By STAN MADDUX Indiana Correspondent CHICAGO, Ill. — Miniature farms are popping up at old industrial sites in big cities across the nation, including Chicago. Urban gardens are nothing new, but they seem to be gaining momentum with help from Uncle Sam. The U.S. EPA just announced $11 million in additional funding to clean up and redevelop contaminated brownfield sites throughout the nation. Most of the brownfield sites targeted for remediation are attached to plans for new construction of homes and businesses; however, a smaller percentage of the funds are used to help clean up old industrial sites in urban areas to grow fresh produce. In Chicago, for example, $400,000 of additional funds recently allocated will be used to make a century-old industrial property suitable for growing vegetables and put up an anaerobic digester to turn food scraps into a rich soil supplement for urban gardens, said Steve Colantino, manager of the Office of Brownfields Assistance for the EPA in Illinois out of Springfield. Colantino said the EPA at both the federal and state levels become involved in urban gardens whenever municipalities and not-for-profit groups seek financial assistance to grow produce for their communities at brownfield sites. The first step is to determine the past use of the property and have it tested for contaminants, then develop strategies for any cleanup that needs to occur, for the ground to become safe for human contact. Typically, Colantino said, urban gardens don’t have direct contact with the soil already in the ground, to eliminate any concerns about growing crops. Instead, plastic is laid over the remediated area, then clean soil is put on top to provide a buffer to prevent the potential for leaching of any remaining contaminants into the roots of the crops. A wooden frame is then built along the edges of the plastic to serve as a containment area for the garden, he said. Contaminated soils are still cleaned up to avoid contact with people walking over to work the garden and harvest the produce. “They want to make sure the site is environmentally suitable for the purpose that they have in mind,” said Colantino. The urban garden is planned on a 30-acre site owned by Trinity Lutheran Church at 95th Street and Cottage Grove Avenue on Chicago’s south side. There’s already a hydroponic research center operated by the University of Chicago on the grounds of the church property. The remainder of the 13 acres will be used for health services and assisted living facilities. Colantino said urban gardens help provide fresh produce to areas where fruits and vegetables at the supermarket are unaffordable, or in areas where people lack transportation to reach grocery stores that nowadays are becoming fewer and further away. “Access to fresh produce is recognized as a real issue to urban garden communities,” he explained. Other benefits include residents being taught gardening skills for tending their assigned plots. The digester will go up also on the south side of Chicago on 83rd Street. Colantino said the not-forprofit Green ERA is working with city officials to bring food scraps to the digester, to convert the waste into a nutrient-rich soil supplement for urban gardens close to home – and in more distant locations. “They have outlets in the Midwest already lined up for this soil stock,” said Colantino. Remediated brownfield sites also produce returns in other ways, such as job creation and, in most cases, revenue from being put back on property tax rolls, he said. According to U.S. EPA officials, investments by the agency in brownfields have leveraged more than $21 billion in cleanup and redevelopment funding from public and private sources. On average, $17.79 is leveraged for every EPA grant dollar spent on such projects, officials added. |