By Austin Arceo
TERRE HAUTE — Terre Haute received a $100,000 grant to study the potential environmental concerns of land near the Illiana Trucks Parts site.
The Indiana Finance Authority announced that the city received the brownfields assessment grant. Local officials will use the funds to determine if property adjacent to the Illiana site — which Martin said is at Locust Street and Brown Avenue, and predominantly along Locust Street between 25th Street and Brown Avenue — has any environmental problems that could hinder future redevelopment.
“The area has a history of being used as an industrial area around the turn of the [20th] century,” said Pat Martin, the city’s chief urban planner.
The Environmental Protection Agency Web site defines brownfields as property that could have the presence of a hazardous substance, pollutant or contaminant that might complicate future development, reuse or expansion of the area.
About 19.5 acres of land is part of the brownfield site, based on a map Martin released. He said the grant funding would be used for two phases of an assessment: the first is a “historical records check” of former uses of the site, and the second is soil sampling to determine if issues exist.
“Clearly this is primary for redevelopment given our investment in the Locust Street corridor, our investment in the stadium property, and our investments in the Brown Boulevard corridor,” Martin said.
The city initially applied for a grant of $72,559 for the site, Martin said.
But proposal reviewers “kind of determined that the scope of work that would be needed at this site may require more money, so they went ahead and granted” $100,000, Cortney Stover, communications manager for the Indiana Finance Authority, said in a phone message.
“We don’t lose any money,” Stover said in the message. “They end up with the amount they actually spent since we’re paying as they go with the project.”
Martin said the city still needs to receive a copy of the contract from the state organization, which then would need to be approved by the city’s Board of Public Works and Safety, though the board could change as the administration of Mayor-elect Duke Bennett is slated to take the helm Jan. 1.
Martin said work could begin within the next 60 to 90 days.
Austin Arceo can be reached at (812) 231-4214 or austin.arceo@tribstar.com.
