Marseilles taps $1.5 million NCICG Brownfields assessment grant for Nabisco, Washington School reviews

Marseilles city residents and consultants gathered at a public workshop where Melissa Kupchak, a geologist with Fairgram, explained how an EPA Brownfields coalition assessment grant will be used to inventory and evaluate potentially contaminated properties and to plan their reuse. Kupchak said the North Central Illinois Council of Governments (NCICG) received a $1,500,000 coalition assessment grant that covers Phase I (records and history review) and Phase II (field sampling for soil, groundwater, soil vapor and hazardous building materials) site assessments and reuse planning for coalition partner communities.

"A Brownfield site means real property where expansion, redevelopment, or reuse may be complicated by the presence or potential presence of a hazardous substance, pollutant or contaminant," Kupchak said, explaining the EPA definition and why assessments are necessary. She described Phase I as a desktop review drawing on municipal records, the Illinois State Fire Marshal, and other sources; Phase II includes ‘‘boots on the ground’’ sampling and laboratory analysis to confirm contamination.

Kupchak said Marseilles is one of four target areas named in NCICG's application — along with Streeter, Peru and Mendota — but the coalition grant can also support assessments elsewhere within the seven-county coalition area. She identified the downtown and riverfront as the focus area for Marseilles while noting the grant is communitywide and that sites will be prioritized by technical need and timing rather than a strict equal split of funds.

Consultants said two sites are priorities: the former Nabisco factory and Washington School. Kupchak said asbestos surveys for those two properties received final approval the day of the meeting and that contractors were lined up to begin work: Washington School, she said, should take only a few hours to survey, while the much larger Nabisco building will require several days.

Consultant Sean Ager of Place Foundry described how reuse planning will be informed by resident input. Ager led an engagement exercise asking residents to imagine downtown Marseilles as "the best downtown in Illinois" and to identify local strengths to preserve and amplify. Participants highlighted small, locally owned restaurants, the memorial wall and riverfront recreation as assets and raised concerns about vacant storefronts, limited retail hours and the loss of a hardware store and an independent grocery.

Kupchak cautioned that the $1.5 million assessment grant is not an entitlement to cleanup funding; assessment grants pay for site characterization and planning. If contamination requiring cleanup is identified, property owners or the community may later apply for separate EPA cleanup funding or other demolition/repair grants. Kupchak said the NCICG grant is valid through 2028-09-30 and that funding for larger projects — including cleanup or demolition — is likely to exceed the assessment grant and would require additional applications to state or federal programs.

The consultants invited residents to complete a public survey (QR code and printed copies were distributed) and to suggest candidate sites; Kupchak said NCICG will accept site nominations for EPA eligibility review and then pursue Phase I/II work for approved sites on a first-come, first-served basis within the grant period. She emphasized NCICG and Fairgram will be in Marseilles to solicit community feedback during the assessment and reuse-planning steps.

Next steps described during the meeting included scheduled on-site asbestos sampling and planned survey results to be folded into draft reuse scenarios that Place Foundry will return to the community to review and refine.