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Carson City highlights brownfield cleanup plan, student fellowship and job‑training goals
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Summary
City staff outlined a multi‑phase brownfield strategy, a new Brownfield Fellowship with Cal State Dominguez Hills and an EPA‑funded job‑training program that aims to enroll 70 trainees and place 35 in full‑time environmental jobs; staff said the city is pursuing a Transformative Climate Communities grant that could bring up to $35,000,000.
Carson City staff on the planning commission agenda described a multi‑phase effort to identify, assess and reuse brownfield sites and to build local workforce capacity.
Camilla Denoy, an administrative intern in the city's special projects division, told the commission a brownfield is "a vacant or underutilized property where actual or perceived environmental contamination complicates reuse or redevelopment," and said cleanup work matters because such sites "are disproportionately found in low income communities and communities of color and contribute to long standing disinvestment." Denoy said the city's brownfield program proceeds in four phases: site identification, prioritization, environmental assessment and reuse planning, and relies on resident nominations via a form on the city's website.
Denoy listed current initiatives including a first‑year Brownfield Fellowship in partnership with Cal State Dominguez Hills and state and federal funding sources such as the Department of Toxic Substances Control's Equitable Community Revitalization grant and U.S. EPA brownfields programs. She described an EPA brownfield job‑training program, run with the South Bay Workforce Investment Board, that "has an overall goal to enroll at least 70 trainees and place 35 in full time environmental jobs," which the city framed as a pathway for workers shifting from refinery employment into remediation and green‑sector roles.
Staff said the city has sent outreach letters to 17 property owners of known brownfield sites and has worked with local property owners and nonprofits — naming Brageno Drums and Alma Backyard Farms — to move sites toward cleanup and reuse. The presentation also listed partners and technical resources involved in student training and reuse planning, including CCLEAR (Center for Creative Land Recycling), CARE (Center for Applied Ecological Remediation), GRID Alternatives and the Asian Pacific Environmental Network (APEN).
Denoy said Brownfield Fellowship students will present project pitches at Cal State Dominguez Hills Earth Day (students' presentation scheduled April 21) and that staff hopes student proposals will inform the city's Transformative Climate Communities (TCC) grant application, which the presenter said could provide up to $35,000,000 for climate‑resilient, community‑driven projects that address inequities.
The city has formed a Brownfield advisory committee to guide engagement, site prioritization and reuse strategies, and staff encouraged residents to use the nomination form and attend outreach events (including upcoming booths and presentations) to help shape project priorities. Denoy closed by inviting questions; commissioners thanked staff and offered support for outreach, and no substantive policy action was taken during the meeting.
Next steps noted by staff include student fellowship presentations and continued community outreach to inform site prioritization and potential integration of student proposals into the TCC grant application.
