ROANOKE, Va – There are brownfields in a lot of places, including the city of Roanoke.
But since 2006, the city has been using funds and grants from the environmental protection agency to redevelop some of the sites.
The Virginia Tech Carilion campus and the Fralin Biomedical Research Institute used to be a scrap yard before the brownfield program began.
The program is especially important for cities like Roanoke that are geographically confined.
“Most of the redevelopment we are going to have is going to happen on properties that have previously been developed,” said Wayne Leftwich, the Planning Manager for Roanoke. “And so we want to make sure that we make those properties available for redevelopment.”
Another former brownfield is big lick brewery and the adjacent apartments on Salem Avenue southwest.