![]() More than $300 million in grant awards have been released from the Environmental Protection Agency for a sweeping effort to clean up dozens of brownfields sites nationally. The funding is part of a larger effort on the part of the agency, according to Michael Regan, EPA Administrator, to “clean up contaminated properties in overburdened communities and bring them back into productive use.” The grants are focusing on some 200 sites and represent the latest funding commitment for a program that was originally launched by the EPA in 1995, tasked with cleaning up tens of thousands of abandoned and toxic industrial sites in both urban and rural neighborhoods. According to data gathered by the agency, communities of color have been the most impacted by the ongoing existence of brownfields sites, with twice as many black as white Americans living within a half a mile range of such properties. That same data also indicated that roughly 10% of all Hispanic Americans live within that same range. The new funding is seeing $231 million going to the Brownfields Multipurpose, Assessment, and Cleanup Grants Program; along with $68 million targeting what is called the Revolving Loan Fund; and another $3 million for EPA-sponsored technical assistance efforts. Regan, the former secretary of North Carolina’s Department of Environmental Quality, has long been an advocate for cleaning up brownfields with the goal of using such properties for economic development. In 2021, upon the announcement of $66 million in EPA brownfields funding, he remarked to an Associated Press reporter that “environmental protection and economic prosperity are not mutually exclusive, but they go hand in hand.” In this most recent round of funding, six Colorado communities are receiving more than $8 million in funding to clean up one-time industrial sites, with the town of Kersey securing $1.1 million to clean up the site of an abandoned grain elevator. Some $500,000 in funding has additionally been secured for the assessment and clean-up of brownfield sites in Raton, New Mexico; while Arizona has received nearly $2 million for assessment and clean-up work in Flagstaff, Kingman, Munds Park, Prescott, Tucson, Show Low, and Winslow. By Garry Boulard
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![]() A growing energy company based in Toronto has announced plans to set up headquarters in Denver. The announcement comes as the company is also building an energy storage plant in California. Hydrostar is a developer of long duration energy storage projects, using its technology to supply power grids globally. With facilities up and running in Goderich, Ontario, the company has also been making plans for an operative facility near Rosamond, California. Setting up headquarters in Denver fits in with Hydrostar's increasing footprint in the U.S. In a statement, Hydrostar chief development officer Tom Duckett said the Mile High City is particularly a good fit for the company because of its "great pool of talent, especially in the energy industry." Founded in 2010, Hydrostar also has offices in both Melbourne and Sydney, Australia. The Rosamond facility is officially called the Willow Rock Energy Storage Center, a more than $1 billion project that could be fully online in 2028. According to the Denver Post, the company also expects to start construction next year on an additional facility in New South Wales, Australia. Hydrostar has billed itself as a company supporting the "green economic transition, employing the people, suppliers, and technologies from the traditional energy sector to design, build, and operate emissions-free energy storage facilities." By Garry Boulard ![]() A group of Colorado Springs residents are organizing in favor of a move to limit the construction of high-rise structures in the city. With a petition bearing the words “We Don’t Want to be Denver,” the group is gathering signatures endorsing the proposition that residents should be able to vote to restrict the height of proposed building projects. The movement is fired by a project announced late last year by the O’Neil Group, an investment and development company based in Colorado Springs, that said it wanted to build a 36-story in the city’s downtown section. That project, slated to go up on Costilla Street, just to the east of the Olympic and Paralympic Museum, will also feature nearly 500 residential units. In 2021, the O’Neil Group proposed a 25-story structure with 316 units, but ultimately decided that a smaller building would not prove financially feasible. Opponents of the project have said that what particularly bothers them is that the structure could block views of the nearby Pikes Peak and connecting mountains. Last year the publication CPR News noted that many residents in Colorado Springs embrace the city’s “classic, almost ‘anti-urban’ identity.” The petition, which is posted on the site Change.org and has so far generated more than 4,900 signatures, also asks that no new building in Colorado Springs should be taller than the 16-floor Wells Fargo building. That structure, at 90 S. Cascade Avenue, was built in 1990 and is to date the tallest building in Colorado Springs. A decision to put the proposition on this fall’s ballot will have to first be approved by the Colorado Springs City Council. A decision by that body may be made sometime next month. By Garry Boulard Image Credit: Courtesy of Unsplash ![]() The nation’s newly built, single-family market continues to face challenges, with the most recent figures showing a nearly 5% sales drop in that sector. According to just-released figures from both the Census Bureau and Department of Housing and Urban Development, single-family home sales in April had declined to around 634,000. That figure is down from March’s 665,000, and substantially off from where things stood a year ago at 687,000. Continues the report: “The median sales price of new houses sold in April 2024 was $433,500.” Sales activity, in fact, is now at its lowest level since the Covid 19 onset in April of 2020. Industry experts say that the continued persistence of higher mortgage rates is proving an ongoing downer for the market. “In the last four weeks mortgage rates have been above 7%, and this is clearly causing many potential home buyers to sit on the fence,” remarked Carl Harris, the chairman of the National Association of Home Builders. In a statement, Harris continued: “However, in the weeks and months ahead, we expect mortgage rates to fall below 7%.” The influence of “moderating rates, along with a dearth of existing inventory, should help new home sales recover as new construction will be needed to meet the demand for homes, especially during this crucial spring/summer season,” added Harris. Similarly, Lawrence Yun, chief economist with the National Association of Realtors, remarked: “Home prices are hitting record highs, but the pace of gains should decelerate with more supply.” Yun, however, noted that the “Federal Reserve’s anticipated rate cut later this year should lead to better conditions, with improved affordability and more supply.” The consensus for a drop is widespread, notes the publication Forbes: “Many housing market experts expect mortgage rates to recede over 2024, but that largely depends on when the Federal Reserve decides to cut interest rates.” The Fed has largely been keeping rates to their highest levels in more than 20 years in the hopes of “grinding down on the economy enough to get high inflation fully under control,” says the Boston Herald. Prospects for a rate cut aren’t likely, continues the publication, until the Fed “has greater confidence that price increases are slowing to its 2% target.” By Garry Boulard Image Credit: Courtesy of Pixabay Bisbee's Famous Copper Queen, Highly Valued by Preservationists and Historians, is Up for Sale5/31/2024 ![]() One of the classic hotels from the days when Bisbee, Arizona was a nationally known copper mining hotspot, is now on the market with an asking price of $12.5 million. Located at 11 Howell Avenue in the center of the city, the 5-story Copper Queen Hotel is regarded as an architectural treasure, designed in the Italiante style by the New York architectural firm of Van Vleck and Goldsmith. According to the Society of Architectural Historians, the structure, built in 1902, is unique for its "central pavilion terminated by hipped-roof towers clad in red tiles." The building also features a wooden balcony "above a terrace defined by a tripled arched opening." Listed on the National Register of Historic Places, the 48-room hotel is nestled within the city's Historic District, a section of Bisbee known for its Spanish Revival and Italiante buildings. Designated as a Class B structure, the structure has for decades served as one of the most popular and classic hotels in southern Arizona and has hosted everyone from the actors Julia Roberts and Keifer Sutherland to the Arizona Senator John McCain and former First Lady Nancy Reagan. The structure is being listed by the Long Realty agency, which has offices in Sierra Vista. While copper mining in Bisbee was gradually phased out by the 1970s, the city became a tourist mecca largely owing to the preservation of its historic structures. According to a website essay published by the Arizona Commerce Authority, the city found a new life for self-described bohemians attracted to an "environment that continues to inspire creativity and imagination." By Garry Boulard Santa Fe Mayor Announces Spending Effort for Affordable Housing Public Facilities and Road Upgrades5/30/2024 ![]() The City of Santa Fe is expected to see increased spending on affordable housing projects as well as temporary shelters and improved roads. Some $36 million in new funding is coming as a result of “years of consistent budgeting,” said Mayor Allan Webber in announcing a series of one-time investments. The funding, moreover, said the Mayor, will go to "dozens of important one-time projects in every part of the city." “These are all investments that city councilors, city workers, and the people of Santa Fe are eager to see move ahead,” Webber declared in his annual State of the City speech. He additionally noted that nearly $18 million in funds will go for utility system upgrades and improvements. The Mayor's spending priorities were released after members of the Santa Fe City Council gave their unanimous approval to a $440.1 million budget for fiscal year 2024-2025. According to city documents, at least $3 million may be moved from the city's general fund to the Affordable Housing Trust Fund. That nearly 20-year-old entity serves as a mechanism to fund affordable housing projects in Santa Fe. Improvements to the Municipal Recreation Complex at 205 Caja Del Rio Road are additionally expected to receive around $1.4 million in city funds. The proposed spending is currently in the talking stage, with the City Council expected to vote on funding for specific projects later. By Garry Boulard Image Credit: Courtesy of City of Santa Fe Responding to Critics, Post Office Head Says Facility Reviews and Upgrades are Underway Everywhere5/30/2024 ![]() Despite stories suggesting otherwise, Louis DeJoy, the U.S. Posmaster General, has announced his agency's intention to maintain as many currently operating post offices nationally as possible. In a public letter, DeJoy, in noting an ongoing facility review process, said, "Contrary to past facility reviews, where the intention was to close the mail processing facility when we moved out mail processing operations, the current facility review process has no such intention." On the contrary, continued DeJoy, "The review process we are undertaking also includes substantial investments in the facilities we are studying." DeJoy said that, as currently planned, "hundreds of millions of dollars will be invested in these facilities to refurbish and equip them to transform this organization, to ensure that we can serve our communities far into the future." The letter, which was sent to Michigan Democrat Senator Gary Peters, chairman of the Homeland Security and Government Affairs Committee, stated that substantial investments are being committed to modernizing postal facilities nationally, as well as addressing deferred maintenance issues. DeJoy also made note of his agency's move to build new regional processing and distribution centers, with one such facility in Phoenix measuring 500,000 square feet scheduled to open this fall. In the West, Houston is also seeing the upgrading of an existing 850,000-square-foot processing facility; while work will soon be completed on a 300,000-square-foot facility in Boise, Idaho. Some 200,000 square feet will be added by 2026 to an existing 650,000-square-foot center in Santa Clarita, California. DeJoy has come under criticism for the Delivering for America program, an effort launched in 2021 designed to reduce some $160 billion in Postal Service costs by the end of the decade. That program has seen the agency aggregating packages and mail in fewer facilities, reducing processing and distribution costs, and shifting air volume to ground transportation. The Washington Examiner earlier this year noted that under the Delivery For America program, the Postal Service lost $6.4 billion in fiscal 2023, and "projects a $6.3 billion loss in 2024." By Garry Boulard ![]() Plans remain in the works for the building of a new water park in northern Colorado. The project, called Glacier Beach, has been in the talking stage since around early 2022, and may include what has been billed as the "longest water slide in the world." Last month a website for the project announced that a new ride concept called "Soarin' Over the Rockies," would be a part of the larger park, an immersive ride that will provide breathtaking views of the nearby Rocky Mountains. In a press release, the new attraction is said to combine "cutting edge technology, stunning visuals, and thrilling special effects." The news site What Now Denver has earlier reported that the project might also have a "360-degree circular wave pool," with rapid, deep. and lazy rivers. Exactly where the park will be built has still not been announced. It was previously thought that the project would go up near the city of Golden, with construction beginning sometime this coming summer. Now the site glacierbeachcolorado.com says simply that a development team is "hard at work" doing the preliminary work on a new location. If the Glacier Beach project becomes reality, it will join a growing marketplace nationally for waterparks. According to the Statista.com, such parks regularly attract up to 8 million visitors annually, representing a $3.5 billion industry in 2023. New water park projects have been announced in recent months for Massanutten, Virginia; Myrtle Beach, South Carolina; Bellevue, Nebraska; and Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. By Garry Boulard Image Credit: Courtesy of Pixabay ![]() Plans are moving along on a project that will see the construction of a new fire station in south central Colorado. The Peyton Fire Protection District serves the unincorporated town of Peyton, a place of around 200 people, as well as residents of several nearby towns in eastern El Paso County in a coverage area that encompasses around 110 square miles. Altogether, the district currently serves an estimated 1,400 households. With a four-bay station located at 13665 Railroad Street that is operated by a full-time deputy chief and supported by a staff of 17 volunteers, the district has long contemplated the need for a new station. That project has now taken a step forward with a vote by the El Paso County Commission approving a zoning exemption for the site of the new station. According to published sources, the planned facility will be built to house an underground cistern with a 30,000-gallon capacity. The station will go up on a 2.5-acre site near the intersection of Bradshaw Road and Sweet Road in Peyton, in an area that is made up of vacant parcels of land as well as some single-family housing. According to county documents, the new facility will be built in order to “decrease emergency response times in the area.” The facility, note those documents, will take the form of a pole barn that will house a fire truck as well as the cistern. An exact construction schedule for the new station has not yet been announced. The Peyton Fire Protection District was formed in 1954 after the town’s only schoolhouse burned to the ground. By Garry Boulard Image Credit: Courtesy of Pixabay ![]() Twenty states are now taking part in a lawsuit objecting to new regulations announced by the federal Council on Environmental Quality that impact the construction industry. Those regulations, according to the White House, are supposed to simplify and modernize the federal environmental review process as it is enforced under the National Environmental Policy Act. In a late April announcement, the White House said the new regulations include “setting clear deadlines for agencies to complete environmental reviews, requiring a lead agency, and setting specific expectations for lead and cooperating agencies,” while additionally “creating a unified and coordinated federal review process.” But the lawsuit, with plaintiffs including the states of Texas, Florida, and Georgia, contends that the new regulations "insert many arbitrary mandates into the environmental review system with the foreseeable effect of delaying and foreclosing disfavored types of projects.” At particular issue is a complaint against what is called a “government-wide approach to advancing environmental justice” that the lawsuit argues is “untethered to any federal statutory basis.” The lawsuit has won the support of several industry groups, including the Associated Builders and Contractors, which has said that the regulations fail to "meaningfully improve environmental protections, and actually expands and lengthens environmental reviews that already take years.” In a statement, Ben Brubeck, vice-president of regulatory, labor, and state affairs with the ABC, remarked: “Instead of moving forward with this burdensome final rule, the Biden Administration should work to streamline and modernize permitting processes while maintaining important environmental safeguards.” Other voices, however, have argued that the Council on Environmental Quality’s implementing rule not only clarifies the environmental review process, but does so in a particularly timely manner. “We are at a pivotal moment for climate action,” said Delaware Democrat Tom Carper, the chairman of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee. “To bring more clean energy onto the grid, there’s no question that we need a more effective and efficient environmental review process.” The lawsuit on the part of the twenty states has been filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of North Dakota. By Garry Boulard |
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