Brownfield program is subject of public meeting

KINGSTON, N.Y. >> A public session on the city’s Brownfield Assessment Program is scheduled Monday, Dec. 10.

The session is to start at 6 p.m. in City Hall, 420 Broadway, and will allow attendees and opportunity to suggest sites they see as cause for concern and worthy of being reviews.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency defines a brownfields site as “real property, the expansion, redevelopment or reuse of which may be complicated by the presence of a hazardous substance, pollutant or contamination.”

The session on Monday will include a presentation from the firm Weston & Sampson Engineers Inc., which was selected to work with the city to implement the brownfields program, perform “communitywide education and outreach, as well as inventory, site assessment and cleanup/reuse planning activities,” according to a press release from Mayor Steve Noble’s office.

“The purpose of the event is to inform the public on the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Assessment Program and to explain how it differs from the New York State Brownfield Opportunity Area Program,” the mayor’s office said.

The EPA has selected Kingston to receive two brownfields assessment grants totaling $400,000. Among other things, the money will be used to: update the inventory of potential brownfields sites in the city; educate residents about the local brownfields program; solicit information about additional potential brownfields projects; and develop a site selection.

“Brownfield assessments are expected to encourage the cleanup of underutilized and contaminated, or potentially contaminated, properties and return them to beneficial reuse,” the mayor’s press release said.

At various stages of the assessment process, the city could sponsor community meetings to discuss the project and present findings to the public and solicit input.

Notices will be posted at www.kingston-ny.gov in advance of the meetings, and announcements will be emailed to city residents and other interested parties.

In addition, an information repository will be set up at City Hall, where residents and other members of the public will have access to documents pertaining to selected sites.

For more information about the brownfields program, contact Brenna Robinson, director of the Kingston Office of Economic and Community Development, at (845) 334-3924 or brobinson@ kingston-ny.gov.