Funds target brownfields

New York state last week announced an agreement to help rebuild blighted areas and spur economic development via more than $7.25 million to fund projects under the state”™s Brownfield Opportunity Area program.

The funds, awarded to 50 governments and community groups across New York, including one in Putnam County, will help pay for research, planning, marketing studies, and other initiatives that can lead to a designation as a Brownfield Opportunity Area (BOA).

The Laura Spain Memorial Cornerstone Park in Carmel was one of the recipients.

Preservation group Preserve Putnam County collaborated with Putnam County government in 2002 to design and develop a public park with welcome center and historical museum at the corner of Fair Street and Route 52 in downtown Carmel. The property, a former gasoline and service station, was donated to Preserve Putnam County by the Spain family for the purpose of creating a park

The BOA program, created in 2003 along with the state”™s brownfield cleanup program, provides communities with financial assistance to facilitate the collection of basic information about an area blighted with brownfields. The program provides assistance to identify, prepare, create, develop, and assemble information to be included in an application to “nominate” an area as a BOA. The program also provides financial assistance for site assessments performed in designated BOAs.

Designation of an area as a BOA can provide other benefits. For example, projects located within the BOA can receive priority and preference when considered for financial assistance under some state, federal or local programs, and may receive preference in infrastructure improvements.