Jackson Free Press

UPDATED: Oct. 20

Hinds County has applied for $400,000 to help redevelop brownfield sites along Highways 18 and 80 in Jackson. The county Board of Supervisors approved an application today to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency for the grant funds. The grant would help the county assess sites along the highway corridors that might be brownfields—old industrial sites that have not been redeveloped because of real or perceived environmental contamination.

The grant would allow the Hinds County Economic Development Authority to catalog all potential brownfields in "specific segments of these arteries," Executive Director Blake Wallace told the Board of Supervisors.

The $400,000 grant must be evenly divided between petroleum-related sites and those that might be contaminated with other substances. Once the county's survey of potential brownfields is complete, it will spend the remaining money to complete "Phase I" assessments, which include research on a specific site's history and assessing the risk of redeveloping it.

"When properties are going to be redeveloped, the developers have to have a Phase I done," Wallace said.

Wallace told the Jackson Free Press that he was not sure when Hinds County would hear the outcome of its application but that the EPA would submit it to a lengthy review process.

The city of Jackson received a similar $400,000 brownfields grant in 2008. As of July, it had only used $180,000 of the grant. In July, the city's planning and development department hosted an informational session for developers to increase the use of the brownfields program. Following that session, the city spent the remainder of the $400,000 before the Sept. 30 deadline, city spokesman Chris Mims said.

Nina Holbrook, executive director for the Highway 80 Coalition, said that given the city's difficulty in spending its grant funds, it makes sense for Hinds County to take the lead in promoting the redevelopment of Highway 80's brownfields. Mims took issue with Holbrook's suggestion. Holbrook worked for the city when it received those funds, he noted.

"It's very unfortunate that the city of Jackson is working so diligently, with such a sense of optimism and hope for the Highway 80 corridor … yet we've got one or two individuals who consistently try to attack the administration and provide divisive comments and don't contribute to the discussion in any meaningful way," Mims said.

The Highway 80 corridor has many former gas stations and other former industrial sites that might qualify as brownfields. For a developer interested in the area, the cost of environment assessments and cleanup could be prohibitive and "pour cold water" on the developer's plans, Holbrook said.

"I think, to help get those properties sold and developed, this (grant) would be a great step," Holbrook said.

UPDATED: This article has been updated with comments from city spokesman Chris Mims.