OVERVIEW:
In 2021 the Vermont Legislature allocated $25 million in funding to characterize and clean up brownfield sites. On June 8, 2021, H.439 was enacted as Act 74 (The Act). The deployment of the $25 million will be a joint effort by the Agency of Natural Resources (ANR) and the Agency of Commerce and Community development (ACCD); with funding split at $14M and $11M respectively. The passage of Act 74 represents the State’s largest general fund investment in the Brownfields Revitalization Fund.
The Act appropriated $11 million of state General Funds to the Agency of Commerce and Community Development (The Agency) for the Brownfields Revitalization Fund (BRF), as established by 10 V.S.A. § 6654. ACCD will provide $1M of the funding to Regional Planning Commissions for site assessment statewide.
Of the total, ACCD will award $10 million in grants to advance the cleanup of Brownfields Reuse and Environmental Liability Limitation Act (BRELLA) enrolled sites. The funding must be used to implement approved Corrective Action Plans. These awards will foster economic development by supporting the redevelopment of contaminated properties; stimulating growth throughout the State. In contrast to the Brownfields Revitalization Fund - Federal Program, this program can provide grant funds for remediation work to private developers. Additionally, applicants can apply for any amount of support; they are not capped at the current State statutory max of $200,000 per parcel.
Continued demand for this funding, and project proposals that support business retention, business expansion, and housing and mixed-use redevelopments have led the Vermont Legislature to allocate an additional $6 million to the fund in 2022 as part of Act 183 and another $8 million in 2023 through H.494. Historically, remediation projects have been funded exclusively by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
ELIGIBILITY TO APPLY:
- Applicant’s site must be enrolled in the Brownfields Reuse and Environmental Liability Limitation Program (BRELLA). The application for that program can be found here ; AND
- Applicant site must have a Corrective Action Plan (CAP) approved by the Department of Environmental Conservation of the Agency of Natural Resources. Applicants may apply if their CAP is pending approval; however, remediation awards will not be issued to a site without an approved CAP; AND
- Applicant must be a non-profit, for-profit, or municipality with a project site located in Vermont. State owned project sites are not eligible for funding at this time.
- Applicant must generally be able to demonstrate the ability to meet a 10% match.
HOW TO APPLY:
- Read through the Notice of Funding Opportunity guidelines (NOFO) & Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ’s) and have all documents and information ready when you open the application.
- Applications should be completed and submitted by a designated person within the applicant organization who is familiar with the project scope, funding, and redevelopment and is authorized by the organization to make the request for funding and provide the required attestations.
- Applicants will not be able to save progress if the form is closed before it is completed. Please be prepared to complete the form in its entirety. See application instructions.
For support please email: accd.brownfieldsteam@vermont.gov