U.S. EPA has awarded the City of Waterloo a $642,400 Brownfields Cleanup Grant to remove asbestos containing material (ACM) from the 7-story former Rath Packing plant structure located at 1442 Sycamore Street. 262 communities across the United States received a portion of the $215 million in FY 2023 funding. The City was one of 14 recipients in EPA Region 7 that includes Iowa, Kansas, Missouri, and Nebraska. Waterloo has now received nearly $3.6 million in brownfields program funding since 2000. Read EPA’s write-up on the check presentation event here.
The City has a history of utilizing brownfields funding to transition blighted properties plagued by contamination issues into community assets. Examples include the former Wonder Bread factory (Single Speed Brewing), former Grand Hotel (Grand Crossings condominiums), former Construction Machinery Company (City of Waterloo Public Works building), Standard Forwarding and Rath buildings (Human Services Campus), and downtown flood-damaged properties (Cedar Valley Sportsplex).
