Flint, MI—The Genesee County Land Bank Authority will be moving ahead with its plan for asbestos abatement and demolition of two duplexes in Flint’s Grand Traverse District.
The plan for the properties, located at 509 and 513 W. Seventh St. was finalized this week after being presented to the Flint community as part of an Analysis of Brownfield Cleanup Alternatives, or ABCA—a document that outlines the recommended course of action and alternatives for a brownfield site.
“So now we will summarize all of our engagement efforts, and put it in a ‘Final Decision Memo’ that we will then send to the EPA,” said Faith Finholm, Grants Manager for the Genesee County Land Bank.
Finholm said she would wait a few weeks for any feedback from the Environmental Protection Agency, but otherwise she expected to start asking for bids for the duplexes’ abatement and demolition plan next month.
“Bidding it out, that’ll take another few weeks. But we’re thinking June or July these homes won’t be there,” she said of the overall timeline for the demolition.
The $800,000 EPA grant helping to fund the abatement part of the duplexes’ plan has already been put toward two other projects in the grant’s target area—called the “Innovation District” in the city’s Master Plan.
Those projects were asbestos abatement at an apartment complex at the former Greenview Manor Apartments, located 817 N. Stevenson St., as well as abatement efforts at the former Longway Manor Apartments, located at 2412 and 2510 Robert T Longway Blvd.
Finholm said there is still money left for site assessment and clean up of particular contaminants with this EPA grant, but the GCBLA hopes to apply for more funding to make an even bigger impact in Flint soon.
“So we will be reaching out for (public) comment on hopefully a whole slew of additional projects within the next couple of months,” she said.
More information will be made available on the GCLBA’s website and social pages as those projects arise.