DNR awards Brownfields Grant to City of Altoona

Thursday, November 18, 2021
Samantha Nitz | WEAU

The funds are intended to support the contractor assessment of two adjacent properties at 211 and 213 Division St. where there is suspected environmental contamination related to previous business activities. (weau)

ALTOONA, Wis. (WEAU) -The Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources is announcing the department awarded a Brownfields Grant to the City of Altoona.

According to a release from the DNR, the grant is from the DNR's Wisconsin Assessment Monies program, which provides contractor services worth up to $35,000 for the environmental assessment and cleanup of eligible brownfields sites.

According to the DNR, Brownfields are abandoned, idle and underused commercial or industrial properties where reuse is stalled by potential contamination. Brownfields vary in size, location, age and past use; they can be anything from a 500-acre former automobile assembly plant to a small, abandoned gas station.

The funds are intended to support the contractor assessment of two adjacent properties at 211 and 213 Division St. where there is suspected environmental contamination related to previous business activities.

The structure at 211 Division St. is in poor condition and was declared a public nuisance. From approximately 1900 to 1960, the property housed electrical transformers, a potential source of contamination from historical transformer fluids.

The adjacent building at 213 Division St. is structurally unsound and has been vacant and unused since 2005. Also constructed around 1900, the building was used as a general store and later for automotive repair.

The city declared both sites as blighted in late 2020 and acquired each property for redevelopment as part of a broader effort to reinvest and revitalize its downtown.

"The DNR commends the city's efforts to identify environmental hazards at these blighted properties," Jodie Peotter, DNR Brownfields Outreach and Policy Section Chief, said. "This grant will help the city move closer to redeveloping the properties."

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