Broooke-Hancock-Jefferson Metropolitan Planning Commission gets $600,000 to assess properties

WELLSBURG -- A $600,000 federal grant has been awarded to the economic development arm of the Brooke-Hancock-Jefferson Metropolitan Planning Commission to redevelop former industrial and commercial properties in each of the three counties.

BHJ Executive Director Mike Paprocki said the amount is the maximum available through the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's Brownfields Coalition Assessment Grant program and doesn't require a local match.

The grant is part of $3.3 million approved by the EPA to assess former industrial and other commercial properties for contamination and pursue cleanup of such sites, known as brownfields.

Paprocki said it will be used to conduct 11 Phase I assessments of properties, perform eight Phase II assessments and develop nine cleanup plans.

Phase I assessments involve a review of records and inspections for a site to determine the extent of contamination, if any, at a former industrial or commercial site.

Phase II assessments involve more physical work and can include the collection of soil and water samples, groundwater monitoring and inspection of floor drains and catch basins.

Paprocki said working with the Jefferson County Port Authority and the Business Development Corp. of the Northern Panhandle, the commission has compiled information for about 35 sites in Brooke, Hancock and Jefferson counties.

They include Frontier Crossings in Weirton, where the Frontier Group is involved in an environmental cleanup of about 250 acres of former Weirton Steel property; unused land at the former Wheeling-Pittsburgh Steel plant in Mingo Junction that new owner JSW Steel has interest in developing; and a few vacant commercial buildings in the downtown Wellsburg business district.

Paprocki said commercial buildings that contain asbestos or lead-based paint, once common in many structures, may be considered for brownfield funding.

He said other brownfield sites have come to BHJ's attention in recent years. They include two Mingo Junction sites where gasoline stations had existed and another in Piney Fork once occupied by a gas station.

Paprocki said BHJ's Brooke-Hancock Regional Planning and Development Council, the BDC and Jefferson County Port Authority are part of a coalition that in the last three years has made more than 360 acres of vacant contaminated land ready for use and leveraged more than $30 million in additional funding for private and public cleanups and capital improvements.