Indianapolis will soon take the first step in determining whether a number of old industrial sites have been contaminated by pollution — and what it’ll take to clean them up.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency awarded Indianapolis a $450,000 brownfields assessment grant for 25 properties across the neighborhoods of Riverside, Near Northside, Crown Hill, Mapleton-Fall Creek and Martindale Brightwood. The funds also will be used to inventory brownfield sites, prepare four cleanup plans and conduct community engagement activities.
Brownfields are properties whose redevelopment may be complicated by the presence of a hazardous substance, pollutant or contaminant.
So far, the Indianapolis Department of Metropolitan Development has selected one property in the Riverside neighborhood for an environmental assessment, an empty lot at 1176 Roache St. that was formerly the site of an Oilway Inc. fuel terminal.
The department also hopes to perform an assessment on an empty lot in the Martindale Brightwood neighborhood that was once a railroad turnaround. DMD will announce the site location once it finalizes the purchase of the property.
DMD has four years to use the brownfields grant money and is asking the public for input on which properties to assess.
To learn more
For more information or to apply for a grant to assess your former industrial property, contact DMD’s Brownfields Redevelopment Program at brownfields@indy.gov.
To see where other brownfields are located in the city, head to the Indiana Department of Environmental Management’s Interactive Map and select Brownfield Sites from the layer list on the top right.
Mirror Indy, a nonprofit newsroom, is funded through grants and donations from individuals, foundations and organizations.
Mirror Indy reporter Enrique Saenz covers west Indianapolis. Contact him at 317-983-4203 or enrique.saenz@mirrorindy.org. Follow him on Bluesky at @enriquesaenz.bsky.social.
Republish our articles for free, online or in print, under a Creative Commons license.
