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Business & Tech

City Wants to Clean Up Unused Industrial Sites

Federal funding available for downtown environmental assessements to help industrial property owners remediate their land.

The City of Peabody will hold an informational meeting next week for downtown property owners who are looking to clean up and redevelop their land.

The state’s Metropolitan Area Planning Council (MAPC) recently awarded a $1 million EPA grant to Peabody and Salem for the purpose of conducting environmental studies and assessments on underutilized, former industrial properties.

City planners in Peabody are hoping that their share of the funding can be used to help property owners downtown, specifically those along the North River, revitalize their land and identify the environmental issues still lingering from the area’s industrial past. The meeting will be held on Tuesday, March 15 at 6 p.m. in the Peter A. Torigian Community Life Center, according to city officials.

City Planner Brendan Callahan said the meeting is designed simply as an informational session for downtown property owners who may be reluctant to redevelop land because of the financial burden of conducting the necessary environmental studies. Owners will be provided with paperwork and eligibility requirements, as well as program benefits.

“We sent out probably about 15 to 20 letters just to property owners along the North River Corridor,” he said. “Really just from Main Street to Walnut Street and some areas on Foster Street. We don’t really know (what sort of environmental issues exist) until we can conduct the studies, so it is just to let the owners know it is available.”

The city is hoping that the available funding will aid in the overall effort to revitalize the downtown area. Flood mitigation efforts are already underway along the North River, with an eventual plan to create a river walk along Walnut Street and a public park on Rear Foster Street. In addition, proposed changes to the city zoning map are designed to bring new business and light industry downtown, slowly reshaping the industrial landscape.

Callahan and others in the Community Development and Planning Office are hoping this money will allow them to work with downtown property owners and help attract new business with desirable land.

“We are really hoping to identify and work with the property owners who have environmental issues on their property,” he said. “We are hoping that with this money we can help them if they are looking to re-shape or redevelop their site. It is kind of like gap funding for the owners.”


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