Environmental Response Fund announce grantees in area

The Hennepin County Board has awarded grants totaling $1.64 million for the evaluation and cleanup of 17 contaminated sites through the county’s Environmental Response Fund (ERF) grants program.

The program, funded by a county mortgage registry and deed tax, provides grants for environmental assessment and cleanup of sites where such activities have been hampered because of insufficient funding. The county’s program puts priority on projects intended for public space, including green spaces, establishing affordable and moderately priced housing and economic development.

This round of ERF grants is the 10th since the program’s inception in 2001. Grants awarded in the Riverside area include the following:

Riverside Market (2801 and 2823 Franklin Ave. E., Mpls., 0.96 acres currently occupied by the vacant Riverside Market grocery and a former gas station building); $149,700 grant to Seward Redesign for assessment, soil cleanup and vapor mitigation. The applicant proposes to demolish the existing buildings and construct a mixed-use development featuring 25,000 square feet of commercial space and 56 condominiums with underground parking.

Lead-based paint hazard control program (various residential properties throughout Hennepin County); a $150,000 grant to enable Hennepin County Housing and Community Works & Transit to continue their lead-based paint hazard control program. They estimated being able to address lead paint issues in approximately 200 units with the grant, in combination with other requested federal, state and local resources.

Anishinabe Bii-Gii-Wiin (0.882 acres at the northwest corner of East Franklin and Hiawatha avenues, Mpls.); a $26,000 grant to the City of Minneapolis on behalf of the American Indian Community Development Corp. (AICDC) for assessment of the site and ash excavation and removal. AICDC plans a development consisting of 60 affordable housing units and ground floor retail space.