial and technical assistance to facilitate the transaction.

Prior to acquisition or re-use of a commercial or industrial property, a new property owner or operator is usually required by their lender to undertake “environmental due diligence.” This takes the form of a Phase I Environmental Site Assessment (ESA). The Phase I ESA consists of researching the historical and current uses of a property to determine whether there are recognized environmental conditions (RECs) associated with a property.

If potential environmental concerns are identified during the Phase I ESA, then a Phase II ESA is performed. The Phase II ESA involves collecting soil and/or groundwater samples from a property and testing them to determine if contamination is present. The environmental due diligence process allows the new owner to be protected from liability for existing contamination, if present. Without undertaking environmental due diligence, the new property owner will be taking on the liability for existing contamination. Lenders do not normally provide loans for property acquisition without documentation that due diligence was conducted. The Grant program will fund and perform the Phase I and II ESAs, with no repayment required.

Environmental due diligence costs can range from as little as $2,000 to well over $40,000. The costs depend on the size of the property, environmental concerns identified, scope of a Phase II ESA (if necessary), and planned future use of the property. These costs are often borne by the current owner or are shared between the current owner and prospective purchaser. As a result, the costs for environmental due diligence have been known to prevent the sale, acquisition, and/or re-use of a Brownfield. The Grant can remove these environmental due diligence costs and facilitate the transaction. In addition to getting the environmental due diligence out of the way, some other advantages of utilizing Grant funds are:

• Undertaking environmental due diligence can remove environmental uncertainty or stigma associated with a property.

• The Grant can be used to pay for a hazardous building materials survey (e.g. asbestos and lead-based paint), Baseline Environmental Assessment (BEA) reports, and Due Care Plans.

• Understanding a property's environmental condition can open the door to additional Federal and State Brownfield redevelopment financial incentives (e.g. tax credits, abatements, grants, etc.)

• The Grant will assist the marketing of assessed properties, including inclusion in the GVMC's powerful Regional GIS (REGIS) system.

Under the law, you are not liable for the cost of cleanup actions if: 

1) you are not responsible for causing a release of a hazardous. substance; and you became an owner or operator of contaminated propertybefore June 5, 1995 (or March 6, 1996 for some sites);

OR

2) you become the owner or operator of a contaminated property on or AFTER June 5, 1995 (or March 6, 1996 for some sites), and you were not responsible for the release that caused the contamination, and you conduct an adequate Baseline Environmental Assessment (BEA) for your property prior to or within 45 days of becoming the owner or operator, and you submit

the BEA to the DEQ within the required timeframes, and you disclose the results of the BEA to subsequent purchasers or transferees. (see Baseline Environmental Assessments)

More information:

What You Need to Know If You Own or Purchase Property with

Environmental Contamination

Liability protection for new or prospective owners or operators of contaminated property