Keweenaw County sets Brownfield meeting
By JANE NORDBERG, DMG WriterEAGLE RIVER - Keweenaw County's new Brownfield Redevelopment Authority has set a date for its inaugural meeting.
The authority will meet at 6:30 p.m. July 23 at the Keweenaw County Courthouse in Eagle River.
"It's an exciting time for the county," said KCBRA Project Manager Janet Shea.
The meeting is the first official action in a $200,000 Environmental Protection Agency assessment grant. Over the next three years, the county will identify real property sites whose expansion, redevelopment or reuse may be complicated by the presence or potential presence of a hazardous substance, pollutant or contaminant.
Flora McCormack, director of the Michigan Association of Counties Grant Services Program, will attend the July 23 meeting and provide assistance, Shea said.
"Flo will help us kick off the meeting," Shea said.
In addition, EPA personnel will continue over the next three years to provide guidance in which properties are contaminated and to what extent.
One of the authority's first orders of business is to review requests for proposals to hire a consultant as soon as possible.
"It's the consultant who will do the assessing of the contamination and also coordinates with the EPA," Shea said.
Currently appointed to the KCBRA along with Shea is Copper City business owner Mark Bonner, Osceola Township Supervisor Steven Karpiak, Eagle Harbor resident Marlin Wingard and Mac Marzke, most recently of the Keweenaw Mountain Lodge board.
The authority can have up to nine members, Shea said. They do not necessarily have to live or work in Keweenaw County.
"We'd love to have a lot of people at this meeting who might be interested in serving on a work group," Shea said. "I'm anxious to get people who are visionaries, have diverse skills and an open mind."
Shea said the group plans to meet monthly with a formal schedule to be adopted at the July 23 meeting.
"It's the beginning of a long process," she said. "If we can match the appropriate entities to these properties, it could bring jobs to Keweenaw County and should be a very positive thing for us."
For more information on the redevelopment authority, call Shea at 289-4211.
Jane Nordberg can be reached at jnordberg@mininggazette.com
