Carson seeks comment on plan to clean up commercial property

As part of a bigger effort to revitalize Carson City's economy, officials are looking for help from commercial property owners who may want to clean up their land.

The city is hoping to get a $200,000 grant from the federal Environmental Protection Agency in the fall to clean up property with routine contamination, including leftover gas tanks, said city consultant Charlie Long.

The federal agency recently started a program to quickly fund such sites, called brownfields, instead of making each go through an extensive evaluation process.

"It encourages those solutions to happen quickly," Long said.

The city is seeking commercial property owners to participate. Cleaning up commercial sites and getting them back on the market will assist the city in its revitalization efforts, Long said.

The city is holding a public workshop Tuesday review and get comments on a draft grant proposal for the Brownfields program.

An inventory of contaminated sites will be developed through community outreach and public education efforts. Property owners in the commercial corridors will be informed about the advantages of the Brownfields Assessment Program.

Carson City officials have identified a city-owned property next to the Senior Citizens Center, 1101 Beverly Drive, purchased from the Bureau of Land Management, as a cleanup site. It was the BLM maintenance yard and used for vehicle maintenance, training and storage of equipment and firefighting chemicals.

A privately owned site across from the Nevada State Legislative Building on Carson Street was a transmission repair shop, general automotive repair facility and auto detail shop.

A site owned by the state, 2361 S. Carson St., was the original site of the Nevada National Guard's Combined Support Maintenance Shop and Armory.

IF YOU GO

What: Public workshop on city's application for U.S. EPA Brownfields Program

When: 5 p.m. Tuesday

Where: City Hall, 201 N. Carson St.

Information: 849-9095.