The Federal Environmental Protection Agency awarded the Town of Framingham a $400,000 Brownfields Assessment Grant.

The grant will allow the Town to continue and expand its Brownfields Program.

Operational since 2008, Framingham’s program targets resources to brownfields, defined as contaminated or potentially contaminated real property, in order to promote economic development. The program is designed to lay the groundwork for a successful redevelopment of selected properties that will contribute toward the Town’s revitalization efforts by redeveloping contaminated properties, eliminating blight, expanding the tax base, creating jobs and protecting people’s health and the environment.

The Town’s grant will provide funding to engage the services of a Massachusetts licensed site professional to inventory, characterize, assess, and conduct cleanup and redevelopment planning and community involvement related to brownfield sites.

The funding will allow investigations and assessments of selected vacant or underutilized properties throughout the town with a focus on the downtown and southeast Framingham areas.

The bulk of the funding will pay for an licensed site professional under contract to the Town to perform more detailed assessments on a series of properties chosen based on their potential for redevelopment and reuse.

The program will fund detailed assessments on as many as 16 properties.

The grant provides for a targeted public outreach campaign that includes multi-lingual education and opportunities for community feedback on both brownfields and redevelopment issues.

The grant is being administered by the Town of Framingham’s Community and Economic Development office.