EPA offers technical assistance, site visits under Superfund Redevelopment Program to help Central City area plan reuse

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's Superfund Redevelopment Program will begin a situation assessment and hold in-person meetings the week of April 20 to help local governments plan future reuse of land at the Central City–Clear Creek Superfund site, a contractor and EPA officials told stakeholders.

"EPA's Superfund Redevelopment Program is really an opportunity to help communities with Superfund sites return land back to safe and productive use," said Alisa of Skio, the contractor working under the Redevelopment Program. She and Fran Costanzi, EPA Region 8 redevelopment coordinator, described a suite of non‑cleanup technical assistance the program can provide, including situation assessments, reuse assessments, public workshops, communication materials and development profiles tailored to community needs.

Fran Costanzi emphasized the funding source for redevelopment support is separate from the site cleanup account. "We're getting the support directly from EPA headquarters. It's not coming out of the funds that Kyle and Angela talked about for site cleanup," she said.

Agency staff said the assistance is not a cash grant to local governments but technical services provided through the contractor. In response to a question from Jeffrey Knossinger, who identified himself as representing the City of Central, Costanzi said municipalities within the Superfund boundary are eligible for the redevelopment support and that the program will work with the site team to coordinate assistance for multiple local governments.

EPA and Skio officials said the initial situation assessment is intended to elicit locality-specific goals and constraints — for example, questions about liability, where workforce housing might be feasible, or how cleanup decisions align with anticipated future uses. The contractors will meet one‑on‑one with municipal officials and offered to structure meetings around local needs, including optional site tours.

Site teams also noted that parcel-level redevelopment depends on the state of investigation and remedy decisions: some parcels can move forward sooner if enough information exists, while others will need the RI/FS and decision documents to be completed before redevelopment moves ahead. Officials encouraged local governments to take part in the April meetings; the site team said they were scheduling individual meetings with community development staff for municipalities and offered an in-person meeting slot for Clear Creek County on April 23.