August 15, 2024 |
Photo – A 1921 photo of the Strand Theater – Bigfoot99 file photo
Work continues to clean dangerous properties in Rawlins.
In 1995, the United States Environmental Protection Agency created the Brownfields Program to provide financial assistance to municipalities with abandoned or underutilized buildings that have known or suspected environmental contamination.
In April of 2023, the city submitted four sites for potential Brownfields consideration: the Pink Motel, the Ferguson building, a property on Pine Street, and the old Strand Theater. Rawlins was awarded $500,000 from the federal government to determine if any of those properties contained hazardous materials.
During the August 6th Rawlins city council meeting, Councilwoman Tonya Lewman asked Downtown Development Authority Executive Director Pam Thayer for an update on the Brownfields projects. Thayer said studies have been completed on the four properties. The city is waiting for state funding to move into the next phase of the project, said Thayer.
Councilwoman Lewman asked if the city had any potential buyers for the properties once the Brownfields assessments were completed. Thayer reminded the councilwoman that the federal grant simply paid to investigate the properties for potential contaminations, not perform remediation. However, Thayer said she believes that people are still interested in purchasing the properties.
City Manager Tom Sarvey explained that the Brownfields project is broken up into two parts. The city selects the sites it believes may require remediation. Then, using the $500,000 federal grant, Sarvey said the city will hire a contractor to determine if any hazardous conditions exist.
Sarvey said he is preparing to issue a request for proposal from contractors. Once the bids are received, the city will choose a contractor to perform the environmental assessments. However, Sarvey said the federal funding will not pay to clean up any of the sites.
