KENANSVILLE — The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) awarded Duplin County a $500,000 grant to assess properties under its Brownfields Program to facilitate redevelopment and reuse. The federal grant, announced in May 2022, will allow Duplin County to conduct environmental assessments on commercial and industrial properties in target areas, and enable their potential redevelopment or reuse.
“This Brownfields assessment grant is crucial to advancing economic growth and improving the quality of life for residents of Duplin County,” said Duplin County Manager Davis Brinson.
Brownfields are abandoned, idled, or underused industrial and commercial properties where expansion, redevelopment or reuse is hindered by the presence or potential presence of hazardous substances or other pollutants.
According to a press release the first step in the process is to develop a database of Brownfields sites that will function as a resource for advancing redevelopment opportunities. The Duplin County Brownfields Project will target the areas along US-117 and the CSX Railroad corridor, which includes the towns of Wallace and Warsaw.
Additional target areas may be added in the future to include areas throughout the county. Not limited to the target areas, Duplin County project partners will collaborate with owners of both public and private properties to conduct environmental assessments and plan how these properties can be reused/redeveloped or expanded in the future.
The database of sites can also be used to market different sites to potential developers.
TRC, an international engineering firm with offices located in Cary, N.C., was selected to establish and administer the program. The project, which has just been initiated, is slated to run four years under the current EPA grant.
