Brownfield Redevelopment

As part of the DCC, The Downriver Area Brownfield Consortium (DABC) was formed and empowered to work together with member communities and other stakeholders to prevent, assess, safely cleanup, and sustainably reuse brownfield sites.

A brownfield site is real property, the expansion, redevelopment, or reuse of which may be complicated by the presence of a hazardous substance, pollutant, or contaminant.

Since 1995 there has been bipartisan support by the United States Congress and President to assist communities redevelop and reuse brownfield sites.  The United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has provided financial assistance to eligible applicants through five competitive Brownfield Grant Programs:  Assessment, Cleanup, Multi-purpose, Revolving Loan Fund (RLF) and Job Training.  The DABC has been a grant recipient of Assessment and RLF grants since 1995 as well as a Job Training Grant.  To date, the DABC has received over $9 million from the EPA Brownfield Grant Program which has leveraged over $100,000,000 in combined investment and taxes and provided hundreds of jobs to the region.

The DABC can bring resources to make redevelopment happen in the region.  Some of the more notable projects include redevelopment of the Detroit River International Wildlife Refuge in Trenton (a former chemical manufacturing facility), Ventower Industries in Monroe, the maker of wind turbine towers (formerly a landfill), the Dearborn City Hall Artspace Lofts (formerly old City Hall), and the expansion of the Monroe River Raisin Battlefield which became a National Park following the completion of cleanup activities.  Photos of some of these sites are shown below.

DABC Member Communities

Allen Park

Brownstown Township

Dearborn

Dearborn Heights

Ecorse

Flat Rock

Gibraltar

Grosse Ile Township

Huron Township

Lincoln Park

Melvindale

Monroe

Port of Monroe

River Rouge

Riverview

Rockwood

Romulus

Southgate

Taylor

Tecumseh

Trenton

Woodhaven

Washtenaw County

Wyandotte

DABC Staff

John D’Addona

Brownfield Program Manager

734-362-3477

Jim Wagner

Chairman

734-552-3026

Jim Perry

Executive Director

734-362-3469