East Tennessee Development District Brownfields
S&ME has collaborated with the East Tennessee Development District (ETDD) on a variety of economic development and Brownfield redevelopment projects over the years. Currently, S&ME is serving as ETDD’s Environmental Consultant for an EPA Brownfields Coalition Assessment Grant for four Target Areas within the ETDD’s sixteen-county district.
This is the second successful collaboration for ETDD and S&ME on an EPA Brownfields Assessment Grant. The first grant was won and executed from 2007 through 2011. S&ME lead the effort to prepare a grant application for a $600,000 EPA Brownfields Program Coalition Assessment Grant for the 2021 grant funding cycle. In early 2020. The grant was awarded to ETDD in May 2021, with a three-year period of performance. The target areas of this grant are long-term Distressed Areas suffering from environmental justice challenges. S&ME is providing grant and project management, quarterly grant reporting, and ACRES reporting for the ETDD. S&ME prepared the community involvement plans for the four grant coalition members and is providing community outreach support and communication support.
S&ME is performing Phase I and Phase II ESA and cleanup planning services for the 111-acre Armstrong brownfield site in Scott County, TN, a former wood products manufacturing site. It is a collaborative redevelopment effort with the ETDD, Scott County Industrial Development Board (IDB), Tennessee Economic and Community Development (TNECD), and the Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation. The Phase II ESA field effort began in April 2022 and is ongoing. In Morristown, TN, a Phase I ESA with a follow-up Phase II ESA is in progress for a large former truck terminal that Morristown hopes to redevelop into multi-family housing and commercial businesses.
S&ME prepared a Brownfield Inventory for the long-term distressed City of Rocky Top, TN to assist with revitalization planning for their historic downtown area, targeting key Brownfield properties along Main Street.